Sarum

Sarum

Track Listings

1. Grievances

2. Devolution

3. The Calm Before The Storm/

4. Roadkill

5. Fallen Crisis

6. Anathema

7. White Water

8. Silent Rage

9. Drowning

10. Negative

Tracks:

Parce mihi domine
Primo tempore
Sanctus
Regnantem sempiterna
O salutaris hostia
Procedentem sponsum
Pulcherrima rosa
Parce mihi domine
Beata viscera
De spineto nata rosa
Credo
Ave maris stella
Virgo flagellatur
Oratio Ieremiae
Parce mihi domine

Tracks:

Parce mihi domine
Primo tempore
Sanctus
Regnantem sempiterna
O salutaris hostia
Procedentem sponsum
Pulcherrima rosa
Parce mihi domine
Beata viscera
De spineto nata rosa
Credo
Ave maris stella
Virgo flagellatur
Oratio Ieremiae
Parce mihi domine

Amazon.com

What is this music? Fundamentally, it's an exploration of what happens when an improvisatory instrumental voice (saxophone) is placed into the world of early vocal music--which has elements of both improvisation and formal structure. In reality, it's an adventure in which the four male voices of the Hilliard Ensemble travel the 14th- and 15th-century territory of Morales and Dufay, visit the 12th century of Perotin, and roam even earlier ages of plainchant, accompanied by the always sensitive and tasteful--and often astonishing--saxophone improvisations of jazz master Jan Garbarek. Sometimes, these new melodies simply accompany; sometimes they transform the common--a routine minor chord, for instance--into a sublime, indescribable moment. The answer to the above question is easy--but it's different for each listener. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

I Wish I Could be More Positive..........2007-01-06

...but I really hate the soprano sax played over these beautiful pieces. The singing is superb and the repertoire is rare (only one other recording of the Morales, for instance, and that is done quite differently, anent the sax).

I think I would have liked it better if Garbarak had played a lower horn, like an alto or tenor sax. These pieces are about something, and I don't feel that Gabarak really knew what the texts were about and what the composers were responding to in the texts.

I keep it for the exquisite "Parce mihi Domine" sung withoug the screeching sax.

Perfect for "Old Souls".......2006-12-15

I'll never forget hearing this music for the first time, in 1993 or 1994 at a sampling station at Borders. I have to admit I was intrigued by the cover photograph likely taken at a cemetery, of a spider web-draped angel statute. That was when CDs were still new, and my first thought was "This is the perfect sound for CDs: clear, quiet, ethereal." I bought the handsome 2-CD package then and there, and my interest in this unique musical project has gradually matured in the past decade. Most recently, following a significant family death in 2002, I've started a personal tradition of spending New Year's Eve alone at home, with only candles burning after 7:00 p.m., listing to recordings of great requiems (Mozart, Durufle, Rutter and Verdi) and The Hilliard Ensemble's Officium (translated to sense of duty, respect, service and allegiance). Spending the last day of the year this way is comforting, and allows me to continue to grieve appropriately. Officium transports me to another place and time, quasi-religious, celestial, meditative. The solo saxophone calls out as if speaking, questioning, affirming. It's not for everyone. This recording will never climb the charts, especially in today's shallow world of noise and self-importance. I would say if you're an "old soul," try listening to this gift of creativity and inspiration. It just might become one of the most valuable recordings you own - as it has for me ...

Mixed feelings about mixed genres.......2006-01-18

Although I enjoy listening to these recordings for their serenity and sense of magical wonder, I tend to sympathise with some of the less glowing reviewers. My favourite passages are, without a shadow of a doubt, those in which the eminent Mr Garbarek's sax is 'tacit' or, at least, 'pianissimo'. Indeed, from time to time I struggle with an impulse to shout out: "Oh shut up, Jan, and let me listen to those wonderful singers!" That said, the voices and the sax do sometimes synergise, though I get the distinct impression that Mr Garbarek was simply overdubbing an existing recording by the Hilliard Ensemble: he seems to be reacting to them, but not vice versa. And with more rehearsal, his notes might have been more appropriate. FINAL VERDICT: an interesting oddity, not an unmitigated success.

