Presto Recording of the Week
31st January 2025

Malena Ernman (mezzo), L'Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar

Biber: Sonata representativa: II. Nachtigal
Bennet: Venus' birds whose mournful tunes
Merula: Canzoni overo sonate concertate per chiesa e camera, Op. 12: No. 1, La gallina
Arne: When Daisies Pied "The Cuckow"
Biber: Sonata representativa
trad.: The Frog and the Mouse
trad.: Wallom Green (From Playford's "The English Dancing Master")
trad.: The Taylor and the Mouse
trad.: Mulberry Garden (From Playford's "The English Dancing Master")
Schürmann, G C: Die getreue Alceste, Act 1: Sinfonia pour la tempête
Handel: English Songs, HWV 228: No. 19, The Faithful Maid. "'Twas When the Seas Were Roaring"
Torri: L'innocenza difesa dai Numi: "Son rosignolo"
Monteverdi: Il settimo libro de madrigali "Concerto": No. 4, O come sei gentile, SV 120 (Instrumental Version)
Bononcini, G B: La gara delle quattro stagioni: "Brilla in cielo"
trad.: Newcastle (From Playford's "The English Dancing Master")
Gasparini: Già dal platano antico: "Senti quell'usignolo"
Orlandini: Nerone, Act 1: "Muore il cigno"
Giulio Taglietti: Arie da suonare, Op. 3: No. 19, Il canto del cigno
Eden Ahbez: Nature Boy

A hymn to nature envisioned by the unparalleled Christina Pluhar, featuring the extraordinary Swedish mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman, in a program that embraces the four winds! This is a unique blend that L'Arpeggiata, under Pluhar's direction, masterfully creates—drawing from the rumblings of the sea, sunny canarios, cuckoos and nightingales, whispers and tempests. With a fusion of baroque repertoire, traditional music, and improvisations, it promises a vibrant celebration of vocal and instrumental artistry, all under the banner of the nourishing earth.

"Ernman strikes sparks off her Arpeggiata colleagues, relishing the opportunity to throw away the classical rulebook in the folksy numbers and respond in kind to their pitch-bending, deliberately rough-round-the-edges approach. ...The purely instrumental works are every bit as quirky and compelling, the musicians supplementing their primary instruments with a whole panoply of bird-callers and güiros to conjure the atmosphere of the great outdoors in all its glory." - Katherine Cooper, Presto Music, 31st January 2025