Catalogue # 4782260

ABC Classic FM CD of the Week: 8th of August 2011

Since her early success in Glyndebourne’s now famous production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Danielle de Niese has become most closely associated with the music of the Baroque. The New York Times commented: “A voice seductive enough to woo gods as well as mortals”.

With her third solo album, Danielle de Niese embodies the Beauty of the Baroque with an album of arias from the English, German, and Italian traditions, accompanied by the leading European Baroque orchestra, The English Concert, under Harry Bicket. Many popular arias feature, including Handel’s, ‘Ombra mai fu’, and highlights from JS Bach’s Cantatas are contrasted with much loved solo songs by Purcell and Dowland.

Decca’s star countertenor Andreas Scholl joins Danielle de Niese for duets including the ravishing duet “Pur ti miro” from Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea.

Bach, J S: Cantata BWV202 ‘Weichet Nur, betrübte Schatten’ (Wedding Cantata), Sheep May Safely Graze, from Cantata BWV208
Dowland: Come again, sweet love doth now invite, What if I never speed?
Handel: Ombra mai fu (from Serse), Samson: Let the bright seraphim, Acis and Galatea: Heart, the seat of soft delight, Io t'abbraccio (from Rodelinda), The Triumph of Time and Truth: Guardian angels
Monteverdi: Pur ti miro (I gaze upon you) from L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Quel sguardo sdegnosetto
Pergolesi: Stabat mater: Opening duet
Purcell: When I am laid in earth (from Dido and Aeneas)

Danielle de Niese (soprano)
The English Concert, Harry Bicket