David King

These 2 discs offer the music of 3 different choirs and 4 different times periods. CD 1 features the Choir of King's College, Cambridge,performing 4 Coronation Anthems: Zadok the priest; My heart is inditing; Let my hand be strengthened and The King shall rejoice. Recording Date:August,1963.

Haydn’s Masses form an extremely significant part of his huge output, just as important as the symphonies and string quartets. His very first work seems to have been the little Mass in F, and the last piece he completed was the great ‘Harmoniemesse’. As with the symphonies, it is the final group that are the finest; six major masterpieces, which show Haydn at his most creatively fertile. Indeed, it seems clear that his London experience greatly enriched Haydn’s mass composition in his late years; the approach is ‘symphonic’, often with elements of sonata-form, and the orchestra is used with striking resourcefulness. There is absolutely nothing formulaic in these works; he has clearly set about each mass with a fresh mind and a fresh response to the text.

Haydn’s Masses form an extremely significant part of his huge output, just as important as the symphonies and string quartets. His very first work seems to have been the little Mass in F, and the last piece he completed was the great ‘Harmoniemesse’. As with the symphonies, it is the final group that are the finest; six major masterpieces, which show Haydn at his most creatively fertile. Indeed, it seems clear that his London experience greatly enriched Haydn’s mass composition in his late years; the approach is ‘symphonic’, often with elements of sonata-form, and the orchestra is used with striking resourcefulness. There is absolutely nothing formulaic in these works; he has clearly set about each mass with a fresh mind and a fresh response to the text.

For many, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the sound of carols sung from King’s College Chapel, and each year over the festive period millions around the world enjoy the Choir’s A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols. This two-part collection celebrates 100 years of the iconic service with a mix of brand-new performances and historical recordings not heard since the original BBC broadcasts.

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, is one of the world’s best-known choral groups. Founded in the 15th century, it ranks among the oldest of its kind, and, while originally created for singing the daily services in the college chapel, now enjoys an international tour schedule that has seen it perform all over Europe and beyond. Every Christmas Eve, millions of people tune in to watch the choir’s A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s – a service which has been continuously broadcast since 1928.

John Taverner (1490-1545) and William Byrd (1540-1623) born a generation apart, both hailed from Lincolnshire, and left a collection of choral works that rank (with that of Thomas Tallis) as some of the finest of its age, or indeed any other. Both men worked in turbulent times, the older Taverner grew up during the reign of Henry VII, and became Informator Choristarum at Cardinal College, Oxford, Cardinal Wolsey's new college in the university. Here Taverner recruited 16 boys and 12 men for the choir.

Josquin Desprez is widely recognized as the greatest of the Renaissance master musicians. He set the standard for the various compositional techniques borrowed and utilized by most composers of his generation and beyond, and became an iconic figure whose art captivated musicians and scholars for centuries. This recording centres around some of Josquin’s earliest works, and, in particular, his fascination with the D’ung aultre amer rondeau composed by his teacher Johannes Ockeghem. Also included are some of his most popular motets and chansons performed here by a solo voice (Clare Wilkinson) with renaissance harp (Andrew Lawrence-King).