Love is Come Again: Music for the Springhead Easter Play

Love is come again: Music for the Springhead Easter Play
Monteverdi Choir English Baroque Soloists John Eliot Gardiner
SDG731 

If, like me, you enjoyed the eclectic and beautifully poised Christmas disc ‘Once as I remember’ from Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Monteverdi choir some two decades ago (Philips 462 050-2PH) you will be both intrigued and delighted by his Easter offering. ‘Love is come again’ revisits music from the annual mime-play held at Gardiner’s family home, Springhead, directed by his mother. The music was chosen by Gardiner himself when an undergraduate and in his words contains “a fantastic sort of mosaic of magnificent pieces all associated with the Easter story.” This recording includes several additions to that original programme and the booklet contains a history of the Easter festival experience with archive photographs.

If all that sounds rather quaint fear not, this is no sepia-tinged indulgence: it packs a punch. [...] wait for L'Héritier’s (c.1480-1552) ‘Surrexit pastor bonus’ to hear Gardiner’s midas touch: I love the slow sumptuous tempo, like honey dripping from a spoon.
 
[...] There is so much to explore on this disc, from an adaption of Britten’s ‘Canticle II’ to a glorious performance of ‘Ego sum panis vivus’ attributed to Leonora d’Este (1515-1575) that, on paper at least, it looks like the mosaic is too complicated for the programme to hang together, but in reality it really does work. Springhead must have been a magical place.

To read the full text of this article please visit www.gramophone.co.uk (May 2019)