Hyperion Records

O God, the King of glory is one of Purcell’s earliest surviving full anthems, written in the ‘old’, largely homophonic style that had been prevalent in churches and chapels throughout Britain for many years. Purcell’s setting was composed by February 1679 and survives in the Gostling part-books now held in the library of York Minster. In this brief work, probably written for performance before the Collect for the Sunday after Ascension, the composer’s youthful individuality surfaces in the divergent chromaticism of ‘leave us not comfortless’.

from notes by Robert King ©