United Kingdom Henry Purcell, Daniel Purcell: The Sixteen / Harry Christophers (conductor). Wigmore Corridor, London, 13.1.2025. (MB)
Henry Purcell – Sound the trumpet, beat the drum, Z335; The Indian Queen, Z630; Catch (To all lovers of music), Z262
Daniel Purcell – The Masque of Hymen
This live performance from The Sixteen (smaller than sixteen in vocal quantity, bigger in vocal and instrumental quantity) and Harry Christophers introduced Purcell’s The Indian Queen to the Wigmore Corridor stage, together with a further, barely associated act, The Masque of Hymen, by Henry’s brother Daniel; Henry’s 1687 welcome music for James II, Sound the trumpet, beat the drum; and a catch to phrases by the London music writer John Carr, interpolated into the principal work on the programme. A full corridor greeted these New(ish) Yr performances with a heat in welcome distinction to the temperatures exterior. If I ought to nonetheless like in some unspecified time in the future to see a (moderately) trustworthy staging, with not less than a few of the play by Dryden and Sir Robert Howard that gives its precise dramatic content material – one can dream – this live performance efficiency was definitely preferable to the quagmire of self-indulgence into which Peter Sellars sank Purcell’s semi-opera 9 years in the past for ENO (and elsewhere, overview right here).
As usually after I hearken to interval devices, it took my ears time to settle. It appeared to take a minute or two for performances to settle too, the opening symphony first diffident then abrasive, but counterpoint remained clear and directed. Hand on coronary heart, I ought to a lot want to listen to trendy devices, however there’s little level attending one thing else and moaning about it. Sound the Trumpet provided many vocal virtues, a declamatory opening, assisted by wealthy continuo (harp included), then fuller orchestra and choir. There was no mistaking the very English, even Anglican, sound, likewise for the tenor and continuo ‘Crown the yr, and crown the day’, however the fullness of sonority was spectacular for a choir of solely 9. The duet ‘Let Caesar and Urania [James and Mary of Modena] dwell’ possessed the correct kind of Purcellian catchiness, and there was a high quality sense general of Restoration grandeur, not least within the choral climax to ‘What larger bliss can Destiny bestow’ and the following Chaconne.
If Daniel Purcell’s contribution was not at all times on the identical stage of inspiration – nonetheless much less that of The Indian Queen correct – it was by no means lower than competent and nice to listen to, and a few elements fairly greater than that. Catchy rhythms and melody got here to the fore within the refrain ‘Come all, and sing nice Hymen’s reward,’ and recorders provided welcome timbral selection afterward. One soprano – I’m not positive of her identify – provided fairly a spark in Cupid’s ‘The thrill of wedlock quickly are previous’. Her reappearances all through the live performance proved constant delights.
The nonetheless larger maturity of Henry’s remaining years shone via following the interval. There may be absolutely little doubt that, efficiency points apart, The Indian Queen accommodates a few of his most interesting music; that’s definitely as soon as once more the way it felt right here. The catch provided each viewers amusement and wonderful musical virtues, following instrumental music by which finely sprung rhythms appeared to behave as brokers of melodic and harmonic invention and its revelation. Every of the musical acts impressed. Within the first, the composer’s inimitable mixture of rigour and adaptability, so prophetic for twentieth-century admirers, got here strongly to the fore in dialogue between the Indian Boy and Woman. The closing duet proved really beguiling. The hissing of Envy and two followers in Act II, and the darker tones of Ismeron’s recitative in Act III – ‘the very best piece of recitative in our language’ (Charles Burney) – provided in tandem with the air ‘By the croaking of the toad’ a panorama of Purcellian invention. Introduction of woodwind and the plangent harmonies that launched the Aerial spirits contributed additional to that impression, these spirits themselves (and Christophers) giving a efficiency each pacy and aethereal. ‘They inform us that you simply mighty powers above’ within the fourth act proved a highpoint of the night, as transferring because it was mellifluous, while the fifth and remaining act went, if something additional, starting from choral grandeur to a melancholy that verged upon the tragic. The English Orpheus was, as he has been over greater than three centuries, as soon as once more reborn.
Mark Berry
Featured Picture: Harry Christophers conducts The Sixteen on the Wigmore Corridor © WH
