This fiftieth release in Hyperion’s glorious ‘English Orpheus’ series takes us on a Shakespearean Odyssey through Titus Andronicus, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, Much Ado about Nothing, Henry VIII, Cymbeline, Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest. Pride of place, of course, goes to Thomas Arne’s immortal settings, but the disc additionally explores some remarkable songs by his predecessors and contemporaries.
'The Parley of Instruments, Rachel Brown, director Peter Holman and the Hyperion recording team all deserve applause' (Gramophone)
'With the programme arranged by play rather than chronology, creating an alluring stylistic variety within its 100-or-so-year span, and excellent sound, music for Shakespeare doesn't come much better than this' (BBC Music Magazine)
'I'm sure that if it wasn't for the pioneering series of recordings named The English Orpheus we would find ourselves less the richer for the discoveries this series has brought to our notions of English musical heritage' (The Organ)
'Programmed with Peter Holman's usual ingenuity and originality' (Goldberg Early Music Magazine)
Recording details: October 2003; St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, United Kingdom; Produced by Martin Compton; Engineered by Tony Faulkner; Release date: April 2004;
