Secret Fires of Love tells the story of intense love through songs ranging from the amorous yearnings for a country lass to the burning desires of tormented souls. This exploration of the multifaceted outpourings of lovers focuses on some of the most dramatic music written between the late 16th and 18th centuries, a time when singers prized the impassioned delivery of texts.
The performers take a fresh approach to Renaissance and Baroque song and treat the music freely to transform inexpressive notation into dramatic musical declamation. Daniel Thomson adopts the persona of a storyteller, and like singers of the past, he uses techniques of rhetorical delivery to re-create the natural style of performance listeners from the era probably experienced. His passionate singing combines rhetoric and music in ways not heard since the Renaissance and Baroque.
Terry McKenna and Thomas Leininger mirror the passionate drama of the stories through their styles of accompaniment, and their refined executions of the continuo parts not only vary according to the emotional requirements of the music but also approach the level of improvised composition.
TP 1701
Length: 65:11
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SAMPLE TRACKS
“sweet torment courtesy Monteverdi ... beautifully delivered”
Sean Rafferty, In Tune, BBC Radio 3 (30.03.2018)
“I particularly enjoy What a sad fate is mine ...
the execution of this beautifully written work is expertly handled ...
Thomson’s lamenting vocals and
Leininger’s atmospheric harpsichord accompaniment.”
Alexandra Burns, Album Review, Classicalexburns (16.03.2018)
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TRACKS
01 Claudio Monteverdi Sì dolce è’l tormento [3:06]
(1567–1643) Carlo Milanuzzi, Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze (Venice, 1624)
02 Giulio Caccini Dolcissimo sospiro [2:36]
(1551–1618) Le nuove musiche (Florence, 1602)
03 Guillaume Morlaye Prelude (adapted from Fantasie 1) [0:49]
(b. c.1510) Le premier livre ... de Guiterne (Paris, 1552)
04 Anonymous Villanella ch’all’acqua vai [3:01]
Canzon Napolitane a tre voci, libro secondo (Venice, 1566)
05 Giulio Caccini Amor, io parto [3:48]
Le nuove musiche (Florence, 1602)
06 Philip Rosseter A Galyard [1:21]
(1567/8–1623) British Library, MS Egerton 2046 (Jane Pickeringe Lute Book, 1616)
07 Thomas Campion The peacefull westerne winde [4:08]
(1567–1620) Two Bookes of Ayres (London, c.1613)
08 John Dowland Sorrow stay [4:40]
(1563–1626) The Second Booke of Songs or Ayres (London, 1600)
09 Anonymous Prelude [0:29]
Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.2.11 (?1588-95)
10 Thomas Campion There is none, O none but you [2:05]
Two Bookes of Ayres (London, c.1613)
11 Henry Purcell Prelude [0:46]
(1659–1695) A Choice Collection of Lessons (London, 1696)
If musick be the food of love [3:42]
Orpheus Britannicus (London, 1698)
12 Henry Purcell Prelude [0:22]
A Choice Collection of Lessons (London, 1696)
Fairest isle [2:13]
Yale University, Osborn Music MS 9 (Eliz: Segar, her book, 1692)
13 Henry Purcell I attempt from love’s sickness to fly [1:40]
The Songs in the Indian Queen (London, 1695)
14 Matthew Locke Prelude [1:12]
(1621/2–1677) Melothesia (London, 1673)
Henry Purcell Not all my torments [2:16]
London, Guildhall Library, Ms Safe 3 (Gresham Songbook, 1692-95)
15 Henry Purcell What a sad fate is mine [3:17]
Orpheus Britannicus (London, 1698)
16 Tarquinio Merula Folle è ben che si crede [4:00]
(1594/5–1665) Curtio precipitato et altri capricii, libro secondo (Venice, 1638)
17 Tomaso Albinoni Cantata – Amor, sorte, destino [7:57]
(1671–1751) 12 Cantate da camera a voce sola, op. 4 (Venice, 1702)
18 William Babell Prelude [0:41]
(c.1690–1723) Suits of the Most Celebrated Lessons (London, ?1717)
Francesco Conti Cantata – Dopo tante e tante pene [6:40]
(1681–1732) Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Mus.ms. 30186 (?1750)
19 Tommaso Giordani Caro mio ben [3:32]
(c.1733–1806) Caro mio ben, A Celebrated Song sung by Sigr Pacchierotti (London, ?1785)