Emma Kirkby, London Baroque - Christmas Music (2000)

Posted By: tirexiss

Date: Feb. 26, 2023

BIS have come up with that seasonal rarity: the intelligent, considered and beautifully presented Christmas album. Emma Kirkby's pure tone, keen intelligence and utterly natural musicality need no introduction - she has, after all, been delighting us all for decades now.
No admirer of either baroque music or Emma Kirkby will want to miss this impeccably programmed disc. The short Böddecker piece acts as a perfect warm-up. It is gentle and pure - the ideal vehicle for Kirkby's voice. Listening to the Cantatas of Alessandro Scarlatti takes us to another, altogether more exalted world. These pieces (and many other cantatas by this composer also) are fruits ripe for the picking, for Scarlatti père's suave and sophisticated language is infinitely rewarding. London Baroque displays its finely honed sensitivity in these pieces, which gain their most committed advocate in the form of Kirkby. It is my hope that this aspect of this release will encourage people to explore this rich repertoire further - perhaps by heading for the countertenor Brian Asawa's series of Scarlatti recordings on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. If you need to sample one track on this album, try the peaceful Aria pastorale Nacque, col Gran Messia which ends Non sò qual più m'ingombra.
Another refreshing aspect of this offering is the spontaneity London Baroque bring to the more famous items. The Pachelbel Canon positively bursts with life: rhythms are taut and jauntily sprung, while the Air on the G string is the perfect interlude (it flows along at a beautifully liquid tempo) between the delightful Bach arias. Corelli's Christmas Concerto is given the tenderest performance imaginable by London Baroque. – Colin Clarke

discogs

Track List:

Philipp Friedrich Böddecker (1607-1683)
[1] Natus est Jesus
for soprano and basso continuo

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
[2]-[5] Non sò qual più m'ingombra
Cantata Pastorale for soprano, two violins and basso continuo (1716)

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
[6]-[7] Canon & Gigue
for three violins and basso continuo

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
[8] Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 - Öffne dich mein ganzes Herze
[9] Orchestral Suite in D major, BWV 1068 - Air
[10] Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147a - Bereite dir, Jesu, noch itzo die Bahn

Alessandro Scarlatti
[11]-[16] O di Betlemme, altera povertà venturosa
Cantata per la Natale for soprano, two violins, viola and basso continuo

Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
[17]-[19] Concerto grosso in G minor, Op.6 No.8
'Fatto per la notte di natale'

Performers:
Emma Kirkby, soprano ([1]-[5], [8], [10]-[16])
London Baroque
Charles Medlam, direction

EAC Log

Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016

EAC extraction logfile from 13. May 2018, 18:09

Emma Kirkby, London Baroque / Christmas Music

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Thanks to the Original ripper A-Z!

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