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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | MacMillan: Miserere
Continuing their work with Scotland’s most prominent living composer, James MacMillan, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen will release the premiere recording of his exquisite new work Miserere for the CORO label in November. The Sixteen’s UK premiere of the Miserere at the 2010 Spitalfields Festival won both public and critical acclaim. Based on Psalm 51, the Miserere mei has been set to music many times over the centuries but few composers have tackled the complete text. Allegri was one such composer, whose reputation rests on that single work. CORO is delighted to release the first recording of James MacMillan’s 21st-century take on the text. The group is renowned for its work with the Scottish composer, and his O bone Jesu - a piece composed especially for The Sixteen and written in emulation of his countryman Robert Carver’s 19-voice O bone Jesu - was part of the ensemble’s 2002 and 2009 Choral Pilgrimage tours and features on this new CD. The disc also contains a selection of The Strathclyde Motets and the Tenebrae Responsories. “The Sixteen's uniquely warm and graceful sound certainly seems to have tapped a particularly timeless and atmospheric vein in Macmillan's creative persona and he has here presented them with something which tests not so much their collective virtuosity as their most profround musical instincts...This disc bears testament to a rare and wonderful relationship between composer, choir and conductor.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2011 “MacMillan not only imbibes the plainchant tradition of the medieval masters but embellishes it with his own distinctive touches...The Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers, sing this music as if they really believe in it.” Financial Times, 13th November 2011 **** “James MacMillan has always shown a flair for dramatic portrayals of spiritual conflict: light against dark, anxiety and despair against consolation...The Sixteen surmount them all [technical demands] triumphantly, and make a sound of impassioned warmth and pinpoint accuracy.” The Telegraph, 18th November 2011 “One reason this disc makes such a resoundingly positive impression is that The Sixteen are thoroughly caught up in MacMillan's writing....at every the stage the singers are in focus technically and emotionally...With everything superbly recorded, this is a disc to return to often, and in which to discover new things each time.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 ***** “this collection of a capella choral music is astonishingly accomplished...The occasional flashes of sensuality make this music a real pleasure to listen to; like Poulenc, MacMillan can’t disguise his delight when sneaking into his sacred texts a particularly fruity chord progression...This is contemporary religious music for believers and doubters, and the performances are beyond praise. Astonishingly good.” The Arts Desk, 10th March 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Purcell & Macmillan - Bright Orb of Harmony
MacMillan: | O bone Jesu A Child's Prayer The Strathclyde Motets: Mitte manum tuam The Strathclyde Motets: Sedebit Dominus Rex | Purcell: | Miserere mei (canon 4 in 2), Z109 Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, 1695: Funeral Sentences (first set) Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes, Z135 Remember not, O Lord, our offences, Z50 Beati omnes qui timent Dominum, Z131 Let mine eyes run down with tears, Z24 O dive custos Auriacae domus, Z504 Thou knowest, Lord |
2009 is a year of anniversaries - the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Henry Purcell’s birth (1659), James MacMillan’s fiftieth birthday (16 July 2009) and The Sixteen’s thirtieth anniversary. To celebrate, the ensemble has recorded live a brand new disc of music dedicated to these most innovative of British composers. Purcell’s extraordinary use of harmony sounds as modern today as it must have sounded in the seventeenth century. Putting his heartfelt Funeral Sentences alongside James MacMillan’s powerfully emotive A Child’s Prayer, written in memory of the Dunblane Tragedy, and his hauntingly beautiful O bone Jesu (a piece originally commissioned by The Sixteen) will give the listener the chance to experience the true power of this music. “Throughout, the choral sound is rich yet unfailingly transparent… the solo work is equally impressive - listen for example, to tenors Simon Berridge and Mark Dobell and bass Eamonn Dougan in Purcell's Let mine eyes run down with tears or sopranos Grace Davidson and Charlotte Mobbs in the same composer's splendid O dive custos. ..."Bright Orb of Harmony" deserves to be set among that constellation of previous dazzling recordings by an ensemble that is less a choir, more an institution.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2009 “Purity of voice, a tightly blended ensemble — the warming characteristics of Harry Christophers’s choir dominate this live recital, recorded in Guildford Cathedral. Four hundred years separate Purcell from James MacMillan, yet these composers suit each other, both skilled in penitential expression and harmonic daring. MacMillan commemorates the 1996 Dunblane shootings; the teenage Purcell writes Funeral Sentences — exquisite music in both cases.” The Times, 9th May 2009 **** “Purcell's funeral and penitential liturgical settings contain some of the most heart-rending music in the choral repertory. MacMillan's tribute to his 16th century fellow-Scot O bone Jesu… holds up well, building to a glowing ending which, like all the MacMillan pieces on this disc, shows how deeply this composer understands the expressive and acoustic possibilities of the a cappella choir. Best of all though is the exquisite miniature A Child's Prayer. Excellent performances, sensitively recorded.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2009 ***** “These performances were recorded live during the opening concert of The Sixteen's 2009 Choral Pilgrimage to celebrate both Purcell's 350th birthday and Scottish composer James MacMillan's 50th. Thus, while the anthems, motets and the first set of Funeral Sentences by Purcell presented here definitely tend towards the sombre, and MacMillan's musical language often has recourse to a stark muscularity, the darkness invariably gives way to light in the form of ecstatic melismas and lucent major-mode harmonies.
