England, My England – Collection of Great English Choral Music From Legendary King’s College Choir, Cambridge

By -

The glory of English music is brought to resplendent life in a new compilation featuring the incomparable Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. England My England, a new two-CD compilation drawn from the choir’s extensive EMI Classics catalog, captures the quintessentially English sound of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, as heard in the singular acoustic of its magnificent chapel. Over the course of 40 tracks, the new album offers motets ancient and modern, well-known psalms and favorite hymns (“ Jerusalem ,” “Praise, my Soul, the King of Heaven”), and many pieces made recognizable through their association with key events in English history.

“Come ye sons of art away” is Purcell’s 1694 birthday ode for Queen Mary. “Thou knowest, Lord” is part of the music he wrote for her funeral just nine months later. John Ireland’s “Greater love hath no man” is often heard on Remembrance Sunday; Sir John Tavener’s “Song for Athene” made a powerful impression at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; while John Rutter’s small-scale, personal Requiem touched a wider public following the attacks of September 11, 2001. But “Nimrod,” above all, represents music of national remembrance and this collection boasts a choral setting of it: Lux aeterna, by Edward Elgar.

Two-CD set and downloads available August 11 from EMI Classics

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more