King Arthur

Baroquestock. King Arthur

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Baroquestock Festival
Purcell: King Arthur
Istante Collective, Matthew Brown, Natalie Coury
Heath Street Baptist Church, Hampstead. 10 May 2016

Under the title of “Possible Planets, Musical Spheres”, the latest annual Baroquestock Festival has been bringing the crowds into Hampstead’s homely Heath Street Baptist Church, notably for two performances of Purcell’s King Arthur. The original was first performed in May 1691 in the form of the very English Restoration genre of semi-opera, combining a spoken play with a series of musical masques at intervals during the play, reflecting aspects of the play, but usually without any of the principal roles of the play. Although it is usually performed just as a musical suite, this innovative production included enough elements of the spoken text and action to get a feel of a 17th century performance, aided by some impressive acting from the five singers, and real acting and narration from Christopher Hunter and dance from Tamra Hinson.

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Purcell: King Arthur (1691)

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Purcell: King Arthur (1691)
Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh
Concert: St John’s Smith Square, 30 October 2019
CD: Signum/Winged Lion SIGCD589. 2CD. 97’38

Purcell King Arthur 1691

The new recording by the Gabrieli Consort & Players of Purcell’s King Arthur was launched at an impressive concert performance at St John’s, Smith Square. Lacking the two biggest-name singers from the recording (Carolyn Sampson and Roderick Williams), the concert was otherwise the same as the CD apart from the late replacement bass Robert Davies, standing in for Marcus Farnsworth and a smaller orchestra. Omitting all the spoken text of the original play, the music of King Arthur makes for a musically excellent, but texturally confusing, listen. None of the main characters of the King Arthur story appears. The music occurred at intervals during the play, generally as little masques, only occasionally as one-off songs responding to moments in the play. Continue reading →

Purcell: King Arthur

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Purcell: King Arthur
Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier
Alpha Classics. Alpha 430. 2CDs 57’41+40’18

It is often assumed that English opera started with Handel, and missed out on the entire 17th-century development of opera. This is probably due to that very English concept of semi-opera, with musical bits and bobs inserted into a play, with the music based around the supporting cast, rather than the key personnel.  Although, some of the famous bits from Purcell are known but, apart from Dido and Aeneas, we rarely hear the complete music of The Fairy Queen or King Arther. Rarer still is a performance that includes the spoken text of the plays in which the music was performed. I remember the bemused looks on Glyndebourne faces as their Fairy Queen opened with around 45 minutes of spoken text. This outstanding recording, from the distinguished Belgian consort Vox Luminis and their director Lionel Meunier will help to bring more attention to the world of 17th-century English semi-opera. Musically, King Arthur is gorgeous, Dryden’s text creating several moments for Purcell to weave his magic with. Continue reading →