reviews

Geoffrey Norris, The Daily Telegraph

10/6/2009

The sheer technical mastery that Purcell distilled in his ‘fantazias’ is astonishing. But these fluid, animated and emotionally acute performances from Fretwork show that his secure scholarship in the art of composition by no means curbed his caprice. The most famous piece is the short five-part fantazia constructed around a sustained middle C, in which Purcell is still able to deploy a rich harmonic palette intermingling sadness and joy ‘“ just as he does elsewhere in this remarkable sequence.

Telegraph rating: * * * *