Violinist Rachel Podger and the Brecon Baroque Ensemble - album "The Muses Restor'd" - CD review, May 24th 2024

Georg Friedrich Händel - Sonata op. 1 no. 13 in D major; Matthew Locke - "Little Consort in two parts for severall friends"; Henry Purcell - Sonata in G minor; Richard Jones - "Chamber Airs" op. 2 in A minor.

On the 24th of May 2024, violinist Rachel Podger will release her new album, entitled "The Muses Restor'd". The CD was recorded with the Brecon Baroque ensemble, which she founded in 2007. A specialist in the performance of baroque and classical repertoire, the 56-year-old British artist offers us an interesting English and Scottish programme from the 1660s to the 1750s, with pieces by composers such as Georg Friedrich Handel, Mathew Locke, William Lawes, Henry Purcell and John Jenkins.

Rachel Podger comments on the music chosen for this disc, "With imaginative continuous bass, the magic of different instrumental combinations, colours and timbres, this repertoire offers a profound kaleidoscope of almost a century of musical expression in British art."

And with her new album, Rachel Podger demonstrates that she is a versatile musician with impeccable violin technique and an expressive interpretive style. The artist has an extensive concert and recording career, she serves as Artistic Director of the Brecon Baroque Music Festival and is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Welsh College of Music. She has conducted such prestigious ensembles as The English Consort, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Arte dei Suonatori, and this season Rachel Podger has accepted the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the renowned Tafelmusik Ensemble.

The "The Muses Restor'd" album was recorded at St John the Evangelist Church in London in November, 2023.