Two of the most memorable albums from the trip-hop and acid jazz era are by cornettist Graham Haynes (Transition) and trumpeter Ben Neill (Goldbug). Dressing for Pleasure preceeded them both. Usually, an adjective like "suave" doesn't sit easily on an ethnomusicologist whose knack for directness is grounded by his sense of beauty; neither does a label like "acid jazz." But this is Hassell's only album to fit its musical moment, following his appearance on the soundtrack of the crime film Trespass. The feel of a fully committed band is especially amazing – Hassell and drummer Brain work with an army of bassists (six, including Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and enough programmers (three) to field a dot com startup on a coffee break. Hassell's horn flits through a sexy blend of trip-hop's hard drum programs topped with soft, impassive electronic textures like a bird circling over a crowded intersection. Woodwind player Kenny Garrett and guitarist Gregg Arreguin provide thematic voices, too, but melody is rarely enough in this genre.

This disc received the 1998 Cannes Classical Music Awards for "Record of the Year" and "Best Instrumental Solo or Chamber Performance - 17th/18th Centuries." It also received the 1997 Gramophone magazine award for "Best Instrumental Recording," was Gramophone's "Recording of the Month" for May 1997, and was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award for "Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra)."

Initially, this had been a virtual album release, available from the Tangerine Dream Download Shop only. In March 2009 the album was finally released on a proper CD with different cover design as part of an extensive digipack series by the Germany based Membran record label.
Tangerine Dream are unquestionably one of the most influential electronic groups of all time. Their music has made an immeasurable impact on ambient, new age, techno, trance, and progressive rock, as well as modern film score composition. Founded as a psychedelic rock group in 1967 by Edgar Froese, the group was initially associated with the Krautrock scene through early abstract albums like 1970's Electronic Meditation and 1972's Zeit…

Véronique Gens's intense soprano shines in this program of tragic cantatas about a trio of fatally wronged Roman heroines written by the twentysomething Handel during his triumphant Italian sojourn. Here, luckless Lucrezia and abandoned Armida vacillate between love and hate for the men who wronged them and agitated Agrippina rages against the son who condemned her to death, the Emperor Nero. Gens is with these wracked souls all the way, bending her lovely voice to capture the verbal nuances of the texts; listen, for example, how she deadens her tone for Agrippina's "A me sol giunga la morte." Throughout, she stays within the stylistic frame of historically informed performance practices, as do her excellent accompanists.

Countertenor Derek Lee Ragin is somewhat better known for his portrayals on the operatic stage than for the many concerts he has appeared in. His repertory is amazingly broad, encompassing works by Baroque composers – Handel, in particular – as well as twentieth century ones, like Benjamin Britten and György Ligeti.
His career as a singer flourished quickly, with an official operatic debut in 1983 at the Innsbruck Festwoche der Alten Musik in Cesti's Il Tito. After vocal study in Amsterdam he won first prize in the ARD International Music Competition (1986). Two years later he debuted at the Met singing Nirenus in Handel's Giulio Cesare.

Countertenor Iestyn Davies has kept himself busy, releasing a steady stream of albums in the early 2010s that has propelled him to the top of his field. It's easy to see why people keep snapping them up: Davies has an unusually creamy voice and a gentle touch that make the music easy to settle into. The lute songs of John Dowland demand something more than a pleasant tone, however, and on this release Davies really shows what he can do. He's aided by an ideal collaborator in lutenist Thomas Dunford, and the delicacy and intricate ensemble of the pair is remarkable.