No part of my
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gave me more
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Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge celebrate the 500th anniversary of Palestrina’s birth in style, recording for the very first time an album of outstanding works by the Roman master that are still little-known. To add resonance to their programme, they pair settings of the same texts by three of Palestrina’s English contemporaries, William Byrd, Robert White, and William Mundy.
Choral singing enjoys astonishing vitality in the United States of America. Alongside Bernstein's prodigious 'Chichester Psalms', Barber's 'Two Choruses', and Erb's much-loved arrangement of Shenandoah, Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge introduce us to the colourful works of the younger generation of composers on the other side of the Atlantic. A splendid panorama of American choral music from the post-war period to the present day.
'A boldly expressive performance... grasped with a refreshing confidence.' - 4★ BBC Music Magazine
"The ancient English choral tradition meets contemporary American choral music in ‘Rolling River’, the latest recording from Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. It’s a happy union.' 4★ Gramophone
Ben Jonson's masque 'Pan's Anniversary', as adapted for the Shakespeare Birthday Celebration at Stratford-upon-Avon, Easter Monday 1905, with incidental music by Ralph Vaughan Williams and additional arrangements by Gustav Holst.
This album with five world premiere recordings is the most important of several albums released by Albion Records in 2022 to celebrate Ralph Vaughan Williams’s sesquicentenary.
William Vann musical director
Mary Bevan, Sophie Bevan sopranos, Jess Dandy contralto (Nymphs 1,2 and 3)
Timothy West, Samuel West (Shepherd and Fencer)
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge chorus master Graham Ross
Britten Sinfonia leader Thomas Gould
Johnny Herford baritone (track 22)
"Once again, singers and
5★Fanfare Archive
"But I’ll return most often to a student choral creation, To Sleep! To Sleep!, circa 1896 (blessed with an immediately striking opening phrase), and the album’s finale: a recent arrangement by Timothy Burke of VW’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, featuring 39 voices from Clare College, Cambridge, weaving wondrously radiant textures above the Britten Sinfonia strings. Most inspiring."
4★ The Times
"There are two early choral settings Peace ,Come Away and To Sleep! To Sleep! with beautifully dark coloured choral and orchestral writing."
"Burke’s vocal scoring with stratospheric sopranos is actually rathe
British Music Society
"The
Music Web International
"…it it all flows swimmingly along, providing
5★ Customer Review
"An absolute joy from beginning to end."
5★ Customer Review
Icelandic music of the last half century is the focus of this recording by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, led by its conductor, Graham Ross. Born from his close collaboration with the native composers of the “Land of Fire and Ice,” this programme sets out to explore and highlight their hypnotic soundworld, instinctively leaning towards contemplation. A prime example is the touchingly beautiful Requiem by Sigurður Sævarsson, which here receives its world premiere recording.
"An ethereal, escapist set of recordings from the Cambrigde choir, bringing together Icelandic choral music from the last half-century. Saevarsson's Requiem forms the centrepiece - a hypnotic, reflective wonder."
5★ BBC Music Magazine
"An entrancing sound world...Ross and his choir are on top form throughout the disc"
4★ Planet Hugill
"The beauty of Ross' program is that it finds a thread linking the contemporary language of Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, the more traditional Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson, the rock avant-garde of Sigur Rós, and various mixtures of these. The performances from the young Clare College choristers are superb...A beautiful and valuable release."
5★ AllMusic.com
"Unlike most multi-composer projects, there is consistency with variety, a common commitment to the kind of slow, drone-based music one might associate with the ECM label, but done here with a freshness and simplicity of diction that reflects the Clare voices at their best. The singing is glorious and the programming faultless."
Choir and Organ
"...the choir’s flexibility in capturing subtly different moods is plain..."
Presto Music (Recording of the Week)
"Great album, highly recommended"
"The ambient aura of the album is resolutely contemplative and rarely stirred by dynamic movements more intense than a placid ether."
"Saevarsson’s a cappella Requiem is particularly therapeutic, as peaceful as a body in weightlessness."
PANM260
"...contemporary and timeless at the same time..."
muziekweb
"Each and every one of them beautiful, unhurried, polyphonic music, in which the cold, crystal clear atmosphere of the special island is made audible in an almost weightless way."
"New simplicity at its very best, which gives a soothing, unpretentious, meditative rest..."
