Henry Purcell - Essential Purcell (Robert King; The King's Consort)

Information

Composer: Henry Purcell

1. Welcome, welcome glorious morn
2. Be welcome then, great Sir
3. Oh, fair Cedaria
4. Hear my prayer, O Lord
5. When I am laid in earth ('Dido's Lament')
6. Let mine eyes run down with tears
7. The sparrow and the gentle dove
8. If music be the food of love
9. Rejoice in the Lord alway ('The Bell Anthem')
10. Hosanna to the highest
11. Thou knowest, Lord the secrets of our hearts
12. Fairest Isle, all isles excelling
13. Mark, how readily each pliant string
14. Sound the trumpet
15. She loves and she confesses too
16. O how blest is the Isle
17. Remember not, Lord, our offences
18. Now that the sun hath veiled his light ('An Evening Hymn')
19. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day
20. With rapture of delight ... Hail bright Cecilia

Barbara Bonney, Gillian Fisher & Susan Gritton (soprano)
Eamonn O'Dwyer & Nicholas Witcomb (treble)
James Bowman & Michael Chance (countertenor)
John Mark Ainsley, Rogers Covey-Crump, Charles Daniels, Mark Padmore (tenor)
Michael George (bass)

The Choir of New College, Oxford
The Choir of The King's Consort
The King's Consort
Robert King, conductor

Date: 1994
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_KING2

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Review

The "Essential" Purcell? Well, you could get a bunch of critics to argue about that for a few days, but in the meantime, here is a sampler of highlights from the King's Consort's three admirable Purcell series: the Complete Odes and Welcome Songs, Complete Anthems and Services, and Complete Secular Solo Songs. There are, of course, some of Purcell's most-performed pieces (which probably are "essential"): Dido's Lament from Dido and Aeneas, "Sound the trumpet" from Come, ye sons of Art, Rejoice in the Lord alway (the "Bell Anthem," named for the string figure at the opening that sounds like pealing bells), the gently patriotic "Fairest isle, all isles excelling" (sung by a miscast James Bowman), and a selection from the funeral music for Queen Mary. There are also some delightful surprises--particularly among the little-known secular songs and church music. The plaintive "O fair Cedaria" gets a lovely performance by Barbara Bonney (a singer not usually associated with Purcell); tenor Rogers Covey-Crump (possibly the ideal high tenor for Purcell) sings the enchanting "If music be the food of love"; the church anthems "Let mine eyes run down with tears" and "Remember not, O Lord, our offences" have some startling harmonies as daring as any Monteverdi ever wrote. If you're unfamiliar with Purcell, this reasonably priced disc is a good place to start exploring without a big initial investment.

-- Matthew Westphal, Amazon.com Editorial Reviews

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Henry Purcell (10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell worked in many genres, both in works closely linked to the court, such as symphony song, to the Chapel Royal, such as the symphony anthem, and the theatre. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton and Benjamin Britten in the 20th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell

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The King's Consort is a prominent British period music orchestra founded in 1980 by the English conductor and harpsichordist Robert King (born 1960 in Wombourne). The ensemble has an associated choral group, Choir of The King's Consort. Together, they have made over 90 recordings, largely on the Hyperion label, and sold over 1,500,000 discs. The orchestra performs concert seasons in the UK and tours internationally. Their repertoire is primarily from the baroque and early classical periods but has also included late 19th century repertoire as well as contemporary commissions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Consort
http://tkcworld.org/

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