Album: Purcell, Complete Chamber Music – Musica Amphion (Brilliant Classics)

Directed by harpsichordist Pieter-Jan Belder, Musica Amphion's recording of Purcell's chamber music on Brilliant Classics should tempt the most impecunious of you.

Belder's attractively voiced and elegantly phrased Eight Suites for Harpsichord is the finest aspect, though the five-minute "Fantasia" for three recorders is truly exquisite. Led by Rémy Baudet, the string playing is refined, but the Sonatas in Three and Four Parts lack sensuality, perhaps because of Belder's restrained continuo playing. Notwithstanding a faint chill to the sound, this set belies its budget label.