Composer: John Blow, Pelham Humfrey, Henry Purcell, William Webb
Performer: Tim Mead, La Nuova Musica
Conductor: David Bates
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Pentatone
Catalogue: PTC5187047
Release: 2023
Size: 384 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Purcell: If music be the food of love Z379A
02. Blow: Lovely Selina
03. Purcell: The pale and the purple rose
04. Humfrey: A Hymne to God the Father
05. Blow: Venus and Adonis: Overture
06. Purcell: In the black dismal dungeon of despair, Z190
07. Purcell: Be welcome then, great Sir
08. Webb: Powerful Morpheus
09. Purcell: Arise, my Muse (from Arise, my Muse, Z320)
10. Purcell: So when the glittering Queen of Night
11. Blow: Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell. So ceas’d the rival crew when Purcell came
12. Purcell: Vouchsafe, O Lord (from Te Deum in D, Z232)
13. Purcell: Chaconne (From King Arthur)
14. Purcell: Plainte – O, Let Me Weep (from The Fairy Queen, Z629)
15. Purcell: By beauteous softness (from Now does the glorious day appear, Z332)
16. Blow: Poor Celadon, he sighs in vain
17. Purcell: Crown the altar (from Celebrate this Festival – Birthday Ode for Queen Mary, Z321)
18. Humfrey: Sleep downy sleep come close mine eyes
19. Purcell: An Evening Hymn ‘Now that the sun hath veiled his light’, Z193
Countertenor Tim Mead presents Beauteous Softness, a programme containing restrained yet profoundly moving songs by seventeenth-century English composers such as Purcell, Blow, Humfrey and Webb, in collaboration with La Nuova Musica and David Bates. The album also showcases the rich musical context that provided the foundation from which Purcell rose to prominence.
Tim Mead is one of today’s most in-demand countertenors, and returns to Pentatone after having starred in a complete recording of Handel’s Messiah (2020). La Nuova Musica and its artistic director David Bates are among the most exciting Baroque ensembles of today. Their Pentatone debut with Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice was both BBC Music Magazine’s Choice and Gramophone Editor’s Choice in December 2019, while Handel’s Unsung Heroes (2021) was BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Month and selected among the Best Classical Music Albums of 2022 by Gramophone.