Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Fantasias in Four Parts

00:00 Fantasia No. 1 in G minor (Moderato) 04:25 Fantasia No. 2 in B flat major (Slow) 07:50 Fantasia No. 3 in F major (Fast) 10:57 Fantasia No. 4 in C minor (Slow) 15:44 Fantasia No. 5 in D minor (Slow) 19:47 Fantasia No. 6 in A minor (Slow) 23:16 Fantasia No. 7 in E minor (Moderato) 26:38 Fantasia No. 8 in G major (Moderately Slow) 29:57 Fantasia No. 9 in D minor (Rather Slow) Winterthur String Orchestra - Walter Goehr, conductor HENRY PURCELL is without doubt the greatest musical genius England has ever produced. He stands out as a final efflorescence before the decline of an original English music set in with the arrival of Handel. Purcell’s great Fantasias in Four Parts are monuments in the history of music. They were written for a “chest of viols,” corresponding to the four instruments of the modern string family. Despite Purcell’s employment of more or less complicated devices of counterpoint, the Fantasias contain an element of ease wh