Wow........2005-10-12

Gregorian chant is one form of music. If you must have it in the pure form, go elsewhere.

Jazz sax is another form of music. If you are offended by restraining the sax to a gentle, wistful, melodious exploration, go elsewhere.

Otherwise, consider a rope: consisting of several smaller strands, a rope is a strong, limber, powerful thing which can achieve a great deal more than the strands from which it is woven. This music is a rope. The saxophone entwines itself inextricably through, above and around the unearthly vocals of the Hilliard ensemble. Neither the highly disciplined music of the singers, nor the restrained music of the saxophone makes a deeply powerful statement in its own right -- but together, they become something above and beyond, something that completely transcends either genre.

This is an astonishing work. If you have the ability to listen, you will be rewarded beyond your hopes.

What Coltrane hears in heaven.......2005-07-16

If you haven't heard any of these tracks before, then almost nothing can prepare you for them. I do feel sorry for those listeners whose sensibilities have been outraged, and who believe that these songs are set in stone, and that no kind of improvisation is legal. The effect must be like seeing (as Prince Charles remarked of a modern building in London) a carbuncle on the face of a loved old friend.

Horrified reactions are, however, in the minority, since this album has sold in immense quantities -- and the reason is the ravishing beauty of the music, which is accessible to anyone with musical ears.

As with several Garbarek recordings, the sax occasionally seems louder than necessary, but then Garbarek must be a difficult performer to record, since his tonal range is so huge.

The natural melodies that flow from Garbarek's three horns have always had an air of belonging half a millennium away from the present; and his genius as a performer enables him to add a fifth voice to these ancient compositions that I am certain the original composers would have found far less shocking than the modern listeners who think them sacrilegious.

This music is heavenly and indescribable, but I urge anyone on this page to listen to the samples (bearing in mind that the sound is ravishing on a proper stereo) and make up your own mind.

Music is nobody's loved old friend, but a great city that needs to keep growing for ever, and this is a wonderful new building to dwell in and perceive beauty.

Lammas Ladymass - 13th and 14th Century English Chant and Polyphony

Average customer rating:

A special mass for Mary
English Ladymass at its best
Medieval chants in honour of Our Lady
Sounds Good but all in all it lacks points of interest
Simply beautiful

Lammas Ladymass - 13th and 14th Century English Chant and Polyphony
Plainchant , English Anonymous , Sarum Chant , and Anonymous 4
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

1000: A Mass for the End of Time / Anonymous 4
The Lily and the Lamb: Chant and Polyphony from Medieval England
An English Ladymass: Medieval Chant and Polyphony
Miracles of Sant'iago: Music from the Codex Calistinus
The Origin of Fire: Music and Visions of Hildegard von Bingen

ASIN: B00000C29Z
Release Date: 1998-09-01

Tracks:

Antiphon: Que est ista
Hymn: O quam glorica
Conductus: Ave tuos benedic
Motet: In odore
Conductus: Salve mater salvatoris
Introit: Salve sancta parens
Kyrie
Gloria
Gradual: Benedicta et venerabilis
Conductus: Ave gloriosa mater
Alleluia: Virga ferax aaron
Sequence: O Maria stella maris
Sequence: O ceteris preamabilis
Motet: O quam glorifica - O quam felix feminal
Offertory: Recordare virgo mater
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Communion: Alma dei genitrix
Conductus: Salve mater salvatoris
Conductus: Paradisi porta
Dismissal: Ite missa est
Sequence: Pangat melos grex devotus

Amazon.com essential recording

The huge success of Anonymous 4--four women who sing nothing but chant and polyphony from the Middle Ages--is one of the remarkable musical phenomena of the '90s. What this ensemble has proved is that, when it comes to music, time is insignificant and arbitrary. Art, and certainly that which is spiritual, is timeless and transcendent. Humans relate to the elemental forces of music the same today as they did last year or last millenium. This latest release is a return to the musical sources featured on the group's first, sensational recording, An English Ladymass. Here are chants and polyphonic pieces from 13th- and 14th-century England, selected and arranged to "create a Ladymass for the summer portion of the church year, as it might have been sung around the feast of Mary's Assumption in August." It's beautiful; it's sublime; it's otherworldly; and it's timeless. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

A special mass for Mary.......2005-10-30

'a Lammas Ladymass' performed by Anonymous 4 is a special mass celebrating the ascencion of the Virgin Mary, typically celebrated, especially in medieval England, in early August.

