Purcell: Thou wakeful shepherd that dost Israel keep (A Morning Hymn), Z198

“Rosemary Joshua brings to these accounts all the aplomb of a Baroque diva, with her sharply etched diction, perspicuous dramatic insights and varied vocal timbres...It would be easy for Joshua to steal the show, but the instrumentalists respond to her pliant vocal lines with sensitively articulated continuo playing.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 *****

“Purcell is not known as a composer of sacred songs. The 24 here, all scored for a single high voice, come from two volumes published in his later years, which group the work of several composers but are dominated by Purcell’s. Some are less than 30 bars long, others sound almost cantata-like. All are intimate and varied in tone. Whether they were designed to be heard in sequence like this is questionable, but [Rosemary] Joshua brings them vividly to life” Financial Times, 21st April 2012

“Joshua brings vocal security and textual intelligence to these works and though a slightly flighty vibrato sometimes threatens the music's intimacy, it does not get in the way of superbly realised greater dramatic truth. The continuo accompaniments are as sensitively accomplished as one would expect from such a line-up...If this is a sober disc, it is also one which reeks of Purcell's genius.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“For a singer who began her career in the early 1990s, Joshua sounds astonishingly fresh — Emma Kirkby-like in the purity of her sound, although she brings a wider palette of colour to this kind of music than the veteran early-music diva ever did.” Sunday Times, 25th March 2012

“The word-painting of the sacred texts — involving angular leaps, florid melismas and a fluid mixture of declamation and gorgeous lyricism — is intense and detailed. Rosemary Joshua does it full justice, yet also seems to float, lithe and graceful, through it all. It’s a masterclass in delicate Baroque singing.” The Times, 19th May 2012 ****

“Padmore's sound is more beautiful and easily expressive than Pears's ever was, but he never imposes his own personality too forcefully, content to let the natural inflections of the bespoke vocal lines in the Donne cycle follow their own course.” The Guardian, 26th June 2009 ****

“Before life and after is the more consoling conclusion to the Hardy cycle, and Padmore lavishes a palette of tone colour to match or even outshine Pears here. His English diction has an unfussy naturalness, and Vignoles captures the descriptive imagery of the piano parts with their descriptions of the train whistle and the boy’s violin. Padmore’s voice now sounds dark for Purcell, but the three Britten realisations suit it well, and the disc is rounded off by five of Britten’s most attractive folk-song arrangements.” Sunday Times, 5th July 2009 *****

“Padmore is on happier ground with the idiosyncratic Purcell realisations, especially in a gem of an 'Evening Hymn', while the Hardy vignettes of Winter Words bring an ideally subtle sense of atmosphere from both singer and pianist.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2009 ****

“The Holy Sonnets of John Donne were composed in 1945, soon after Britten's visit to German concentration camps, and the stark immediacy of that experience can be heard in the composer's own recordings. Padmore and Roger Vignoles, his warm-toned accompanist, take a more reflective line. ...the core of the cycle is some heartfelt singing in the sixth and most beautiful setting, "Since she whom I loved". The vivid picture-painting of Winter Words helps make it probably Britten's most popular song-cycle with piano. Several of the Thomas Hardy poems evoke a time of innocence now lost, a familiar Britten theme, and the evocative performance by Padmore and Vignoles captures that sense of longing particularly well.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2009

“This declamatory, religious-themed repertoire fits Padmore like a glove, marrying as it does his enduring success as a performer of early sacred music with his newer success as a chamber recitalist...A satisfying recital on every level.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 21st December 2009

“If you think of lute songs as secular repertory, think again...Elin Manahan Thomas and lutenist David Miller illuminate this music's subtleties, infusing their reading with warmth and intimacy...this is a lovely contribution to recorded lute song.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 ****

“Manahan Thomas has as keen an ear for the music of language as for the language of music while Miller...brings to the table a highly developed understanding of dramatic and musical rhetoric...Throughout, Manahan Thomas fits the sound to the sense...whilst never allowing either diction, intonation or purity of tone to suffer.” International Record Review, December 2010

“Paul Agnew's long experience in the realm of French Baroque music makes him particularly sensitive to le goût français, his voice supple enough to realise with exquisite grace the intricate, French-style recitatives and embellishments. In the simpler songs and laments, he croons with the seductive tones of a veritable chanteur de charme. Anne-Marie Lasla, Elizabeth Kenny and Blandine Rannou provide inspired continuo realisations, full of improvisatory flair and theatricality. The rapport between these four musicians lifts the music far beyond the written notes producing a perfect entente cordiale.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2010 *****

“Agnew gets it just right, and the ensemble behind him is flawless. There is the right blend of restraint and subtlety, with emotional guts – try I loved Fair Celia or the heartfelt Solitude with a wonderfully well-judged solo viol...Generally the performances are outstanding – and the idea of breaking up the Purcell songs with instrumental solos inspired.” Katie Greening, bbc.co.uk, 4th November 2009

“…a marvellous anthology of songs by Purcell. …separated by short instrumental pieces by other composers, giving well deserved solo spots to Anne-Marie Lasla and Elizabeth Kenny. If the tone is predominantly sombre, there's relief in "Man is for the woman made", Agnew's cheerful delivery perfectly complemented by a strumming guitar. The Evening Hymn - another ground - ends with a string of "Hallelujahs" that Agnew sings with an appropriate inwardness. ...it's the performances that count: magnificent.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010

“This CD is made up predominantly of anthems, devotional songs and a morning service (a functional, though not perfunctory, setting of the TeDeum and Jubilate) most of which disclose the range and quality of the composer's sacred oeuvre near its best. Of the two settings of I was glad, the first was, until not long ago, thought to be the work of John Blow. This full anthem more than whets our appetite with its agreeable tonal and melodic twists; when the Gloria arrives, we're assured that this is vintage Purcell by the sensitive pacing as much as an exquisite contrapuntal denouement. The earlier setting is more poignant. Opening with a string symphony in the spirit of a Locke consort, the music blossoms into a deliciously Elysian melodic fabric. Good sense is made of the overall shape and the soloists are, as ever, excellent. Beati omnes is a positive gem; this may well have been written for the composer's wedding. Of the small-scale pieces, In the black dismal dungeon is the real masterpiece; it's delivered astutely by the secure and musicianly voice of Susan Gritton.
Finally to the funeral pieces. Here we have an ominous procession from the Guild of Ancient Fifes and Drums and the first appearance of four 'flatt' trumpets – as opposed to two plus two sackbuts; the effect of this subtle timbral change makes extraordinary sense of the music, engendering a new grandeur and uncompromising clarity as would have befitted such an occasion. The vocal performances are earthy and impassioned.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“An outstanding series, full of treasures, with King varying the scale of forces he uses for each item. Often he uses one voice per part, but he regularly expands the ensemble with the King's Consort Choir or turns to the full New College Choir, which includes trebles. The individual discs are no longer available separately, but all 11 CDs come neatly packaged in cardboard sleeves.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition