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.

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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.

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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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or 16 bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC), contact Talbot Records through the Contact page.

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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Album booklet

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Sheet music

TRACKS

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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)