Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This very attractively presented box set is being promoted as a 60th birthday celebration of the soprano Dame Emma Kirkby and while we are happy to join in a chorus of "Happy Birthday To You" we do need to point out that this collection is by no means a career encompassing retrospective but rather concentrates on her 10 disc collaboration with the Swedish record company BIS. We get nearly five hours of music and, as it would be next to impossible to extract the best five hours from across such a long-lasting and prolific career, we should be happy with what we have been given. And when we see that we get four discs for the price of two we can form a queue straight away. On offer in this box are performances of some of Dame Emma's signature repertoire such as Handel solo cantatas (with London Baroque) and Dowland songs (with Anthony Rooley and Jakob Lindberg) as well as pieces by less-familiar composers such as Attilio Ariosti and Georg Schimmelpfennig. Much of the contents are sacred with highlights including a Christmas cantata by Scarlatti and Couperin's atmospheric "Lecon de Tenebres" and the secular songs are jolly good fun. Emma Kirkby's singing is beautiful throughout and the set is made complete by a very interesting CD booklet that also contains full texts and translations.

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