Listen here to the previews of Sanctiandree's debut release "Salvator Mundi - The Purcell Legacy", featuring St Salvator's Chapel Choir and the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, directed by Tom Wilkinson. Available throughout the UK starting April 20th 2015.

William Boyce - O be joyful in the Lord

Jeremiah Clarke - He shall send down from on high to save me

Henry Purcell - Rejoice in the Lord alway ('Bell Anthem')

Pelham Humfrey - O Lord my God, why hast thou forsaken me

Listen here to previews of Salvatormundi's new release "Ca' the Yowes - A Traditional Tapestry", featuring the The Choir of St Salvator's Chapel Choir of the University of St Andrews, directed by Tom Wilkinson.

16 - Hamish MacCunn Transcribed Jeremy Cull Land Of The Mountain And The Flood

15 - Trad Arr Wilkinson Auld Lang Syne

13 - Trad Arr Wilkinson John Anderson My Jo

12 - Trad Arr B. Parry Ye Banks And Braes

08 - Trad Arr Vaughan Williams The Turtle Dove

06 - Trad Arr Vaughan Williams Loch Lomond

05 - James MacMillan So Deep

02 - Trad Arr Wilkinson A Highland Lad

01 - Trad Arr Wilkinson Skye Boat Song

08 - J. S. Bach - Symbolum Nicenum BWV232 - Credo In Unum Deum

05 - Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina - Missa Sine Nomine - Kyrie From Missa Sine Nomine

02 - Giovanni Battista Bassani - Credo In Unum Deum No 5 Of Acroama Missale

The choir of St Salvator’s Chapel at the University of St Andrews brings something of the atmosphere of their famous annual carol service to a wider audience. This magical event occurs against the backdrop of the bitter wind of the North Sea beating against the stained-glass, as over a thousand students clothed in robes of red join to sing Christmas carols old and new. The sense of excitement and solidarity between students, staff, and the community, is remarkable.  This recording, which traces the Christmas story from the Annunciation to Epiphany, captures the sense of anticipation and celebration that only Christmas brings.  Soaring descants breathe new life into the beloved classics, here featuring several by Sir David Willcocks in honour of the great choral director who passed away in 2015. Philip Stopford’s crystalline Ave Maris Stella, commissioned by the St Andrews Voices festival in 2015 and receiving its world premiere recording, has all the hallmarks of a classic.

20 - O Come All Ye Faithful - anonymous melody arranged by David Willcocks

19 - The Three Kings - Peter Cornelius arranged by Ivor Atkins

18 - Coventry Carol - 16th-century English carol arranged by Martin Shaw

17 - George Frederick Handel arranged by Tom Wilkinson - While Shepherds Watched

16 - Away in a Manger - melody by W. J. Kirkpatrick arranged by David Willcocks

15 - Sussex Carol - English traditional carol arranged by David Willcocks

14 - Harold Darke - In the Bleak Midwinter

13 - Ding Dong Merrilly on High - 16th-century French melody arranged by David Willcocks

12 - Personent Hodie - German melody arranged by Gustav Holst

10 - Johann Schein - Vom Himmel hoch

09 - John Gardner - Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day

05 - Philip Stopford - Ave Maris Stella

01 - Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy - Hark! the herald-angels sing

Annunciations celebrates Sir James MacMillan’s ongoing contributions to sacred music, particularly in the British choral tradition. Alongside five of his own pieces, the album includes works by two decisive influences on MacMillan, Benjamin Britten and Kenneth Leighton; two significant contemporaries, John Tavener and Judith Bingham; and six next generation composers mentored by Sir James on the TheoArtistry Composers’ Scheme, a collaboration between ITIA (the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts), the Music Centre, and St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, in the University of St Andrews.
Through music of fascinating and sublime beauty, this recording takes the listener on a musical journey through salvation history, exploring moments in the Old and New Testaments when God speaks to humankind. At the heart of the recording are six new settings of ‘annunciations’ in the Hebrew Bible. These are framed by moments of divine communication in the New Testament as well as settings of the annunciation: the angel Gabriel announcing to the virgin Mary that she will give birth to the Messiah.
Sir James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful composers and conductors. His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.
St Salvator’s Chapel Choir is committed to the performance of new music, and regularly commissions and performs works for both liturgical and secular contexts. The Sanctiandree label has already garnered acclaim for releases including Salvator Mundi, charting 100 years of English church music after Purcell, Ca’ the Yowes, featuring British folk song arrangements, and Bach and the Stile Antico.

02 - MacMillan Canticle Of Zachariah (2007)

St Salvator's Chapel Choir - University of St Andrews
The Wallace Collection
Tom Wilkinson & Anthony George conductors

The latest release on the Sanctiandree label celebrates Austrian composer Sigismund von Neukomm’s position in the evolution of choral music between Mozart, Haydn and Brahms. Neukomm’s huge output of some 2000 works has been described as ‘transitional’ between the Classical and Romantic periods; composers who do not fit neatly into pre-ordained categories invariably offer listeners fresh perspectives and insights. 

Neukomm’s Requiem in C minor was composed during the auspicious political circumstances of the Congress of Vienna, which signalled closure on more than two decades of warfare: the Napoleonic Wars following the French Revolution of 1789. The solemn occasion of the Requiem’s first performance was attended by many of the heads of state of Europe and their representatives.

For this symbolic occasion, Neukomm came up with the idea of supporting the double choir with organ and a brass octet of keyed trumpet, four hand-horns and three trombones, an innovation without precedent. He uses this ensemble sparingly, only unleashing it at moments of high drama, and, on a few occasions, using the softer range of dynamics to induce depth and inspire awe, presaging the use of brass in operatic music by later Romantic composers. This is highly effective, especially during pivotal moments at the beginning, middle and end, acting as pillars to the overall form of the work. In these interludes the brass ensemble is heard alone, firstly as a short prelude; then after the Sanctus where the brass interlude accompanies the communion ceremony; and finally concluding the Requiem with a Funeral March, seemingly transporting the soul of the Requiem’s subject heavenwards to its final resting place. 

Neukomm’s Requiem is heard alongside brass works of the same era: a brass Quintette by Jean-François-Victor Bellon, a brass ensemble arrangement of fellow French composer Alexandre Guilmant’s Morceau Symphonique, and German composer Ernst Sachse’s Trombone Concertino. Amongst the unusual instruments featured are the serpent and the ophicleide. These are heard alongside the singers of St Salvator’s Chapel Choir of the University of St Andrews directed by Tom Wilkinson, and The Wallace Collection, comprising a group of period brass specialists brought together to showcase these remarkable instruments and directed by Anthony George.

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