The King 2005

This budget-price compilation disc brings together twenty favourite tracks from The King’s Consort’s acclaimed Handel recordings. There are movements from recent releases such as ‘The trumpet’s loud clangour’ from An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day plus two tracks released for the first time on Hyperion—‘Largo’ from Concerto Grosso Op 3 No 2 and ‘Let the bright seraphim’ from Handel’s much-loved oratorio Samson.

This budget-price compilation disc brings together twenty favourite tracks from The King’s Consort’s acclaimed Handel recordings. There are movements from recent releases such as ‘The trumpet’s loud clangour’ from An Ode for St Cecilia’s Day plus two tracks released for the first time on Hyperion—‘Largo’ from Concerto Grosso Op 3 No 2 and ‘Let the bright seraphim’ from Handel’s much-loved oratorio Samson.

Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included Wishbone Ash (1970), Pilgrimage (1971), Argus (1972), Wishbone Four (1973), There's the Rub (1974), and New England (1976). Wishbone Ash are noted for their extensive use of the harmony twin lead guitar format which had been attracting electric blues bands since Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had played together in the Yardbirds in 1966. Their contributions helped Andy Powell and Ted Turner to be voted "Two of the Ten Most Important Guitarists in Rock History" (Traffic magazine 1989), and to appear in the "Top 20 Guitarists of All Time" (Rolling Stone). Melody Maker (1972) described Powell and Turner as "the most interesting two guitar team since the days when Beck and Page graced The Yardbirds". They have been cited as an influence by Iron Maiden founder and bassist Steve Harris, as well as Thin Lizzy and other dual guitar bands.

What can anyone add to the praise that has deservedly been heaped on Robert King and the King's Consort's 11 discs of the complete sacred music of Vivaldi? Can one add that every single performance is first class – wonderfully musical, deeply dedicated, and profoundly spiritual? Can one add that every single performer is first class – absolutely in-tune, entirely in-sync, and totally committed? Can one add that every single recording is first class – amazingly clean, astoundingly clear, and astonishingly warm? One can because it's all true and it's all been said before by critics and listeners across the globe.

Stingingly sweet slide guitar and barrelhouse piano come to life on this spontaneously authentic and passionate recording from these seasoned blues veterans. "This recording contains thirteen of those songs just as they sounded that Sunday when they were recorded live at Mojo Boneyard Studios. This is how the band sounds at any number of clubs in and around the Pittsburgh area. These are all first takes and a fair representation of the energy and spontaneous creativity that the band exhibits when we’re swinging out in the clubs. I had a good time making music with these fine musicians and I'm glad we captured some of it on this recording. It’s been a long time comin" ~ Jimmy Adler

The King’s Consort’s latest foray into the studio brings us a thrilling new recording of Michael Haydn’s Requiem, and reveals the little-known ‘St Ursula’ Mass to be a truly exceptional work. The Requiem was composed in response to tragedy, the death of Haydn’s patron—the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg—providing the official cloak for an outpouring of grief as much inspired by the death of the composer’s infant daughter. In itself the work is a memorable and confident example of the genre, but its deserved fame has been somewhat eclipsed by the many striking similarities between the Haydn and Mozart Requiems; when Wolfgang Amadeus composed what was to be his last—and most famous—work a full twenty years after Haydn’s memorial to the archbishop had been first performed, he doubtless intended it as the highest of praise to his friend that he borrowed melodies, rhythms, scoring, structure … Such points of musicological interest must no longer be allowed to obscure the worth of the Haydn’s original magnum opus.