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The Purcell Quartet - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Sonatae tam aris quam aulis servientes (1996)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Sonatae tam aris quam aulis servientes (1996)

The Purcell Quartet - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Sonatae tam aris quam aulis servientes (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 335 Mb | Total time: 66:38 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 0591 | Recorded: 1995

A more radiant and gratifyingly robust collection of baroque instrumental works would be hard to imagine. Dedicated to Biber’s patron, Maximilian Gandolph, in the 1676 publication, these 12 sonatas (which broadly translate as ‘sonatas suitable for altar or court’) juxtapose pieces for a rich five- or six-part string palette – pursuing an exhilarating, intensely-wrought, sophisticated and unpredictable musical rhetoric – with quasi-concerted and swaggering trumpets. The two are not mutually exclusive since Biber wrote Sonata VI for a solo trumpet in G minor, a work which stretches the capability of the ‘natural’ instrument and coaxes it into the poignant and refined world of early Italian canzonas.

The Purcell Quartet - Francesco Geminiani: La Folia & other concertos & sonatas (2007)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet - Francesco Geminiani: La Folia & other concertos & sonatas (2007)

The Purcell Quartet - Francesco Geminiani: La Folia & other concertos & sonatas (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 271 Mb | Total time: 51:48 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDH55234 | Recorded: 1987

With this recording, the Purcell Quartet reach the mid-point in their six-part series of chamber music based on La Jolla, and although this CD is devoted to Geminiani, the only work on that tune is, in fact, his concerto grosso arrangement of Corelli's variations for violin (Op. 5 No. 12). In addition, they have chosen the G minor Concerto grosso (distinguished by Geminiani's remarkable concertino viola part, played to good effect by Alan George), two of Geminiani's original solo sonatas (giving Catherine Mackintosh and Elizabeth Wallfisch moments in which to shine) and trio arrangements of two of his violin sonatas.

Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Peter Harvey, The Purcell Quartet - DietriBuxtehude: Sacred Cantatas Vol.2 (2005)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Peter Harvey, The Purcell Quartet - DietriBuxtehude: Sacred Cantatas Vol.2 (2005)

Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Peter Harvey, The Purcell Quartet - Dietrich Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas Vol.2 (2005)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 356 Mb | Total time: 79:32 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 0723 | Recorded: 2004

Charles Daniels enters into the exultant spirit of ‘Lobe den Herrn’, especially its exuberant final alleluia, and the three male voices bring an almost Italianate sweetness to ‘Jesu dulcis memoria’, one of several fine examples of Buxtehude’s fascination with the chaconne, as well as conveying all the darkness and pain of the richly-scored Passiontide meditation ‘An filius non est Dei’.

Emma Kirkby, Suzie LeBlanc, Peter Harvey, The Purcell Quartet - Dietrich Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas Vol.1 (2003)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Emma Kirkby, Suzie LeBlanc, Peter Harvey, The Purcell Quartet - Dietrich Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas Vol.1 (2003)

Emma Kirkby, Suzie LeBlanc, Peter Harvey, The Purcell Quartet - Dietrich Buxtehude: Sacred Cantatas Vol.1 (2003)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 335 Mb | Total time: 75:33 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 0691 | Recorded: 2002

Setting various German and Latin texts for solo voices, violins and continuo, these sacred cantatas are typical products of the late 17th century in their pragmatic approach to form.
Here are patchworks such as Jesu dulcis memoria and Salve, Jesu, Patris gnate unigenite; chorale or song variations such as Jesu, meine Freude; and others, like Ich halte es dafür and Ich habe Lustabzuscheiden, which combine the two. CantateDomino is liltingly Italianate, Mein Herz ist bereit is an agile showpiece for solo bass, while Herr, wennich nur dich hab is a set of variations over a ground bass. The Purcell Quartet's essential string sound has always been sweet, airy and lucid, and it's interesting to hear how that has been transferred here from the instrumental sphere to the vocal.

The Purcell Quartet - Arcangelo Corelli: Sonatas for Strings, Vol. 1 (1991)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet - Arcangelo Corelli: Sonatas for Strings, Vol. 1 (1991)

The Purcell Quartet - Arcangelo Corelli: Sonatas for Strings, Vol. 1 (1991)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 333 Mb | Total time: 66:47 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 0516 | Recorded: 1990

The early music revival has seen a spate of recordings of Corelli's music, both of his famous concerti grossi and of his less well-known sonatas. This recording of the first six sonatas each from Corelli's first and second published works was praised in the "Gramophone" magazine as possibly the best ever. These sonatas were all written for two violins plus "violone or archlute" plus organ or harpischord. After studying the scores, the Purcell Quartet concluded - and the sound of the recording proves them right - that they should perform the pieces with a violoncello playing the "violone" part, while they vary the bass, using an organ for five of the six Op. 1 sonatas and a theorbo on Op. 1 No. 4, while sticking with a harpsichord on Op. 2.

