PURCELL: King Arthur, Music for Queen Mary, The Indian Queen, The Tempest and More - John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Orchestra, English Baroque Soloists (9 CDs & Free Digital Boxed Set)

As John Eliot Gardiner converted his Monteverdi Orchestra to early instruments in the mid-1970s and renamed it the English Baroque Soloists, he engaged his magnificent instrumentalists, choir and a host of first-class soloists in the most emblematic works by "the Greatest Genius we [England] ever had": Henry Purcell! The reception was unanimously enthusiastic and led Diapason to say: "Gardiner's reading of Purcell, dramatic, hyper-refined, sometimes burning, overwhelming, at all times enchanting, cannot escape the discography of the enlightened music lover. Purcell himself is there!" - Disc 1 -1 King Arthur, Z. 628: Overture2 King Arthur, Z. 628: Air3 King Arthur, Z. 628: Overture (Reprise)4 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act I: Trio and Chorus. "Woden, First to Thee" - "The White Horse Neigh'd Aloud" & "To Woden, Our Defender, Thanks We Render"5 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act I: Song. "The Lot Is Cast, and Tanfan Pleas'd"6 King Arthur, Z. 628, Act I: Chorus. "Brave Souls, to Be Renown'd in Sto