John Blow – Odes

John Blow
Marriage Ode – Cloe Found Amintas Lying – Ode on the death of Mr. Henry Purcell
The Deller Consort & Stour Musical Festival Chamber Orchestra – Alfred Deller, dir.
Harmonia mundi « Deller Recordings » DR 201 [LP]
Harmonia mundi HMU 201 [LP]
Harmonia mundi « Musique d'Abord » HMA 201 / HMA 55 201 [LP / sleeve]
Harmonia mundi « Musique d'Abord » HMA 43 201 [Cass.]
Harmonia mundi « Musique d'Abord » HMA 190 201 [CD]
Harmonia mundi « Musique d'Abord » HMA 195 201 [CD]

Contents:

    John Blow: Amphion Anglicus
  1. Marriage Ode
    1. Bring shepherds
    2. The rites are perform'd
    3. Bring shepherds
    4. Sing, ye Muses
    5. Music may satisfy
    6. Io Triumphe !

    2. John Blow: Amphion Anglicus
  2. Cloe found Amyntas lying

    3. —
    John Blow (m) / John Dryden (t)
  3. Ode on the death of Mr. Henry Purcell
    1. Mark how the lark
    2. But in the close of night
    3. So ceas'd the rival crew
    4. We beg not hell
    5. The heav'nly choir

Performers:
[1] The Deller Consort
Alfred Deller (counter-tenor), Philipp Todd (tenor), Maurice Bevan (baritone), Walter Bergmann (harpsichord)
Stour Music Festival Chamber Orchestra
Alfred Deller, dir.
[2] Alfred Deller (counter-tenor), Philip Todd (tenor), Maurice Bevan (baritone), Walter Bergmann (harpsichord)
[3] Alfred Deller (counter-tenor), Mark Deller (counter-tenor), Kathleen Jeans (recorder), Michael Arno (recorder), Walter Bergmann (harpsichord)

Playing time: 19' 40" + 22' 42" = 42' 22" (LP); 42' 45" (CD).

Similar release not to be confused:
RCA « Victrola » VIC 1276 / VICS 1276 [LP, mono / stereo] Ode on the death of Henry Purcell.

Recording site and date:
Church of Broughton Aluph, Kent, U.K. [1970]
Rel.: 1970 (DR), 1976 (HMU), 1985 (HMA), 1987 (HMA 190), 1989 (HMA 43), 2008 (HMA 195)

Reviewed in:
Diapason (#-p.): 207-34 (may 1976)

Comments:
According to Philip Giami-Levi in « Guide de la Musique Ancienne et Baroque », pp 287-288 (Bouquin, Robert Laffont, ed.), there is two different recordings with mostly identical performers. In this version last part [1.4, 1,5, 1,6] of the Ode to Marriage is considered as not being a separate work from the Ode proper which is not the case for the RCA « Victrola » release. Now it appears (per Mark Deller via Christine Headley) that the Purcell Ode was the same performance on the two discs, in which case, recording date for track [3] should be changed to 1966 in the current file....
Also information from Library of Congress, Amicus, Harmonia mundi CD, Schwann and Diapason catalogue, British Library Sound Archive Catalogue & Nancy Freudenthal (RCA release).

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Pierre-F. Roberge