Christopher Purves
-
one to treasure both for the sensitive and well-sustained singing of Christopher Purves and for the wonderfully wide expressive range of Handel's music...Purves has an acute ear, serving well... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2014, Vocal Finalist
-
BBC Music Magazine, February 2013, Opera Choice
-
Gramophone Magazine, January 2013, Editor's Choice
-
Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist - Vocal
-
Opera, May 2013, Recording of the Month
Purchase product
Downloads
Audio formats guide -
-
Elgar: Caractacus
Elizabeth Llewellyn (Eigen), Elgan Llŷr Thomas (Orbin), Roland Wood (Caractacus), Christopher Purves (Arch-Druid, A Bard) & Alastair Miles (Claudius)
Huddersfield Choral Society, Orchestra of Opera North, Martyn Brabbins
Elgan Llŷr Thomas and Elizabeth Llewellyn are especially touching, while in the title role, baritone Roland Wood is on terrific form. —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, April 2019, Editor's Choice
-
-
Special offer. Berlioz: La damnation de Faust
Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), Bryan Hymel (tenor), Christopher Purves (baritone), Gábor Bretz (bass)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Guildhall School Singers, Tiffin Children's Chorus, Tiffin Girls' Choir, Tiffin Boys' Choir, Sir Simon Rattle
The work and its style – especially the virtuosity and panache required – have clearly remained in the orchestra’s collective memory…Overall it’s a tightly organised and carefully paced achievement... —
Awards:
-
Record Review, 23rd March 2019, Record of the Week
-
International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Opera
-
-
Special offer. Handel: Saul
Christopher Purves (Saul), Sarah Connolly (David), Robert Murray (Jonathan), Elizabeth Atherton (Merab), Joélle Harvey (Michal), Mark Dobell (High Priest), Jeremy Budd (Witch of Endor) & Stuart Young (Ghost of Samuel)
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
the choruses are always beautifully contoured, as is the incisive playing of The Sixteen's house band. Christopher Purves and Sarah Connolly all but steal the show: Purves's splenetic Saul is... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, October 2012, Disc of the Month
-
Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist - Baroque Vocal
-
-
Special offer. Britten: The Rape of Lucretia
Angelika Kirchschlager (Lucretia), Peter Coleman-Wright (Tarquinius), Ian Bostridge (Male Chorus), Susan Gritton (Female Chorus), Christopher Purves (Collatinus), Benjamin Russell (Junius), Claire Booth (Lucia), Hilary Summers (Bianca)
Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble, Oliver Knussen
Without hurrying, Knussen conducts a tight, vivid account, surpassing Britten's own...Ian Bostridge and Susan Gritton as Male and Female Chorus project their rhetorical commentaries with exemplary... —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2014, Opera Finalist
-
BBC Music Magazine, April 2013, Opera Choice
-
Gramophone Magazine, April 2013, Editor's Choice
-
Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist - Opera
Purchase product
Downloads
Audio formats guide -
-
Special offer. George Benjamin: Written on Skin
Recommendedand Duet for piano and orchestra
Christopher Purves (The Protector), Barbara Hannigan (Agnès), Bejun Mehta (First Angel/Boy), Victoria Simmonds (Second Angel/Marie), Allan Clayton (Third Angel/John), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, George Benjamin
[Purves] expresses a brooding pride and menace that makes your skin crawl. [Hannigan] makes an electrifying transformation from doe-like submissiveness to sexual predator, and the powerfully... —
Awards:
-
Gramophone Awards, 2013, Finalist - Contemporary
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2014, Premiere Award
-
-
Emily Howard: The Anvil
RecommendedKate Royal, Claire Booth (sopranos), Hugh Cutting (countertenor), Christopher Purves (bass-baritone), BBC Philharmonic, BBC Singers, Hallé Choir, Ben Gernon, Vimbayi Kaziboni
it’s an immersive and emotional experience...Visceral and brilliant. —
Awards:
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023, Shortlisted - World Premiere Recording (New Work)
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2025, Shortlisted - Premiere
-
-
Some of Handel’s greatest music was written for bass-baritones, and in Purves finds its ideal interpreter. —
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, Opera Choice
-
Gramophone Magazine, August 2018, Editor's Choice
-
-
Saariaho: Adriana Mater
RecommendedFleur Barron (Adriana), Axelle Fanyo (Refka), Nicholas Phan (Yonas), Christopher Purves (Tsargo)
San Francisco Symphony Chorus, San Francisco Symphony, Esa-Pekka Salonen
Saariaho puts text first and the singers respond, but articulation from the San Francisco Symphony, which has to muster such depths from rumbling percussion to solos from E flat clarinet and... —
Awards:
-
Grammy Awards, 67th Awards (2025), Winner - Best Opera Recording
-
Grammy Awards, 67th Awards (2025), Nominated - Best Contemporary Classical Composition
Purchase product
Downloads
Audio formats guide -
-
Special offer. Handel: Messiah
RecommendedCarolyn Sampson, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mark Padmore, Christopher Purves
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers
Three of the four outstanding soloists - fine Handelians all - cut their teeth in the choir, and Catherine Wyn-Rogers has been a regular soloist. Crucially they don't stand apart, regally dispensing... —
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 25th August 2008
-
Building a Library, April 2009, First Choice
-
