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Reviewer:
David Vickers
It has been a long time since The King’s Consort recorded any music by the English Orpheus, so this survey of 10 sonatas in four parts published posthumously by the composer’s widow Frances in 1697 is most welcome. An eminent discography includes exceptional versions by the Purcell Quartet (Chandos, 10/89), London Baroque (Harmonia Mundi, 8/93), and The King’s Consort’s own estranged sibling Retrospect (Linn, 9/09). Robert King quietly demonstrates his capabilities as a keyboard continuo player, working unobtrusively from the chamber organ in partnership with theorbist Lynda Sayce and bass viol player Susanne Heinrich.
The recording, made in the concert hall of the Menuhin School, has crisp clarity of detail, and these performances have direct impact in quick music rather than the soft finesse of some versions cited above, 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; this weaves together with agile fiddlers Cecilia Bernardini and Huw Daniel to concoct irresistible intoxications, such as the melancholic Adagio that opens the Sonata in D minor (Z805) and also the increasingly tender suspensions in the Largo at the heart of the Sonata in B minor (Z802). The Vivace introduction to the Sonata in C major (Z808) has a sunny joviality and numerous Canzonas offer plenty of vibrant conversation, but avid Purcellians will bask most contentedly in the self-indulgently chromatic pathos of slow music such as the extraordinarily beautiful Adagio commencing the Sonata in E flat major (Z803) and the seven-minutelong Chaccone in G minor (Z807). |
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