Purcell: Ten Sonatas in Four Parts (1697)

“The recording...has crisp clarity of detail, and these performances have direct impact in quick music...yet frequently the defining characteristic of these compelling performances is when Heinrich's viol and the continuo group reach down towards their lowest bass notes.” --Gramophone Magazine, August 2014

“He's ingeniously rethought Mrs Purcell's arbitrary ordering, and ends with the magnificent chaconne-driven G minor Sonata Z807, using the so-called 'Golden Sonata' as a central pivot with sonatas in rising fourths before it, and descending thirds after. It's a cogent call, creating a satisfying set.” --BBC Music Magazine, September 2014 ****

The King’s Consort

Sixth release on the VIVAT label features Henry Purcell’s brilliant yet melancholic “Ten Sonatas in Four Parts”.

The King’s Consort holds a worldwide reputation as leading performers of Purcell. This new release adds to TKC’s 25 recordings of the composer’s music, which have won numerous international awards and been central in restoring Purcell’s music to prominence.

The international performer line-up includes Italian-Dutch violinist Cecilia Bernardini, Gramophone award-winning German viol player Susanne Heinrich, Welsh violinist Huw Daniel, and English organist Robert King and theorbo player Lynda Sayce.

Purcell’s extraordinarily inventive, highly individual music combines Italian vigour, French elegance and delicious English melancholy with harmonic daring, extraordinary contrapuntal technique and unique melodic inventiveness.

Recorded in the well-nigh perfect acoustic of The Menuhin Hall, Surrey.

Extensive presentation includes 44 page booklet with authoritative liner note in three languages by renowned Purcell expert and biographer Robert King, session photographs and reproductions from the 1697 first edition.

“Cecilia Bernardini and Huw Daniel dazzle with glittering virtuosity in the mighty Chaconne which constitutes the G minor Sonata, Z807 and ooze pathos in the gracefully agonized dissonances of the opening Adagio from the D minor Sonata, Z805.” --International Record Review, June 2014

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An Evening With Leopold Stokowski

“This vivid act of reclamation has so much to teach, and to enjoy. It shows that Stokowski's arrangements were made not only with love but acuity; that their flair and poetry may survive beyond his own performances, given the flair and commitment displayed by the Brussels Philharmonic” --Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

“What’s a period-instrument specialist doing conducting the notoriously inauthentic orchestral arrangements of Stokowski? Having fun, that’s what. Baroque wonders by Bach, Handel and Purcell become dressed in showmanship...The Brussels Philharmonic plays persuasively for Egarr, and the programme’s terrific” --The Times, 8th January 2011

The charm and sheer full-blooded pleasure offered by Leopold Stokowski’s transcriptions continues to hold sway today – complete with opulent and resonant strings – some three decades after the dynamic conductor’s death. The “Stokowski Sound” was particularly, indeed deliberately, well-suited to the possibilities offered with the development of stereo recording of the maestro’s day, a challenge which Glossa’s engineer Manuel Mohino has happily embraced as much as the Brussels Philharmonic, whose members have taken to the style like ducks to water in this modern-day “Evening with Leopold Stokowski”.

Leading the way with a classy swagger in transcriptions of Bach, Purcell and Palestrina is a conductor in Richard Egarr, perhaps better known for his work with the unadorned originals (he is the Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music, after all), but in reality equally at home in much later music – and he makes no bones about his appreciation of the Stokowski style. About the transcription of Dido’s Lament Egarr says, “It is still Purcell, even in Stokowski's fur coat.” and, for added emphasis, he conjures up his own orchestral confection of Handel’s Water Music. An evening’s entertainment of unalloyed pleasure culminating in a triumphant rendition of the Slavonic March by Tchaikovsky, à la Stokowski, naturally.

Commercial release sheet (PDF)

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Music for Trumpet and Organ

Alison Balsom is the world’s preeminent female classical trumpeter. She is an unique and independent artist who have broken through to the mainstream whilst retaining her integrity and core musical values. Exceptional talent, a glamorous stage presence and a witty and engaging personality make Alison one of the most exciting and bankable artists in the core classical world today.

“The young British trumpeter Alison Balsom is a real star: resplendent and well-varied tone, crisp attack, absolute ease of production throughout the range.” BBC Music Magazine

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