Hello, this is a music blog I'm starting because I have nothing else to do, and because music blogs have been such an important part of my musical formation, and I wanted to give something back and all that. So without further ado I'll start with the piece that gives the name to the blog: Purcell's Ode to St. Cecilia's Day (Welcome to all the pleasures), which is a delightful verse setting of some very lovely texts in honor of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music. Particulary amazing and satisfying to me is the incredibly beautiful connotations of the second person used in my favorite Purcell movement, "Here the deities approve", it has a weird air of accusation, urging you to take responsibility for the talents the deities lent you. I'm including another beautiful Purcell setting of Psalm 102 for good measure and another Westminster Abbey musician: Handel's own Ode to St. Cecilia. I've long since lost any record of the people responsible for the recording I'm sharing, but it's a good one, trust me.
I was recently in Westminster Abbey, incidentally, and I found what was written on Purcell's memorial particularly moving: "Here lyes Henry Purcell, Esqr. who left this life and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded."
Henry Purcell - Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, "Welcome to all the pleasures" Z339 / Psalm 120 - Hear my prayer O Lord
Georg Friedrich Handel - Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (HWV 76)
3 tracks; 68 minutes
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