MUSIC FROM THE REIGN OF KING JAMES I
THOMAS TOMKINS:
1. Be strong and of a good courage
ORLANDO GIBBONS:
2. Great king of gods
3. O all true faithful hearts
4. Fancy in C fa ut
EDMUND HOOPER (c1553-1621) : Great Service
5. Magnificat
6. Nunc dimittis
THOMAS TOMKINS:
7. O sing unto the Lord a new song
ORLANDO GIBBONS:
8. Fancy in Gamutt flatt
THOMAS TOMKINS:
9. When David heard
10. Then David mourned
ROBERT RAMSEY (fl c1612-1644) :
11. How are the mighty fallen
ORLANDO GIBBONS:
12. See, see, the Word is incarnate
13. Fantazia of foure parts
14. Hosanna to the Son of David
15. O Lord, in thy wrath rebuke me not
16. Almighty and everlasting God
17. Preludium
18. O clap your hands
Robert Quinney, organ
Westminster Abbey Choir / James O’Donnell, conductor
Recording details: March 2010, All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by David Hinitt
Westminster Abbey has been the focus of British royal occasions for centuries, and the early seventeenth century saw the most dazzling musicians of the age writing music for the Court in all its various incarnations. This fascinating disc presents a selection of works from the reign of King James I.
The most celebrated name on this disc is that of Orlando Gibbons, and some of his most masterly works are presented here including the gloriously contrapuntal O clap your hands and the startlingly original verse anthem See, see, the Word is incarnate, setting an extraordinary text which covers the whole of the liturgical year.
The most eloquent and emotionally intense music recorded here was most likely never intended for performance in the Abbey, or any other church, but has a particularly Royal relevance. The laments of King David were set by many composers of this period. These moving texts have no place in the liturgy, being neither part of the Ordinary of Psalms and canticles, nor able to furnish a seasonally appropriate or devotional anthem. Their composition seems therefore to have been a response to the death in November 1612 of the Prince of Wales, Prince Henry. These are courtly laments, in which the composers give voice - and perhaps vied to give voice most eloquently - to the grief of the King (in the settings of David’s lament for his son Absalom) and Prince Charles (in the ‘Jonathan’ pieces, in which the king describes his friend as ‘my brother’). Included is the best known of all the ‘Absalom’ pieces, Tomkins’s When David heard, together with his equally moving ‘Jonathan’ setting, Then David mourned. ( Hyperion )
