MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: 'As steals the morn' scenes and arias for tenor

BBC Music Magazine Award Winner 2008 (Best Vocal Recording)

'Handel was one of the first Baroque composers to invest his talents heavily in the tenor voice, and here this unique English legacy is powerfully recalled. Through his shading, dynamic range and commitment to the text, Padmore seduces the listener. The band's crisp and intelligent playing inspire the tenor, whose powerful rhetoric unleashes the vigour of this repertory.' (BBC)

"A thoughtful original and sympathetic insight into Handel. This represents a quantum leap forward for Mark Padmore, who now seems to be firmly in the line of Anthony Rolfe-Johnson and John Mark Ainsley among leading English lyric tenors. Like those colleagues, the voice is not A dramatic collection of solo arias and scenes for tenor drawn for oratorio and opera - some of HANDEL's most lovely music, brilliantly performed by Mark Padmore and The English Concert, led by Andrew Manze. The concluding duet As steals the morn with soprano Lucy only beautiful (gorgeous, honeyed tones) but pliable. He can achieve the most amazing effects, but never shows off. A heartfelt disc."
(Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine May 2007)

"This is one of the most alluring recitals of its kind that has come my way for a very long time"
BBC Music Magazine, May 2007, *****/*****