Henry Purcell - The Fairy Queen and The Prophetess, Orchestral Suites - Le Concert des Nations - Jordi Savall - Alia Vox AVSA 9866 (2009, originally Astree 1997) Henry Purcell - The Fairy Queen and The Prophetess, Orchestral Suites - Le Concert des Nations - Jordi Savall SACD-rip via Cambridge Audio to iso (2.89 GB) | DR12 | Mch & 2ch Hybrid | Classical | Alia Vox Jordi Savall has been reissuing on his AliaVox label some of the nearly 70 albums which he, his wife Montserrat Figueras, and their various ensembles made for the Astree label between 1977 and 1996. In doing so these important recordings of the early music renaissance are being rechanneled and remastered from mostly two-channel originals and released as multichannel SACDs, with the usual extensive notes and gorgeous packaging which makes AliaVox probably the most beautifully-designed classical CDs available. The careful remastering process seems to be similar to that used by Opus 3 and some other labels in the multichannel reissues of some of their classic two-channel masters. The surround sonics are fine, but with all of these which were not discrete multichannel to begin with I find I have to raise the level on the surrounds a bit. The English at the time of Purcell were late-comers to opera, so he instead contributed incidental music to stage works, and music for semi-operas, which are what is presented on this SACD. The Prophetess of 1690 had an enhanced role of music within the plot of the play, and there was an emphasis on dance music. We hear a 14-minute suite from Purcell’s music. The Fairy Queen is a semi-opera based closely on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer-Night’s Dream. The 49-minute suite includes music from all five acts of the stage presentation. The orchestration is quite lavish for the period, with trumpets, kettle-drums and other touches. Purcell liked to create musical backgrounds involved in things supernatural, and Shakespeare’s plot offered him plenty of opportunities. It’s interesting to hear his musical handling of elements such as the fairies and furies vs. the familiar Mendelssohn treatments. The original recordings were made in a highly ornate and reverberant hall in Barcelona, and the note booklet is illustrated with many color reproductions by Arthur Rackham for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. audaud.com This is an SACD reissue on Alia Vox of a CD originally released in 1996 as Astrée 8717. Fans of Savall know that his conducting reflects similar values to his viola da gamba solos: a nuanced view of phrasing, exceptional attention to the beauty and clarity of textures, and a knowledge of appropriate embellishments. These qualities can be found in some of the outstanding slow movements on this disc, most notably “Love’s a Sweet Passion” from act III of The Fairy Queen . Savall’s version takes 3:06 to play; by comparison, Goodman/Parley of Instruments (Hyperion 67001) gives it to us at 1:34; and Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists (Archiv Produktion 992902) is not much longer. It isn’t that Savall’s Le Concert des Nations plays twice as much content, but that they inflect far more, slowing for embellishments to the theme, pausing at the climax of a phrase, or at its conclusion. It’s anyone’s guess which approach is more authentic, but I find Savall’s phrasing, along with a slightly lower pitch and predominance of darker string instruments, mines the natural melancholy of Purcell’s piece to greater advantage without danger of anachronism. There’s no lack of bright, energetic delivery elsewhere, though. The Second Musick and the first Retornella of two from The Prophetess deliver this, amidst flurries of trumpets, while the strutting “Dance for the Green men” and crisply genteel “A dance for the Haymakers” do as much in The Fairy Queen . I can’t say that I get much of a surround effect from four speakers on this SACD, but the engineering is excellent, with forward imaging and clean, balanced sound across the spectrum. There’s a lot to be said for several alternatives to Savall: Goodman for completeness, since he includes most of Purcell’s theatrical music on three CDs, and Christie (Harmonia Mundi 901308) for using several fine singers, including Veronique Gens and Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, instead of relying entirely on instrumentalists. But Savall and Le Concert des Nations remain in the top tier of performances for me. If you haven’t heard them before in this music, by all means give them a try. fanfarearchive.com Tracklist: The Prophetess (1690) 1 First Musik 2:09 2 Second Musik 1:58 3 Symphony For The Trumpets & Violins 1:53 4 Retornella 1:26 5 Dance Of The Furies: Soft Music 3:38 6 The Chair Dance 2:15 7 Retornella 0:54 The Fairy Queen (1692) 8 The First Act Suite: 1 2:22 9 The First Act Suite: 2 0:59 10 The First Act Suite: 3 0:57 11 The First Act Suite: 4 1:29 12 The First Act Suite: 5 2:37 13 The First Act Suite: 6 1:11 14 The Second Act Suite: 1 1:08 15 The Second Act Suite: 2 1:36 16 The Second Act Suite: 3 2:26 17 The Second Act Suite: 4 1:49 18 The Second Act Suite: 5 2:07 19 The Second Act Suite: 6 1:25 20 The Third Act Suite: 1 3:03 21 The Third Act Suite: 2 2:05 22 The Third Act Suite: 3 1:05 23 The Third Act Suite: 4 1:54 24 The Third Act Suite: 5 1:52 25 The Third Act Suite: 6 1:08 26 The Fourth Act Suite: 1 6:07 27 The Fourth Act Suite: 2 1:06 28 The Fourth Act Suite: 3 1:09 29 The Fifth Act Suite: 1 1:21 30 The Fifth Act Suite: 2 1:44 31 The Fifth Act Suite: 3 1:53 32 The Fifth Act Suite: 4 0:57 33 The Fifth Act Suite: 5 2:28 34 The Fifth Act Suite: 6 1:11 Total playing time: 62:53 Musicians: Le Concert Des nations, directed by Jordi Savall First Master recorded at La Collégiale De Cardona (Catalunya) September 1996; Remastered in DSD in 2009 Checksums: MD5: 7564201f507cbfd8bc8c59d47e93bd4e *Le Concert des Nations direction Jordi Savall - The Fairy Queen & The Prophetess.iso sfv: Le Concert des Nations direction Jordi Savall - The Fairy Queen & The Prophetess.iso 112F98E2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pStkjZbxkk https://www.filefactory.com/folder/26d7c78839b4bd93