This recording has all the usual sections of the Mass such as the Kyria, the Gloria, the Sanctus, and the Agnus dei, plus eighteen other parts I am less familiar with.

I am a very big fan of this group and I can listen to this for hours on end, and often do, but I suspect this particular recording is best bought if you are especially fond of the medieval mass, as it is just a bit less interesting than their works on secular motets and carols.

Nonetheless, this is a great recording, up to all the standards I hear in all their other recordings.

English Ladymass at its best.......2005-10-14

The music on this disc comes from the tradition of special masses done in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a very popular figure in medieval Europe - in some languages, more than half the music that survives from this period was written dedicated to her. The Ladymass was often performed weekly, and in larger communities and cathedrals, daily, in the Lady Chapels.

The Anonymous 4 have arranged this disc around a mass sequence, using a Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus dei. They have also incorporated other pieces - motets, an Alleluia setting, and other pieces such as the conductus (several voices declaiming the same text together), are incorporated to fill out the programme. These would not have been performed in this kind of sequence and number in a proper worship service, but most would have been appropriate in worship settings during a Ladymass.

For this disc, these pieces of polyphony and chant come from the English tradition. Thus, many things that on the continent might have been in polyphonic setting, the Anonymous 4 have simplified and set in conductus style, which was often the case in English churches.

The music here is beautiful, in full flower of the spirit of the composition, the subject, and the power of the Anonymous 4 to bring such music to life.

-- Liner Notes --
This text accompaniment to this disc is very full, so much so that the booklet is not contained within the jewel case, but rather within a slipcover in which both the CD/jewel case and the booklet reside. The liner notes include a description of the work, a brief piece about the quartet, and the lyrics of the songs both in original language and in translation - all repeated in English, German, and French sections. The cover art comes from 'Coronation of the Virgin' from a Book of Hours, from France and Belgium, circa 1480. There are other details from this book and from other manuscripts found in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, throughout this booklet.

-- Anonymous 4 --
Contrary to the implication of their name, the Anonymous 4 are not anonymous. This is a vocal quartet made up of Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, and Johanna Rose at the time of this recording (Ruth Cunningham will later go on to a solo career early, and another member will join - Jacqueline Horner). They came together as a formal group in 1986, and have been ensemble-in-residence at St. Michael's Church in New York City, giving concert series in New York as well as throughout North America. They have been featured a number of times on national media in North America as well as Germany. They then went on to yet more success, eventually performing more that 1000 concerts worldwide.

Their specialty is working with chant, monophonic and polyphonic music, and working with medieval texts. According to one source, 'The group takes its name from an anonymous music theorist of the late 13th century, Anonymous IV, who is the principal source on the two famous composers of the Notre Dame school, Léonin and Pérotin.'

The group ended a touring career of nearly two decades in 2004.

Medieval chants in honour of Our Lady.......2001-04-07

This compilation of english chants from the 13th and 14th centuries in honour of Our Lady is really sublime, depicting an hipotethical Mass similar to those that could be sung in praise of God's Mother, in the afore-mentioned period.

Anonymous 4 sing beautifully, and where the male medieval chant is determined, decided, firm and strong in the affirmation of religious faith, the female chant, like this one I am reviewing now, is subtle, kind, sweet and tender, almost angelical, but without lose any efectiveness in the expression of that same religious faith.

It is an enormous pleasure to listen such a record, an authentic rest to the soul, and I obviously must recommend it.

Finally, a last word to eulogize the visual presentation of the record made by Harmonia Mundi: the booklet, as usual on that label, is wonderfully illustrated.

