AUGUSTA READ THOMAS The Auditions

THE AUDITIONS

Early Opera Company / Christian Curnyn ECCLES The Judgment of Paris - Three Mad Songs

At last we have a recording of John Eccles’s Judgment of Paris, the pastoral masque composed for a competition in 1701. The text itself, by Congreve, presents a contest between three goddesses (Juno, Pallas and Venus) for a golden apple, judged by a lowly shepherd (Paris). In the competition, organised by a group of English noblemen, Eccles came second to John Weldon, followed by Daniel Purcell and Gottfried Finger; Eccles’s version alone has stood the test of time, but except for a recording of the opening “Symphony for Mercury” by the Parley of Instruments (Hyperion, 11/88), none of the music has until now been available on CD.

Eccles’s one-act “semi-opera” calls for five solo singers, a choir and relatively modest instrumental resources – four-part strings, four trumpets, two recorders, kettledrums and continuo. Absent are castrati and countertenors. The music is tuneful, the boundaries between recitatives and airs often blurred. To address the lack of anguish or whiff of treachery in the masque, three “mad” arias by the composer, each sung by a different soprano, are included at the end. The Early Opera Company band delivers delicately balanced homophonic accompaniments to the airs, varied by ground basses that remind us of Henry Purcell, and occasional solos, duos and quartets. As charming as it is, it doesn’t bear comparison with opera seria of the day and, in particular, Handel’s Rinaldo, presented to London audiences a decade later.

Christian Curnyn offers an unaffected, faithful reading of the printed score. If anything, it is understated, the instrumental forces reduced (the premiere employed 85 musicians in addition to the “verse singers”) and the recording acoustic intimate. Lucy Crowe’s Venus may win the prize, but all of the soloists contribute beautifully judged portrayals. (Julie Anne Sadie / Gramophone)

Claire Booth / Christopher Glynn PERCY GRAINGER Folk Music

Soprano Claire Booth and pianist Christopher Glynn explore the fascinating and multifaceted folk song output of the original and inventive composer Percy Grainger. Percy Grainger was an extraordinary human being and musician - a precocious pianist, colourful composer and world traveller, a peculiarly passionate and emotive eccentric whose fertile mind produced an expansive oeuvre of original and inventive works. Above all Grainger is best known for his most enduring musical endeavour, his exploration and dissemination of folk music. With this release, soprano Claire Booth and pianist Christopher Glynn, who have spent decades delving into Grainger's folk music output, document their fascination with the multifaceted firebrand, and bring his alluring music to a wider audience. Grainger's success resulted in multiple versions of his folk song settings, for orchestra, wind band, chamber ensemble and choir. But it's perhaps his versions for voice and piano that are the most characteristic, bringing out Grainger's own highly individual style at the keyboard. Claire's and Christopher's survey, one of the most comprehensive available on the market today, offers a variety of transcriptions of songs found in collections from the British Isles as well as discoveries Grainger heard as he roamed throughout the field. The album concludes with Grainger's most celebrated piece, English Country Gardens, in which Claire makes a cameo appearance on piano, joining Christopher in a rousing duet. "The exemplary soprano soloist, handling the slippery vocal lines as if there was nothing remotely challenging about them" - The Guardian "At Carnegie Hall pianist Christopher Glynn was an exemplary partner, by turns impossibly delicate, colourfully nimble and thunderously firm." (Opera News)