A Land of Pure Delight: William Billings Anthems and Fuging Tunes is a 1992 album of hymns, anthems and songs written by William Billings performed by the American vocal ensemble His Majestie's Clerkes conducted by Paul Hillier on Harmonia Mundi Records as a sequel to their earlier Ghoostly Psalms: Anglo-American Psalmody 1550–1800.[1][2]
| A Land of Pure Delight: William Billings Anthems and Fuging Tunes | |
|---|---|
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| Studio album by | |
| Released | 1992 |
| Recorded | 1991 at the Joseph Bond Chapel, University of Chicago, Chicago |
| Genre | Hymns |
| Length | 53' |
| Label | Harmonia Mundi France 907048 |
| Producer | Engineer: Lawrence Rock |
The album was favourably reviewed by the Chicago Tribune as sung with "impeccable musicianship, full-throated tone, warmth and security of blend and expressive intelligence", and listed in the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs.[3] The Digital Audio Music List reviewed the audio quality of the album as "technically exceptional in every positive way".[4]
Track listing
edit- O Praise the Lord of Heaven
- Is Any Afflicted
- Emmaus
- Africa
- Funeral Anthem: Samuel the Priest
- Shiloh
- Jordan
- I Am the Rose of Sharon
- Euroclydon
- Hear My Pray'r
- Rutland
- David's Lamentation
- As the Hart Panteth
- Creation
- Brookfield
- Easter Anthem: The Lord Is Ris'n Indeed
References
edit- ^ D. A. Carson, Rev. Mark Ashton, R. Kent Hughes Worship by the Book 2010 0310874297 "..Ghoostly Psalms: Anglo-American Psalmody 1550–1800, by His Majestie's Clerkes; Paul Hillier, conductor — a compact disc on the ... See also A Land of Pure Delight: William Billings Anthems and Fuging Tunes by the same artists on the same label."
- ^ Historical Performance: The Journal of Early Music America 1993 "William Billings, "A Land of Pure Delight": Anthems and Fuging Tunes. His Majestie's Clerkes, Paul Hillier, director. Harmonia Mundi France HMU 907048. "
- ^ The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDs Yearbook -2004 - Page 70 "His Majesties's Clerkes, Hillier William Billings was a Boston tanner and singing-master who flourished in New England in the years of the emergence of the new American nation, and his anthems and what he engagingly called 'fuging tunes' ... To quote the Chicago Tribune, the music is sung with 'impeccable musicianship, full-throated tone, warmth and security of blend and expressive intelligence', and, one might add, with great vitality by His Majesties Clerkes under Paul Hillier."
- ^ Howard Ferstler The Digital Audio Music List 1999 -- Page 88 "This little jewel is technically exceptional in every positive way: clear, orderly, smooth, and genuinely realistic. The imaging is excellent, and the recorded reverb is impressive enough to almost simulate surround sound if the main speakers are ..."