The King shall rejoice | Oxford Consort of Voices, narrated by Tom Bateman

‘The King shall rejoice’ celebrates a moment in English history when the arts were re-embraced by monarch and people alike. At the restored Court of Charles II, music was welcomed back into the divine office, and in London town, theatre music took off.

Pelham Humfrey was the first great composer furnishing elaborate sacred music for the royal chapel, and at the other end of the period, Purcell was the last, leaving an indelible mark on the music heard out and about in town.

In this concert we hear the best of Humfrey’s anthems and the best of Purcell’s odes, his Hail! Bright Cecilia of 1692, drawn together with narration by actor Tom Bateman, star of ITV’s Vanity Fair and the recent remake of ‘Murder on the Orient Express’.