Fluidity and ‘Animalism’ in Preparing Purcell
Suckling, C. (2024). Fluidity and ‘Animalism’ in Preparing Purcell. Eighteenth-Century Music, 21(2), 123-128. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478570624000253
2024
View OutputDr Christopher Suckling
Key details:
- Department:
- Academic Studies | Historical Performance | Vocal Studies
- Role:
- Deputy Head of Department (Academic and Artistic Integration); Head of Historical Performance
Biography & Pure profile
Christopher Suckling is a continuo cellist and gambist noted for his 'captivating expressivity'. He is a principal player with Gabrieli and the Feinstein Ensemble and has performed and broadcast live as a soloist and chamber musician on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. His recordings have been critically praised for the quality of his tone and his 'exquisitely fluid' playing; the Independent has cited the 'warmth of the cello sonorities', whilst a five-star review in the BBC Music Magazine noted ‘particular highlights in Christopher Suckling's resonant cello’. His work as a director has been described as 'scintillating', 'dynamic' and 'containing moments of real beauty'.
Christopher is also an active researcher. His doctoral thesis locates the evolution of the realisation of recitative by the cellist in early eighteenth-century Italian opera and offers a method through which current cellists can explore this practice. The relationship between his performance and research has led him to act as a consultant for BBC television and to contribute performing editions to recordings, notably Handel L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and Purcell King Arthur and The Fairy Queen for Gabrieli. The resulting performances and recordings have met with universal acclaim; King Arthur won both a Helpmann Award in Australia in 2019 and the BBC Music Magazine Awards Recording of the Year in 2020.
Christopher is Head of Historical Performance and Deputy Head of Academic Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he teaches in the Academic Studies, Research, and Historical Performance departments.
Recent Research Outputs
Jean-Louis Duport (1749–1819) Sonates & Duos for Cello Claudio Ronco and Emanuela Vozza Urania Records LDV14057, 2020; one disc, 77 minutes
Suckling, C. (2024). Jean-Louis Duport (1749–1819) Sonates & Duos for Cello Claudio Ronco and Emanuela Vozza Urania Records LDV14057, 2020; one disc, 77 minutes. Eighteenth-Century Music, 21(2), 221-223. https://doi.org/10.1017/S147857062400023X
2024
View OutputBach Cello Suites 2, 3 & 4
Suckling, C. (2023). Bach Cello Suites 2, 3 & 4. Performance
2023
View OutputListening to recitative from the cello
Suckling, C. (2023). Listening to recitative from the cello. Paper presented at The performance practices of the continuo on the cello in the 18th century , Brussels, Belgium.
2023
View OutputThe cello in Handelian recitative: some creative spaces
Suckling, C. (2021). The cello in Handelian recitative: some creative spaces. Paper presented at Historical Performance: Theory, Practice, and Interdisciplinarity, Bloomington, Indiana, United States.
2021
View OutputThe realisation of recitative accompaniment by the Handelian cellist: a dialogue between historical and modern pedagogies
Suckling, C. (2021). The realisation of recitative accompaniment by the Handelian cellist: a dialogue between historical and modern pedagogies. Paper presented at The Figured Bass Accompaniment in Europe, Lucca, Italy.
2021
View OutputHP pedagogy and a move towards a post-HP curriculum
Suckling, C. (2021). HP pedagogy and a move towards a post-HP curriculum. Paper presented at Early Music in the 21st Century, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2021
View OutputPurcell The Fairy Queen 1692
McCreesh, P., & Suckling, C. (2020). Purcell The Fairy Queen 1692. Performance, Winged Lion. https://music.apple.com/gb/album/purcell-the-fairy-queen-1692/1498630300
2020
View OutputThe Fairy Queen Restor'd
Suckling, C., & McCreesh, P. (2020). The Fairy Queen Restor'd. Winged Lion.
2020
View OutputHISTORICAL PERFORMANCE: THEORY, PRACTICE, AND INTERDISCIPLINARITY INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON, 17–19 MAY 2019
Suckling, C. (2020). HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE: THEORY, PRACTICE, AND INTERDISCIPLINARITY INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON, 17–19 MAY 2019. Eighteenth-Century Music, 17(1), 148-151. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1478570619000253
2020
View Output