Venus & Adonis (CD)

Composer: John Blow
Conductor: Rene Jacobs
Performers:

Venus: Rosemary Joshua
Adonis: Gerald Finley
Cupid: Robin Blaze
Clare College Chapel Choir
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Released: July 13, 1999
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Code: HMC 901684
ASIN: B00000JKF9

What the critics say

From The Rough Guide to Opera, 3rd edition, Matthew Boyden, 2002

Of the four recordings of Venus and Adonis that have made it onto CD, this is by far the most successful. Rosemary Joshua’s beguiling Venus and Gerald Finley’s Adonis sound genuinely enamoured with each other, and both singers handle Blow’s ornate lines with an idiomatic ease and a delicate finesse. As usual in a Jacobs recording, there is an emphasis on a heterogeneous sound that goes hand in hand with making the piece work dramatically. Thus Cupid is sung by a dramatic counter-tenor, Robin Blaze, and the baby Cupids are forcefully realized by the choristers of Clare College in a scene which can frequently sound undercharged and twee when the voice types are all the same. Jacobs is also very good at making the dance music sound both lively and well integrated into the action.