BaL 18.04.15 - Purcell: Music for Queen Mary's Funeral

[MickyD]

The recommended version from Vox Luminis is one that had escaped me...it only appeared in 2013, by the look of it.

[doversoul1]

Yes, and I'm impressed as to how many versions the reviewer has managed to include.

She certainly did. Very impressed Also, the reviewer seriously demanded our (my) attention. I feel almost exhausted now.

…and it escaped my search, too

This is the CD

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/advsearch.php?composer=Purcell&work=&performer=Vox+Luminis&medium=all&label=&cat=

[ardcarp]

BAL has such different remits! One week it might be a ninety minute Mahler Symphony with about a million available recordings, and another (this week) it might be a tiny body of music with very few. I'm fond of Vox Luminis as a group (lovely sound, excellent tuning) but didn't agree they were the best at this. KG commented on their good phrasing; actually what we heard was very note-note-note and not much line; especially so the trumpets.

On a personal note, I would have liked Croft to have been mentioned in passing....post Queen Mary of course, but his 'finishing' of the Funeral Sentences was and probably still is widely used.

[MickyD]

I can't remember exactly what the reviewer said, ardcarp, but I am sure I do recall her mentioning Croft at one point...

[Black Swan]

I really enjoyed the BAL. After inspection, I have 4 of the performances reviewed including the recommendation. I have just been listening to this recording and it is very fine, indeed.

A really good BAL.

[ardcarp]

I do recall her mentioning Croft at one point

Good. (I must have missed it.)

Burney talks of one Humphrey Wyrly Birch, Esq. "whose passion for church Music of the pathetic kind, particularly the funeral service by Purcell and Crofts [sic], was such that he would quit the most remote part of the kingdom, and ride day and night, in order to hear it performed at Westminster Abbey."

[Nick Armstrong]

She certainly did. Very impressed Also, the reviewer seriously demanded our (my) attention. I feel almost exhausted now.

BAL has such different remits! One week it might be a ninety minute Mahler Symphony with about a million available recordings, and another (this week) it might be a tiny body of music with very few.

Agreed with all the above. But the latter point makes possible the intense focus the reviewer was able to bring, and hence accounts for doversoul's points. I much prefer these analyses of works in this category.

That said, I don't find myself massively drawn to these pieces (I don't own them on CD); and hence the final choice was appealing to me, quite apart from the quality of the performance - a top class continental outfit I hadn't heard before. The other music was attractive too, and it was strange to enjoy almost most in the whole programme, the final extract on BAL which wasn't even part of the work to be considered (or even by the same composer!).

[ardcarp]

a top class continental outfit I hadn't heard before

Yes do listen to Vox Luminis in their 'core repertoire', both Renaissance and continental early Baroque (e.g. Schutz, Scheidt). They are a fabulous choir and I feel a bit sorry to have dissed them slightly.

http://www.voxluminis.com/

[doversoul1]

Yes do listen to Vox Luminis in their 'core repertoire', both Renaissance and continental early Baroque (e.g. Schutz, Scheidt). They are a fabulous choir and I feel a bit sorry to have dissed them slightly.

http://www.voxluminis.com/

..and here is their excellent concert to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htqKtgVSxeY

J.J. Fux: Kaiserrequiem - Vox Luminis & Ensemble Scorpio - Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, deel I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iau0chhFXDk

J.J. Fux: Kaiserrequiem - Vox Luminis & Scorpio Collectief - Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, deel II

[ed.] from the few more clips found on youtube, many, if not all concerts in the Utrecht Early Music Festival seem to have been televised live (or live recorded). Can we imagine even just one concert from the York Early Music or the Lufthansa festivals televised live on the British television (unless I am missing it all, as I don't watch television)? Come to think of it, I don’t recall any live recorded concert of early music I have watched on youtube by British televisions apart from odd (very few) Proms. I know this is a bit over the top but I feel like saying no wonder even Purcell is performed better by an continental ensemble.

[MickyD]

Absolutely true what you say, ds. It is woeful that there are so many wonderful concerts given at the York Early Music Festival and the Lufthansa Festival in London, but we never seen one of them broadcast on TV. In France, during off-peak hours, one can see many concerts on France Télévisions and Arte from various festivals throughout the year.

[BBMmk2]

This could easily be say, BBC4's territory?

[verismissimo]

And this is the CD version I now have: Oxford Camerata on Naxos.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8553129

Must have a reminding listen before the programme.

I've never much cared for Purcell - the Great British Composer writ small. But I managed to overcome my prejudice sufficiently to invest a few pennies in Jeremy Summerly's Naxos recording mentioned by Pulcie. Did it get mentioned in the programme? It's absolutely fab.

And such great music (and words).

[Pulcinella]

I've never much cared for Purcell - the Great British Composer writ small. But I managed to overcome my prejudice sufficiently to invest a few pennies in Jeremy Summerly's Naxos recording mentioned by Pulcie. Did it get mentioned in the programme? It's absolutely fab.

And such great music (and words).

Glad your investment proved worthwhile, veri!
I think it got mentioned, but my concentration drifted a bit with all the talk of what was and was not included, and I think it lost out on that score.
Recorded in my old college chapel too, which was an extra incentive to buy!