Excellent performances from Richard Burkhard (Jupiter), Anna Dennis (Semele) and the remarkable Helen Charlston (Juno).' 'With the Academy of Ancient Music, the director Julian Perkins reveals a work that exceeds the superficially attractive, his charged reading embracing high drama and deep emotion. Performed to the very highest vocal, instrumental and scholarly standards, this is simply unmissable.' The sheer virtuosity of the Symphony that opens act III is breathtaking, especially when captured in Alexander Van Ingen and Dave Rowell’s superbly present recording. 'The Academy of Ancient Music’s new recording of John Eccles’ Semele is nothing short of a revelation…. Pacing, not least in the expressive recitatives, is fluid and natural, the playing of AAM strings tingles with theatrical life and the young cast is uniformly fine … superb'. ''This opera oozes drama’ writes Julian Perkins in his note, and goes on to prove his point. As such it fully servers to take a place in the repertoire of British companies.' Testament to the depth of thought and preparation that has gone into the performance is fully laid out in the superbly produced accompanying 200-page booklet … The hero of the performance is undoubtably Julian Perkins, who conducts as if every bar means the world to him, pacing the work with assurance and drawing splendid playing from the strings of the AAM … All the major roles are outstandingly taken … as this outstanding recording proves, it’s a damn good opera. 'It is difficult to imagine greater justice currently being done to this opera than it receives here. '…the pace whips along, as jewel-like solos flash past, interspersed with vividly descriptive instrumental numbers… Julian Perkins gets a fizzing performance out of the Academy of Ancient Music, enough to make Eccles seem a rival to Handel…' this is a superb reconstruction of a lost Eccles masterpiece.'īBC Music Magazine – Recording of the Month
Perkins commands a gamut of responses to the ensembles' charms, from crystal-clear voicing to big, fat homophonic swells. When individual band members take over the storytelling, their solos gild Eccles's invention with their own. Perkins directs from the harpsichord with a demonic intensity. The Academy of Ancient Music's playing is just as fascinating. Thanks to Perkins's deft casting, each principal's vocalism and dramatis persona are wonderfully matched. What a resurrection it is.'īBC Radio 3 Record Review – Record of the Week 'A real discovery… the documentation is outstanding so much context to pore over in the 200-page book… But it’s the music that’s the winner the more I listen the more I love this. Third Priest / Second Augur – James Rhoads, tenor Second Priest / First Augur – Rory Carver, tenor Ino, sister of Semele – Aoife Miskelly, sopranoĪthamas, a prince of Bœotia – William Wallace, tenor Semele, daughter of Cadmus – Anna Dennis, soprano Somnus, God of Sleep – Christopher Foster, bassĪpollo, Sun God and God of Prophecy – Jolyon Loy, baritoneĬadmus, King of Thebes – Jonathan Brown, baritone Iris, handmaid to Juno – Héloïse Bernard, sopranoĬupid, God of Love – Bethany Horak-Hallett, mezzo soprano Juno, Queen of the Gods – Helen Charlston, mezzo soprano Jupiter, King of the Gods – Richard Burkhard, baritone Read Julian's interview with Presto Classical here. Read Julian's preface to this recording here. Hear about this opera on Cambridge Early Music'spodcast here.
The Academy of Ancient Music, Cambridge Handel Opera Company, Cambridge Early Music and Julian Perkins are proud to present the first professional recording of John Eccles’s scintillating Semele (c.1707), the first setting of the great English libretto by William Congreve, better known in G. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and Classical Album of the Week – The Guardian ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and Recording of the Month – BBC Music Magazine Shortlisted for the 2021 Gramophone Award