Sounds Good but all in all it lacks points of interest.......2000-05-08

This CD is pretty good, I don't understand a single word of the language it is being sung in and I still like the sound of it quite a bit. But it just starts to wear on me after awhile there's nothing all that stirring or powerful at any point in it. The Voices of Light album that was done for the Passion of Joan of Arc video seems to have a lot more power and emotion in it. Still I have to admire any group that can awaken such a renewed look at such old music and can truly make people realize how good this music was. The album definitely is excellent at times it just seems to get old quickly.

Simply beautiful.......1999-04-19

I don't understand a word of the lyrics but then music is so universal and this is no exception. I just love listening to it especially in the evening after a hard day's work and need to unwind. Very relaxing and with a good sound system puts you in another dimension.

Average customer rating:

The Best
Christmas Variety

Christmas With the Tallis Scholars

Manufacturer: Gimell UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Chants | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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The Essential Tallis Scholars
Tallis Scholars sing Palestrina
The Tallis Scholars Sing Thomas Tallis
Allegri: Miserere
The Tallis Scholars Sing Josquin

ASIN: B0000E3HIT
Release Date: 2003-11-04

Tracks:

Angelus Ad Virginem
Nowell Sing We
There Is No Rose
Lullay: I Saw
Lully, Lulla, Thou Little Tiny Child
Ave Maria For Four Voices
Beata Es Virgo/Ave Maria
Ave Maria For Four Voices
Ave Maria For Double Choir
Es Ist Ein' Ros'
Joseph, Lieber Joseph Mein
In Dulci Jubilo
Pastores Quidnam Vidistis
Missa Pastores Quidnam Vidistis: Kyrie
Missa Pastores Quidnam Vidistis: Gloria
Missa Pastores Quidnam Vidistis: Credo
Missa Pastores Quidnam Vidistis: Sanctus
Missa Pastores Quidnam Vidistis: Agnus Dei

Tracks:

Missa In Gallicantu: Introit (Officium)
Missa In Gallicantu: Kyrie
Missa In Gallicantu: Gloria
Missa In Gallicantu: Laudes Deo
Missa In Gallicantu: Graduale
Missa In Gallicantu: Alleluia!
Missa In Gallicantu: Sequentia
Missa In Gallicantu: Credo
Missa In Gallicantu: Offertorium
Missa In Gallicantu: Praefatio
Missa In Gallicantu: Sanctus
Missa In Gallicantu: Agnus, Dei
Missa In Gallicantu: Communio
Missa In Gallicantu: Dimissio
Christe Redemptor Omnium
Veni, Redemptor Gentium
Salvator Mundi, Domine
A Solis Ortus Cardine
Missa Puer Natus Est Nobis: Gloria
Missa Puer Natus Est Nobis: Sanctus
Missa Puer Natus Est Nobis: Agnus Dei

Customer Reviews:

The Best.......2004-01-06

I bought five of these to give to all my friends, whether they like classical or not. Perfect for both the intense or new fan to polyphonic.

Christmas Variety.......2003-12-25

Many different types of Christmas music on one collection, from chorales, chants and carols, to masses, motets and hymns. A perfect "traditional" disc to put in the seasonal mix!

Average customer rating:

Outstanding chant
It doesn't get any better than this...

Sarum Chant: Missa in gallicantu
Donald Greig , Stephen Jackson , Jonathan Markham , Ivan Moody , Rufus Muller , Bruce Russell , and The Tallis Scholars
Manufacturer: Gimell UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Taverner: Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas
Victoria: Tenebrae Responsories
Clemens Non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis
William Cornysh: Stabat Mater
Cardoso: Requiem

ASIN: B00005ATD5
Release Date: 2001-11-13

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding chant.......2005-10-29

I own a number of recordings by the Tallis Scholars, but this one, for me, eclipses all the rest. The rich, sonorous voices and the measured cadence of the chant produce a deep, soothing performance of the Midnight Mass. The Latin is that of the Sarum (English) Rite, so it sounds a little different from what you'd hear elsewhere -- for example, "caelum" is pronounced "say-lum", not "chay-lum". If you enjoy Gregorian chant, this work belongs in your collection.

