Our May Recording of the Month is Beauteous Softness, a collection of songs and arias performed by Tim Mead. When it comes to setting the English language, Henry Purcell has few peers, and for Mead, who grew up singing treble in his local cathedral and was a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, the songs and anthems of the English Restoration are part of his DNA. Clive Paget caught up with the in-demand British countertenor to discuss Purcell, the period, the programming, and how a ground bass can be a bit like jazz.

When did you start singing Purcell, and was there an instant connection?

I started off in a cathedral choir when I was seven and Purcell is a composer who’s in the repertory from day one. I can’t quite put my finger on how much I was taking in at that stage, because everything is new and you’re absorbing so much, so quickly, but Purcell has been with me ever since I can remember.

Tim Mead

Tim Mead. Photo © Andy Staples

On the other hand, until I recorded my first Purcell album [Songs & Dances: Alpha ALPHA419], I’d hardly...