'A very fine demonstration of the English choral tradition at its best' (Classic CD)
'Warmly recommended' (BBC Music Magazine)
'Highly recommendable for an excellent programme beautifully performed' (Organists' Review)
'A disc well worthy of its subject' (Gramophone)
'Invigorating and uplifting, this is a disc to raise the lowest and most jaded of spirits' (Fanfare, USA)
Te Deum 'Utrecht', HWV278
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
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Jubilate 'Utrecht', HWV279
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
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I was glad when they said unto me
John Blow (1649-1708)
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Lord, thou hast been our refuge
William Boyce (1711-1779)
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John Blow wrote a new anthem for the opening ceremony. I was glad when they said unto me is a setting of the text which Bishop Compton took for his sermon during the service. Handel's Te Deum and Jubilate, written for the Peace of Utrecht, was first heard in the Cathedral on 5March 1713. William Boyce's anthem Lord, thou hast been our refuge was written in 1755 for the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy, the charity that raised (and still raises) funds for needy clergymen and their families. Like all the pieces recorded here, it is music that demands to be heard in the spacious acoustic of the building for which it was written.