A rare treat: no less than 7 CDs with instrumental chamber music by Henry Purcell. Despite his fame, too little attention has been paid to this part of his oeuvre. This collection offers a great variety: from the "Staircase" overture to voluntaries for organ.
Henry Purcell’s fame rests largely on dramatic works such as Dido and Aeneas, his anthems, and numerous songs. In his relatively short life, Purcell managed to compose in every genre usual at the time. Well-hidden among his vast amount of vocal music lies a relatively small collection of chamber music pieces.
Together with Handel, Purcell is England’s most important Baroque composer. He was also an organist, though he left behind remarkably little for this instrument. Pieter-Jan Belder -- the keyboard player who also recorded the complete Scarlatti sonatas -- recorded this organ music along with Purcell’s varied music for harpsichord; these works comprise 3 of the 7 discs in this set.