Klassieke Zaken
"...stunningly beautiful collection of choral pieces by Icelandic composers..."
"The Choir of Clare College have clearly been at pains to perform this music idiomatically, aand their performances are quietly thirlling. And I simply can't praise Saevarsson's Requiem setting highly enough; although the piece is thoroughly modern, it nevertheless invokes a timeless sense of reverence, regret and devotion. A must have for all library collections."
AllMusic
Graham Ross invites you to explore the highly individual conception of traditional carols offered by twentieth-century British composers, and notably the most eminent among them, Benjamin Britten. Arranged around his famous Ceremony of Carols is a selection of wonderful choral settings with and without organ, each of which in its own way testifies to the meticulous care Britten brought to these musical gems, most of them deriving from English folk tradition and heard alongside pieces by three older masters whose music had left its mark on the composer of Peter Grimes: John Ireland, Frank Bridge and Gustav Holst.
“The icing on the cake is the mixed-voice choral singing itself: the clean-toned freshness of the female sopranos, balancing against the warmth and depth of the overall sound; articulation crisp and warm in equal measure, and always with a beautiful feel for the texts themselves."
"The programme as a whole is refreshingly non-standard, and all presented via choral singing at its finest.”
hdmusic.me
“...its performance of the full-choir arrangement brings an uplifting rush of energy."
4★ Financial Times
“...their robust sound makes everything else I have listened to for this issue seem slightly tame (sonorous bass lines are particularly impressive). There is some excellent organ playing too.”
4★ Choir and Organ
“Warm blend, fresh attack and a sense of keen vitality mark all the singing, and the sound is excellent."
4★ BBC Music Magazine
"Stunning performance!"
Alexander Armstrong, Classic FM
“..this is another excellent example of their work. The standard of performance never falls below the level of excellence that we’ve come to expect from this choir. Not only is the sound of the choir a delight in itself, in addition their discipline is enviable and their diction is consistently very good.
MusicWeb-International
'A joyful Trinity' Graham Ross concludes his exploration of music for the liturgical calendar with a programme focusing on the Holy Trinity, as reflected in music of the Russian and British traditions. Exploring works from the New Russian Choral School, Renaissance masters, 20th century Britain and contemporary composers, Graham Ross skilfully highlights the correspondences between these choral traditions that have become established over the centuries around the mystery of the Trinity.
In 1517, indignant at the mercenary abuses of the Church and convinced that a public debate was needed to restore faith in the founding texts of the Bible, Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg Castle. This marked the beginning of the Reformation, which was to spread all over Europe. Five hundred years later, Graham Ross here gives an insight into the emotional and dramatic strength of its theological and cultural legacy in a programme featuring Bach's two great Reformation cantatas and other chorale-based works from the German and English traditions down to the 20th century.
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Clare Baroque (Margaret Faultless, leader & violin)
Soloists: Mary Bevan, Robin Blaze, Nicholas Mulroy, Neal Davies
Graham Ross, conductor
'O my tongue, tell of the mystery...' Continuing their series of music for the liturgical year, conductor Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge turn their attention to the feast of Corpus Christi, with a number of settings of the Eucharistic hymns of St Thomas Aquinas. The centrepiece is a complete performance of Josquin's great Missa Pange lingua, and the recording ends with Finzi's ecstatic Lo, the full, final Sacrifice.
'With gold of obedience and incense of lowliness'
Graham Ross directs the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in music from the sixteenth and twentieth centuries celebrating the feast of Epiphany and the journey of the Magi, culminating in Arnold Bax's 1926 a cappella masterpiece, Mater ora filium.
"eloquent and translucent singing" - San Francisco Chronicle
Graham Ross directs the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in a wide-ranging and moving sequence of music for Remembrance, including John Tavener's Song for Athene, settings of the text When David heard by two of England's foremost 16th-century composers, Thomas Tomkins and Thomas Weelkes, and featuring Maurice Durufle's 1948 setting of the Requiem Mass.
This is the day that the Lord hath made.
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and director Graham Ross continue their series of music for the church year with a sequence for Easter Day that spans five centuries and explores the rich tapestry of repertoire from across the European continent.
In memory of the faithful departed.
Graham Ross conducts The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in a programme of English and Spanish music for the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls, culminating in Tomas Luis de Victoria's last published work, his six-part 1605 Requiem, regarded by many as one of the finest works of the Spanish Renaissance.
