Handel’s Tea Time
Handel: Venus & Adonis; 24 English Songs, HWV 228 – excerpts; Mi palpita i cor, HWV 132b; Purcell: The Fairy Queen – O Let Me Weep
Dorothee Mields (soprano); Die Freitagsakademie Bern
Sony Classical 19439792732 76:04 mins
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Baroque ensemble Die Freitagsakademie and star soprano Dorothee Mields have performed together since 2017, but this is their first recording. The wait has been worth it.
Mields is splendid. Her poise, luminous vocalism and animated dialogue with the band show why she’s an Early Music legend. Her command of the recording’s three languages allows her to relish words as well as music, whether goofing around – as in ‘Bacchus’ HWV 228 – or lamenting. Her consistently intelligent musicianship is apparent above all when she improvises according to period and location. The profound reflection she brings to the sacred air ‘Flammende Rose, Zierde der Erden’ is as impressive as the wild peregrinations with whic
Iestyn Davies, Arcangelo, Wigmore Hall review - heavenly Handel as the lights dim again | reviews, news & interviews Iestyn Davies, Arcangelo, Wigmore Hall review - heavenly Handel as the lights dim again
Iestyn Davies, Arcangelo, Wigmore Hall review - heavenly Handel as the lights dim again
The star counter-tenor unlocks a box of lesser-known treasures
by Boyd TonkinWednesday, 16 December 2020
The beauty of holiness: Iestyn Davies with ArcangeloWigmore Hall
Just before the doors closed again on live audiences at the Wigmore Hall, Iestyn Davies and members of the Arcangelo ensemble celebrated the private side of a very public composer. The peerless counter-tenor, whose powerfully polished command of phrase and line makes this music feel as natural and necessary as breathing, sang Handel’s nine German-language arias to pious texts by Bartold Heinrich Brockes (who also wrote the words to the “Brockes Passion”).