It doesn't get any better than this..........2004-06-20

--Sarum Use--
The term 'sarum use' refers to the practices, musically and liturgically, of Salisbury Cathedral, which was during much of the church life in England one of the leading lights in liturgical development; established variations to the Roman rite, translated into the Anglican church, the Sarum Rites and Usages are popular variations worldwide. Modern plainsong in Anglican churches often takes the Sarum rather than Gregorian form of melodies, which are simpler in significant ways. This is a very English sound.

--Missa in gallicantu--
This mass is sung as the first mass of Christmas according to the Sarum rite. It has fourteen movements here, including the lectionary reading from Isaiah intoned by two singers, one who does the reading, and the other who interpolating sections. Also included here are the sung Creed and communion pieces.

--Sarum hymns--
This disc includes four hymns for Christmas Offices - Christe redemptor omnium, from Matins; veni redemptor gentium, from Vespers; Salvator mundi, Domine, from Compline; and A solis ortus cardine from Lauds. These are well known tunes for plainchant, often used for with other words in other settings.

--Liner Notes--
Being internationally acclaimed, the Tallis Scholars' CDs typically present their commentary and texts in English, French, German and Italian (together with any Latin texts, including the text of the mass); that is true of this disc. The cover art also typically represents visual arts contemporary with the compositions - the piece used here is an illumination from the Copenhagen psalter of the Three Magi.

--The Tallis Scholars--
The Tallis Scholars, a favourite group of mine since the first time I heard them decades ago, are a group dedicated to the performance and preservation of the best of this type of music. A choral group of exceptional ability, I have been privileged to see them many times in public, and at almost every performance, their singing seems almost like a spiritual epiphany for me, one that defies explanation in words. Directed by Peter Phillips, the group consists of a small number of male and female singers who have trained themselves well to their task.

Tracks:

Bon Jour, Bon Mois, Bon An
Gospel Lesson
Intermerata Dei Mater
Ave Maris Stella
Magnificat Sexti Toni
Inviolata, Integra Et Casta
Virgo Prudentissima
Venit Ad Petrum...Caput
Salve Regina/(Caput)
Veni Sancte Spiritus/Veni Creator
En Katerine Solennia
De Profundis Clamavi

Average customer rating:

Fabulous Christmas CD - Yuletide Fires
Yuletide Fires
The best Christmas CD I've ever heard.

Yuletide Fires

Manufacturer: Skylark Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music

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Goin' Home
Chor Leoni Men's Choir

ASIN: B00012YZ9Y
Release Date: 2003-11-05

Tracks:

Hodie Christus Natus Est - Gregorian chant
God Rest You Merry - English carol
Huron Carol - Canadian carol
Letabundus - Sarum chant
As Joseph Was A-Walking - Appalachian carol
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen - Traditional/Michael Praetorius
Le sommeil de lenfant Js - Cantique traditionnel
Veni, Veni Emanuel - Gregorian chant
Yuletide Fires - Diane Loomer
Nouvelle agrle! - Cantique traditionnel
The Lord at First - English carol
Lux Aeterna - Gregorian chant
Quelle est cette odeur agrle - Cantique traditionnel
Veni Redemptor Gencium - Sarum chant
Dostoyno Yest - Nikolai Golovanov
Svete Tihiy - Aleksandr Nikolsky
Alma Redemptoris Mater - Gregorian chant
Stille Nacht - Franz Gruber
Drei Ke - Peter Cornelius
Rise Up Shepherd - American traditional
Christmas Angel - Corlynn Hanney
Still, still, still - Austrian carol
Hodie Christus Natus Est