"...the Choir of Clare College, conducted by Graham Ross, summons all its eloquence for a masterpiece of the genre." - The Financial Times
"...it's a tribute to the excellence and commitment of these young singers" - Musicweb International
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Matthew Jorysz, Peter Harrison | Organ
Graham Ross | Director
Ascension and Pentecost are among the chief feasts of the Christian year. The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and The Dmitri Ensemble, both led by Graham Ross, explore the rich imagery of musical settings which span five centuries, including five world première recordings.
In this rich Passiontide sequence, polyphinc settings of the great texts of Holy Week are interwoven with a plainchant rendition of the mournful Stabat mater - the traditional medieval poem meditating on the death of Jesus and the grief of his mother.
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross | director
Recorded live in concert at St John’s Smith Square, London in September 2013, this recording of famous works by Handel celebrates the 300th anniversary of the accession of George I, the first of the Hanoverian monarchs, in 1714. The German-born composer had arrived in London in 1712 and soon became a favourite of Queen Anne and later Hanoverians, composing the Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne in 1713 to celebrateing the Peace of Utrecht. Handel was made a British citizen by George I in 1727 and was commissioned to compose music for the coronation of George II, the resulting Coronation Anthems becoming a traditional part of all subsequent British coronations.
Alex Potter | countertenor
Zefira Valova | concertmaster
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross | chorus master
Lars Ulrik Mortensen | director
Imogen Holst (1907-1984), the daughter of Gustav Holst, has long deserved recognition for her significant body of compositions, written throughout her life. After working as Benjamin Britten's amanuensis (1952-1964), she returned to her own composing. Graham Ross conducts the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and the instrumentalists of The Dmitri Ensemble in these world première recordings of a selection of Holst's choral works ranging from 1927 to 1972, three of which have not been heard since their first performance, together with the first recording of her imaginative and skillful orchestration of Benjamin Britten's Festival Cantata Rejoice in the Lamb, made at Britten's own request.
"Thrilling... A tribute to the superb ensemble singing of the Choir of Clare College under Graham Ross, who has trained with choir with its impeccable ensemble. Clear, well-defined recording." - Gramophone
"This programme, all of which is new to disc, shows her terrific gift for textured harmony, drama and vocal beauty. Performances and recording are of the hgihest standard, as one might expect."- Classical Music Magazine
"The Choir repsonds skillfully under Graham Ross...admirably committed performances from the Choir of Clare College and The Dmitri Ensemble, in very fine sound."- International Record Review
The Choir of Clare College
The Dmitri Ensemble
Graham Ross | Director
Ralph Vaughan William's sublime Mass in G minor reveals the composer's absorbing interest in using the modal harmonic language and contrapuntal textures of the English late Renaissance to achieve a huge emotional and dynamic range. Undoubtedly the most technically demanding work on this disc is A Vision of Aeroplanes, a virtuosic motet for mixed chorus and organ. Several neglected works also feature here, including The Voice out of the Whirlwind, an anthem for mixed chorus and orchestra or organ, and Valiant-for-truth, one of several works based on Bunyan's Christian allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress.
'There's no doubt [Vaughan Williams] would have doffed his boater to the last recording...from Clare College...the sweeping energy and rich detail of Tim Brown's interpretation draw out the best from his young singers, in matters musical and mystical.' - Classic FM
'This performance, lovingly moulded and well balanced in the play of solo voices and full choir, is in the best tradition.' - Gramophone
'Compliments to the Naxos sound team for achieving clarity within a faithful representation of the St John's College acoustic...what impresses about this performance is the exceptional sense of shape, both in overview and in tiny details...This comes with a strong recommendation.' - BBC Music Magazine
Reflection celebrates 500 years of music-making in the English Parish Church. Over the centuries, on a daily basis, music has played an enormous role in enhancing the experience of Christian worship. The legacy is a vast body of music in many different style to be enjoyed by Christians and non-Christians alike. This disc focuses on those works of great beauty which provide spiritual nourishment and a place of sanctuary from today's busy lives.
