31 May 2009
Sunday Times
Hugh Canning
5/5 Stars

Retrospect is a newly formed period-instrument ensemble comprising former members of the King's Consort under their erstwhile acting director, Matthew Halls. With Sophie Gent and Matthew Truscott (alternating as first violin in five sonatas each) and the bass violist Jonathan Manson, Halls shows his prowess, on both harpsichord and organ, as a chamber musician. Most of Purcell's 10 Sonatas are latish works, posthumously published by his widow in 1697, but some may even predate a collection he released in 1683. Whatever their date, they are magnificent works, offering a fusion of Italian sonata, French suite and English viol consort music styles. Only No 1 in B minor emulates the slow-fast-slow-fast-slow movement structure of the typical Italian sonata da chiesa, while No 6 is an extended Adagio in G minor. Only the Golden Sonata, No 9 in F major, is widely known, but the entire set counts as one of the pinnacles of baroque chamber music - adagios and largos are tinged with a uniquely Purcellian melancholy, while the many vivace numbers show the composer revelling in the spirit of baroque dance. The playing is immaculate - expressive and alert to all the nuance and variety of this superb music. An absolute winner for the Purcell year.

08 June 2009
BBC Music Magazine
Paul Riley
4.5/5 Stars

There's something decidedly appropriate about Retrospect Trio choosing Purcell for its debut recording. During the build-up to Purcell's tercentenary celebrations in 1997, the group's previous incarnation, The King's Consort, displayed tireless dedication to his works, expanding the catalogue. Now reinvented as Retrospect Ensemble (with Matthew Halls still artistic director), its chamber offshoot rides to the rescue again with repertoire ripe for revisiting. The fine accounts by the Purcell Quartet and London Baroque already date back nearly 20 years.

Like the companion Sonatas for Three Parts, Purcell nails his four-part colours to an ‘imitation of the most fam'd Italian masters' - ‘music's best master' he insisted while admitting that a little ‘French air was good for gayety and fashion', For all the advertising claims though, the music grafts continental inclinations onto the sturdy roostock of the English Fantazia to produce music rich in contrapuntal argument, ear-catching harmonies, melodic felicities and suave fluidity. Retrospect captures it all with an inexhaustible spirit of delight in the Purcellian moment - from the harmonic adventures which bring Sonata No. 5 to a psychedelic close, to the vibrant thrusting joie de vivre of the ‘Golden Sonata'. Violinists Sophie Gent and Matthew Truscott take it in turns to occupy the lead violin chair; a potent demonstration of the generous reciprocity which informs the playing throughout. Considered yet never corseted, Retrospect's Purcell makes a release of the three-part sonatas a mouthwatering matter of urgency.

08 June 2009
The Observer
Nicholas Kenyon

Now early music is among the most forward-looking parts or our musical life, Retrospect seems an unfortunate name for a new group. No matter; this first release is superb, with distinctive tuning and very sharp edges bringing excitement to some of the finest sonatas of the era. The influences on Purcell's style from Europe are always evident, but there's something utterly English about the result. The interplay of violinists Sophie Gent and Matthew Truscott captures Purcell's intricacy, and the shorter movements pass as if in a single breath.


10 June 2009
Classic FM Magazine
Rick Jones
4/5 Stars

Fiddlers Matthew Truscott and Sophie Gent, bass viol Jonathan Manson and harpsichordist Matthew Halls are the group ‘formerly known as the King's Consort'. A tragic mood pervades the disc. The first sonata shares an almost identical first chord with that of Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas. The ornaments slither dangerously and the dances tread with guilty lightness. The highpoint is Sonata No.6, a long, single-movement adagio consisting of fiddles intertwining with ever-increasing invention above an untiring ground bass.