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Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II, Vol 3 (2020)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II, Vol 3 (2020)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II, Vol 3 (2020)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 348 Mb | Total time: 72:27 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Coro | # COR16182 | Recorded: 2018

Purcell’s genius abounds throughout the latest volume of The Sixteen’s celebrated exploration of his music for monarchy. Rarely recorded in recent years, Harry Christophers and his award-winning ensemble breathe fresh life into these exquisite works, including two Welcome Songs and one of Purcell’s most famous verse anthems, Rejoice in the Lord always.

The Sixteen & Harry Christophers - Masters of Imitation (2024)

Posted By: delpotro
The Sixteen & Harry Christophers - Masters of Imitation (2024)

The Sixteen & Harry Christophers - Masters of Imitation (2024)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 269 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 155 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:06:35
Classical, Choral | Label: Coro

Imitation is the ultimate compliment. To take inspiration from someone else’s work, to borrow and rework it to form another piece…what could be more flattering? This technique, known as ‘parody’, was hugely popular in late 16th-century Europe and Orlande de Lassus was one of its most famous advocates. The Sixteen’s programme showcases the master of parody at work and also features a new commission from the extraordinarily inventive composer Bob Chilcott parodying one of Lassus’ finest secular madrigals.

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II, Vol 2 (2019)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II, Vol 2 (2019)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II, Vol 2 (2019)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 327 Mb | Total time: 72:27 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Coro | # COR16173 | Recorded: 2017

On this release, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of Purcell’s stunning music written for royal occasions on the third album in their acclaimed series. 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.

The Sixteen & Harry Christophers - Sirens' Song (2023)

Posted By: delpotro
The Sixteen & Harry Christophers - Sirens' Song (2023)

The Sixteen & Harry Christophers - Sirens' Song (2023)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 243 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 145 Mb | 01:02:59
Classical, Choral | Label: Coro

What would singing be without words? When you combine wonderful poetry with exquisite music, the result is magical. In a rare break from the sacred collections they are famed for, this album from The Sixteen features a whole programme of secular music devoted to English partsongs. From Stanford’s cycle of Eight Partsongs based on the sparing yet infectious poetry of Mary Elizabeth Coleridge to Bridges’ lyrically descriptive writing in Finzi’s Seven Poems of Robert Bridges and Imogen Holst’s idyllic Six Part-Songs Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow using verses by John Keats, each setting captures the mood of the poem brilliantly.

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Jephtha (2014)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Jephtha (2014)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Jephtha (2014)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 761 Mb | Total time: 58:34+57:25+52:19 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Coro | # COR16121 | Recorded: 2014

Jephtha (1751) was Handel's last oratorio. It does not have quite the dramatic sweep of Messiah or Israel in Egypt, but it contains many moments equal to anything in Handel. These include the choruses, several of which are among the most dramatically effective fugues ever composed. One attractive feature of this excellent recording of the oratorio under the directorship of Harry Christophers is that these choruses are crystal clear in texture, with all the words intelligible: hard enough for the soloists, who likewise won't have you turning to the booklet, and well-nigh remarkable for a chorus. Christophers' group the Sixteen consists of 18 members here, plus an orchestra of 30, so this is a fairly sizable performance by current standards.

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Ikon: Rachmaninov, Tavener, MacMillan, Stravinsky, Kalinnikov, Holst, Pärt, Chesnokov (2006)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Ikon: Rachmaninov, Tavener, MacMillan, Stravinsky, Kalinnikov, Holst, Pärt, Chesnokov (2006)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Ikon: Rachmaninov, Tavener, MacMillan, Stravinsky, Kalinnikov, Holst, Pärt, Chesnokov (2006)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 267 Mb | Total time: 63:07 | Scans included
Classical | Label: DECCA | # B0006825-02 | Recorded: 2006

Ikon by Harry Christophers and the Sixteen is a marvelous offering of sacred choral gems, the group's second collection on Decca following the successful 2005 release Renaissance: Music for Inner Peace. A perfect disc to introduce this well-established vocal ensemble to newcomers, Ikon consists of 16 works that are evenly matched in their sublime moods and understated delivery; listeners who might enjoy an hour-long disc of uninterrupted "chill-out" bliss are likely to find it here, while others who relish gorgeous tone quality and rich divisi harmonies will be delighted with the warm, resonant performances.

