The Eternal Ecstasy: Music of Visionary Transcendence

Release Date: 17th Jul 2015
Catalogue No: REGCD427
Label: Regent

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Thompson, R: Alleluia

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Tavener: Hymn to the Mother of God

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

McDowall, C: Regina Caeli

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Whitacre: Lux aurumque

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Quinn: Adoreums in aeternum

first commercial recording
The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Cooke, P: The eternal ecstasy

first commercial recording
The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Bednall: The law of the Lord

first commercial recording
The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Bullard, A: The spacious firmament

first commercial recording
The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

MacMillan: Christus Vincit

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Duggan, J: Nunc autem manet

first commercial recording
The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Lauridsen: O magnum mysterium

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Mealor: Four Madrigals On Rose Texts: Now Sleeps The Crimson Petal

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

Harris, W: Bring us, O Lord God

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Sarah MacDonald

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Over the last fifty years a new style of choral writing has emerged from the US which has captured the imagination of church- and concert-goers, and record buyers alike across the globe. This style can summarised as timeless, spacious, and rapturous, with an innate depth of visionary and transcendental spirituality. These features have led to the simple, but apposite, description of the ‘Ecstatic Style’.

This collection of unaccompanied choral works from the choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, under their director, Sarah MacDonald, was recorded in the incomparable acoustics of the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral. It explores the development of the ‘Ecstatic Style’, from its beginnings in 1940s America to the present day, with representative works from major US composers Randall Thompson, Morten Lauridsen, and Eric Whitacre to established British composers, John Tavener, Paul Mealor, Cecilia McDowall, Alan Bullard, and James MacMillian, together with an early British example of the style in William Harris’ sublime double-choir anthem, Bring us, O Lord God. The recording also includes a substantial number of works by younger British composers, Iain Quinn, David Bednall, John Duggan, and a new work especially written for this collection by Phillip Cooke ‘The Eternal Ecstasy’ to words from the writings of Saint Teresa of Avila, and all receiving their first commercial recording.

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The Eternal Ecstasy

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