Purcell: 'Tis Nature's Voice and Other Songs and Elegies [Import]

Henry Purcell (Composer), Rene Jacobs (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Rene Jacobs
• Composer: Henry Purcell
• Audio CD (January 1, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Accent Plus
• ASIN: B00000443M
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #157,556 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Work(s)

2. Music for a While (from 'Oedipus'), song, Z. 583/2

3. Retir'd from any mortal's sight (from 'The History of King Richard II'), song, Z. 581/1

4. Since from my dear Astrea's sight (from 'Prophetess'), aria for soprano, Z. 627/App2

5. Pious Celinda goes to prayers, song, Z. 410

6. Incassum, Lesbia, incassum rogas (The Queen Epicedium), song, Z. 383

7. Ah! cruel nymph! you give despair for soprano & continuo, Z. 352

8. The fatal hour comes on apace, song, Z. 421

9. As Amoret and Thirsis lay, song (from 'The Old Bachelor'), Z. 607/11

10. Sweeter than roses (from 'Pausanius'), song, Z. 585/1

11. I lov'd fair Celia, song, Z. 381

12. Young Thyrsis' fate, ye hills and groves, deplore (On the death of Thomas Farmer), song for soprano, bass & continuo, Z. 473

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Nature's Voice? Maybe Not, But Consummate Artistry, December 16, 2007

By 

Leslie Richford (Selsingen, Lower Saxony) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Purcell: 'Tis Nature's Voice and Other Songs and Elegies (Audio CD)

Henry Purcell, 'Tis Nature's Voice and other Songs and Elegies. Performed by René Jacobs, falsetto; Wieland Kuijken, viola da gamba; Konrad Junghänel, lute. Recorded at the St. Stefanus Church in Melsen, Belgium, in September 1978. Re-released in 2006 as ACC 10002.

At the time of writing this recording is 29 years old, but I think it remains one of the absolute high points in the career of René Jacobs, a pioneer of countertenor singing and of HIPP (historically informed performance practice) in Europe. Jacobs' timbre is, frankly, one that you have to get used to: he sings falsetto, and his androgynous voice can seem cold and hard at times. But if you can put that proviso at the back of your mind and concentrate on his art of singing (and on the luscious lute and viola da gamba accompaniment), you may find yourself agreeing with me that Jacobs here excels as an interpreter of Purcell, modulating his voice around all the difficulties in a way that makes me want to listen again and again and investing each of the twelve pieces with all the meaning and expression that Purcell himself seems to call for. I have "Music for a While" in a number of different interpretations, but I must say that René Jacobs's is the first that has made me really sit up and listen hard. His pronunciation of the English (and on one occasion Latin) texts is faultless (these are printed in the booklet without translations), but again and again it is, above all, his musicality and sensitivity which I find spell-binding. His timbre may not be "Nature's Voice", not really, but his singing is consummate artistry. Add to this the fact that Accent's digital engineering is absolutely superb, and you have a disc that is well worth its price and can compare favourably even with some of René Jacobs's best recitals for Harmonia Mundi (Airs de Cour; Charpentier's Lecons, etc.). This is a superb document from the pioneering years of the Early Music scene in Belgium.