This release offers one potential answer to a particular question: what happens to a musical performance when it is directed towards the bringing-to-life of a story? In this case, that story is the iconic one of Orpheus and Eurydice, realized in eight different ways by eight different composers of the past. Multiple prizewinning harpsichordist Mark Edwards—whose interpretations challenge the usual boundaries between musical text and act—performs works that, if they don’t explicitly refer to the Orphic narrative allying music, death, and rebirth, surely cast some light on it and are in turn illuminated by it. Mark Edwards reveals himself a lucid and inspired performer, following the hero as he descends, like him accomplishing wonders along the way through his art. First prize winner in the 2012 Musica Antiqua Bruges International Harpsichord Competition, Canadian harpsichordist and organist Mark Edwards (b. 1986) is recognized for his captivating performances, bringing the listener “to new and unpredictable regions, using all of the resources of his instrument, [...] of his virtuosity, and of his imagination” (La Libre Belgique).
