Purcell: Devotional songs & Anthems La Rêveuse

• Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
• 1 Hear me, O Lord, the great support, Z.133 (devotional song) 06:37
• 2 O, I’m sick of life, Z.140 (devotional song) 05:58
• 3 Since God so tender a regard, Z143 (devotional song) 04:59
• GodfreyFinger (ca. 1655-1730): Sonata quarta in D minor RI-148
• 4 I. Adagio 02:56
• 5 II. Allegro 02:09
• 6 III. Adagio - Allegro - Adagio 03:31
• 7 Plung’d in the confines of despair, Z.142 (devotional song) 05:30
• 8 Blessed is he that considereth the poor, Z.7 (anthem) 05:26
• 9 The Aspiration: How long, great God, Z.189 (devotional song) 03:54
• 10 Division No. 8 in G Major 04:00
• 11 When on my sick bed I languish, Z.144 (devotional song) 06:06
• 12 With sick and famish’d eyes, Z.200 (devotional song) 06:46
• 13 Division in G Minor RI-140 03:59
• 14 I was glad, Z.19 (Harmonia Sacra version, anthem) 05:22
• 15 Lord, not to us, Z.137 (anthem) 02:35
• Total Runtime 01:09:48

Info for Purcell: Devotional songs & Anthems

Purcell's devotional songs for three male voices are still little known and shrouded in a certain mystery. Yet these meditations on the frailty of human existence are among his finest and most moving works. Gifted with profound intuition of the emotions that can emerge from the union of text and music, this formidable composer, who understood and served the vocal music of his time so well, continues here the work begun by the masters of the preceding generation such as Henry Lawes.

La Rêveuse:
Jeffrey Thompson, tenor
Marc Mauillon, tenor
Geoffroy Buffière, bass
Florence Bolton, viola da gamba
Pierre Gallon, harpsichord & organ
Benjamin Perrot, theorba

La Rêveuse:
Founded by Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton, La Rêveuse is an ensemble of solo musicians which aims to bring back to life selected works of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, that effervescent age so rich in artistic experiments and inventions of all kinds. By favouring an approach founded on eloquence, mastery of colour and a rich continuo sound the musicians of La Rêveuse wish to convey to audiences the rhetorical, spiritual and poetic substance of these repertories.

La Rêveuse has attracted favourable attention with its concerts in France (notably at Les Concerts Parisiens, La Folle Journée de Nantes, Fontevraud Abbey, Pontoise, the Radio-France Montpellier Festival, and Lanvellec), and also appears abroad, at such events as the Cambridge Summer Festival, the Organizatie Oude Muziek season in the Netherlands, La Folle Journée in Japan, the French Cultural Centre in Cairo, and in Switzerland, the USA, and Canada. The group also works regularly in co-production with Benjamin Lazar's company Le Théâtre de l'Incrédule, notably on L'Autre Monde ou Les Estats & Empires de la Lune by Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, which enjoyed great success at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in April 2008 and has toured widely since then, notably to the Théâtre de Caen and ThéâtreNational Populaire de Villeurbanne.

The ensemble's recordings (Locke/Purcell, K617 2006; Purcell, Mirare 2008; Buxtehude/Reinken, Mirare 2009; Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Mirare 2010, Sébastien de Brossard, Mirare 2011) have all been acclaimed by the French and international press.

In 2011, La Rêveuse created a new stage show, Les Mille et une nuits, a dramatic adaptation by Louise Moaty and Bertrand Cuiller of Antoine Galland's early eighteenth-century translation of The Arabian Nights; the group also provided the musical sequences for a new production of Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, directed by Catherine Hiegel with François Morel in the role of M. Jourdain (CADO Orléans / Théâtre de la Porte St Martin Paris / nationwide tour in 2012-13).

In 2012, after a concert tour of the USA and Canada with the tenor Jeffrey Thompson, La Rêveuse premiered its new production, Concerto Luminoso, in collaboration with the visual artist Vincent Vergone (Compagnie Le Praxinoscope), at Noirlac Abbey. This production is already scheduled for many performances in other venues.

La Rêveuse receives support from the DRAC Centre - Ministère de la Culture and the Région Centre. It is a member of FEVIS (Fédération des Ensembles Vocaux et Instrumentaux Spécialisés).

Booklet for Purcell: Devotional songs & Anthems