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5.0 out of 5 stars
May be High Point of English Song, June 3, 2007
This review is from: O Solitude: Songs & Airs (Audio CD)
Whenever I listen to any renditions of English art songs, going from Elizabethan times to the modern, as by Percy Grainger, I always dispair at how uninteresting they are when compared to the great German, French, and Italian art song repetoires. It seems as if the English can never quite wrest their genre from its folk roots and become a 'classic' music realization. I cringe at the Shakspearean 'hey nonny nonnies' and the 19th century compositions, none of which are as good even as Stephen Foster at his best.
But here is Purcell, and I believe I've found an author of English song I can really enjoy. To be sure, he has not entirely kicked the straw from all of the lyrics, but out of this 74 minutes of performance, I can easily listen to it many times over. And, as it stands at the moment, the prices for these CD's are a real bargain, if you like English song.
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