The myth of Purcell, the 'Orpheus Britannicus', the most important musician born in England before Britten in the 20th century, is strengthened by its likening to the biography of Mozart: they died a century apart at less than 36 years of age and produced in such a short time a staggering number of compositions: 626 works for the Austrian, 871 for the Englishman.

The pieces chosen for this CD illustrate an intimate repertory, with no division between sacred and profane, in the same arrangement with instrumental pieces of Purcell’s contemporaries that might have happened in London in a private performance of the time.

These composers are John Banister (pioneer of music for the violin at the court of Charles II, died in 1679), Gottfried Finger (Moravian violinist and composer who lived until 1730) and Antony Poole (almost unknown Jesuit and musician formed in Spanish Flanders and who lived until 1692), the last two active at the court of James II (1685-88) and thus colleagues of the 25-year-old Henry.

Purcell himself is well represented with some of his instrumental compositions, including the famous set of variations 'Two in one upon a ground', a chaconne taken from the third act of 'The Prophetess', or 'The History of Dioclesian' (1690), which in this recording uses an unpublished lute part taken from a manuscript now in Poznan in Poland.