Hear my prayer, O Lord, Z15
O solitude, my sweetest choice, Z406
Lord, how long wilt Thou be angry, Z25
Pavan of Four Parts in G minor, Z752
Plung’d in the confines of despair, Z142
Welcome Song - Welcome to all the pleasures, Z339
In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust, Z16
From silent shades and the Elysian groves, Z370
Catch - Of all the instruments that are, Z263
Welcome Song - From hardy climes and dangerous toils of war, Z325

King Charles II liked to project a strong, stable, divinely legitimated image. Whilst that image had no basis in reality, the scale of his deception and financial skulduggery did not emerge until 19th-century historians discovered secret treaty documents between Charles and King Louis XIV of France. Purcell had no idea of course, and so all of the music on this album celebrates the political triumphs that he and his colleagues thought they had witnessed. It includes the quite brilliant Welcome Songs 'Welcome to all the pleasures' (with its superb six-part fanfares to St Cecilia in the final chorus) and 'From hardy climes'.

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Recorded at Church of St Augustine, Kilburn, London, 27-29 June 2017