We are great admirers of the young composer Rodrigo Ruiz. We last interviewed him for the Classical Archives blog back in March, 2021 on the occasion of his new release “Behold the Stars.”
Rodrigo has been busy since then. One of his projects has been composing a new song cycle, “Venus & Adonis” for soprano and piano. Signum Classics has just released a CD of this new cycle, performed by soprano Grace Davidson and pianist George Herbert. We are excited to report that this new recording will be available on Classical Archives in the next few weeks.
The Signum recording brings us a lovely performance of a very beautiful song cycle. You can hear just a touch of Schubert in it, with modern harmonies and melodies that are always beguiling. We’ve been listening to it for more than a week now and in today’s blog, we would like to invite you to listen to it too.
About Venus & Adonis
Rodrigo explains, “Venus & Adonis is a song cycle for voice and piano inspired by Shakespeare’s masterful retelling of the gripping myth of a young man who spurns the goddess of love and flees her embrace to hunt a boar who kills him. It is a story from ancient Greece, retold by an Englishman more than 400 years ago. Is it still relevant to us in the twenty-first century, far away from gods, woods and boars? Not really, you might say. Myth, however, is rarely literal. When we perceive Venus as the principle of love, the woods as our mind, the boar as the archetype of lust, and Adonis as ourselves —and not as literal gods, woods, raging beasts or half-divine mortals— we begin to understand its immediacy, its importance. I’d love for you to discover the incredible world of living myth through the music in this new and exciting album.”
Released to celebrate William Shakespeare’s 460th anniversary, this album is a tribute to the poet’s unmatched inspiration. These seventeen songs, performed by British duo Grace Davidson (soprano) and George Herbert (piano), exemplify the enormous variety of expression that Ruiz is able to conjure in his writing, making of Venus & Adonis a truly exciting and refreshing addition to the art song tradition.
About the Artists
Composer Rodrigo Ruiz has been hailed as ‘an astonishing composing talent’ (Apple Music). His music, streamed in 150+ countries in the five inhabited continents of the globe, fills a void left by most new music. This ‘unabashedly tonal’ (BBC Music Magazine) and ‘impeccably crafted [music]’ (Apple Music), instantly appeals to musicians and audiences alike, but doesn’t wear after repeated listening. Perhaps this explains why it is in high demand amongst top artists and ensembles around the world. Rodrigo’s award-winning compositions are published by Universal Edition, with recent commissions coming from soprano Grace Davidson, violinist Kerenza Peacock, violist Ismel Campos, and Mexico’s National System of Musical Endowment (SNFM).
Soprano Grace Davidson, whose voice has been called “light, bright, agile and pure,” excels in performances of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. Her discography includes over a decade of recordings, many of which feature her as a soloist: Handel’s Jephtha, Acis and Galatea, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, the Lutheran Masses of J. S. Bach, and works by Purcell, Vivaldi and other Baroque composers. You can hear her in a number of performances on Classical Archives, including a lovely performance as soprano soloist in the Fauré Requiem on the LSO Live label.
Pianist George Herbert was born in Manchester in 2001, and his passion for music was kindled when he became a chorister at Manchester Cathedral. He is now the Assistant Organist at New College, Oxford, where he accompanies and helps to train New College Choir in its daily services, as well as its recordings and tours. George spent four years at St John’s College, Cambridge, first as an organ scholar studying Music and German, and later as Assistant Organist. He spent five months as Deputy Organist at Westminster Abbey alongside regular work as a coach and choir-leader for Pimlico Musical Foundation, Tiffin School and as Assistant Director of Music at His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace. George recently played in the ENO orchestra for performances of Britten’s Peter Grimes and Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale.
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