This is a generally
very recommendable, slightly small-scale
recording that comes with only one serious
caveat and that’s the sound. The Carmelite
Monastery, Kew has a very swimmy acoustic
that the Tall Poppies engineers haven’t
been entirely successful in taming,
with the result that there are acoustic
shifts. Whether the performers were
all too aware of this is a moot point
but I suspect they were. It’s particularly
noticeable in the opening bass cantata,
Cuopre tal volta il cielo, where
soloist Michael Leighton Jones is inclined
to be a bit bluff in his delivery and
doesn’t employ quite enough light in
the voice – inflections tend to be rather
abrupt and in the second movement he
breaks his divisions somewhat awkwardly.
I’m not sure if this is a breath or
tempo matter but the final Aria is much,
much better. He has a light bass (verging
toward baritone) but it’s malleable
and he is a truly musical singer despite
one of two imperfections.
Tu fedel? Tu constante?
is notable for the good solo violin
and the soprano of Miriam Allan whose
expressive agility is well deployed
here though the work gives her less
direct scope. The third singer, alto
Christopher Field makes an equally attractive
show in his cantata, Mi palpita il
cor. His voice tends to be a touch
veiled in the middle register but is
very much more liquid at the top of
his range, where it doesn’t sound starved
as a counter tenor’s can. The soprano
and alto duet cantata Amarilli vezzosa
(il duello amoroso) shows the two
voices in timbral accord – fluency,
evenness of tone production, and real
élan in the Aria Amarilli,
quell nocchiero.
Jacqueline Ogeil leads
Arcadia with sensitivity, giving her
players opportunities for colour and
rhythmic drive. It’s only the acoustic
that lets down the disc – and then it’s
not a fatal drawback.
Jonathan Woolf