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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

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

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

'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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Features the von Beckerath organ at Clare College.

Peter Clements | Organ