Sanders, J D: The Reproaches

An ideal release for the penitential church season of Lent, with music for Lent, Passiontide and Holy Week, sung by the highly-accomplished Choir of Winchester College.

A varied selection of music ranging from the 16th to 20th centuries, framed by Tippett’s heart-rending settings of five spirituals.

Some of the greatest music ever written for the this solemn period of preparation for Easter, including Lotti’s Crucifixus, Tippett’s Five Spirituals, and works by Byrd, Purcell, Duruflé and John Ireland.

This sequence of music for Lent, Passiontide and Easter represents a journey through perhaps the most dramatic part of the Church’s year. It is a season which has inspired many composers to write some of their most potent pieces, and contrasts the seriousness of intent and poignancy found in, say, Lotti’s Crucifixus with the exuberance of music such as Philips’s Ecce vicit Leo.

Other favourites in this anthology include Mendelssohn’s I waited for the Lord, Bruckner’s Christus factus est, and the beautiful Gibbons setting of Drop, drop, slow tears with the soloist Anthony Way (who caused such a stir in television’s The Choir). There are also two important new works, by John Sanders and Brian Chapple.

A celebration both of Easter and of exceptional singing.