Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne / Dixit Dominus

"This recording has a good selection on it as the Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne is not recorded that often. The best version is probably still Robert King's on Hyperion. Marcus Creed and forces do a fine job with it here, starting with a very affecting "Eternal source of Light Divine" that starts out the Ode. The choral work is excellent, stylistically apropos, and executed with requisite flair and energy. With these two pieces such an interesting coupling, I am more than certain this disc will see a lot of time in my player, and the clear and spacious sound is only an added incentive."
***** Five stars AudAud.com (Oct 2009)

Composed to celebrate the birthday of Queen Anne of England, this Ode was subtitled 'Ode for the Peace' in reference to the Treaty of Utrecht which the monarch was about to sign, marking the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. Six years earlier, the 22-year-old composer exploited in his sacred music what he had just learnt from Italian opera: the result was the powerful, intensely passionate Dixit Dominus. For almost fifteen years,Andreas Scholl has consistently collected the top international awards for his many solo and ensemble recordings (Diapason d'Or in 1996 and Gramophone Award for Vivaldi's Stabat Mater [see our special box sets!]; another Gramophone Award and Diapason d'Or for Caldara's Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo, under the direction of Rene Jacobs, and Singer of the Year Award at the Classical Brits in 2006. He now appears in the world's foremost concert halls and festivals. He has worked with the finest orchestras, and with such conductors as Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs,William Christie, Chiara Banchini, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Christophe Rousset, and Paul McCreesh. In 1998, his operatic debut at Glyndebourne in Handel's Rodelinda (Bertarido) won unprecedented praise from the British press. He made his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in this role in 2006.