The Choir of Clare College
Timothy Brown | Director
Admired for the sheer beauty of his meditative and mystical music, John Tavener writes of his Ex Maria Virgine, which was dedicated to HRH the Prince of Wales and HRH the Duchess of Cornwall in joyful celebration of their marriage: 'I have set both familiar and less wellknown texts, and linked them with an expanding and contracting phrase 'Ex Maria Virgine'. This refers to Mary the Mother of God - 'The Eternal Feminine' - and should be sung with great radiance and femininity.' The other, mainly unaccompanied, works reveal Tavener's response to various poetic texts that also praise the Virgin Mary.
'Clare showed their wonderful full range of sounds, from intimate piano passages to joyous proclomation of praise...' - Varsity
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
This disc represents the core of Clare College Choir's existence. The Choir sing Evensong three times a week and the music on this disc is typical of the repertoire that you would hear if you were to eavesdrop on a weekday service in the College Chapel.
The Choir of Clare College
Timothy Brown | Director
Samuel Sebastian Wesley was the pre-eminant organist-composer of the early Vitorian era. During his career he worked tirelessly for over forty years to raise the standard of music offered in English cathedrals, and this collection of his most popular anthems, including the equisite Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, reflects the culmination of his achievements in this field. Unashamedly Romantic yet original in style, Wesley's music speaks with a powerful and wholly distinctive voice.
A disc of music by the illustrious Cambridge lecturer and composer.
It was probably in 1684-85, a year or two after the first performance of John Blow's Venus and Adonis which was clearly his model, that Purcell composed Dido and Aeneas, now recognised as one of the great monuments of opera. The sudden death of Charles II, for whose court it was commissioned, may have meant it was not actually produced until the performance given in a girls' school in Chelsea in 1689, long thought to have been the occasion for which it was written. The skilful construction of Dido and Aeneas, with that rich mixture of comic and tragic elements so characteristic of 17th century English theatre, perfectly illustrates Purcell's extraordinary dramatic sense.
A disc of soothing music, perfect for relaxation, and divided into three sections tracing the journey of the soul.
'Absolutely magical as regards content and performance. A listening experience which is indeed out of this world' - Choir and Organ
The Choir of Clare College
Timothy Brown | Director
An exploration of the theme of light down the ages: includes music by Hildegard of Bingen, Josquin, Byrd, Palestrina, Rachmaninov, Holst and Ligeti.
'The challenge to singers is formidable and these young voices do marvellously well throughout. The quality of choral tone is remarkable ... a wondrous record' - Gramophone
NOMINATED FOR A GRAMOPHONE AWARD
The Choir of Clare College
Timothy Brown | Director
The world première recording of the complete Latin Motets of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, including the Christmas motet Hodie Christus natus est. The Choir were also involved in a video recording of the music of Sweelinck which you can view in our Videos section.
Carols recorded in aid of the Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children (All proceeds go to MSCFC Ltd).
The Choir of Clare College
Timothy Brown | Director
Motets and partsongs by Fauré, Poulenc, Duruflé, Saint-Saens, Debussy and Ravel, with Elizabeth Lane (soprano), Richard Egarr and Nicholas White (organ).
'Here is a winner ... if by any chance this kind of music has not so far come your way, accept this record as your passport to another country. I can't imagine better performances' - Gramophone
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Timothy Brown | Director
The complete medieval Office of Compline (sung in English), plus a selection of meditative motets from the sixteenth century by Sheppard, Tallis, Byrd and White. Compline is the English form of the Latin word completus, meaning 'completed'. It is now usually spelt with a final 'e' which, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is 'modern and unhistorical'. In medieval monastic and collegiate communities, it was the last of the seven daytime services, sung in mid-evening. The service is recorded here with the omission of some of the psalms and is followed by music either for Compline or with texts and music of an appropriate mood.
The Choir of Clare College
Timothy Brown | Director
Please be aware this is recorded using the PAL system and may not play in all world zones.
The Choir of Clare College
Timothy Brown | Director
Features the von Beckerath organ at Clare College.
Peter Clements | Organ
Blow's Masque, recorded by soloists Rosemary Joshua (Soprano), Gerald Finley (Baryton) & Robin Blaze (Contre-ténor) with Clare College Choir and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by René Jacobs.
Berkeley's choral music is ideally suited to the recording medium. It demands concentration, repays repeated hearing, and after listening to it one often wants just to sit and think. It is music written clean against the doubting, thrusting times we live in, but music instinct with faith, hope and love.
The Choir of Clare College
Timothy Brown | Director