Robert King certainly doesn't lack for recording ideas, and neither, with a cycle of Purcell odes already underway and now this project to record the same composer's complete church music just beginning, need he suffer any shortage of undeservedly under-recorded repertoire. This first disc of the series offers seven verse anthems (in which passages for soloists or instruments alternate with choral sections), including one of Purcell's earliest surviving works of any kind in the beautifully fresh, teenage hymn to spring, My beloved spake, and one of his very last sacred works, the florid and maturely expressive O give thanks unto the Lord. From the (not so many) years in between come gems such as the ceremonial O sing unto the Lord, the irrepressibly joyful O praise God in His holiness, and the searingly grief-stricken Let mine eyes run down with tears.
King's stated aim is to recreate the sound-world of the Chapel Royal for which most of these works were written, and to this end he employs, as did Purcell, a string orchestra with no doubling bass instrument and a pitch for once above the modern norm, factors which together give the music an uncommon brightness. Also consistent with Purcell's practice, suggests King, is the importation of experienced vocal soloists, a policy that pays rich dividends when, for example, we can enjoy James Bowman's smooth negotiation of the passagework of O give thanks unto the Lord, or Michael George's sterling traversal of two octaves and more in It is a good thing to give thanks (though in the similar solos of O sing unto the Lord—written for the great bass John Gostling—George does not quite match the imposing presence of David Thomas in Simon Preston's 1980 Archiv recording of the same piece with the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford). At the same time, however, King's faith in treble soloists is also rewarded by confident, secure singing showing a fine sense of line and bringing a keen focus to ensemble passages. The choir itself is rather less clean-edged, and there were times, indeed, when I felt that the whole performance could do with packing a bigger rhythmic punch, but on the whole this is unquestionably the start of a most worthy project; I lick my lips at the thought of the music to come.'