Musical & Amicable Society • Fiddlers Three (CD)

Fiddlers Three – Music from Charles II's 'Private Musick' New from Musical & Amicable Society, directed by Martin Perkins, Fiddlers Three presents an astonishing varied cross-section of music associated with Charles II’s ‘Private Musick’, one of several groups of musicians working at the English court in the seventeenth century. According to biographer Roger North, Charles had an ‘utter detestation of Fancys’ and the period saw the decline in consort music for viols and winds, and the emergence of the violin as the string instrument of choice. Fiddlers Three includes music by Purcell (the thrilling Three Parts upon a Ground from 1678), Jenkins and Finger, but also little-known gems by Preston, Baltzar, Mell, Pietkin and Isaack, and a brilliant set of variations on La Folia by Nicola Matteis. Anna Curzon violin Kate Fawcett violin Catherine Martin violin Jonathan Rees bass viol, bass violin Aileen Henry triple harp Lynda Sayce theorbo, guitar Martin Perkins harpsichord, organ, direction BCR030 • Released 2026