Gramophone Editor's Choices - July 2022

Presto Editor's Choice
May 2022
Choral & Song Choice

BBC Music Magazine
August 2022
Choral & Song Choice

Helen Charlston, Toby Carr

Purcell: O lead me to some peaceful gloom (from Bonduca or The British Heroine, Z574)
Strozzi: L'Eraclito amoroso, Op. 2 No. 14
Visée: Prélude
Eccles, J: Restless in thought
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas. Thy hand, Belinda & When I am laid in earth (Dido's Lament)
Park: Battle Cry. I. Boudicca, II. Philomela in the forest, III. A singer’s ode to Sappho, IV. Marietta
Kapsberger: Libro quarto d'intavolatura di chitarone: Preluido V
Strozzi: La travagliata
Monteverdi: L'Arianna, SV 291: Lamento d’Arianna
Visée: Sarabande
Purcell: An Evening Hymn 'Now that the sun hath veiled his light', Z193

"The grave beauty of Charlston's inky mezzo is a joy in itself, and the fierce directness of her delivery makes a formidable impact in this programme of laments by Eccles, Purcell, Strozzi et al, with a terrific new commission by Owain Park (which feels perfectly integrated into the framework of the recital) also making its mark; Carr, always completely attuned to his singer's imagination, conjures some magical colours from his theorbo throughout." - Katherine Cooper, Presto Music, May 2022.