An eclectic mix of new sacred and secular choral works published by Oxford University Press. A thread of calm runs through the tracks, inviting the listener to meditate on a common theme of the passage of time, which is coloured with poignancy and, in some cases, expectant renewal. All the tracks on this album are scored for SATB (with the exception of Bob Chilcott’s The Pear Tree Carol which is scored for double choir). This album is performed by the award-winning ensemble, The Gesualdo 6, joined by sopranos Rosanna Wicks and Hannah King.

Choral Music from Oxford with The Gesualdo Six 2022

KChorale

Oxford Christmas 2023

The Beeb  3's Essential Classics - 3

how can I keep from singing

Mozart: Flute Concertos & Concerto for Flute and Harp

Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299: II. Andantino

This unique three-movement work combines the harmonic language of Indian classical Raags (Raag Hamsadhwani, Raag Malkauns, and Raag Ahir Bhairav, respectively) with specially written texts by poet Rebecca Gayle Howell. These three eco-carols, entitled 'We look for you', 'The year's midnight', and 'The unexpected early hour' centre around evening, midnight, and daybreak (linked to the Christian services of Evensong, Matins, and Lauds), and use imagery from nature to reflect on the message of the Christmas story. The first two movements have a serene and pensive atmosphere that contrasts with the third movement, which uses an energetic compound time signature and bell-like melodic shapes.

More on the OUP site

The Unexpected Early Hour (from A Winter Breviary) - Reena Esmail

The Year's Midnight (from A Winter Breviary) - Reena Esmail

We Look For You (from A Winter Breviary) - Reena Esmail

This is an expressive setting of Sara Teasdale's poem 'Peace', with lush, rich harmonies and a soft dynamic palette. Poignant and peaceful, and perfect for choirs who enjoy refining blend and ensemble, this setting will provide a reflective moment in a concert programme.

Give me your Stars to Hold - Bob Chilcott

This simple setting of words by Tennyson reflects a different side to McGlade's compositional style, without sacrificing any of her trademark characteristics. The largely homophonic vocal lines move as one, with clarity and poise in abundance, creating a bed of sound over which the cello gently glides.

The Oak - Becky McGlade

Silver Bells

Coventry Carol, ARV

"The Stars Stand Up in the Air", Eric William Barnum
Robert Bode, conductor
Lee D. Thompson, piano
Composed to a rare poem by Irishman Thomas MacDonagh, it describes the torture of lost love.  Such was the power of this love, that the poet cannot help proclaiming she was more beautiful than music itself, and now that she is gone, he wishes all music were mute.  Yet throughout the poem, he cannot help avowing her beauty with wild statements, culminating in 'She's more fair than the stars where they stand —'  Such a love, when it disappears, can leave a hole in the heart so large, perhaps the only response one can give as MacDonagh does in a final remark: 'Tis my grief that her ever I knew!'  The music is highly romantic with flowing melodies and dramatic phrasing, narrating the past joy and present pain of the jilted lover.


The Stars Stand Up in the Air
Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916)

The stars stand up in the air
The sun and the moon are gone,
The strand of its waters is bare.
And her sway is swept from the swan.

The cuckoo was calling all day,
Hid in the branches above,
How my stóirín is fled away,
'Tis my grief that I gave her my love.

Three things through love I see —
Sorrow and sin and death —
And my mind reminding me
That this doom I breathe with my breath.

But sweeter than violin or lute
Is my love — and she left me behind.
I wish that all music were mute,
And I to all beauty were blind.

She's more shapely than swan by the strand,
She's more radiant than grass after dew,
She's more fair than the stars where they stand —
'Tis my grief that her ever I knew!



"The Stars Stand Up", Eric William Barnum

French Suites 4, 5 & 6

French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816: I. Allemande (Original Version)

This is the latest album by the Tuks Camerata, conducted by Michael Barrett.

It includes the program that won them the title of World Champions at the 2014 World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia.

Indodana - arr. M Barrett and R Schmitt

Muusika SATB - Alto 1 Predominant - Part Uusberg

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The String Quartet No. 16 in E flat major, K. 428/421b, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This is the third of the Haydn Quartets, a set of six string quartets he wrote during his first few years in Vienna and later dedicated to Joseph Haydn.

It is in four movements:

I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andante con moto
III. Menuetto & Trio
IV. Allegro vivace

The first movement is highly chromatic, with the chromaticized bridge theme in the exposition being one of several examples, the end of the exposition being another.

The slow movement "invokes ... the slow movement of Haydn's Op. 20 No. 1. The ostentatious dissonances of its opening almost have an antique flavour, caused by the collision of semitonal ascents and descents, and this strongly suggests the opening subject of the first movement, so surprisingly isolated there."Other commentators hear it as pointing forward to Johannes Brahms.

Throughout the third movement Mozart "makes use of a pedal point in the bass, thus giving the music an entrancing rustic effect."
The last movement "can best be described as being an abridged rondo form."

Retailers:

iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-mozart-project/id1034980035

Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/The_Mozart_Project_Mozart?id=Batumgqtgiizmmajzp7nun2bawq&hl

Rdio
http://www.rdio.com/artist/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart/album/Mozart_-_Symphonies%2C_Sonatas%2C_Serenades%2C_Concertos__Overtures/

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HMV
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Rhapsody
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MediaNet
http://www.mndigital.com/content-experience/music_content/albums/378851987/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart/Mozart_The_Essential_Collection/

Groove
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Emusic
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Microsoft
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/music/album/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-haydn-light-orchestra/mozart-the-essential-collection/8d6kgx070nr0

Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Mozart_Mozart_Symphonies_Sonatas_Serenades_Concert?id=Bbrfnmsqsow4thkok67d7hr7kku&hl=en_GB

Spotify:
https://play.spotify.com/album/2qTzSNOusiykyFQ21F51mc

Orchestral samples included in this recording from the Vienna Symphonic Library.

Mozart - The Essential Collection

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Quartet No. 16 in E-Flat Major, K. 428: III. Menuetto, Allegretto

Uppsala Cathedral Singers - Christmas Music
Live recording 2015-12-19
Conductor: Ulric Andersson

I am the day - Jonathan Dove

A Mother's Love - Music For Mary

A Hymn to The Virgin (Album Version)

Christmas Choral Highlights 2014

Find out more

Lulajze, Jezuniu (Lullaby, Jesus child) — Bob Chilcott

If Music Be The Food Of Love (Disc 1)

El Hambo

Endless Song

Sure On This Shining Night

Canzona per sonare No. 4 - Giovanni Gabrieli

Wicker Park Choral Singers
LIVE in Concert
December 8, 2018
Chicago, IL

Hodie Christus Natus Est by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Virtual choir recording for Christmas 2020.

"There is no rose", by John Joubert

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The Unexpected Early Hour (from A Winter Breviary) - Reena Esmail

Oxford Academic (OUP)