Album Description

Contemporary Canadian carols, English luck-visit songs, Gregorian chant, cantiques traditionnels, German lullabies, sombre Russian motets. This contrasting array is a small sample of the vast spectrum of music sung throughout the Christian world to celebrate Christmas (Noël, Navidad, Jul, Weihnacht). Chor Leoni and their internationally known conductor, Diane Loomer, have searched the choral world for seasonal pieces for men's voices, some written especially for "the lions," and tried to capture the style of these contrasting works from the corners of Christianity. We hope you will forgive us if we have added a bit of "Chor Leoni" flavour to the recipe. You may not find all of your favourite carols, but we hope this recording brings you a wider appreciation of the way in which this special day is celebrated by Christians and their choirs throughout our shrinking globe.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous Christmas CD - Yuletide Fires.......2004-01-12

Yuletide Fires brought the true meaning of Christmas to my home. The finest men's choir singing at the highest performance level. Highly recommended! Beautiful!

Yuletide Fires.......2003-12-04

BUY IT! It is wonderful. The best Christmas gift for someone who loves choral music. You have to sit in the dark and close your eyes to really appreciate how the men's voices blend together. Their ennunciation, phrasing and breath control is incredible and the few instruments that accompany these carols are as simple, gentle and calming as the beautiful singing

The best Christmas CD I've ever heard........2003-12-04

This gentle, relaxing collection of familiar and not-so-familiar Christmas music from around the world is simply beautiful. Beautifully sung and recorded, there is such amazing variety and depth. Diane Loomer, Chor Leoni and soloists have really done themselves proud. This production is destined to become an instant classic. So, if your idea of Christmas music is children's choirs belting out Jingle Bells, try this masterpiece. You'll listen to it again and again.

Average customer rating:

Very pleasing

All the Ends of the Earth

Manufacturer: Signum UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Chants | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000CS3R50
Release Date: 2006-06-27

Customer Reviews:

Very pleasing.......2006-07-23

Very pleasing. I had heard no samples of this recording so the purchase was blind, but what a delight it turned out to be. It moves back and forth between traditional sacred music presented as pure tribute and such music used as a springboard to something modern. The end result yields both the comfort of the familiar and the excitement of the new. Worth a listen . . . and not just for those who consider themselves religious (I don't).

Bach: The 6 Motets, BWV 225-230 /Sarum Consort * Mackay

Average customer rating:

Bach: The 6 Motets, BWV 225-230 /Sarum Consort * Mackay
Johann Sebastian Bach , Robert Quinney , Sarum Consort , Andrew Mackay , Cecilia Osmond , Olivia Robinson , Alison Bullock , Deborah Mackay , Claire Wilkinson , and Duncan Byrne
Manufacturer: Gaudeamus
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00005B0CY
Release Date: 2001-05-22

Average customer rating:

Christus factus est
A fantastic recording
Exquisite!
Another sterling Cambridge Singers disc

Images of Christ

Manufacturer: Collegium
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Chants | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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Cathedral Dreams: Music to Inspire
Music For Holy Week
O Magnum Mysterium
Treasures of English Church Music
The Music of St. Paul's Cathedral

ASIN: B0000031I4
Release Date: 2000-02-29

Tracks:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence
Veni, Redemptor gentium
Hodie Christus natus est
Omnes de Saba venient
Ich bin ein rechter Weinstock
The crown of roses
Vo tsarvii Tvoyem (The Beatitudes)
Pater noster
Christus factus est
Good Friday Reproaches (Improperia)
Eram quasi agnus
O vos omnes
Crucifixus (for eight voices)
Surgens Jesus
Ascendo ad Patrem
Viri Galilaei
Jesu, dulcis memoria
Ave verum Corpus
Pange lingua
Agnus Dei
O sacrum convivium

Customer Reviews:

Christus factus est.......2005-09-23

This disc concentrates on images of Christ in a capella music over the centuries. According to Rutter, 'Around the figure of Christ there has grown up over the centuries a body of choral literature that can only be described as among the most remarkable in western civilisation.'

--Music--
Selections on this disc come from all over the Western world. They range from as early as eleventh-century France to twentieth-century Russia, a millennium in song and composition. Rutter has selected five major themes - the Coming of Christ (Advent and Christmas), the Words of Christ (lesson texts and prayers, such as the Lord's Prayer, by Stravinsky), the Passion of Christ (Holy Week and Good Friday), the Resurrection and Ascension (Easter), and Christ in the Eucharist (worship and ongoing presence).

