ED2016 4/5 Reviews ED2016 Music Reviews

Music Of Dowland, Purcell And The Stuarts (Part Two) (James Laing, Susanna Pell, James Akers)

By | Published on Tuesday 16 August 2016

Music of Dowland Ed2016

Court musician and influential composer, Henry Purcell, kept his job and his head during the turbulent reigns of four British monarchs, leaving behind works that have shaped the music of the modern era. For me the unexpected star of this show was bass viol player, Susanna Pell. Aside from accompanying songs, she played solo pieces together with the spectacular looking theorbo of James Akers. A suite of four pieces from ‘A Collection of Scotch-Tunes (Full of the Highland Humours)’ showed off this versatile early instrument (sounding very close to a fiddle), and when she played ‘Division’ by Gottfried Keller I almost gave an uncharacteristic whoop! Her relaxed artistry belied the difficulties of the instrument, and impressed this amateur double bass player enormously.

St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church, 11 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Louise Rodgers]



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