The 16th and early 17th Centuries were the "Siglo de Oro" - the Golden Age - of Spanish wealth and power, mounted on the gilded chariot of colonial empire. They were also the apogee of Spanish artistic and intellectual achievement. In architecture, the plazas and cathedrals of Salamanca, Segovia, Toledo; in literature,Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderon de la Barca, Francisco de Quevado. In sanctity, Saint John of the Cross, Santa Teresa of Avila; in painting, El Greco, Zurbaran, Murillo, Ribera, Velasquez! And I'm merely skimming the cream.

Henry Purcell's sonnatas combine slow, vivid, and virtuoso movements, which are always based on pure melodic material. Appealing short melodies are the adagio of the Sonnata No. 13 (Z 798) and the allegro of the Sonnata No. 14 (Z 803). Majestic sounds are heard in the Three Parts upon a Ground (Z 731) and the Chacony (Z 730). Excellent playing by the Purcell Quartet with Risa Browder.

This recording is the first presentation of a recently rediscovered manuscript of twelve sonatas for recorder and basso continuo by the English composer Robert Valentine.

Two names which, in this combination, really make you sit up and notice. With his recordings of the Russian’s great symphonies, Michael’s father Kurt Sanderling left the ultimate reference recordings. A legacy too for Michael Sanderling, just as the 15th, Shostakovich’s final symphony, was a legacy from the composer himself.