The King’s Singers: Royal Rhymes and The Lord’s Prayer

Program: #12-48    Air Date: Nov 19, 2012

NOTE: All of the music on this program is from the most recent early music recordings by the King's Singers. For more information:

www.kingssingers.com

I. Royal Rhymes and Rounds. Signum Classics SIGCD 307.

On a new disc to celebrate the 2012 Diamond Jubilee, The King's Singers present a selection of works from the past 500 years written in honour of the great Monarchs of Britain.

Starting with works for (and in some cases by) Henry VIII, the programme covers the Elizabethan 'Triumphs of Oriana' by composers such as Gibbons, Mundy and Dowland; a very Victorian selection of dedicatory works by Elgar, Parry and Parratt; choral arrangements from the opera 'Glorianna' by Benjamin Britten; and a new piece by Paul Drayton that comically pens 'A Rough Guide to the Royal Succession'. Drayton is perhaps best known to fans of The King's Singers as the composer of their much-loved encore work Masterpiece.

Singers: David Hurley (countertenor), Timothy Wayne-Wright (countertenor), Paul Phoenix (tenor), Philip Lawson (baritone), Christopher Bruerton (baritone tracks 7 and 23), Christopher Gabbitas (baritone), Jonathan Howard (bass).

•
1.
Pastime with good companie
King Henry VIII
1:53

2.
Ah, Robin, gentle Robin
William Cornysh
2:26

3.
Blow thy horn, hunter
William Cornysh
2:23

4.
It is to me a right great joy
King Henry VIII
1:33

5.
Hey, trolly lolly lo
Anonymous
3:56

6.
Long live fair Oriana
Ellis Gibbons
2:39

7.
The Silver Swan - Round
Orlando Gibbons
2:00

8.
The Silver Swan
Orlando Gibbons
1:46

9.
Fair Oriana, beauty's Queen
John Hilton
2:21

10.
Lightly she whipped o'er the dales
John Mundy
3:11

11.
Flow, O my tears
John Dowland
1:37

12.
Weep, O mine eyes
John Bennet
2:44

13.
As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending
Thomas Weelkes
3:19

14.
The Triumph of Victoria
Sir Walter Parratt
2:33

15.
Who can dwell with greatness?
Sir Hubert Parry
3:07

16.
To her beneath whose steadfast star
Sir Edward Elgar
4:51

17.
Time - Choral Dances from Gloriana
Benjamin Britten
1:51

18.
Concord - Choral Dances from Gloriana
Benjamin Britten
2:25

19.
Time and Concord - Choral Dances from Gloriana
Benjamin Britten
1:46

20.
Country Girls - Choral Dances from Gloriana
Benjamin Britten
1:17

21.
Rustics and Fishermen - Choral Dances from Gloriana
Benjamin Britten
1:00

22.
Final Dance of Homage - Choral Dances from Gloriana
Benjamin Britten
2:20

23.
A Rough Guide to the Royal Succession
Paul Drayton
12:48

II. Pater Noster: A Choral Reflection on The Lord's Prayer. Naxos CD

 
Our brand new CD, "Pater Noster: A Choral Reflection on The Lord's Prayer" was recorded live in concert in the stunning setting of The Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville, USA, and has been released on the Naxos record label. 

 The programming concept on "Pater Noster" is unique: Each piece builds upon the last, focusing on the individual clauses of The Lord’s Prayer. Beginning and ending in plainchant, the composers on the recording range from Josquin, Palestrina and Byrd to Stravinsky, Bernstein, and Duruflé, spanning many centuries to explore the spiritually charged text. Each section of the album includes a setting of The Lord’s Prayer, alongside other pieces focusing on the particular lines of text. Each composer’s setting illuminates the others, shedding rich interpretative light on the poetic and devotional aspects of the prayer.

 The line by line exploration of The Lord’s Prayer begins with Schütz’s setting of Psalm 19 and the early seventeenth-century Polish composer Ziele?ski’s Communio, Benedicimus Deum coeli, to illuminate the first line of the prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven”. The words “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” are rendered through Igor Stravinsky’s Pater noster, Poulenc’s Quatre Petites Prières de François d’Assise, and Lassus’ Domine Dominus noster. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” takes the ensemble to the music of Bernstein and The Lord’s Prayer from his Mass. Other composers whose works were used this journey include Palestrina, Purcell, Harris, Byrd, Tavener, Wood and de Victoria.

•
1.
Pater Noster
Plainsong
1:18

2.
Die Himmel erzahlen die Ehre Gottes
Heinrich Schutz
4:13

3.
Benedicimus Deum caeli
Mikolaj Zielenski
2:19

4.
Pater Noster
Josquin des Pres
4:38

5.
Holy is the True Light
William Harris
1:54

6.
Sanctus - Missa Papae Marcelli
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
3:45

7.
Vater unser
Heinrich Schutz
2:01

8.
Vigilate
William Byrd
4:28

9.
Cantate Domino
Hans Leo Hassler
1:43

10.
Pater Noster
Igor Stravinsky
1:37

11.
Salut, Dame sainte
Francis Poulenc
2:15

12.
Tout Puissant, tres saint
Francis Poulenc
1:21

13.
Seigneur, je vous en prie
Francis Poulenc
1:20

14.
O mes tres chers freres
Francis Poulenc
1:57

15.
Domine Dominus noster
Oralndus Lassus
2:49

16.
Notre Pere
Maurice Durufle
1:25

17.
Oculi omnium
Charles Wood
1:25

18.
Ego sum panis vivus
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
3:24

19.
The Lord's Prayer
John Tavener
2:27

20.
Remember not, Lord, our offences
Henry Purcell
2:47

21.
Popule meus
Tomas Luis de Victoria
6:11

22.
The Lord's Prayer
Leonard Bernstein
1:53

23.
Lord, for Thy tender mercy's sake
Richard Farrrant
2:15

24.
Ad te levavi
Orlandus Lassus
7:20

25.
Pater Noster
Plainsong
1:27

Composer Info

King Henry VIII, William Cornysh, Ellis Gibbons, Orlando Gibbons, John Hilton, John Mundy, John Dowland, John Bennet, Thomas Weelkes, Sir Walter Parratt, Sir Hubert Parry, Sir Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Paul Drayton, William Byrd, Heinrich Schutz, Mikolaj Zielenski, Josquin des Pres, William Harris, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Heinrich Schutz, William Byrd, Hans Leo Hassler, Igor Stravinsky, Francis Poulenc, Oralndus Lassus, Maurice Durufle, Charles Wood, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, John Tavener, Henry Purcell, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Farrrant

CD Info

SIGCD 307, Naxos CD,