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers - The Deer's Cry: Arvo Pärt, William Byrd (2016)

Posted By: tirexiss
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers - The Deer's Cry: Arvo Pärt, William Byrd (2016)

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers - The Deer's Cry: Arvo Pärt, William Byrd (2016)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers + Digital Booklet | 66:52 | 275 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Coro | Catalog: COR 16140

The popular choral group the Sixteen has never sounded better than on this release, and fans of the ensemble can buy with confidence in acquiring a set of classic English Renaissance pieces with a few modern works for spice. For the unconverted it's a bit less convincing, but it has a strong idea. The album title comes from the conventional name of a prayer of none other than St. Patrick, set in modern English by Arvo Pärt in 2007.

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers - Iste Confessor: The Sacred Music Of Domenico Scarlatti (2001)

Posted By: Designol
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers - Iste Confessor: The Sacred Music Of Domenico Scarlatti (2001)

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers - Iste Confessor: The Sacred Music Of Domenico Scarlatti (2001)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 223 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 138 Mb | Scans included
Classical, Choral, Sacred | Label: CORO | # COR16003 | Time: 00:59:32

First and foremost, Domenico Scarlatti is regarded as the greatest composer of binary harpsichord sonatas of all time, and that is as it should be: he wrote more than 600 of them and many are constantly recorded and played. However, early in his Italian career, Scarlatti developed a proven track record as a composer of sacred music, some of it under the watchful eye of his father, Alessandro Scarlatti, believed by many at the time as the top composer of the age. The fact most readily observed in regard to Domenico's sacred music is that his Stabat mater, composed in 1717 or 1718, was the work within that genre replaced in Rome by Giovanni Pergolesi's Stabat mater around 1735. The Scarlatti work was conceived in a different style to different strictures; while it has become the most recorded of Scarlatti's sacred works, it definitely suffers when paired with the Pergolesi owing to its immediacy and familiarity. On Coro's Iste Confessor, the Sixteen led by Harry Christophers widely opt for Scarlatti's own, other sacred music as filler to the "Stabat mater with results fairer to the composer and quite favorable to listeners.

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Robert Fayrfax: Missa Albanus (1988)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Robert Fayrfax: Missa Albanus (1988)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Robert Fayrfax: Missa Albanus (1988)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 237 Mb | Total time: 49:42 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA66073 | Recorded: 1982

Although his music is rarely heard today, in the early 1500s Robert Fayrfax was a major composer. His 29 surviving works are less elaborate than those of his contemporaries, but are similarly built around alternating sections of imitative counterpoint and high treble parts supported by slow moving harmonies. The Sixteen delivers first-rate performances that successfully exploit the music's textural richness and unique color.

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Acis and Galatea (2019)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Acis and Galatea (2019)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Acis and Galatea (2019)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 424 Mb | Total time: 90:15 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CORO | # COR16169 | Recorded: 2018

Famed for its interpretations of some of Handels most loved works, The Sixteen marks the start of its 40th anniversary season by releasing its first new Handel recording in five years. Handels pastoral opera is a tale of love, tragedy and liberation. The libretto by John Gay, based on Ovids Metamorphoses (book XIII), tells of the eternal love between the mortal shepherd Acis and goddess Galatea and how it is doomed by the jealous cyclops Polyphemus. Handels music beautifully demonstrates the pain and love in such beautiful, dramatic choruses as Wretched lovers! and the grief felt by Galatea in Must I my Acis still bemoan. Staying true to the premiere in 1718, just five singers and nine instrumentalists feature on this intimate recording.

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Saul (2012)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Saul (2012)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - George Frideric Handel: Saul (2012)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 712 Mb | Total time: 162:30 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CORO | # COR16103 | Recorded: 2012

Saul may not be Handel's most dramatically coherent oratorio, but it is full of moments of high drama, and this recording with Harry Christophers, leading the Sixteen and an outstanding group of soloists, does a terrific job of making those moments throb with vitality. The singers bring an operatic intensity to their roles. Baritone Christopher Purves is a grippingly anguished protagonist, and his voice has plenty of power and authority. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly's David is vocally exceptional, a model of dignity and warmth, and her dramatic performance is subtly modulated. As Saul's daughters Merab and Michal, Elizabeth Atherton and Joélle Harvey have clearly differentiated voices and each brings a focused, vibrant soprano to her character. Among the principals, only tenor Robert Murray as Jonathan is disappointing for the unevenness of his vocal production.

