Hyperion Records

Now does the glorious day appear was Purcell’s first Ode written to celebrate the birthday of Queen Mary (on 30 April 1689), and so dates from exactly a year before Arise, my muse. Thomas Shadwell was the author of the text, which Purcell altered quite extensively, even to the extent of cutting the last fifteen lines. Purcell restricted the orchestral scoring to that of a string ensemble, but added a ‘third violin’ (actually a small viola) and thus provided himself with a five-part orchestral texture. This rich texture is immediately apparent in the French-style overture which at times has stylistic elements in common with the instrumental writing of Georg Muffat. The tenor solo ‘This does our fertile isle’ is set to what must be one of Purcell’s shortest ground basses, on just two notes, but one that is nonetheless effective, especially in its transformation into an orchestral ritornello.

But the highlight of the work, a movement which surely ranks as one of Purcell’s greatest, is the alto solo, set over a wistfully sighing four-bar dropping ground bass, ‘By beauteous softness’. One of Purcell’s most ravishing solos, especially with its quietly ecstatic vocal line at ‘She with such sweetness’, the voice’s final phrase is overlapped with an exquisite five-part string ritornello of quite melting beauty.

from notes by Robert King © 2010