ProStudioMasters.com

"The Purcell Quartet bring their customary virtues to bear, namely a sweetly transparent ensemble sound ... a fleet-footed nimbleness in passage work and a good feeling for the music’s various moods."
- Gramophone

"Five Stars ... listening to the suites of Hortus musicus I am at a loss to know why they are not played more often ... elegantly crafted, well sustained and plentifully endowed with harmonic interest. They are qualities to which the (Purcell) Quartet responds with insight and evident warmth of sentiment ... a rewarding release."
- BBC Music Magazine

On this album of world premieres, acclaimed Baroque ensemble the Purcell Quartet shines a spotlight on Johann Adam Reincken, a 17th century organist in Germany, whose music exemplified Hamburg’s sophisticated, proud culture and reputation as the most cosmopolitan city in the country. Reincken presided over a colossal organ, a symbol of civic wealth and his improvisations were admired by visiting merchants. Renowned as an improviser and, perhaps because he jealously guarded his art, Reincken committed little keyboard music to paper; the main item in his surviving output is Hortus musicus, a 1687 set of six partitas for two violins, viola da gamba and continuo.