Christmas, Easter and specific feast days or celebrations provide opportunities for cathedrals and large parish churches with the necessary resources to perform liturgical works with orchestral accompaniment. All the music…
Category: Recordings
Kenneth Leighton: Every Living Creature – a revelatory and truly rewarding disc by Londinium
At the opening of Kenneth Leighton’s Symphony No.3 ‘Laudes musicae’ (1984), the tenor soloist sings the composer’s own hymn of praise: “O yes, I must sing! And so must you…
The choral music of Ivo Antognini is superbly sung by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge
On this disc of a cappella choral music by the Swiss-born Ivo Antognini (born 1962), issued earlier this year by Hyperion, the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge yet again demonstrate…
Martinů’s The Greek Passion (1954-57): as relevant as ever
In 1954-57 Bohuslav Martinů composed The Greek Passion, an opera about Greek refugees seeking a bit of land in a nearby (likewise Greek) village where they might work and live,…
Rolling River from Clare College, Cambridge
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge has an impressive CD back catalogue, and this recent release of American choral music from harmonia mundi is no exception. Recorded in 2022 in…
Songs of nostalgic love from Marie-Laure Garnier, Célia Oneto Bensaid and the Hanson Quartet
– This disc, released on the B-records label earlier this year, preserves a live performance given by the French-Guianan soprano Marie-Laure Garnier, the French pianist Célia Oneto Bensaid and the…
Silver Stridencies of Sound: The Songs of Peter Wishart
Once again, a new release of world premiere recordings by Em Records has opened up a fertile path through the byways of English music, and there are rich rewards for…
The Peasant Poet: the songs of Stephen Dodgson
There were many things that drew me to The Peasant Poet, a disc of songs by Stephen Dodgson (1924-2013) – which was released by SOMM Recordings last year, marking the…
Past Glories Revisited from the Choir of Christ Church, Oxford
This bumper box set from Decca encapsulates a golden age for the Choir of Christ Church, Oxford. Encased in their former jacket designs, the 19 discs showcase recordings made during…
Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil: Choir of King’s College London
Composed in under a fortnight in 1915, Rachmaninov’s monumental All-Night Vigil is recognised as one of the most challenging works in the a cappella repertory. Alongside his Liturgy of St John Chrysostom…