GIOVANNI BATTISTA DRAGHI (c.1640-1708): From harmony, from heav'nly harmony, JOHN BLOW (1649-1708): The glorious day is come.

Description: Draghi's 40-minute work is the ode for St. Cecilia's Day of 1687. His only surviving choral/ orchestral work, it inspired Purcell to model several movements later works (such as Hail, bright Cecilia) on its five-part string and massive choral writing and spectactular countertenor and bass solos. Blow's St. Cecilia ode comes from 1691 and experiments with thematic interrelationships between movements of a type which would only become common a century later. Texts included. Suzie Le Blanc (soprano), Joseph Cornwell (tenor), Michael Chance (countertenor), Jozic Koc, Richard Wistreich (basses), The Parley of Instruments, The Playford Consort; Peter Holman, Richard Wistreich. Original 1995 Hyperion release.