Thou Knowest, Lord, The Secrets of Our Hearts (PURCELL HENRY)

The Novello Book of Classic Anthems brings together some of the finest sacred choruses ever written. The collection includes miniature gems including Edward Elgar’s Ave verum corpus Henry Purcell’s Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts and Thomas Attwood’s Come Holy Ghost and established choral favourites such as Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus Henry Balfour Gardiner’s Evening Hymn and Samuel Sebastian Wesley’s Blessed be the God and Father. It also covers a number of dramatic extended anthems suitable for both church choirs and choral societies such as Edward Naylor’s Vox dicentis: clama John Stainer’s I saw the Lord and Wesley’s Ascribe unto the Lord and twentieth-century classics such as William Harris’s Bring us O Lord God Patrick Hadley’s My beloved spake and Edgar Bainton’s And I saw a new heaven. All the pieces have been re-engraved and some such as Haydn’s The heavens are telling and Brahms’s How lovely are thy dwellings have newly arranged accompaniments specifically designed for the Organ. This collection of nineteen anthems covers a wide range of moods and festivals and offers a delightful concert programme in itself as well as an essential addition to any choir’s library.

Sing, Choirs! is a library in miniature. It contains many of the Christian church's popular traditional anthems, including at least one example that will be suitable for each of the major services of the year. A number of Anglican chants (Psalms, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) are included, set out in a way that should enable those who are unfamiliar with the style to perform them easily. The selection of movements from the Mass can be used to enrich the music of the liturgy in services. Many of the works in Sing, Choirs! are presented in their original form, such as Bruckner's Locus Iste and Mozart's Laudate Dominum . Others are arrangements, adaptations or longer pieces, abridged to bring them into the scope of a useable anthem, including choral arrangements of Handel's Largo , the Ave Marias by Schubert and by Bach and Gounod, and Franck's Panis Angelicus amongst many others. This collection has practicability as a priority. The Organ parts can be played on either the Piano or the Keyboard. Much of the music in Sing, Choirs! will be suitable for special occasions, making this an indispensable volume for choirs singing at weekly church services, weddings, funerals and in the concert hall. / Choeur Mixte (SATB) Et Orgue