The Sixteen, BBC Philharmonic, Harry Christophers - A la Gloire de Dieu: Works by Ives, Stravinsky, Tippett & Poulenc (1995)

Posted By: Designol
The Sixteen, BBC Philharmonic, Harry Christophers - A la Gloire de Dieu: Works by Ives, Stravinsky, Tippett & Poulenc (1995)

À la Gloire de Dieu: Works by Ives, Stravinsky, Tippett & Poulenc (1995)
The Sixteen; BBC Philharmonic; Harry Christophers, conductor

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 212 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 156 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical, Choral | Label: Collins | # 14462 | Time: 01:03:15

The Sixteen, bright stars of the Baroque, have plenty to say on 20th-century repertoire (witness their excellent Britten series on Collins). Underpin them with the BBC Philharmonic and it might seem a magic formula. Ives’s unearthly The Unanswered Question holds few problems for instrumental players weaned on Maxwell Davies – no more than do the brilliant wind roulades of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. Deft BBC teamwork and a chamber articulation to woodwind and brass helps this Koussevitzky-commissioned masterpiece to shed its often hammy ‘big band’ sound, creeping closer to the subtle, leaner sonorities of his later choral works. It gains. The singing varies. Too many dynamic shifts sound prosaic or under-prepared; fortes are forced, with muddy results. The vocal blend (happier in lower voices) can seem haphazard and colours the Tippett, where the men’s roars – contrast the lovely, sensual soprano solo – seem crude. Get this disc, instead, for the rare, late Poulenc – his New York-commissioned Sept répons. It is a curiously under-recorded devotional work, bleeding with pathos yet pumping energy, its exoticism enhanced by slightly breathy, tender solos, and scintillatingly sung with just those crucial missing qualities of awe and freshness. A million times more refined than what goes before.

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II (2018)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II (2018)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - Henry Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II (2018)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 286 Mb | Total time: 64:54 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Coro | # COR16163 | Recorded: 2016

Charles II's formal Restoration in 1660 marked both an end and a beginning: the end of England's republican experiment and the beginning of a long process of monarchical reconstruction; and with a politically accident-prone king on the throne, Charles's public relations machine could never rest. Purcell joined its small team of composer operatives just as the wave of Stuart propaganda swelled massively, and he surfed the wave with breathtaking panache, from his first court ode – the simple but rousing Welcome, Vicegerent of the mighty King – to the ambitious Fly, bold rebellion involving verse settings in up to seven parts and a six-part chorus.

The Sixteen, The Symphony Of Harmony And Invention, Harry Christophers - Handel: Esther (2004)

Posted By: tirexiss
The Sixteen, The Symphony Of Harmony And Invention, Harry Christophers - Handel: Esther (2004)

The Sixteen, The Symphony Of Harmony And Invention, Harry Christophers - Handel: Esther (2004)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 01:44:57 | 536 MB
Genre: Classical, Choral | Label: Coro | Catalog: COR16019

Recorded in 1995, this Esther was first issued as Collins Classics 7040-2 early the following year. Like Hogwood, Harry Christophers recorded the original 1718 version of what has gone down in history as Handel’s first English oratorio.
In point of fact, the complex and still largely unresolved history of Esther suggests that it was not originally composed as an oratorio at all, but rather as a staged work that would have formed a companion to the near-contemporary Acis and Galatea.

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - William Byrd: Mass for 4 & 5 voices (2002)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - William Byrd: Mass for 4 & 5 voices (2002)

Harry Christophers, The Sixteen - William Byrd: Mass for 4 & 5 voices (2002)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 427 Mb | Total time: 55:34+59:53 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Veritas | # 5 62013 2 | Recorded: 1988, 1989

A liturgically and historically well thought-out coupling of Byrd's works, which are probably among the best that English choral music of the early century has to offer. The Sixteen interpret with British distinction in expression, but great beauty of overall sound.