The Purcell Quartet with Elizabeth Wallfisch - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Harmonia artificiosa ariosa (1994) 2CDs

Posted By: Designol
The Purcell Quartet with Elizabeth Wallfisch - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Harmonia artificiosa ariosa (1994) 2CDs

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Harmonia artificiosa ariosa (1994) 2CDs
The Purcell Quartet with Elizabeth Wallfisch (viola d`amore)

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 429 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 216 Mb | Scans included
Classical, Baroque | Label: Chandos | # CHAN0575/6 | Time: 01:30:22

Like many of his German and Austrian contemporaries, Bohemian-born composer Heinrich von Biber was strongly influenced by the Italian school of violin composition that included Biagio Marini (1587-1665) and Marco Uccellini (1603-1680). A noted virtuoso himself, Biber and his teacher Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1621-1680) were two of the most important figures of the late seventeenth-century Viennese violin style. Biber's keen understanding of the technical and expressive possibilities of the instrument is evident in his innovative use of pizzicato (plucking of the string with the finger), double and triple stops (more than one note played at once creating "chords"), col legno (stick of the bow on the string), sul ponticello (played close to the bridge), and, especially, scordatura (intentional "mistuning" of the strings). Scordatura allowed the performer to play chords in particular keys more easily, extended the range of notes, and provided more open strings in order to negotiate the difficulty of polyphonic writing for a single instrument. Biber's imaginative and original use of these techniques or special effects brought violin virtuosity to an entirely new level of musical expression in the Baroque period. It can be argued that J. S. Bach's masterful Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, written in 1720, are direct descendants of Biber's grounding breaking Mystery or Rosary Sonatas, composed nearly a quarter of a century earlier.

The Purcell Quartet - J.S. Bach: Trio Sonatas (2000)

Posted By: tirexiss
The Purcell Quartet - J.S. Bach: Trio Sonatas (2000)

The Purcell Quartet - J.S. Bach: Trio Sonatas (2000)
XLD | FLAC (tracks+.cue, log) | Covers + Digital Booklet | 01:12:37 | 408 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Chaconne | Catalog: Chan 0654

Rarely do we feel the presence of Bach so vividly on a recording as we do here with this set of Trio Sonata arrangements, performed by violins, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. What a perfect combination, thanks to Richard Boothby's settings and to the wonderfully synergistic interaction among these very experienced early music players–violinists Catherine Mackintosh (in her best recorded performance in a while) and Catherine Weiss, gambist Boothby, and harpsichordist Robert Woolley.

The Purcell Quartet - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: La Folia & other works (1988)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: La Folia & other works (1988)

The Purcell Quartet - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: La Folia & other works (1988)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 333 Mb | Total time: 56:35 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hiperion | # CDA66239 | Recorded: 1986

This disc was an instant classic from the time it was issued in 1988, the Purcell Quartet's C.P.E. Bach: La Folia and other works. The disc features four chamber pieces and one harpsichord solo that, taken together, span all but the first and last decades of his output and contains some of the most pioneering and experimental-sounding music Bach created. The Trio Sonata in C minor "Sanguineus and Melancholicus" (1749) pits the Greek notions of the sanguine and melancholy against one another in a twisted musical dialogue, foreshadowing psychological form, a development that didn't take hold until the advent of Beethoven. Bach's late 12 Variations on La Folia (1776) are blustery and brilliant and played with a sense of urgency by the Purcell Quartet's leader, harpsichordist Robert Woolley.

The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 2 (2000)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 2 (2000)

The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 2 (2000)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 322 Mb | Total time: 64:59 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 0653 | Recorded: 1999

The absurd prejudice that long deprived us of adequate recordings of Bach's four Lutheran Masses (or short Masses, as they're also known because, in accordance with Lutheran usage, they set only the Kyrie and Gloria) seems finally to have died a death. The Masses' crime has been to be made up almost entirely of paraphrases of cantata movements from the 1720s, yet Bach is Bach, whatever the circumstances, and this is wonderful music which, like the B minor Mass, offers sober old-style polyphonic choral movements of impressive cumulative power alongside choruses of almost physical excitement and clamour and some first-rate arias with instrumental obbligato.

The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 1 (1999)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 1 (1999)

The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Lutheran Masses, Vol. 1 (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 273 Mb | Total time: 59:06 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 0642 | Recorded: 1998

The Purcell Quartet’s first volume of Masses is very welcome… the clarity of texture is superlative, making this an excellent introduction to these pieces… all the instrumental playing is vivid, intelligent and sensitive.

