Purcell composed this brilliant theme as incidental music for his work Abdelazar (1693). Three centuries later Benjamin Britten used it in his symphonic work The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (with the subtitle Variation and Fugue on a theme of Purcell) and it became famous. This arrangement by Jan de Haan remains faithful to Britten’s intentions featuring the different tembres of the instruments. Rondo entrances the listener with its varied tone colours and its solemn grandeur.
