Sweeter Than Roses

Anna Dennis (soprano) & Ensemble Sounds Baroque, Julian Perkins

Director and keyboardist Julian Perkins and his acclaimed ensemble Sounds Baroque join with soprano Anna Dennis to this celebration of the songs Henry Purcell. Kown for his undisputed mastery in setting the English language, Purcell also absorbed influences from both French and italian styles, and the programm is complemented with close contemporaries who also worked in Lodon - a guitar suite from italian Francesco Corbetta and a harpsichord suite from Giovanni Battista Draghi, along with two songs from the earlier Stuart court composr Henry Lawes.

Corbetta:
 Suite in C

Draghi, G B:
 Suite in E minor

Lawes, H:
 A Lover’s Legacy
 No Reprieve

Purcell:
 An Evening Hymn 'Now that the sun hath veiled his light', Z193
 Celia's fond, too long I've lov'd her, Z364
 Cupid, the slyest rogue alive, Z367
 How blest are the shepherds (from King Arthur)
 I came, I saw, and was undone, Z375
 In the black dismal dungeon of despair, Z190
 Love arms himself in Celia's eyes, Z392
 O! fair Cedaria, hide those eyes Z402
 On the brow of Richmond Hill Z405
 She loves and she confesses too, Z413
 Sweeter than Roses (from Pausanius, the Betrayer of his Country, Z585)
 Urge me no more, Z426

"Dennis hasn’t got the classic Purcell voice…But the soprano’s oaked tone and more thickly painted vocal lines bring an attractive shift of perspective to this, her first solo recital disc…It’s the instrumental contributions that really make the disc. Perkins’s harpsichord offers sparkling commentary in ‘She loves and she confesses too’, vamping up the ground bass to almost Nyman-like intensity."
Gramophone Magazine - March 2019

"The colours of a guitar and a harpsichord respectively provide engaging contrast in Suites by two Italian contemporaries of Purcell, Corbetta and Draghi.”"
classicalsource.com - March 2019 ****

"Anna Dennis sings Purcell with chaste beauty, dignified and cool as marble."
BBC Music Magazine - April 2019 ***