Orchestral, Incidental Music, Purcell (composer)
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Charlston's mezzo is as dark and full-bodied as a good claret, and she offers highly expressive readings of the texts, plumbing their depths with cut-glass diction and a glorious range of colours... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, May 2022
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2022, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2023, Winner - Vocal
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Gramophone Awards, 2023 Winners, Concept Album of the Year
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Victorious Love - Songs by Henry Purcell
RecommendedCarolyn Sampson (soprano), Laurence Cummings (harpsichord & spinet), Elizabeth Kenny (archlute / theorbo), Anne-Marie Lasla (bass viol), Sarah Sexton (violin I), Andrea Morris (violin II) & Jane Rogers (viola)
Her tone is extraordinarily beautiful: natural, warm and unforced, with almost superhuman vocal athleticism —
Awards:
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Building a Library, February 2014, Top Recital Recommendation
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2007, Editor's Choice
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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a performance that may not be authentic in a strict historical sense but feels absolutely authentic to the spirit of the period and of players – as then, and as now. —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, September 2022
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2022, Editor's Choice
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Andreas Scholl: Purcell - O Solitude
RecommendedAndreas Scholl (countertenor), with Christophe Dumaux (countertenor)
Accademia Bizantina, Stefano Montanari
Ethereal yet visceral, Scholl's voice is the dream vehicle for Purcell...Stefano Montanari coaxes thrilling playing from Accademia Bizantina, who dance and swagger, throb and pulsate with true... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2012, Vocal Award Winner
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Five-voice Papagena are a class act...this album confirms the creativity, skill and musicianship of a group that deserves King's Singers levels of success and attention. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2026, Editor's Choice
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the result is coherently put together, with Hughes's resourceful vocal imagination and use of tone, plus the subtlety and careful placement of her decorations, drawing the ear again and again. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2026, Editor's Choice
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The Cendrillon aria suits her talents closely, with her ethereal tone and confident coloratura skills. There’s some real magic here. Mendelssohn’s fairy-song ‘Neue Liebe’ has just the right... —
Awards:
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Nominated - Female Singer of the Year
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2023, Winner - Solo Vocal
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Special offer. In War & Peace
RecommendedHarmony Through Music
Joyce DiDonato (mezzo)
Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev
Though the top of her voice is wiry under pressure, her coloratura is tightly sprung, her diction is flawless, and her phrasing of the often underrated poetry is sympathetic and sophisticated…Il... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2016, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
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Gramophone Awards, 2017, Winner - Recital
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ECHO Klassik Awards, 2017, Winner
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Grammy Awards, 60th Awards (2017), Nominee - Classical Solo Vocal Album
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Opera, January 2017, Recording of the Month
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It’s all beautifully performed, with pinsharp ornamentation, gloriously held suspensions and warm, well-placed vibrato. —
Awards:
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Baroque Instrumental
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Special offer. If the Fates Allow - Music By Purcell and His Contemporaries
Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano), Sounds Baroque, Julian Perkins
She is someone who acts fully with her vocal armory, and we can see this in the way she does not only project her voice with prettiness and fluency...Helen Charlston is a special singer. The... —
