Oxford New College Choir

New College Choir is an outstanding part of musical life in Britain. William of Wykeham - who also rebuilt Windsor Castle for Edward III and founded Winchester College - was responsible for its creation, College and Choir. He provided for sixteen choristers, and clerks. Their duty, to sing the daily office in his magnificent mediaeval chapel. This practice still continues within the context of today’s University life. Both the children and the young adults receive a musical training of the highest standard, in keeping with a world-class university.

They develop their potential to the full, meeting not only the daily needs of the chapel services but also the challenges of the recording studio and the concert platform. The success of the Choir in recent times can be measured in 80 CD recordings, and a reputation extending across the world. The recordings encompass the classics of the English Cathedral repertoire with Taverner, Byrd and Tye at one end and Stanford and Howells at the other; masterpieces of the French renaissance by Du Caurroy and Lejeune; the baroque triumphs of Purcell, Mondonville and Handel. Latterly highly successful compilations such as ‘Agnus Dei’, ‘Early One Morning’ and ‘Bluebird’ have won over huge new audiences for its work.

The Choir’s director, Edward Higginbottom, brings to the Choir’s interpretations not only his musicianship, but also his scholarly insights. His work at Oxford is divided between the Choir and Faculty of Music, spanning standing ovations at the Concertgebouw to teaching first-year undergraduates music aesthetics of the time of Louis XIV. His work with New College Choir has placed him among the leading choral conductors of our time.

Discography

MacMillan and His British Contemporaries

O Sing Unto the Lord - Julian Anderson Christus Vincit - James MacMillan Ecce Beatam Lucem - Jonathan Dove Libera Nos - Ryan Wigglesworth On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin - James MacMillan Into Thy Hands - Jonathan Dove Love Bade Me Welcome - Judith Weir Since I Believe - Robin Holloway A Prayer of St. Augustine - Francis Grier Surrexit Christus - Tarik O'Regan Jesu, Dulcis Memoria - Peter Wishart Whitsun Carol, Op.115b - John Joubert Salve Regina - Gabriel Jackson

New College Choir brings the ideal combination of vocal freshness and consummate experience to this music, with commendable individual standout solos exemplifying the standard of the ensemble as a whole. The recording has admirable atmosphere and transparency. If you associate Poulenc with frivolity, lightness and superficiality, track 20 on the first CD here is the antidote. Austere, dramatic, deeply serious, the eight-minute Litanies à la Vierge noire is as far removed from the image of Poulenc the playboy boulevardier as possible. The Mass is an excellent performance of Poulenc’s a cappella masterpiece, the edgy rhythmic detailing of the Kyrie and Gloria pluckily projected. A special mention is due to Sasha Ockenden, soaring confidently in the fearfully exposed treble solos of the beautiful Agnus Dei.

Poulenc and His French Contemporaries

Salve Regina - Francis Poulenc Quatre petites prieres de Saint Francois d'Assise: - Francis Poulenc -Salut, Dame Sainte - Francis Poulenc -Tout puissant, tres saint - Francis Poulenc -Seigneur, je vous en prie - Francis Poulenc -O mes tres chers freres - Francis Poulenc Exultate Deo - Francis Poulenc O sacrum convivium - Olivier Messiaen Quem vidistis pastores dicite - Francis Poulenc Videntes stellam - Francis Poulenc Attende Domine, Op. 45 - Pierre Villette O magnum mysterium - Francis Poulenc Hodie Christus natus est - Francis Poulenc Messe en sol majeur: - Francis Poulenc -Kyrie -Gloria -Sanctus -Benedictus -Agnus Dei Panis Angelicus, Op. 80 - Pierre Villette Hymne a la Vierge, Op. 24 - Pierre Villette Litanies a la Vierge noire - Francis Poulenc

Throughout the disc Higginbottom draws exemplary clarity of texture from his New College choristers; the tantalizing, almost acidic harmonies of all these pieces are laid out like jewels ready for the closest of inspections. Moments of beauty (and they come thick and fast) are deliciously understated . . . for performances which are full of musical and artistic integrity and a real sense of involvement with the music, these from New College, Oxford are in a class of their own.

Copland and His American Contemporaries

The Song of Deborah - Adolphus Hailstork In the Beginning - Aaron Copland I Will Sing and Raise a Psalm - Libby Larsen O magnum mysterium - Morten Lauridsen O Deus, ego amo te - Ned Rorem Oratio patris condren: O Jesu Vivens in Maria - Ned Rorem Thee, God... - Ned Rorem Psalm 67 - Charles Ives The Dove Descending - Igor Stravinsky Mass - Igor Stravinsky Steal Away (from A Child of Our Time) - Michael Tippett

This recording of North American music of the last fifty or so years includes music by a Russian, Igor Stravinsky. His origins notwithstanding, he is one of the ‘grand old men’ of twentieth-century American music, having become an American citizen in the early 1940s, shortly before writing his Mass for choir and double wind quintet. The recording ends with a spiritual, arranged by one of Britain’s most eminent twentieth-century composers - a sort of compliment to the American tradition from the other side of the pond. The rest of the music speaks for itself, with an inimitable American accent from beginning to end. "Copland's In the beginning is a stern test for any choir in a live performance...This recording is an amazing tour de force—intonation spot-on, effortless high As from the boys and finally a B flat, all superbly delivered. This CD is well worth having for this refreshingly affirmative evocation of the Creation alone." Gramophone Magazine

