John Eliot Gardiner will celebrate his 80th birthday on 20th April 2023. On 7th April, we are releasing a 64-CD boxset including his complete Erato Recordings, and are also celebrating this wonderful conductor with two of his most emblematic albums to be released on vinyl: Purcell's King Arthur and Handel's Water Music.
As John Eliot Gardiner converted his Monteverdi Orchestra to early instruments in the mid-1970s and renamed it the English Baroque Soloists, he engaged his magnificent instrumentalists, choir and a host of first-class soloists in the most emblematic works by "the Greatest Genius we [England] ever had": Henry Purcell! The reception was unanimously enthusiastic and led Diapason magazine to say: "Gardiner's reading of Purcell, dramatic, hyper-refined, sometimes burning, overwhelming, at all times enchanting, cannot escape the discography of the enlightened music lover. Purcell himself is there!"
King Arthur was first staged at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London in mid-1691. It proved to be the most popular and enduring of all Purcell's stage works, and enjoyed revivals throughout the eighteenth century and beyond.
4 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 1: Trio and Chorus. "Woden, First to Thee" - "To Woden, Our Defender, Thanks We Render" (Saxon Priest, Priestess, Chorus)
5 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 1: Song. "The Lot Is Cast, and Tanfan Pleas'd" (Priestess)
6 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 1: Chorus. "Brave Souls, to Be Renown'd in Story" (Chorus)
7 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 1: Song and Chorus. "I Call You All to Woden's Hall" (Priestess, Chorus)
8 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 1: Song and Chorus. "Come If You Dare" - First Act Tune (British Warrior, Chorus)
9 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 2: Song and Chorus. "Hither, This Way, This Way Bend" (Philidel, Chorus)
10 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 2: Song. "Let Not a Moonborn Elf Mislead Ye" (Grimbald)
11 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 2: Chorus. "Hither This Way, This Way Bend" (Chorus)
12 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 2: Song and Chorus. "Come, Follow Me" (Philidel, Chorus)
13 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 2: Song and Chorus. "How Blest Are Shepherds" (Tenor, Chorus)
14 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 2: Duet. "Shepherd, Shepherd, Leave Decoying" (Shepherdesses)
15 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 2: Chorus. "Come, Shepherds, Lead Up a Lively Measure" - Hornpipe (Chorus)
16 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 2: Second Act Tune. Air
17 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Song. "What Ho! Thou Genius of This Isle" (Cupid)
18 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Prelude While Cold Genius Rises - Frost Scene. "What Power Art Thou" (Cold Genius)
19 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Song. "What Ho! Thou Genius of This Isle" - Song. "Thou Doting Fool" (Cupid)
20 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Song. "Great Love, I Know Thee Now" (Cold Genius)
21 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Song. "No Part of My Dominion" (Cupid)
22 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Prelude - Chorus. "See, See, We Assemble" - Dance (Chorus)
- Disc 2 -
1 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Ritornello. "Tis I That Have Warm'd Ye" - Chorus. "See, See, We Assemble"
2 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Duet. "Sound a Parley" - Ritornello - Chorus. "Tis Love That Has Warm'd Us" (Cupid, Cold Genius, Chorus)
3 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 3: Third Act Tune. Hornpipe
4 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 4: Duet. "Two Daughters of This Aged Stream Are We" (Syrens)
5 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 4: Song and Chorus. "How Happy the Lover" - Duet and Chorus. "For Love Every Creature" & Chorus Trio. "In Vain Are Our Graces" (Tenor, Sylvan, Nymphs, Chorus)
6 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 4: Fourth Act Tune. Air
7 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Trumpet Tune
8 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Song. "Ye Blust'ring Brethren of the Skies" (Aeolus)
9 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Symphony
10 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Song and Chorus. "Round Thy Coast" (Nereid, Pan, Chorus)
11 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Trio. "For Folded Flocks, and Fruitful Plains" (Trio)
12 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Song and Chorus. "Your Hay It Is Mow'd" (Peasant, Chorus)
13 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Song. "Fairest Isle" (Venus)
14 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Duet. "You Say 'Tis Love" (He, She)
15 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Trumpet Tune. Warlike Consort
16 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Song and Chorus. "Saint George" (Honour, Chorus)
17 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act 5: Chaconne
John Eliot Gardiner will celebrate his 80th birthday on 20th April 2023. On 7th April, we are releasing a 64-CD boxset including his complete Erato Recordings, and are also celebrating this wonderful conductor with two of his most emblematic albums to be released on vinyl: Purcell's King Arthur and Handel's Water Music.
As John Eliot Gardiner converted his Monteverdi Orchestra to early instruments in the mid-1970s and renamed it the English Baroque Soloists, he engaged his magnificent instrumentalists, choir and a host of first-class soloists in the most emblematic works by "the Greatest Genius we [England] ever had": Henry Purcell! The reception was unanimously enthusiastic and led Diapason magazine to say: "Gardiner's reading of Purcell, dramatic, hyper-refined, sometimes burning, overwhelming, at all times enchanting, cannot escape the discography of the enlightened music lover. Purcell himself is there!"
King Arthur was first staged at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London in mid-1691. It proved to be the most popular and enduring of all Purcell's stage works, and enjoyed revivals throughout the eighteenth century and beyond.
