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Robert King, The King's Consort - Henry Purcell: Royal Odes (2021)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King's Consort - Henry Purcell: Royal Odes (2021)

Robert King, The King's Consort - Henry Purcell: Royal Odes (2021)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 442 Mb | Total time: 81:12 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Vivat Music Foundation | # VIVAT 121 | Recorded: 2020

The present recording was accomplished in 2020 by socially distanced musicians, and director Robert King puts things in perspective, observing in his notes that Henry Purcell lived through the London plague of 1665, during which 15 percent of the city's population perished.

The King's Consort, Robert King - Handel: Israel in Egypt (2016)

Posted By: tirexiss
The King's Consort, Robert King - Handel: Israel in Egypt (2016)

The King's Consort, Robert King - Handel: Israel in Egypt (2016)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 01:22:10 | 520 MB
Genre: Classical, Opera | Label: Vivat Music | Catalog: VIVAT 111

Latest release on VIVAT brings Mendelssohn’s astonishing reconstruction of Handel’s great oratorio Israel in Egypt. Mendelssohn’s 1833 Düsseldorf performance has been painstakingly reconstructed from fragments and sources across Europe: the large and colourful orchestra, playing nineteenth-century instruments, produces vivid new sonorities, and the double choir sings magnificently. Listeners familiar with Handel’s 1739 version will also find new numbers, significant changes to the order of movements and very different orchestrations.

Carolyn Sampson, Robert King, The King's Consort - George Frideric Handel: Neun Deutsche Arien (2007)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Carolyn Sampson, Robert King, The King's Consort - George Frideric Handel: Neun Deutsche Arien (2007)

Carolyn Sampson, Robert King, The King's Consort - George Frideric Handel: Neun Deutsche Arien (2007)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 362 Mb | Total time: 70:33 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA67627 | Recorded: 2006

Handel's "nine German arias" (he wrote other arias in German, but this is a discrete group) were written in the mid-1720s, long after the composer left his native Germany for Italy and then booming Great Britain. It is not known why he should have written music in German at that late date, and the pieces have a quietly contented tone that sets them somewhat apart from almost everything else in Handel's oeuvre. The texts are by Hamburg poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes, whose so-called Brockes-Passion had already been set by Handel a decade earlier.

Robert King, King's Consort - Antonio Vivaldi: The Complete Sacred Music [11CDs] (2005)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King,  King's Consort - Antonio Vivaldi: The Complete Sacred Music  [11CDs] (2005)

Robert King, King's Consort - Antonio Vivaldi: The Complete Sacred Music [11CDs] (2005)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 3.40 Gb | Total time: 12 h 53 mins | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDS 44171/81 | Recorded: 1994-2003

What can anyone add to the praise that has deservedly been heaped on Robert King and the King's Consort's 11 discs of the complete sacred music of Vivaldi? Can one add that every single performance is first class – wonderfully musical, deeply dedicated, and profoundly spiritual? Can one add that every single performer is first class – absolutely in-tune, entirely in-sync, and totally committed? Can one add that every single recording is first class – amazingly clean, astoundingly clear, and astonishingly warm? One can because it's all true and it's all been said before by critics and listeners across the globe.

Robert King, The King's Consort, New College Choir Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Music for royal occasions (1989)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King's Consort, New College Choir Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Music for royal occasions (1989)

Robert King, The King's Consort, New College Choir Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Music for royal occasions (1989)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 251 Mb | Total time: 55:00 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA66315 | Recorded: 1988

One might think that with all of the attention that Handel’s music has received over the years and especially since the tercentenary of his birth in 1985, that no stone has been left unturned in the effort to accord the composer his due. Indeed, there have been revelatory and monumental cycles of his operas and oratorios—especially Messiah—as well as numerous releases of Music for the Royal Fireworks, Water Music, the Concerti grossi, ops. 3 and 6—the list goes on and on, almost ad nauseam. As with any composer, though, there are darker recesses in Handel’s œuvre that seemed to have attracted the interest of a multitude of dust bunnies, but few performers. This Hyperion recording, originally recorded in 1988 and released under the title Music for Royal Occasions, holds three such works specifically composed for English courtly festivities of various import between 1713 and 1736.

