Artist: Magdalena Consort, Fretwork, His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Album: In Chains of Gold: The English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthem, Vol. 1
Genre: Classical
Release Date: 2017
Audio Format:: FLAC (tracks) 24 bit, 96 kHz
Duration: 01:06:36
Total Tracks: 15
Total Size: 1,25 GB

Tracklist:

1-01. Charles Daniels – Behold, thou hast made my days (04:38)
1-02. Various artists – We praise thee, O Father (04:59)
1-03. Fretwork – In Nomine a5 No.1 (04:12)
1-04. Charles Daniels – This is the record of John (04:07)
1-05. Various artists – Great King of Gods (04:46)
1-06. Jeremy Budd, Samuel Boden & Peter Harvey – Do not repine, fair sun part 1 (04:43)
1-07. Various artists – Do not repine, fair sun part 2 (03:03)
1-08. Fretwork – In Nomine a5 No.2 (04:14)
1-09. Peter Harvey & Charles Daniels – Glorious and powerful God (05:04)
1-10. Various artists – Blessed are all they that fear the Lord (04:41)
1-11. Various artists – O all true faithful hearts (03:47)
1-12. Various artists – Sing unto the Lord (05:25)
1-13. Fretwork – In Nomine a5 No.3 (03:46)
1-14. Various artists – See, see, the Word is incarnate (05:54)
1-15. Eleanor Minney, Samuel Boden & Silas Woolston – Lord, grant grace (03:09)

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Three ensembles of 17th-century music: Fretwork, His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts and the Magdalena Consort combine forces under the artistic direction of William Hunt for this first complete recording of the consort anthems of Orlando Gibbons. Let us here remind the reader that consort anthems were conceived as domestic music to be performed at the private homes of the nobility and gentry or at court; they are more often than not scored for voices and viols, with alternating instrumental and vocal moments – even if the viols, probably, were to play throughout. Consort anthems are different from verse anthems in that the latter were written for liturgical use, featuring one or more soloists, accompanied by the organ and alternating with passages for the full cathedral choir. To close the subject, the full anthem was entirely written for the chorus. Thus, the present recording shows us Gibbons as a composer for highly skilled amateurs, from the King’s own entourage down to the educated bourgeoisie. Alas, the scarcity of material that has come to us, as well as the flabbergasting diversity of manuscript or published sources, has brought the artists of this album to complete the extant consort anthems with a handful of other kinds of anthems, most likely verse anthems. But whatever the format, Gibbons appears here as a huge though somewhat neglected genius – the utter complexity of his music, his rather short life-span, as well as the fact that many a score may have been lost during the First Civil War and the bleak Cromwellian protectorate, may account for that relative neglect.