Review of Henry Purcell, Symphony Songs: Henry Purcell, Symphony Songs. Ed. by Bruce Wood. The Complete Works of Henry Purcell.

The year 2007 saw the publication of three new volumes of The Complete Works of Henry Purcell (henceforth PSE) edited by three of the most experienced editors of the Purcell Society: Ian Spink edited the duets and trios, Margaret Laurie edited the second revised volume of Purcell’s music for the stage, and Bruce Wood edited the Symphony Songs under review here; the latter was also the first volume to be published with the edition’s new publisher Stainer and Bell. The move to the new publisher certainly improved the presentation of the volumes (for a start, the new format and the hard binding allow one to keep the volumes open on the harpsichord or on the desk without the use of weights); the move also allowed the society to embark on the Purcell Society Edition Companion Series, thereby allowing several younger talented editors to join the society’s veteran team and to do justice to works by other composers that often merit editing and publication in their own right, and not only in order to contextualize Purcell.