Purcell. Sweeter Than Roses. Concerto Caledonia/mc

James Bowman, Olivia Chaney, Jim Moray, Concerto Caledonia, David McGuinness

Composed by: Purcell: Purcell's Revenge - Sweeter Than Roses?

Delving into the past is never a simple matter for David McGuinness and his indomitable early-music-meets-nu-folk group Concerto Caledonia. But the present venture, even more than most, eludes verbal description. The group returns – in the company of some starry guest names – to the territory of their 2011 Britten tribute Revenge of the Folksingers, now engaging with music by Henry Purcell in a tapestry of arrangements and creative responses that is never less than surprising. Variations by eighteenth-century Scot James Oswald rub shoulders with the Purcell tunes they are based on, while original songs by Olivia Chaney and Ana Silvera and some literally 'electrifying' instrumental contributions add to the general air of expectations confounded.

Price: $28.98