In Excelsis

The Tyger (John Tavener) Magnificat (Giles Swayne) Quid tetis, o fili? (Richard Pygott) The lamb (John Tavener) Come, holy Ghost (Jonathan Harvey) Gloria (John Tavener) A hymn to the Mother of God (John Tavener) Ave cujus conceptio (Nicholas Ludford) Woefully Arrayed (William Cornysh) I Love The Lord (Jonathan Harvey) Libera nos (John Sheppard) God is with us (John Tavener) Audivi vocem de caelo (Thomas Tallis)

One of the UK's finest, oldest male choirs (New College was founded in the 14th century), the prolific Choir of New College, directed by the renowned Edward Higgenbottom, presents works from the finest period of English choral polyphony (Cornysh, Ludford, Tallis, Taverner, etc.) are juxtaposed with contemporary compositions by Jonathan Harvey, Giles Swayne and John Tavener, music separated by several centuries but sharing the same quality of deeply charged abstraction. Some of the most beautiful, extensive, full-color liner notes we've seen.

7521 CD $15.98

Agnus Dei - Music Of Inner Harmony

Agnus Dei - Barber Cantique De Jean Racine - Faure Kyrie - Palestrina Ave Verum Corpus - Mozart Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude - Bach Ave Maria - Rachmaninov Lux Aeterna - Elgar Totus Tuus - Gorecki Hear My Prayer - Mendelossohn The Lamb - Tavener In Paradisium (Requiem) - Faure Miserere Mei, Deus - Allegri

This is a splendid sampling of some of the world's finest choral music, sung by one of the world's outstanding choirs. This "anthology of sacred choral music" spans 400 years and includes such masterpieces as Allegri's Miserere, Bach's "Jesu, joy of man's desiring," and Barber's exquisite Agnus Dei, which is the composer's choral setting of his famous Adagio for Strings. Along the way we also hear Mozart's sublime "Ave verum corpus," Elgar's "Lux aeterna," and the Kyrie from Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli. There has been a choir at England's New College, Oxford, since the year 1379, and this impressive line of experience shows in the intelligent, unfaltering, and finely polished performances by today's ensemble of 16 boys and 12 adults.

Nativitas - A Celebration of Peace

I Wonder As I Wander Adam Lay Ybounden Alma Redemptoris The Angel Gabriel Ave Maria A Spotless Rose There Is No Rose The Little Road To Bethlehem Once In Royal David's City Stille Nacht Sing Lullaby Gloria Sei Dir Gesungen O Magnum Mysterium In Dulci Jubilo O Jesulein Sul While Shepards Watched Their Flocks By Night Quem Vidistis Pastores Shepards Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep Adeste Fideles Videntes Stellam Rocking Carol Here Is The Little Door Hark The Herald Angels Sing

The Christmas Story from the Annunciation to Epiphany told in well-known traditional carols, and works by Bruckner, Joubert, Howells, Poulenc and other composers: directed by Edward Higginbottom

Mass in G Minor

Mass in G: Gloria (Vaughan Williams) Mass in G: Credo (Vaughan Williams) Mass in G: Benedictus (Vaughan Williams) God's Grandeur (Leighton) Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing (Howells) Feast Songs for Saint Cecillia (Rose) Faire is The Heavan (Harris) I Love The Lord (Harvey)

The Choir produces a fine balance, with an overall tone quality which proclaims their expertise in singing services, the boys especially being able to produce thin polished brass as well as peach-blossom tone as required. Directed by Edward Higgenbottom.

Sacred Music of Henry Purcell

Blow Up The Trumpet In Sion The Lord Is King, Be The People Lord, What Is Man, Lost Man Let Mine Eyes Run Down With Tears Jehova, Quam Multi Sunt Hostes Mei Oh Dive Custos Beati Omnes Qui Timent Dominum Out Of The Deep Blow Up The Trumpet In Sion

For such transcendent music to succeed, it has to be performed with sufficient technical prowess. This the Choir commands, and they add to it under Higginbottom's direction, a full realisation of the unparalled range of expression at Pucell's command.

Renaissance Masterpieces

Orlande De Lassus -Aurora lucis rutilat -Tristis est anima mea -Missa "Tous les regretz" -Ave Verum -Surgens Jesus -Timor et tremor -Domine convertere -Salve Regina -Veni Creator Eustache Du Caurroy -Veni sancta spirtus -Requiem -Ave Maria -Ave Virgo gloriosa -Salve Regina -Christe, qui lux es -Victimae Paschalis Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina -Victimae Paschalis -Magnificat -Dum complerentur -Stabat Mater -Alma Redemptoris -Recordare -Ad te levavi -Veni sancta spiritus Philippus De Monte -Miserere -Peccavi super numerum -Missa "Si ambulavero" -Super flumina Babylonis -Domine, quid multiplicati sunt -Spes humani generis -Domine Jesu Chirste -Angelus Domini Hodie, dilectissimi, omnium sanctorum

For such transcendent music to succeed, it has to be performed with sufficient technical prowess. This the Choir commands, and they add to it under Higginbottom's direction, a full realisation of the unparalled range of expression at Pucell's command.

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