Paul Goodwin, Robert King, The King's Consort - Bach, Telemann: Oboe & Oboe d'amore Concertos (1988)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Paul Goodwin, Robert King, The King's Consort  - Bach, Telemann: Oboe & Oboe d'amore Concertos (1988)

Paul Goodwin, Robert King, The King's Consort - Bach, Telemann: Oboe & Oboe d'amore Concertos (1988)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 331 Mb | Total time: 59:10 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA66267 | Recorded: 1987

This recording features concertos for oboe and its alto cousin, oboe d'amore, by Bach and Telemann. The Bach concertos are reconstructed from published harpsichord concertos that Bach is believed to have originally written for oboe and oboe d'amore. The Telemann concertos for these instruments exist in manuscript form.

Robert King, The King's Consort - Johann Sebastian Bach: Six Trio Sonatas (1996)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King's Consort - Johann Sebastian Bach: Six Trio Sonatas (1996)

Robert King, The King's Consort - Johann Sebastian Bach: Six Trio Sonatas (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 348 Mb | Total time: 70:51 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA66843 | Recorded: 1995

It was Bach himself who founded the long tradition of transcribing his own music for varying instrumental grouping. The Six Trio Sonatas, BWV525-530, are here adapted to involve a wide rage of instrumental colours, with the five 'melody' instruments (two violins, viola, oboe, and obe d'amore) being paired in the manner most suited to each particular Sonata and being complemented by a similarly varied continuo. Originally written as tutorial pieces for his son's organ lessons, the Trio Sonatas are true masterpieces, each providing ample opportunity for virtuoso playing and the enjoyment of Bach's melodic genius.

Robert King, The King's Consort - George Frideric Handel: Ottone, Re di Germania (1993)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King's Consort - George Frideric Handel: Ottone, Re di Germania (1993)

Robert King, The King's Consort - George Frideric Handel: Ottone, Re di Germania (1993)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 782 Mb | Total time: 174:53 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA 66751/3 | Recorded: 1993

Handel’s Ottone was one of the most popular operas of the composer’s career, with 34 known performances during his lifetime, beaten only by the 53 performances of Rinaldo. The premiere run in 1723 featured superstar Italian soloists including Senesino and Cuzzoni, and coincided with (and was perhaps the cause of) the height of London’s opera madness, with tickets changing hands for increasingly high prices on the black market. This recording of the 1723 version (Handel adapted the opera in later years for different singers) features James Bowman at the peak of his powers in the title role.

Robert King, The King's Consort - Domenico Scarlatti & Hasse: Salve Regina; Alessandro Scarlatti: Cantatas & Motets (1996)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King's Consort - Domenico Scarlatti & Hasse: Salve Regina; Alessandro Scarlatti: Cantatas & Motets (1996)

Robert King, The King's Consort - Domenico Scarlatti & Hasse: Salve Regina; Alessandro Scarlatti: Cantatas & Motets (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 328 Mb | Total time: 77:02 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | CDA66875 | Recorded: 1996

In the eighteenth century the cantata was considered to be the supreme challenge for a composer's artistry. Here are recorded three fine examples from the enormous corpus of such works by Alessandro Scarlatti, two for solo voice with continuo, and one which includes a particularly demanding part for obbligato trumpet, faultlessly played by Crispian Steele-Perkins.

Robert King, The King's Consort - Luigi Boccherini, Emanuele d'Astorga: Stabat Mater (1999)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King's Consort - Luigi Boccherini, Emanuele d'Astorga: Stabat Mater (1999)

Robert King, The King's Consort - Luigi Boccherini, Emanuele d'Astorga: Stabat Mater (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 274 Mb | Total time: 73:20 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # SACDA67108 | Recorded: 1999

Boccherini wrote very little vocal music; however he left two settings of the Stabat mater. It was first set in 1781 for solo soprano and strings and then in 1800 for two sopranos and tenor, obviously influenced by the hugely-popular Pergolesi Stabat mater of 1736. There are many similarities in the notation and harmony—even the same key of F minor is used. The writing is of extraordinary individuality and seems to come straight from the heart. This unjustly neglected piece is surely one of the most remarkable sacred compostions of the era.

