誇り高き歌い手たち～イギリス独唱歌曲集

決定盤の登場!
ティム・ミード、アシュリー・リッチズ、ジェラルド・フィンリーなどの実力派が歌うイギリス独唱歌曲集

これはすごい!名門ケンブリッジ・キングズ・カレッジ合唱団の往年のメンバーで現在世界的に活躍する歌手たちが歌う『イギリス独唱歌曲集』の登場です!
1441年創設という580年の長い伝統を持つ同合唱団は、何世紀にもわたってイギリスのケンブリッジの人々、現在では世界中の人々が聖歌隊の合唱に癒されてきました。イギリス出身の男性歌手の多くは同合唱団に所属した経歴を持ち、自国の音楽を伝統継承しております。
当アルバムには今をときめくソリストがそれぞれ独唱した名曲を収録しております。2018年6月、ジョナサン・ノット指揮、東京交響楽団によるフィガロの結婚でアルマヴィーヴァ伯爵役として登場したバス=バリトンのアシュリー・リッチズ、バッハ・コレギウム・ジャパンの客演でもおなじみのカウンターテナーのティム・ミード、グラモフォン賞声楽部門賞の受賞歴を誇るバス=バリトンのジェラルド・フィンリーなど、驚きのメンバーが歌うイギリス独唱歌曲の決定盤登場です!
キングインターナショナル

The fundamental influence of Englands great choral institutions on English music is obvious, but this may be the only album of its kind. Proud Songsters (the title comes from the Gerald Finzi cycle Earth and Air and Rain, setting poems by Thomas Hardy) gathers together nine alumni of the Kings College, Cambridge, Choral Scholars, singers who perform choral music at daily services in exchange for scholarship support; as promised, they sing English art songs. The accompanist, Simon Lepper, gets top billing and is present for all the songs except for Celia Harpers unaccompanied My love gave me an apple, which is atypical in several ways. Its a fine idea and one that ought to be emulated by singers from other ensembles. The best thing is that the concept has been realized in a way that plays to its strengths. The album is not just an anthology of songs performed by the nine singers. Rather, it gets to some things they have in common. The sound of a countertenor is familiar to them, for one thing, and there are several nice ones here, with Lawrence Zazzo a standout. As Stephen Banfield points out in his excellent notes, this was a culture of people who live and breathe English poetry. With just a few exceptions (Zazzo performs Jonathan Doves settings of texts memorializing victims of AIDS), the texts come from English poetry from Shakespeare to the early 20th century, and the composers approached their music-making with the attitude that their hearers would have known the poetry and appreciated small details in its treatment. Finzis setting of the title work is an excellent example, ingeniously rendering the poems irregular line lengths. The result as a whole is a program that lends something of a view into a small, rather closed society, but this is not meant as a criticism. To accomplish such a thing and make it generally appealing is a real accomplishment. A unique song recital that ought to be emulated.