Vivaldi, Handel by Grace Davidson

Antonio Vivaldi, Georg Friedrich Händel

Grace Davidson

Vivaldi, Handel

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212053720
Catnr: SIGCD 537
Release date: 06 July 2018
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Label
Signum Classics

UPC
0635212053720

Catalogue number
SIGCD 537

Release date
06 July 2018

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Signum Records are proud to present the debut orchestral recording from Grace Davidson, one of the UK’s leading British sopranos specialising in Baroque music. She is joined by some of Europe’s leading Baroque musicians from the Academy of Ancient Music to perform a selection of works by Handel and Vivaldi, with performances led by violinist Bojan Čičić under artistic director Joseph Crouch.

Grace won the Early Music Prize while studying singing at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Since then, she has worked with the leading Baroque ensembles of our day, singing under the batons of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul McCreesh, Philippe Herreweghe and Harry Christophers. Her discography includes a decade of albums with The Sixteen, many of which feature her as soloist – Handel’s Jeptha (as Angel), Dixit Dominus, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Pianto della Madonna, and the Lutheran Masses of Bach.

Dit is de eerste orkestopname van Grace Davidson, een van de vooraanstaande Britse sopranen die zich specialiseert in barokmuziek. De Amerikaanse componist en dirigent Eric Whitacre over haar: "Grace Davidson heeft een van de mooiste en puurste sopraan stemmen op aarde." In een keur aan werken van Händel en Vivaldi wordt ze voor dit album bijgestaan door enkele toonaangevende Europese barokmusici van de Academy of Ancient Music, geleid door violist Bojan Čičić onder artistiek leiderschap van Joseph Crouch. Gezegd mag worden dat de sopraan zich in haar eerste opname met orkest goed staande weet te houden.

Een genot om deze opname te maken met dit orkest

Grace Davidson: “Het was een groot genoegen om deze glorieuze geestelijke werken op te nemen na ze zo vaak voor publiek te hebben uitgevoerd. En een genot om een opname te maken met zo’n prachtig orkest in de parelachtige akoestiek van de All Hallows’ Church, Gospel Oak. Ik hoop dat je deze gevoelens zult delen als je het resultaat hoort.”

Grace Davidson won de Early Music Prize terwijl ze zang studeerde aan de Royal Academy of Music in Londen. Sindsdien werkte ze met hedendaagse gerenommeerde barokensembles en zong ze onder de batons van Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul McCreesh, Philippe Herreweghe en Harry Christophers. Haar discografie bevat een tiental albums met The Sixteen, waarop ze vaak als solist te horen is – Händels Jeptha (als Engel), Dixit Dominus, Monteverdi’s Vespers uit 1610, Pianto della Madonna, en de Lutherse missen van Bach.

Artist(s)

Grace Davidson (soprano)

Grace Davidson is an English soprano who specialises in the performance and recording of Baroque music. Winner of the prestigious Early Music Prize whilst studying singing at London’s Royal Academy of Music, she has since carved a successful international career working with the leading Baroque vocal ensembles of our day under the batons of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul McCreesh, Philippe Herreweghe and Harry Christophers. As a Baroque soloist Grace has appeared on many of the world’s most famous stages, from Purcell’s Come Ye Sons of Art at London’s Barbican to his Ode to St Cecilia and Bach’s Magnificat at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw to Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Lincoln Centre, New York. Her discography includes a decade of CDs with The Sixteen, many of which feature her as a soloist: Handel’s Jephtha (as “Angel”) and Dixit Dominus, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers and Pianto Della Madonna and the Lutheran Masses of Bach; she is also the soloist for a recording of Faure?’s Requiem by Tenebrae and the LSO: “Grace Davidson made Pie Jesu the simplest and most precious of gifts.” The Times.

Future solo performing engagements include a UK tour of Monteverdi’s Vespers with Harry Christophers, and performances of Purcell’s King Arthur in France and Germany for Paul McCreesh. Recording projects include Handel’s Silete Venti and Gloria for Signum Records plus a recording of Dowland lute songs.

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The Academy of Ancient Music

The Academy of Ancient music was founded by Christopher Hogwood in 1973. The orchestra borrowed its name from the original Academy of Ancient Music, which was founded back in 1726 for the purpose of rediscovering music that was composed more than twenty years earlier.
Over the next three decades the AAM’s fame spread to every corner of the globe as it built up a huge discography which now totals over 300 albums – award-winning recordings of the great baroque masterworks; celebrated opera releases starring Cecilia Bartoli, Dame Emma Kirkby and Dame Joan Sutherland; pioneering cycles of the Mozart and Beethoven symphonies. The Academy of Ancient Music has performed live on every continent except Antarctica, inspiring music lovers worldwide with the power of music as it was originally intended.
Richard Egarr — a leading light in the next generation of early music specialists — succeeded Hogwood as Music Director in September 2006. The orchestra continues to work with an increasingly diverse roster of guest directors — Japanese Bach expert Masaaki Suzuki, acclaimed Italian violinist-virtuoso Giuliano Carmignola; conductors Bernard Labadie, Paul Goodwin, Stephen Cleobury and Stephen Layton — ensuring that fresh ideas and approaches continually inspire the group.
The performances of The Academy of Ancient Music explore the soundworlds which inspired Bach, Handel and Haydn. It revels in the expressive power of old instruments — flutes made out of wood, trumpets without valves, strings woven from gut. The size of the orchestra is tailored to the unique character of each piece, and each one of the musicians takes a key part in the music-making. Historical knowledge inspires new musical possibilities; artistic creativity makes these possibilities come alive. This golden combination guides everything The Academy of Ancient Music does.

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Composer(s)

Georg Friedrich Händel

Georg Frideric Handel was a composer from the Baroque period. Handel wrote primarily music-dramatic works: 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, which comes to a total amount of almost 2000 arias! Furthermore, he composed English, Italian and Latin sacred music, serenades and odes. Among his instrumental music are several organ concertos, concerti grossi, overtures, oboe sonatas and violinsonates, along with many solo works for harpsichord and organ. Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today. Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann...

Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today.

Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann and Scarlatti, Handel was by far the most cosmopolitan. When Handel was a child, his father, who was a surgeon at the court of Saxe-Weissenfels, imagined a juridical career for him. But his musical talents did not go unnoticed at the court, which forced the father to let him study music. In Hamburg, Handel befriended Mattheson. Together they visited Buxtehude, the greatest organ player of his time, in 1703 (two years before Bach did). At that time, Handel was already an excellent musician, but it wasn't until his stay in Italy - the land of opera - that his talents and skills truly started to flourish. Back in Germany, he received a position at the court of Hannover, where the noblemen had a connection to the British throne. Thanks to these connections, Handel decided to move to London, after which a puzzling history of intrigues and political games started. For example, it is unclear what the exact political message of his famous Water Music is, which was composed for a boat ride on the river Thames by King George. Initially, Handel focused on Italian opera during his stay in London, but from the 1730s onwards he started composing English spoken oratorios, with the celebrated Messiah at its peak.

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Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is recognised as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. He composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi (who had been ordained as a Catholic priest) was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had some...

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is recognised as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. He composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons.
Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi (who had been ordained as a Catholic priest) was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had some success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua and Vienna. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for preferment. However, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival, and Vivaldi himself died less than a year later in poverty.

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