Vox Luminis & Lionel Meunier – Purcell: King Arthur (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Vox Luminis already boasts an impressive discography, orientated mainly towards sacred music and German repertoire (its CD devoted to music by Heinrich Schütz won the Gramophone ‘Best Recording of the Year’ Award in 2013). Now this ensemble, founded nearly fifteen years ago by Lionel Meunier, has scaled one of the summits of English music: the legend of King Arthur and his mentor the wizard Merlin inspired one of Henry Purcell’s most popular successes, King Arthur, a semi-opera on which Purcell lavished all his exuberant musical and theatrical inventiveness.

In this revelatory new reading, the Vox Luminis vocal sound always perfectly matches the mix of choruses and highly characterized vocal solos. Prior to recording, the group presented the work in many semi-staged concerts, notably in Britain, where this Franco-Belgian ensemble has enjoyed enormous success, becoming one of the most respected European ambassadors for baroque music-making.

Tracklist:
1-01. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, First Music: Overture (02:32)
1-02. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Second Music: Aire (03:08)
1-03. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628: Overture (01:11)
1-04. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act I: Altar Music (02:11)
1-05. Sebastien Myrus – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act I: “Woden, First to Thee” (01:13)
1-06. Stefanie True – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act I: “The White Horse Neigh’d Aloud” (00:37)
1-07. Stefanie True – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act I: “The Lot Is Cast” (02:17)
1-08. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act I: “Brave Souls” (04:52)
1-09. Stefanie True – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act I: “I Call, I Call” (01:53)
1-10. Robert Buckland – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act I: “Come If You Dare” (00:44)
1-11. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act I: First Act Tune (00:41)
1-12. Caroline Weynants – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: “Hither, This Way” (01:15)
1-13. Marcus Farnsworth – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: “Let Not a Moon-Born Elf” (01:57)
1-14. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: “Hither, This Way” (00:26)
1-15. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: “Come Follow Me” (01:06)
1-16. Olivier Berten – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: “How Blest Are Shepherds” (02:56)
1-17. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: “Shepherd, Shepherd, Leave Decoying” (00:52)
1-18. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: “Come, Shepherds, Lead up” (01:00)
1-19. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: Hornpipe (01:06)
1-20. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act II: Second Act Tune – Aire (00:55)
1-21. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: Prelude to the Frost Scene (01:48)
1-22. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “What Ho! Thou Genius of This Isle” (02:01)
1-23. Sebastien Myrus – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “What Power Art Thou” (02:36)
1-24. Sophie Junker – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “Thou Doting Fool” (01:48)
1-25. Sebastien Myrus – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “Great Love, I Know Thee Now” (02:24)
1-26. Sophie Junker – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “No Part of My Dominion Shall Be Waste” (01:24)
1-27. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: Prelude (00:34)
1-28. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “See We Assemble Thy Tevels to Hold” (01:14)
1-29. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: Dance (01:26)
1-30. Sophie Junker – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “‘Tis I That Have Warm’d Ye” (02:19)
1-31. Sophie Junker – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “Sound a Parley” (01:18)
1-32. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: “‘Tis Love That Has Warm’d Us” (00:44)
1-33. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: Boree (02:54)
1-34. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act III: Third Act Tune – Hornpipe (02:01)
2-35. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act IV: Aire (00:48)
2-36. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act IV: Soft Musick (02:13)
2-37. Stefanie True – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act IV: “Two Daughters of This Aged Stream” (02:34)
2-38. Caroline Weynants – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act IV: Passacaglia – “How Happy the Lover” (03:14)
2-39. Caroline Weynants – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act IV: “In Vain Are Our Graces” (06:29)
2-40. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act IV: Fourth Act Tune – Trumpet Tune (00:38)
2-41. Marcus Farnsworth – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: “Ye Blust’ring Brethren” (John Dryden) (02:08)
2-42. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: Symphony (01:36)
2-43. Caroline Weynants – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: Song Tune – “Round Thy Coasts” (03:18)
2-44. Olivier Berten – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: “For Folded Flocks” (01:16)
2-45. David Lee – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: Song Tune – “Your Hay It Is Mow’d” (02:06)
2-46. Zsuzsi Tóth – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: Song tune – “Fairest Isle” (04:55)
2-47. Stefanie True – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: “You Say, ‘Tis Love” (01:19)
2-48. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: Trumpet Tune (00:53)
2-49. Sophie Junker – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: “Saint George, the Patron of Our Isle” (02:45)
2-50. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: “Our Natives Not Alone Appear” (01:51)
2-51. Vox Luminis – King Arthur, Z. 628 : King Arthur, Z.628, Act V: Grand Dance – Chaconne (02:05)