Purcell: Fantazias
List Price:
Our Price: $3.64
You Save: $5.35 (60%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Henry PurcellPerformer: Rose Consort of Viols
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2000-10-06
Music Label: Naxos
Soundtracks:
- Four-Part Fantazias: No.5 in B flat, Z.736
- Four-Part Fantazias: No.8 in d, Z.739
- Four-Part Fantazias: No.4 in g, Z.735
- Fantazia in F, Upon One Note, Z.745
- Four Part Fanzias: No.7 in c, Z.738
- Four-Part Fantazias: No.6 in F, Z.737
- Four-Part Fantazias: No.12 in d, Z.7843
- Three-Part Fantazias: No.3 in g, Z.734
- Three-Part Fantazias: No.2 in F, Z.733
- Three-Part Fantazias: No.1 in d, Z.732
- In Nomine Of Six Parts in g, Z.746
- Four-Part Fantazias: No.9 in a, Z.740
- Four-Part Fantazias: No.10 in e, Z.741
- Four-Part Fantazias: No.11 in G, Z.742
- In Nomine Of Seven Parts, 'Dorian', Z.747
Music reviews of Purcell: Fantazias
Music Review: Forget What Your 'Music Appreciation' Teacher Said
Rating: 5 Stars
Most music histories would have us believe that the genre of the 'string quartet' sprang full-grown from the forehead of Joseph Haydn, was nurtured to maturity by Wolfgang Mozart, and achieved apotheosis in the works of Beethoven and Schubert. Certainly it is possible to follow the development of the form in Haydn's works, from his earliest quartets, which are little more than violin sonatas with lower strings rather than harpsichord, to his later masterpieces, in which the four instruments function as equals.
Nevertheless the string quartet had evolved before, and reached a degree of sophistication that even Mozart never exceeded, not as a suite of movements but rather as a 'set' of fantasies to be played on the "closed consort" of violas da gamba, which were built in various sizes from the viola-sized treble to the extended cello-sized bass. Pieces for gamba consorts were composed in all the musical countries of Europe in the 16th Century. It was in England, however, where the repertoire for gambas evolved most independently and achieved the most complexity. Composers like Tye, Byrd, Gibbons, and Lawes wrote polyphonic consort music of astonishing subtlety and abstract beauty, with each voice sharing in emotional expressivity.
The apotheosis of the gamba consort tradition was reached in the Fantazias and 'In Nomines' of Henry Purcell (1659-1695). Listening to this CD of such 'Other String' quartets makes me think of the evolution of winged flight, which has occurred convergently in reptiles, birds, and mammals, with roughly the same genetic architecture building different skeletal solutions. Words can scarcely evoke the evanescent emotional variety of these fantasies, or the modernity of their harmonic resources.
The Rose Consort of Viols, on this CD at least, reaches the same elite status as the gamba consorts Fretwork and Phantasm. Though these pieces could no doubt be played on violins and cellos - or saxophones, if you want to push the argument - the Roses leave no doubt for the ears that the gamba is not just a fiddle with frets. The timbre of these gambas is unmistakably different. It's often described as 'silvery', though I don't find it metallic in any way. Gamba overtones just seem to make space for tonal complexities to be heard. Emerging from the 'tenor-structured' musical theory of the late Renaissance, gamba consort music is naturally generous to the bass; the typical quartet 'chest' of gambas used one treble, one tenor and two basses, a formula that Purcell also preferred. Thus the gamba quartet has a dark, meditative, slightly melancholy affect, though Purcell is also capable of lightening the texture with sprightly gigues.
If the whole 16th & 17th C repertoire of the closed consort (music for instruments of the same family) is new to you, you couldn't do better than to introduce yourself to it with this CD by the English Roses.
More Purcell: Fantazias free music reviews:
1
1
Description of Purcell: Fantazias
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.91
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Essential PurcellKING'S CONSORT; Release date: 1995-04-10; Music CD
Best price: $4.57
Price in other shops:
Johann Sebastian Bach: 6 Brandenburg Concertos / 4 Orchestral Suites - The English Concert / Trevor PinnockRelease date: 1989-05-09; Music CD
Best price: $18.91
Price in other shops:
Fretwork - Bach: Goldberg Variations (arranged for viols)Release date: 2011-11-08; Music CD
Best price: $14.84
Price in other shops:
Vivaldi ConcertosRelease date: 2001-10-09; Music CD
Best price: $21.40
Price in other shops:
Fretwork - English Music For ViolsRelease date: 2008-10-28; Music CD
Best price: $10.50
Price in other shops:
Corelli: 12 Concerti grossi, op. 6Release date: 1999-09-14; Music CD
Best price: $10.45
Price in other shops:
Mozart: The Violin SonatasSon; Release date: 2003-10-28; Music CD
Best price: $21.03
Price in other shops:
Purcell: Full Anthems & Organ MusicRelease date: 1995-05-09; Music CD
Best price: $5.15
Price in other shops:
Purcell: Complete Chamber MusicRelease date: 2008-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $25.11
Price in other shops:
Telemann: The Six Paris QuartetsRelease date: 2000-10-10; Music CD
Best price: $5.92
Price in other shops: