Emma Kirkby, Anthony Rooley - Arie Antiche (1993)

Famed English soprano and Early Music authority Emma Kirkby delivers a commanding performance of twelve arias from late-Renaissance and Baroque Italy and Britain, accompanied on lute by Anthony Rooley. An extremely rare recording that was only briefly and limitedly released in the early 1990s. Dame Kirkby's voice is sweet and powerful, and she regards this recording as one of her all-time favorites.

Revisiting a past recording can be a bitter-sweet business... but balancing this can be the shock of remembering something joyfully special about those sessions... Two or three years ago I returned for a concert there [and] as I sang my first notes in the Great Hall, I knew again that these acoustics are among the most beautiful anywhere in the world, for chamber music and for voices... One could take any of these pieces and add clusters of accompaniment for larger theatrical spaces, or, as we did, one can search for the essence of each drama with voice, just one plucked instrument and a special space. -- Emma Kirkby