Lynne Dawson, The Purcell Quartet - Alessandro Scarlatti: Two Cantatas & 'La Folia' (1987) Reissue 2007

Posted By: Designol
Lynne Dawson, The Purcell Quartet - Alessandro Scarlatti: Two Cantatas & 'La Folia' (1987) Reissue 2007

Alessandro Scarlatti - Two Cantatas & 'La Folia' (1987) Reissue 2007
Lynne Dawson, soprano; The Purcell Quartet

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 273 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 121 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical, Vocal | Label: Helios/Hyperion | # CDH55233 | Time: 00:51:44

Alessandro Scarlatti wrote over 600 cantatas, two of which are on this 1987 disc performed by soprano Lynne Dawson and the Purcell Quartet: Correa nel seno amato and Già lusingato appieno. He wrote considerably less keyboard music – and next to nothing compared with the gargantuan achievement of his son Domenico – one of which is on this disc performed by Robert Woolley, the harpsichordist of the Purcell Quartet: the Variations on La Folia. With the chamber cantatas flanking the keyboard variations, this disc is a wonderful program of the elder Scarlatti's art. Though there are some who might argue English soprano Dawson is perhaps too reserved for this repertoire, none would argue that she doesn't have a clear voice and a supple technique. And while there are others who might argue the Purcell Quartet is perhaps too stringent for the repertoire, none would argue they don't play together with consummate ease and they don't accompany Dawson with brilliant mastery. But there are few who would disparage Woolley's blindingly virtuosic and blazingly demonic La Folia Variations.

The Purcell Quartet, Fretwork - Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostri (2010)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet, Fretwork - Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostri (2010)

The Purcell Quartet, Fretwork - Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostri (2010)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 342 Mb | Total time: 78:56 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | KCHAN 0775 | Recorded: 2009

…Sopranos Emma Kirkby and Elin Manahan Thomas are excellent throughout…Harvey is a solid, dignified presence elsewhere as well, while tenor Charles Daniels and countertenor Michael Chance are at their eloquent best… Both The Purcell Quartet and Fretwork relish the variegated sonorities afforded by Buxtehude’s score, as well as the word painting, while blending with the voices to effect a homogenous yet multi-timbred sound of great beauty.

Catherine Bott, Purcell Quartet - Handel: Tra le fiamme. Italian Cantatas and Trio Sonatas (1998)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Catherine Bott, Purcell Quartet - Handel: Tra le fiamme. Italian Cantatas and Trio Sonatas (1998)

Catherine Bott, Purcell Quartet - Handel: Tra le fiamme. Italian Cantatas and Trio Sonatas (1998)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 351 Mb | Total time: 69:47 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | CHAN0620 | Recorded: 1997

The idea of alternating trio sonatas with cantatas is a happy one, based perhaps on the idea that people play CDs for pleasure and not simply for reference. The two cantatas are rarities on record. Tra le fiamme is a spectacularly scored piece, its textures enriched by a viola da gamba obbligato and wind instruments (recorders in some numbers, oboes in another) as well as strings.

The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Early Cantatas, Vol. 3 - Weimar Cantatas II (2008)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Early Cantatas, Vol. 3 - Weimar Cantatas II (2008)

The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Early Cantatas, Vol. 3 - Weimar Cantatas II (2008)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 387 Mb | Total time: 87:59 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | CHAN0752 | Recorded: 2007

This 2-CD set with The Purcell Quartet and a distinguished group of soloists is the third in a series devoted to Bach’s early cantatas and the second focussing on the Weimar period. On an earlier release, International Record Review wrote, ‘The Purcell Quartet and guests are most welcome: even the most distinguished of period performers with larger ensembles can’t achieve the intimacy that the forces here have at their disposal’.

The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Early Cantatas, Vol. 2 - Weimar Cantatas I (2007)

Posted By: ArlegZ
The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Early Cantatas, Vol. 2 - Weimar Cantatas I (2007)

The Purcell Quartet - Johann Sebastian Bach: Early Cantatas, Vol. 2 - Weimar Cantatas I (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 312 Mb | Total time: 77:21 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | CHAN0742 | Recorded: 2005

When recording Bach's 199 sacred cantatas, various strategies have been employed to impose meaningful order on them. There's the "everything from BWV 1 to BWV 199" approach, the "everything in the church year" approach, and the less frequently employed "everything in chronological order" approach, adopted here by the Purcell Quartet. In this the second volume in the series, the four works come from Bach's Weimar period, specifically from 1714 and 1715: Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 (Weeping, sighing, sorrowing, crying); Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18 (For as the rain and snow fall down from heaven); Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 (Now come, the heathen's Savior); and Komm, du süsse Todesstunde, BWV 161 (Come, sweet hour of my death).