Here is a mixture of sacred compositions ranging from standard Gregorian chant and Sarum chant to medieval compositions from Palestrina, de Victoria and Byrd, up to more modern composers such as Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Bruckner, Barber, and Messiaen. This being said, Rutter states, 'The aim [of this disc] is not a liturgical reconstruction, nor an historical survey, but rather a journey of the imagination.'

--Liner Notes--
The notes for this recording include the titles and words of each anthem or hymn, both in original language and English translation text. The notes for each piece also includes brief biographical information of the composer, and unique information about each work, when particular composers are represented more than once. One thing conspicuously missing is much biographical information about John Rutter, or any descriptive information about the Cambridge Singers. Happily, this disc does have a list of the singers.

--John Rutter--
Rutter was born in London and educated at Clare College, Cambridge. This was where his career as a composer, arranger and conductor began. His early work was with groups at King's College Chapel at Cambridge as well as the Bath Choir and Philharmonic Orchestra. He has worked for the BBC providing music for educational series such as 'The Archaeology of the Bible Lands', until in 1979 he began forming the Cambridge Singers, and has continued a remarkable career of performance and recording as their director ever since.

--The Cambridge Singers--
The Cambridge Singers are a mixed choir of voices, many of whom were members of choir of Rutter's college, Clare College, Cambridge. While they specialise in English and Latin liturgical pieces, they have a wide range of recordings that span from modern compositions (including a remarkable requiem by Rutter) to English folk songs of the Middle Ages. Many are former members of the choir of Clare College and other Cambridge collegiate choirs (hence the name, Cambridge Singers). In the quarter-century since the founding, the Cambridge Singers have produced an impressive body of recordings.

A fantastic recording.......2000-06-06

This collection of music from the last thousand years is masterful from start to finish. From well-known mainstays of choral repertoire such as Lotti's "Crucifixus" and Casals' "O Vos Omnes" to the more seldom heard pieces, such as Rachmaninov's setting of the Beatitudes, the listener is treated to musically sympathetic and disciplined performances. Even if, like me, you're not of a religious persuasion, you'll love every minute of it.

There are so many highlights to this album it becomes cruel to say any piece was not among them. The Barber Adagio/Agnus Dei is a masterwork, and the Cambridge Singers' discipline and pathos make the arrangement come alive in ways the strings simply can't.. The Lotti "Crucifixus" (an enduring classic), Casals "O Vos Omnes" (a beautiful and moving work, conveying the suffering of the Passion without garishness) and Byrd's enchanting "Viri Gallilei" are fantastic and provide more than enough reason to buy the album. The Messaien "O Sacrum Convivium," with its subtly sensuous harmonies and the Bairstow "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" with its haunting melody and varied textures will silence any who say that church music has become a lost art in the 20th Century. Palestrina's phrases soar as though on the wings of angels (particularly in "Hodie Christus Natus Est.") And Bruckner, as always in his good moments, is as sexy as the Church would let him be.

While the inclusion of some Stanford or Tallis would have been fantastic, this album stands as one that should be in the library of anyone who loves choral music, along with "Hail Gladdening Light" and "Faire is the Heaven."

In short, BUY THIS ALBUM. You'll love it.

Exquisite!.......1999-03-08

The selections are gorgeously sung and spiritually moving beyond anything I can think of, right up there with Verdi's Requiem. My teen, who thinks rock music is the only music, was so moved by Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei, that she asked for her own copy of the CD. If you are already a believer, this music will remind you why you are. If not, it might just take you there.

Another sterling Cambridge Singers disc.......1998-09-10

This is a marvelous collection of choral music, notably Lotti's Crucifixus (in eight parts), and a stunning rendition of Barber's Agnus Dei (his choral arrangement of the Adagio for Strings, which was itself his arrangement for string orchestra of the Adagio from his String Quartet). Highly recommended!