Fantasias for the Viols 1680. Henry Purcell. Hespèrion XX, Jordi Savall

Описание: 00:08 Fantasia No 1 in Re Dorian / minor
03:18 Fantasia No 2 in Fa Major
06:56 Fantasia No 3 In Sol Minor
09:32 Fantasia No 4 in Sol Minor (14 June 1680)
13:27 Fantasia No 5 in Si-flat Major (11 June 1680)
17:00 Fantasia No 6 in Fa Major (14 June 1680)
21:09 Fantasia No 7 in Do Dorian / minor
25:35 Fantasia No 8 in Re Dorian / minor
29:34 Fantasia No 9 in La Minor
34:45 Fantasia No 10 in Sol Major (30 June 1680)
38:50 Fantasia No 11 in Sol Major (19 August 1680)
42:00 Fantasia No 12 in Re Minor (31 August 1680)
45:36 Fantasia No 13 in Fa Major Fantasia ‘Upon One Note’
48:40 Fantasia No 14 in Sol Minor: 6 Part in Nomine
50:32 Fantasia No 15 in Sol Dorian: 7 Part in Nomine


Purcell’s fantasias are regarded as some of the finest and most intricately wrought works in the genre, embracing profound counterpoint and a great command of all of the polyphonal techniques of the time. The fantasias offer deep insight into the compositions’ fabric, revealing a fresh perspective of a composer with, “an extraordinary ability to walk the fine line between joy and sorrow, to beautifully express the melancholy which was such a characteristic mood of his times.”

Purcell’s fifteen Fantazias have come down to us as a manuscript kept at the British Museum, most of whose pieces are dated. As they would not have aroused any interest at the time, the young composer did not even attempt to have them published, and they only appeared in print, edited by Peter Warlock, in 1927! This unique collection of pieces of from three to seven parts, a true “sum” of polyphonic thinking, to which only Bach’s Musical Offering and Art of Fugue may be compared, are the product, incredible as it may seem, of a very young composer of twenty-one at the beginning of his all too-short career. Written during the summer of 1680, they bring two centuries of uninterrupted instrumental tradition in England to a crowning conclusion.

#Fantasia; #Purcell