[This isn’t really a “review” but a recommendation–one of the highest distinction. To legitimately call something a “classic”, any work of art needs time, and I believe in the case of this recorded performance almost 40 years ago(!), I think this “classic” by soprano Emma Kirkby and recital partner, lutenist Anthony Rooley, is deserving of the designation.]
Combing through and sorting titles in my collection’s “early music” shelves one recent evening I came across this one, which I hadn’t heard in years. Recorded at a recital at Dorset’s Forde Abbey on June 2, 1985 (and only 46 minutes long) places it (at least in North America) among the earliest CD issues (in 1986).
My original copy had been destroyed in a flood 10 or so years ago–literally!–yet I was able to replace it with a used copy–well worth it because this happens to be one of the finest early music vocal recitals in the catalog, never surpassed either in the perfection of Kirkby’s singing nor in quality of sound (recorded to the highest analog techniques that Hyperion was known for, and before the great analog vs digital wars had reached their peak).
Of course it helped immensely that the program was chosen with great care in order to best showcase not a “greatest hits” sampling of period repertoire, but rather a true recital, sufficient in length, engaging in variety. Musically, all the interrelated factors that apply to any other solo vocal performance apply here, and at this point Kirkby had–and could execute with such seeming ease–everything required: nuance, phrasing, breath control, articulation, etc, along with an all-important rapport with partner Anthony Rooley.
Don’t let those early recording dates give you pause. If you are a fan of early vocal music and you happened to miss this, here is truly one to savor. Later in her career Kirkby’s recordings could be inconsistent from release to release, some great, others unreliable. But this one was and remains at the very top.
