Henry Purcell: The Cold Song (master interpretation)

Here is The Cold Song as performed by the French ensemble "Le Concert Spirituel" under its conductor Hervé Niquet, produced by Corinne and Gilles Benizio.

What power art thou, Who from below,
Hast made me rise, Unwillingly and slow,
From beds of everlasting snow!
See'st thou not how stiff, And wondrous old,
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold.
I can scarcely move,
Or draw my breath,
I can scarcely move,
Or draw my breath!
Let me, let me,
Let me, let me,
Freeze again...
Let me, let me,
Freeze again to death!

Portrait of a Lady

Portrait of a Lady by Bernardino Luini, 1525

28 Portraits

by eggman913

Film music worth listening

Soundtrack from the period drama 'Young Victoria', named 'Constitutional Crisis' by composer Ilan Eshkeri. The lyrics are Purcell's. :)

Other great film music I can recommend is the soundtrack in Patrick Leconte's 'Ridicule'. The film music is by Antoine Duhamel, with a really Baroque feeling to it!

Oh, and you might want to compare the beginning to another great modern piece by Michael Nyman...



EDIT: Okay, I did some research, and 'Constitutional Crisis' seems to be some kind of paraphrase on Henry Purcell's 'The Cold Song' from his semi-opera 'King Arthur'. No wonder I like it so much! I guess Michael Nyman was influenced. Or it's a coincidence! Many things have been invented twice... :)

An Embarrassing Proposal

An Embarrassing Proposal by Jean-Antoine Watteau, c. 1716

Nelly O'Brien

Portrait of Nelly O'Brien by Joshua Reynolds, 1762/64

Tomaso Albinoni: Oboe Concerto #2 in D Minor Op. 9

I. Allegro e no presto

II. Adagio

III. Allegro

Performed by Il Fondamento
Directed by Paul Dombrecht, oboe

Antonio Vivaldi: Bassoon concerto in G min RV495

I. Presto
II. Largo
III. Allegro

Lady Henrietta Herbert

Portrait of Lady Henrietta Herbert by Joshua Reynolds, c. 1777

Carlo Gesualdo: Peccantem me quotidie

Antonio Vivaldi: Laudate pueri [psalm 112] in A major (RV 602)

IV. Sit nomen Domini - 0:05
V. Suscitans a terra - 0:34
VI. Ut collocet eum - 2:20
VII. Sit nomen Domini - 3:43
VIII. Gloria Patri, et Filio - 4:12
IX. Sicur erat in principio - 7:57

Carolyn Sampson (soprano I)
Joanne Lunn (soprano II)

Hello,

Okay, I guess three persons are better than nothing! I'm sorry if the latest post was a bit too much, not everybody likes to be actively involved in the blogs/sites they are following! And I didn't wanted to give you a guilty conscience or anything!! I just became a bit curious. The latest commenter wanted more posts again, and I've a couple of drafts now so I don't see why I should hold them back anymore! But I promised to share similar information about myself last time, so here we go;

Not so long ago I graduated, so future is right ahead of me now. I've applied for a couple of universities in Sweden, so hopefully I'll be able to move there and study this year. Right now I'm spending my summer in Hungary with relatives.

I don't have any current obsessions, at least if you don't count one with a rather guilty pleasure status...! (I'm talking about my infatuation with Serbian pop singer Milan Stanković... I'm completely charmed by him (and believe me, NO ONE is more surprised than I am!! This is a very unusual thing for me to happen. I mean, I certainly don't tend to fall for young pop artists. I don't even listen to that kind of music..!)). My other passions are literature, art and music as always. What else? I'm currently reading 2666 by Roberto Bolaño and Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady is waiting for me on my bedside table along with The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst, I, Claudius and a book by Swedish author Stig Dagerman. I've not seen any films for a while now, but my favourite directors are (so far) Stanley Kubrick and Peter Greenaway.

So that's it I think. I hope that all followers (and passersby) of this blog will have a very pleasant summer!

Ninon