Henry Purcell - King Arthur - Aria: What Power Art Thou (The Cold Genius)

Purcell - Frost Fairs all over London. I was stunned by this piece. It sounds modern somehow - yet it's pure Henry Purcell in the 1690's.


Les Arts Florissants
& William Christie

Category:

Music

Tags:

• purcell;
• frost
• fair;london;king
• arthur;cold
• genius;les
• art
• ;what
• power
• thou;
• nyman;
• les
• arts
• florissants;
• christie

[XDiaz2008]

Of all the performances I have watched here, none but THIS ONE is loyal to the essence of Purcell's work... Nomi's was just but his performance, adding unnecessary drama to an already profound composition... with all due respect to his followers, but his was far too eccentric to me! Bravo AntPDC for sharing :)

[AntPDC]

@XDiaz2008 Thank you. Purcell simply gets it, and goodness knows the magnitude of his influence...

Very best wishes.

[AntPDC]

@aript11 My fault - I'm usually more careful when crediting the performing artists. I'm happy that you liked this piece.

Sincerely, Anthony

[aript11]

@AntPDC Oh, I see. I noticed that but I thought it was related to the illustration. Thank you for clarifying. And thanks again for sharing this!

[AntPDC]

@AntPDC ...I should have said, click in "show more" beneath my intro :)

[AntPDC]

@aript11 Thank you. Please see my introductory comments: and to save you the trouble - Les Arts Florissants

& William Christie

Very best wishes.

[aript11]

Could you tell me who the performer is, and what the details of this performance are? I want to find this recording. Thank you :)

[St00sh13]

@XDiaz2008 I like many of the classical music threads on youtube. Peole have many different views on performance.

[XDiaz2008]

@St00sh13 Interesting and very enlightening perspective! Thank you :)

[St00sh13]

@XDiaz2008 I can see you point, although baroque theatre had a reputation for extravagant performances. I think Klaus Nomi certainly followed the spirit of baroque theatre performances.

[St00sh13]

King Arthur is one of my favourite Purcell theatre pieces.

One of the reasons it might sound modern is because Michael Nyman used it as the basis for his score for "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" (watch?v=y41pqwUnOJ0) and used a very similar theme for the film "A Zed and Two Noughts".