Two very small reservations:
(1) The disc uses E. J. Dobson's reconstructions of Elizabethan pronunciation (which, I think, not all specialists would accept in all details).
(2) The performances, though excellent, sound dutiful rather than spontaneous, and hints of modern vowels still peep through in a few places.
I too have the impression "that the historical accuracy movement does not focus all that much on issues of pronunciation." The same is even more true of Shakespeare: no recording of any of his plays attempts to reproduce the sonorities that he so meticulously constructed. And sonority does make a difference, at least sometimes (consider, e.g., Martinelli's performance of the Celeste Aida recitative as sung by a tenor with a lisp).
Message Thread Elgar Dream of Gerontius - Ian Peake July 7, 2024, 1:05 pm
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