At first glance, this disc has a somewhat bizarre look to it. One is familiar enough with extractions of instrumental numbers from Abdelazer or The Fairy Queen, but a suite from Dido and Aeneas, Purcell's only through-composed opera? The eyebrows rise a further notch when closer inspection reveals the CD to contain instrumental versions of vocal originals. But fear not; this imaginatively put-together collection not only works a treat in artistic terms, it also has historical precedent on its side. Collections of instrumental ayres from Purcell's stage works first began to appear just a few years after the composer's death, and matters of coherent tonal and dramatic organization usually came ahead of fidelity to operatic ordering or context then, just as they do here. It means that what we get is well over an hour's worth of some of Purcell's best orchestral music, ranging from imposing multi-sectional overtures to charmingly simple airs to theatrical coups such as the Frost Dance from King Arthur. (Thomas Hengelbrock also has the odd coup of his own up his sleeve, including a modulating harpsichord cadenza to take us straight from the Dido Witches' Dance into that old favourite, the Chacony in G minor!)
This is the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra's second recording, and like the C. P. E. Bach disc which came out last year (4/91) it's brimful of personality. The striking vigour of these performances puts one in mind of Reinhard Goebel, but the eccentricities that are at once that musician's strength and his weakness are here replaced by uncomplicatedly ebullient playing which nevertheless misses not a single interpretative trick, whether in imparting vital rhythm to a dance movement or lending sweetness to a tender air. Hengelbrock's exciting young group responds to these demands with a joie de vivre that is quite infectious, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable disc that you'll just want to play over and over again. An orchestra to watch.'