Purcell - Keyboard Suites & Grounds - Harmonia Mundi: HMU907428 - download

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…Egarr is… brilliant in the G major Suite, introspective in its broody, lowering G minor sibling, and not beyond an utterly charming registrational surprise for the last track. — BBC Music Magazine, October 2008, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 29th Sep 2008
Catalogue No: HMU907428
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 75 minutes

Purcell: Suite No. 1 in G major, Z 660

Work length4:06

$4.00

$5.00

I. Prelude

Track length0:35

$1.00

$1.25

II. Almand

Track length1:13

$1.00

$1.25

III. Corant

Track length1:05

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Minuet

Track length1:13

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Chaconne in G minor, ZT 680, from Timon of Athens

Work length2:55

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Suite No. 2 in G minor, Z 661

Work length8:46

$4.00

$5.00

I. Prelude

Track length1:40

$1.00

$1.25

II. Almand

Track length3:46

$1.00

$1.25

III. Corant

Track length1:37

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Sarabande

Track length1:43

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Ground, Z. T681

Work length3:57

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Suite No. 3 in G major, Z 662

Work length7:04

$3.00

$3.75

I. Prelude

Track length1:24

$1.00

$1.25

II. Almand

Track length3:34

$1.00

$1.25

III. Courante

Track length2:06

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: A New Ground in E minor, Z. T682

Work length2:25

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Suite No. 4 in A minor, Z 663

Work length8:39

$5.00

$6.25

I. Prelude

Track length1:03

$1.00

$1.25

II. Almand

Track length3:01

$1.00

$1.25

III. Corante

Track length1:41

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Saraband

Track length1:18

$1.00

$1.25

V. Jig

Track length1:36

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: A Ground in Gamut in G major, Z 645

Work length1:59

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Suite No. 5 in C major, Z 666

Work length7:37

$5.00

$6.25

I. Prelude in C

Track length0:46

$1.00

$1.25

II. Prelude

Track length1:14

$1.00

$1.25

III. Almand

Track length3:10

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Corant

Track length1:09

$1.00

$1.25

V. Saraband

Track length1:18

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Ground in C minor, ZD221

Work length2:58

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Suite No. 6 in D major, Z 667

Work length5:12

$3.00

$3.75

I. Prelude

Track length0:48

$1.00

$1.25

II. Almand

Track length3:10

$1.00

$1.25

III. Hornpipe

Track length1:14

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Rondeau from Abdelazer

Work length1:49

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Suite No. 7 in D minor, Z 668

Work length7:48

$4.00

$5.00

I. Improvised Prelude

Track length0:30

$1.00

$1.25

II. Almand, Very Slow, 'Bell-barr'

Track length4:45

$1.00

$1.25

III. Corant

Track length1:41

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Hornpipe

Track length0:52

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Ground in D minor, ZD222

Work length2:19

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: Suite No. 8 in F major, Z 669

Work length7:32

$4.00

$5.00

I. Prelude

Track length0:54

$1.00

$1.25

II. Almand

Track length3:16

$1.00

$1.25

III. Courante

Track length2:10

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Minuet

Track length1:12

$1.00

$1.25

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Favourites, Henry Purcell

David explores some of the top performances - old and new - of the wide and varied output of English Baroque master Henry Purcell.

In his latest solo recital for harmonia mundi, Richard Egarr turns to the rarely heard harpsichord Suites by Henry Purcell. In his beautifully shaped reading, these eight muscular and quirky works, published the year after Purcell's death, are interspersed with seven shorter pieces built on a recurring pattern - a chaconne, a rondeau, and five 'grounds'. Richard Egarr has worked with all types of keyboards and is in great demand both as soloist and as accompanist. His collaboration with long-time duo partner Andrew Manze has been setting new performance standards since 1984. He is music director of the Academy of Ancient Music, and they recently recorded Handel's Organ Concertos Op.4 together, nominated for a Gramophone Award 2008. Handel Concerti Grossi Op. 3 won the Baroque Award in 2007.

Reviews

October 2008

…Egarr is… brilliant in the G major Suite, introspective in its broody, lowering G minor sibling, and not beyond an utterly charming registrational surprise for the last track.

2010

While the eight posthumously published suites (with judiciously selected miscellany to create some elbow-room between each) are woefully unknown, they are beautifully crafted. Purcell's keyboard style rarely reverts to French luxuriance, rather more questing in its unpredictable steers, deliberately wrong-footed harmonic inflections, often quite tough textures and extended lyrical journeys.
Richard Egarr's devotion to these pieces comes in the form of studied spaciousness which allows these rich strains to become gently infused into our listening habits. This is no background tafelmusik, which is why it requires our indulgence, to stop and follow the thread – especially in the sustained narrative of the minor-key suites.
If the Almand of the G major Suite offers homage to the exquisite character-piece Almans of Gibbons, the A minor work is prescient of 18th-century models in its directed figuration and the grandiloquence of its easy conflation of French and Italian styles. Indeed, one of Egarr's greatest achievements is to challenge the homespun perception of this repertoire and present it as great keyboard music. The C major Suite is a wonderful demonstration of this, as is the gamey tuning of the D major work with its burly final hornpipe. The harpsichord by Joel Katzman (after Ruckers) covers all the bases with its disarming colour, clarity and resonance. An outstanding recital.

October 2008

A thoroughly persuasive case for these neglected masterpieces.

Purcell - Keyboard Suites & Grounds

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Favourites, Henry Purcell

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