The Sixteen & Harry Christophers – Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II, Volume II (2019) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

King Charles II liked to project a strong, stable, divinely legitimated image. Whilst that image had no basis in reality, the scale of his deception and financial skulduggery did not emerge until 19th-century historians discovered secret treaty documents between Charles and King Louis XIV of France. Purcell had no idea of course, and so all of the music on this album celebrates the political triumphs that he and his colleagues thought they had witnessed. It includes the quite brilliant Welcome Songs ‘Welcome to all the pleasures’ (with its superb six-part fanfares to St Cecilia in the final chorus) and ‘From hardy climes’.

Tracklist:
1. The Sixteen & Harry Christophers – Hear My Prayer, O Lord, Z. 15 (02:28)
2. The Sixteen, Harry Christophers & Katy Hill – O Solitude, My Sweetest Choice, Z. 406 (06:13)
3. The Sixteen, Kirsty Hopkins, Katy Hill, Daniel Collins, George Pooley, Ben Davies & Harry Christophers – Lord, How Long Wilt Thou Be Angry, Z. 25 (03:30)
4. The Sixteen & Harry Christophers – Pavan of Four Parts in G Minor, Z. 752 (04:38)
5. The Sixteen & Harry Christophers – Plung’d in the Confines of Despair, Z. 142 (04:10)
6. The Sixteen & Harry Christophers – Welcome to all the Pleasures (Ode for St Cecilia’s Day), Z. 339: Symphony (03:26)
7. The Sixteen, Jeremy Budd, Mark Dobell, Ben Davies & Harry Christophers – Welcome to all the Pleasures (Ode for St Cecilia’s Day), Z. 339: Welcome to all the Pleasures (01:51)
8. The Sixteen, Daniel Collins & Harry Christophers – Welcome to all the Pleasures (Ode for St Cecilia’s Day), Z. 339: Here the Deities Approve (04:14)
9. The Sixteen, Katy Hill, Kirsty Hopkins, Mark Dobell & Harry Christophers – Welcome to all the Pleasures (Ode for St Cecilia’s Day), Z. 339: While Joys Celestial (03:29)
10. The Sixteen, Harry Christophers & Mark Dobell – Welcome to all the Pleasures (Ode for St Cecilia’s Day), Z. 339: Beauty, Thou Scene of Love (02:45)
11. The Sixteen, Mark Dobell & Harry Christophers – Welcome to all the Pleasures (Ode for St Cecilia’s Day), Z. 339: In a Consort of Voices (01:19)
12. The Sixteen, Daniel Collins, Mark Dobell, Ben Davies & Harry Christophers – In Thee, O Lord, do I put my Trust, Z. 16 (11:16)
13. The Sixteen, Kirsty Hopkins & Harry Christophers – From Silent Shades and the Elysian Groves, Z. 370 (04:43)
14. The Sixteen, Jeremy Budd, Mark Dobell, George Pooley & Harry Christophers – Catch – Of all the Instruments that are, Z. 263 (01:22)
15. The Sixteen & Harry Christophers – From Hardy Climes and Dangerous Toils of War, Z. 325: Symphony (02:28)
16. The Sixteen, Stuart Young & Harry Christophers – From Hardy Climes and Dangerous Toils of War, Z. 325: From Hardy Climes (03:03)
17. The Sixteen, Kirsty Hopkins, Katy Hill, Jeremy Budd & Harry Christophers – From Hardy Climes and Dangerous Toils of War, Z. 325: As Fame, Great Sir (02:36)
18. The Sixteen, Stuart Young & Harry Christophers – From Hardy Climes and Dangerous Toils of War, Z. 325: Wake then, my Muse! (01:59)
19. The Sixteen, Mark Dobell & Harry Christophers – From Hardy Climes and Dangerous Toils of War, Z. 325: The Sparrow and the Gentle Dove (04:05)
20. The Sixteen & Harry Christophers – From Hardy Climes and Dangerous Toils of War, Z. 325: So all the Boons (02:43)