Equal with the Best Abroad
Donald Macleod focuses on the theatre music Purcell wrote under a new regime - of William and Mary.
In the last five years of his life Purcell was to contribute music to around 50 stage productions. The reign of William and Mary brought about a scaling back of court music, so the composer turned to the theatre as a source of income. He became a more public figure in the process, and began to work with playwrights such as John Dryden, chief poet of the Restoration. With Donald Macleod.
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Music Played
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Henry Purcell
Hark, how the songsters (Timon of Athens)
Performer: Honor Sheppard (soprano) Suzanne Green (soprano), The Deller Consort, Alfred Deller (director)
- Harmonia Mundi HMA 190214.
- 4.
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Henry Purcell
Circe (Extracts)
Performer: Giles Tomkins (bass), Peter Mahon (countertenor), Giles Tomkins (bass), Brian Duyn (tenor), Neil Aronoff (bass), Nicole Bower (soprano), Rosalind McArthur (alto), Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon (conductor)
- Naxos 8.570149.
- 21 to 26.
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Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell - Dioclesian (Act 2)
Performer: The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock (conductor)
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Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell - Songs from Amphitryon
Performer: Martyn Hill (tenor), Judith Nelson (soprano), The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood (conductor)
Broadcasts
- Tue 10 May 201112:00BBC Radio 3
- Tue 10 May 201118:30BBC Radio 3
- Tue 21 Feb 201212:00BBC Radio 3
- Tue 21 Feb 201218:30BBC Radio 3
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The complete set of Radio 3 Beethoven Unleashed podcasts, with Donald Macleod.
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Georgia Mann and neurosurgeon Henry Marsh examine the composer's numerous health problems
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Visit the extensive audio archive of Radio 3 programmes about Composers and their works.
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A man out of time – why Parry's music and ideas were at odds with his image...
The composer of Jerusalem was very far from the conservative figure his image suggests.
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