Arcadian Dreams

Description

Soprano Hannah De Priest makes her recording debut alongside early music ensemble Les Delices, with Arcadian Dreams, an album of baroque-era secular cantatas and scintillating instrumental works. Arcadian Dreams assembles an exquisite group of composers – both esteemed and inspired – including the French luminaries Thomas-Louis Bourgeois, Louis Antoine Lefebvre, and Jean-Philippe Rameau; the Neapolitan maestro Domenico Scarlatti, who lived his last 35 years in Spain; and the German-born George Frideric Handel, whose early Italian career left an indelible mark on his masterpieces. The enchanting realm of Arcadian Dreams abounds with gods and goddesses, shepherds and nymphs, and bucolic dreamscapes creating an aural tapestry of pictorial, secular cantatas intertwined with entrancing instrumental numbers. The fearless young soprano Hannah De Priest, making her recording debut, vividly captures the essence of these beguiling works, alongside the entrepreneurial early music ensemble Les Delices whose members bring long-forgotten music alive for contemporary audiences.