Henry Purcell: Sacred Music, Part IV: Continuo Anthems I

As the penultimate stage in the reordering of the Society’s edition of Purcell’s anthems, the fourteen items in the new Volume 28, which were originally scattered among Volumes 28, 29 and 32, constitute the earlier part of the composer’s output of continuo verse anthems; the volume thus complements Volume 29, which assembles all the later ones.

Nine of the works in the new volume span the years between about 1675, well before the composition of any of Purcell’s court odes or most of his instrumental music, and 1679; they therefore track his early development as a composer more comprehensively than any other genre.

Among the fourteen anthems, several of which can lay claim to be regarded as a masterpiece, Let mine eyes run down is particularly outstanding, even within Purcell’s output, for its expressive power and the assurance of its polyphonic writing.

Each of the anthems in this volume will also be available separately, in digital form.