Henry Purcell: Ten Sonatas in Four Parts

Product Description Released to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the birth of Henry Purcell: Ten Sonata’s in Four Parts , is performed by Retrospect Trio, a group formed under the umbrella of the larger Retrospect brand. The release date will coincide with the launch of Retrospect, formerly known as The King’s Consort. This recording explores the timeless beauty of Purcell’s first set of sonatas including the magnificent Sonata IX, known as ‘The Golden Sonata’. The Ten Sonata’s in Four Parts (published after Purcell’s death in 1697) provide a fascinating insight into the cosmopolitan and often conflicting stylistic tastes of English musicians in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Purcell blends the significant French, Italian and English influences including unique use of counterpoint, unusual and exotic dissonances and strikingly abrupt melodic changes of direction. The name Retrospect Trio acknowledges the common practice of not recognising the continuo presence in either the title of the pieces or the performing group. The four members of the group, Sophie Gent (violin), Matthew Truscott (violin), Jonathan Manson (bass viol) and Matthew Halls (harpsichord / organ, are all distinguished international performers in their own right with a shared passion for historically-informed music-making. Matthew Halls was Associate Director (2005-2007) and Artistic Director (2007-2009) of The King’s Consort before taking up his position as Artistic Director of Retrospect Ensemble. Henry Purcell: Ten Sonata’s in Four Parts is a fitting tribute to Purcell by four superstar baroque instrumentalists and the first recording in the highly anticipated Retrospect Ensemble series. Review It seems almost impossible now to imagine a time when the word ‘sonata’; was a racy, new-fangled Italian invention, or when the idea of a violin playing solo rather than within an instrumental consort was close to indecent. Well, welcome to the London of Henry Purcell. This recording marks the debut of the Retrospect Trio, an offshoot of the Retrospect Ensemble, the early music group known until recently as the Kings Consort. The aim of the trio – violinists Sophie Gent and Matthew Truscott, bass violist Jonathan Manson and harpsichordist Matthew Halls – is to explore the rich trio sonata repertoire of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The CD also marks the 350th anniversary of Purcell’s birth, and a fitting tribute it is. These sonatas provide a wonderfully performed, fascinating snapshot of late 17th century English cultural life, and how Purcell operated within it. London musical life in the 1680s had a whiff of controversy around it. While at court, French-style instrumental ensembles reigned supreme, elsewhere the traditional English consort style was in vogue. Meanwhile, various Italian violinists were also arriving in London, introducing the idea of the solo virtuoso violinist. Opinion was polarised; the composer Thomas Mace scathingly talked of ‘scoulding violins’, but others embraced the idea. Purcell, therefore, was stuck in the middle of a musical diplomatic conundrum; did he want to be a racy Italian, a courtly Frenchman, or a traditional Englishman? His decision was to plump for all three; the sonatas on this disc, published in 1697, two years after his death, show how he drew from all their sensibilities and styles whilst staying true to his own predilection for almost-shocking dissonance, intricate contrapuntal textures, and melodic invention. Retrospect’s debut performance combines this French grace, Italian vivacity, and British grit. Technically, the faster virtuosic sections are nimbly and neatly executed, and musically their beautiful shaping of the slower, chordal passages has yielded maximum emotional punch. With a sound this satisfying and addictive, they’ve set the bar very high for future recordings. Bravo. 08 June 2009 Charlotte Gardner –BBC Online There’s something decidedly appropriate about Retrospect Trio choosing Purcell for its debut recording. During the build-up to Purcell’s tercentenary celebrations in 1997, the group’s previous incarnation, The King’s Consort, displayed tireless dedication to his works, expanding the catalogue. Now reinvented as Retrospect Ensemble (with Matthew Halls still artistic director), its chamber offshoot rides to the rescue again with repertoire ripe for revisiting. The fine accounts by the Purcell Quartet and London Baroque already date back nearly 20 years. Like the companion Sonatas for Three Parts, Purcell nails his four-part colours to an imitation of the most fam’d Italian masters’ – music’s best master’ he insisted while admitting that a little French air was good for gayety and fashion’, For all the advertising claims though, the music grafts continental inclinations onto the sturdy rootstock of the English Fantazia to produce music rich in contrapuntal argument, ear-catching harmonies, melodic felicities and suave fluidity. Retrospect captures it al