Robert King, The King’s Consort - George Frideric Handel: The Occasional Oratorio (1995)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King’s Consort - George Frideric Handel: The Occasional Oratorio (1995)

Robert King, The King’s Consort - George Frideric Handel: The Occasional Oratorio (1995)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 717 Mb | Total time: 144:24 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA66961/2 | Recorded: 1994

You'll find no stereotypical Biblical characters in The Occasional Oratorio; there are no characters at all. This work is nothing but a blood- and-glory martial celebration Handel hastily threw together to raise London's spirits in a crisis. (The "occasion" was the English counterattack against Bonnie Prince Charlie's rebellion.) Handel composed almost no original music for this work, instead lifting choice bits from Judas Maccabeus, Comus, Athalia, Israel in Egypt–he even closes the work with Zadok the Priest! Handel aficionados will have great fun picking out which numbers originated where. In fact, pretty much everyone will have fun listening to this music (gloriously performed by Robert King and his regulars); it is–as it were–a blast.

Robert King, The King’s Consort, New College Choir, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Judas Maccabaeus (1992)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King’s Consort, New College Choir, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Judas Maccabaeus (1992)

Robert King, The King’s Consort, New College Choir, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Judas Maccabaeus (1992)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 656 Mb | Total time: 149:34 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA66641/2 | Recorded: 1992

The King’s Consort, with many of our new, second-generation period instrumentalists, exhibits all the benefits of authentic timbre and texture – there is no need nowadays to make allowances for uneven tone or bad intonation. The New College Choir are spot-on, poignant in mourning, exultant in victory. The whole ensemble is recorded over a wide stereo spectrum which leaves every detail clearly audible. Emma Kirkby’s ‘Israelitish Woman’ enlivens even the most pedestrian numbers. Catherine Denley contrasts but blends in their five duets, and has great facility over an impressive range. Bowman is superb in ‘Father of Heav’n’. Jamie MacDougall rises to the virtuoso challenge of the warlike hero, and Michael George focuses with no less clarity as Simon. Any weaknesses in this, the first ever complete recording, are Handel’s.

Robert King, The King's Consort, The Choir of New College, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Joseph and his Brethren (1996)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King's Consort, The Choir of New College, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Joseph and his Brethren (1996)

Robert King, The King's Consort, The Choir of New College, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Joseph and his Brethren (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 835 Mb | Total time: 164:02 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA67171/3 | Recorded: 1996

Joseph and his Brethren, the latest in The King's Consort's mammoth series of recordings of the grand oratorios of Handel, tells the story of Joseph, sold into slavery by his perfidious brothers, winning acceptance at the court of Pharaoh in Egypt by his interpretation of the dreams foretelling seven years of plenty, and seven of famine. His brothers come from drought-ridden Israel to beg for food, and are eventually reunited with Joseph. The work is characteristically full of melodic invention and drama, culminating in the scene between Joseph and his youngest—and innocent—brother Benjamin (here sung by the stunning treble Connor Burrowes) in which Joseph is emotionally overcome and admits his true identity. No wonder the work was so warmly received at its first performance.

Robert King, The King’s Consort - George Frideric Handel: L' Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (1999)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King’s Consort - George Frideric Handel: L' Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (1999)

Robert King, The King’s Consort - George Frideric Handel: L' Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 598 Mb | Total time: 137:51 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA67283/4 | Recorded: 1999

After the success of Alexander's Feast, a setting of the much admired ode by John Dryden, it was wondered: would the result be greater still if Handel could be persuaded to set the words of a poet even greater than Dryden? Such were the thoughts of an important group of Handel's friends centred around the philosopher James Harris and including Charles Jennens (later the librettist of Messiah) and the Fourth Earl of Shaftesbury. It was under their influence that Handel came to set the poetry of John Milton, first in L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, and later in the oratorio Samson.

Robert King, The King’s Consort, New College Choir, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Deborah (1993)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Robert King, The King’s Consort, New College Choir, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Deborah (1993)

Robert King, The King’s Consort, New College Choir, Oxford - George Frideric Handel: Deborah (1993)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 678 Mb | Total time: 138:53 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA66841/2 | Recorded: 1993

‘Deborah contains some of the most glorious music Handel ever wrote. Even if many of the numbers have been recycled from earlier works, the invention is still staggering. Handel devotees can thus amuse themselves spotting the tunes while everyone else can revel in the sumptuous scoring and the sheer vitality and humanity of the piece, all superbly conveyed in Robert King's recording’.