Throughout, the choral sound is rich yet unfailingly transparent – as obvious in the opening Jehova quam multi sunt hostes mei of Purcell as in MacMillan's masterly O bone Jesu. But the solo work is equally impressive – listen, for example, to tenors Simon Berridge and Mark Dobell and bass Eamonn Dougan in Purcell's Let mine eyes run down with tears or sopranos Grace Davidson and Charlotte Mobbs in the same composer's splendid O dive custos.
Christophers's direction is, as always, forever alert to the relationship between words and music – especially close with these two composers – while ensuring the careful delineation of the overall musical structure and each phrase, period and paragraph within it. Some minor blemishes aside, 'Bright Orb of Harmony' deserves to be set among that constellation of previous dazzling recordings by an ensemble that is less a choir, more an institution.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Christophers paces [Tradiderunt me] to perfection, enabling The Sixteen to luxuriate in its rich sonorities and shape effortless phrases, each apparently voiced on a single undying breath...This terrific release offers a nourishing blend of recent Macmillan, beautifully performed and recorded, spanning the gamut from prayer-like introspection and harmonic simplicity to festive outbursts and bravura melodic displays.” Classic FM Magazine, December 2011 ***** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | MacMillan & Vaughan-Williams - Choral Works
A Capella choral works for choir including the Vaughan-Williams Mass in G minor, one of the most beautiful 20th century works of its kind. “…the SWR Vokalenensemble Stuttgart…are…a tremendously adroit and versatile group whose immaculate polish, scrupulous blend and stylish musicality cannot fail to impress. Certainly it's hard to imagine more luminously textured or jaw-droppingly eloquent renderings of the two pieces by James MacMillan.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2009 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | An Eternal Harmony
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| |  | The Queen of Heaven
Now, in its 13th year, The Choral Pilgrimage stands as testament to Harry Christophers’ ongoing mission to bring a wide variety of sacred music back to the kind of buildings for which it was written. Thanks to the enthusiasm and support from audiences, the project continues to thrive and some 20,000 people are expected to attend concerts on this year’s tour. The 2013 tour began on 2nd March in Guildford Cathedral, and will take in a total of 34 concerts around the UK and Ireland before a concluding concert in Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh on the 26 October. Allegri’s Miserere is the single most famous piece of sacred music ever written. Although it is instantly recognisable with its haunting tones, mythology surrounds it, and this year’s Choral Pilgrimage allows Harry Christophers to explore its evolution and enduring appeal. James MacMillan dedicated his powerful and emotional setting of the Miserere to Harry Christophers and The Sixteen who premiered the work in 2010 and recorded it shortly afterwards. Alongside Allegri, MacMillan is one of the few composers to ever set the full Miserere to music. His exquisite version is one of the highlights of this year’s programme. Arguably the greatest composer of liturgical music of all time, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is often billed as ‘The Prince of Music’ and by some ‘The Saviour of Church Music’. Palestrina was a towering figure in Renaissance polyphony and shines out amongst the many great composers of the time for his immaculate craftsmanship and sheer output of works. The Sixteen have recorded three volumes of Palestrina’s works on their own label CORO, the latest of which includes repertoire from the 2013 tour and is included in this special collection. | 
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