Henry Purcell - Instrumental Music (Thomas Hengelbrock; Freiburger Barockorchester)

Information

Composer: Henry Purcell

• (01-07) The Fairy Queen, semi-opera, Z. 629
• (08-13) Dido and Aeneas, opera, Z. 626
• (14-19) King Arthur, semi-opera, Z. 628
• (20-25) Abdelazer, incidental music, Z. 570

Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
Thomas Hengelbrock, violin & conductor

Date: 1991
Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

At first glance, this disc has a somewhat bizarre look to it. One is familiar enough with extractions of instrumental numbers from Abdelazer or The Fairy Queen, but a suite from Dido and Aeneas, Purcell's only through-composed opera? The eyebrows rise a further notch when closer inspection reveals the CD to contain instrumental versions of vocal originals. But fear not; this imaginatively put-together collection not only works a treat in artistic terms, it also has historical precedent on its side. Collections of instrumental ayres from Purcell's stage works first began to appear just a few years after the composer's death, and matters of coherent tonal and dramatic organization usually came ahead of fidelity to operatic ordering or context then, just as they do here. It means that what we get is well over an hour's worth of some of Purcell's best orchestral music, ranging from imposing multi-sectional overtures to charmingly simple airs to theatrical coups such as the Frost Dance from King Arthur. (Thomas Hengelbrock also has the odd coup of his own up his sleeve, including a modulating harpsichord cadenza to take us straight from the Dido Witches' Dance into that old favourite, the Chacony in G minor!)

This is the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra's second recording, and like the C. P. E. Bach disc which came out last year (4/91) it's brimful of personality. The striking vigour of these performances puts one in mind of Reinhard Goebel, but the eccentricities that are at once that musician's strength and his weakness are here replaced by uncomplicatedly ebullient playing which nevertheless misses not a single interpretative trick, whether in imparting vital rhythm to a dance movement or lending sweetness to a tender air. Hengelbrock's exciting young group responds to these demands with a joie de vivre that is quite infectious, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable disc that you'll just want to play over and over again. An orchestra to watch.

-- Lindsay Kemp, Gramophone

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Henry Purcell (10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell worked in many genres, both in works closely linked to the court, such as symphony song, to the Chapel Royal, such as the symphony anthem, and the theatre. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton and Benjamin Britten in the 20th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell

***

Thomas Hengelbrock (born 9 June 1958 in Wilhelmshaven) is a German violinist, musicologist, stage director and conductor. He studied the violin with Rainer Kussmaul and worked as an assistant to Witold Lutosławski, Mauricio Kagel and Antal Doráti. He is the founder and director of the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor (1991) and the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble (1996). He was the conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (1995-1999), and musical director of the Volksoper Wien (2000-2003). Since 2011, he has been the principal conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hengelbrock
http://www.thomas-hengelbrock.com/

***

Freiburger Barockorchester (Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) is a German orchestra founded in 1987, with the mission statement: "to enliven the world of Baroque music with new sounds". The orchestra is based in Freiburg im Breisgau. In addition to Baroque music, it has performed works by composers such as Beethoven, Schubert and Weber, and contemporary music. The orchestra mostly play without a conductor, but has two Artistic Managers of equal status (Gottfried von der Goltz and Petra Müllejans), who alternately manage individual projects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburger_Barockorchester

http://www.barockorchester.de/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!