Touched by grace, Purcell's work eclipsed that of his contemporaries. Ten years his senior, John Blow (best known for his wonderful 'Venus and Adonis') was no less a composer of genius.

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The two enjoyed a powerful friendship. In 1679 Blow, who was also Purcell's teacher, gave up his post as organist at Westminster Abbey to the twenty-year-old Purcell. Was it simple generosity or recognition of a disconcerting superiority?

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With his 'Ode on the Death of Purcell', Blow gives us probably his most melodious and inventive music ever written. With a libretto by John Dryden, another friend of Purcell's, it is also his most Purcellian music...