The Muses Restor'd

Compared to the repertories of Italy and Germany, the glories of English instrumental music of the 17th and early 18th Centuries are largely unknown. Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque shed light on this underappreciated era on The Muses Restor'd, a journey of captivating violin-led chamber music from Jacobean to Early Georgian England, ranging from the gentle intimacy of consort idioms to the full-blown instrumental virtuosity of the evolving baroque period. This beautifully refined and intimately chiselled chamber music celebrates a rich tradition where the violin joins a plethora of keyboards, lutes, viol and continuo cello reinstating these sonatas, fantasies, suites, grounds and popular tunes to the mainstream of English cultural life of the time. Together with four musicians of Brecon Baroque, Rachel Podger performs works by Handel, Lawes, Blow, Locke, Purcell, Schop, Jenkins, Baltzar and Jones.

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) , William Lawes (1602-1645) , John Blow (1649-1708) , Matthew Locke (1622-1677) , Henry Purcell (1659-1695) , Johann Schop (1590-1667) , John Jenkins (1592-1678) , Richard Jones (1680-1744) , Thomas Baltzar (1630-1663) , Francesco Barsanti (1690-1772) , James Oswald (1711-1769) , Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)