A rare treat: no less than 7 CDs with instrumental chamber music by Henry Purcell. In spite of his past and present international fame too little attention has been paid to this part of his oeuvre. This collection offers a great variety: from ‘the Staircase overture’ to voluntaries for organ.

Henry Purcell’s present fame is mainly based on some dramatic works. Dido and Aeneas -, his anthems and numerous songs. In his relatively short life he managed to compose in every genre usual at the time. Well hidden among a vast amount of vocal music lies a relatively small collection of chamber music pieces. Together with Handel Henry Purcell was and is England’s most important baroque composer. He was also an organist and as such left behind remarkable little for his instrument. Pieter-Jan Belder - the keyboard player who also recorded the complete Scarlatti sonatas - combined this with Purcell’s varied music for harpsichord, which includes eight suites. Here (together with) his ensemble Musica Amphion (he) also performs the bulk of Purcell’s chamber music: listen and enjoy.

Artists

Musica Amphion

Rémy Baudet (violin), Sayuri Yamagata (violin), Elisabeth Ingenhousz (violin) Rainer Zipperling (viola da gamba), Johannes Boer (viola da gamba), Nanneke Schaap (viola da gamba), Ricardo Rodriguez (viola da gamba), Nicholas Milne (viola da gamba), Frank Wakelkamp (viola da gamba)

Pieter-Jan Belder (harpsichord & organ)