St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, the flagship choir of the University of St Andrews, presents a new disc celebrating Christmas. Including music both familiar and new, the release explores themes of good triumphing over evil, as evoked by William Blake’s poems ‘The Tyger’ and ‘The Lamb’. As well as world premiere recordings of music by Paul Mealor, Owain Park and Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, the Christmas Dance also explores influences of jazz in music by Carl Rütti, and in spontaneous four-handed piano improvisations by Honorary Professor of Jazz Piano and Campbell Watterson Organ Scholar, Matthew McIlree.
St Salvator’s Chapel Choir and the Wallace Collection perform Sigismund von Neukomm’s extraordinary Requiem in C minor for two choirs, organ and brass octet. Composed in memory of Louis XVI of France for the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the work prefigures the great Romantic requiems of Brahms and Verdi.
Launch concert: 6 March 2018. Sacred music for the twenty-first century: music by Sir James MacMillan, his influences and contemporaries, and six commissions from up-and-coming composers working under his guidance. DOCUMENTARY VIDEO
To commemorate the quincentenary of Lutheranism, St Salvator’s Chapel Choir presents sixteenth- and seventeenth-century music for Lent and Passiontide. The disc concludes with Nikolaus Bruhns’s joyful Easter cantata, ‘Hemmt eure Tränenflut’, and features the Kellie Consort, with guest leader Richard Gwilt.
A delightful collection of Christmas carols old and new, including the world premiere of Philip Stopford’s Ave Maris Stella.
Several movements of J. S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor reflect the influence of the stile antico (the strict mode of composition of Palestrina and his contemporaries). This CD is an exploration of J. S. Bach’s encounter with this style, including the world premiere recording of a Credo by Giovanni Battista Bassani (edition by Tom Wilkinson).
‘This is an excellent CD that combines scholarship with performance.’ ★★★★★ Choir and Organ
‘Probably the best choral singing on the disc comes in the Palestrina where the intertwining polyphonic lines are superbly traced, the choir showing a real sensitivity towards the style as well as a lovely blend of tone and exemplary diction.’ Music Web International
‘The whole impressive package displays meticulous care and great integrity. A truly magnum opus.’ Organists’ Review
A delightful selection of folk song arrangements. This CD concludes with a transcription for organ of Hamish MacCunn’s The Land of the Mountain and the Flood, played by Tom Wilkinson.
An exploration of English church music in the century after Henry Purcell, this CD concludes with the world premiere recording of Hear me, O God by William Jackson of Exeter (edition by Tom Wilkinson).
‘The St Salvator’s Chapel Choir provide assured performances of this tricky repertoire … [t]hese young singers have distinguished themselves in what is clearly the first recording on their in-house label, which deserves to be the first of many.’ Early Music Review
‘Unearthed from the substantial collection of 18th-century English music collected by Gerald Finzi and now in the University of St Andrews’ possession, three fascinating anthems by William Jackson of Exeter are enthusiastically embraced by these performers in powerfully committed performances.’ Gramophone
Christmas carols old and new, including the world premiere recording of ‘Moonless Darkness’ by Ed Jones.
Tracklist
- Ed Jones – ‘Moonless Darkness’ (world premiere recording) 4:30
- Trad. arr. John Rutter – ‘I wonder as I wander’ 3:01
- Trad. arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams – ‘This is the truth sent from above’ 3:11
- James MacMillan – ‘O radiant dawn’ 3:49
- Cedric Thorpe Davie – ‘O earth be hushed’ 2:08
- Kenneth Leighton – ‘Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child’ 3:08
- Trad. arr. David Willcocks – ‘Shepherds in the field abiding’ 3:09
- Richard Causton – ‘Cradle song’ 2:18
- Trad. arr. Henry Walford Davies – ‘The holly and the ivy’ 2:54
- Jan Sandström – ‘Det är en ros utsprungen’ 4:46
- Herbert Howells – ‘A spotless rose’ 3:12
- Arvo Pärt – ‘Bogoróditse Djévo’ 1:14
- Benjamin Britten – ‘A hymn to the virgin’ 3:03
- Elizabeth Poston – ‘Jesus Christ the apple tree’ 3:05
- Morten Lauridsen – ‘O magnum mysterium’ 5:55