Alison Balsom’s playing is stunning. The tone and intonation are fabulous; the lip trills, ornaments and runs simply staggering. How she achieves this level of technical assurance on an instrument without valves is remarkable and she makes it all sound like a piece of cake. Throughout the collection she is expertly accompanied by Trevor Pinnock…and his excellent orchestra is the perfect choice for a programme of music such as this.
Handel’s
Birthday Ode and Purcell’s
Sound the Trumpet are especially moving and the counter-tenor, Iestyn Davies, is a formidable partner for Ms Balsom, offering as he does a purity of intonation and clear diction. Lucy Crowe’s rendition of
The Plaint from Purcell’s
The Fairy Queen is sensitively and beautifully sung…
The arrangements of the suites from Purcell’s
King Arthur and
The Fairy Queen by Alison Balsom both work very well as does Trevor Pinnock’s arrangement of
Water Piece…The disc concludes with an arrangement of Handel’s
Oboe Concerto in B flat…Like the rest of the programme it is played with assured virtuosity and ravishing tone. The recording throughout is sparkling, warm and realistically balanced. Only the most unbending of purist zealots would fail to love this record. © 2013
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