The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge

Since the Choir is recording a CD of Purcell this weekend, what more appropriate than a webcast with some Purcell involved? O Sing unto the Lord is one of Purcell's more extended verse anthems and contains some of his most virtuosic writing, principally for the bass soloist. Just take the final section of the piece "Tell it out among the heathen etc..." with its long semiquaver runs spinning out the "round world". Unlike many of his other verse anthems, however, this work makes full use of the full choir sometimes taking on a thread given by the soloists, and often introducing a new theme to dramatic effect, such as at "Glory and worship". The different sections in the piece also display a variety of mood and tempo, something which was fairly necessary to keep Charles II, with his love of music (especially French) but short attention span, entertained. This music is a far cry from the canticles written by Herbert Murrill – not really an organist by career (though he held a few London church jobs), Murrill studied and later taught as Head of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London, even branching out into more light-hearted music like his Jazz opera, Man in Cage. Needless to say, one might doubt whether the basses find Murrill's writing light-hearted on their top Es in the Gloria...