*PURCELL. Come Ye Sons of Art. Margaret Ritchie (soprano), Alfred Deller (counter tenor), John Whit- worth (counter tenor), Bruce Boyce (baritone), Ruggero Gerlin (harpsichord), St. Anthony -Singers and L'Ensemble Orchestral de L'Oiseau-Lyre (Anthony Lewis). Oiseau-Lyre DL53oo4 ( o in., 27s. 30.).

Come re Sons of Art is the last of six annual odes written for the birthday of Queen Mary, wife of William III, and was first performed on April 30, 1694. It begins with an Overture (or "Symphony ") scored for oboes, trumpets and strings, which contains a very expressive Adagio for strings alone (on a chromatic ground bass) that seems out of place in a triumphal ode but owes its place, no doubt, to the fact that it comes, like the music before it, from Purcell's earlier Indian Queen. The previous movements in the Overture are vibrantly recorded but the Adagio makes a lovely sound. Some readers will remember the recording of "Sound the trumpet" by Isobel Baillie and Kathleen Ferrier, with piano accompaniment, now deleted. It is here sung, as it should be, by the two counter-tenors ; and Alfred Deller has two fine solos which, the sleeve note says, Purcell probably sang himself at the first performance, as also in the duet. These are admirably done by Mr. Deller, and the second of them " Strike the viol ", with two obbligato flutes, is particularly appealing. Bruce Boyce, in excellent voice, is too strongly recorded in his first solo, but is given a very different, and correct, level when he sings with Margaret Ritchie in the closing duet (with chorus) " See Nature rejoicing has shown us the way ", one of Purcell's splendid trumpet tunes. Miss Ritchie also has a solo " Bid the Virtues, bid the Graces ", with obbigato oboe, and much word-painting, which she sings charmingly, but with occasionally rather pinched tone.

Anthony Lewis shows us again his complete understanding of Purcell's style, and one can agree that, as the sleeve note says, there could be no better introduction to Purcell's music, to one ignorant of it, than this grand work. There are, by the way, no less than four ground-basses in the course of the eight sections of the work. A.R.