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COR16184 Good Night Beloved - Tr 12 Williams - Eriskay Love Lilt

COR16184 Good Night Beloved - Tr 8 Todd - Whisper Him My Name

COR16184 Good Night Beloved - Tr 5 Chilcott - Londonderry Air

COR16184 Good Night Beloved - Tr 1 Naylor - Vox Dicentis

Excerpt from the Symphony (track 2) of Purcell's Welcome Song, 'Swifter Isis, swifter flow'

Purcell Welcome Songs For Charles II Vol IV - Symphony - Swifter, Isis, Swifter Flow

Does music add substance to words or is music inspired by them? Songs of departure and farewell are deeply rooted in the great tradition of British choral music, nourished by ancient myths of testing journeys, wayside transformations and homecomings. This album features music from varied composers such as Thomas Tomkins, Benjamin Britten and James MacMillan as well as words from varied poets such as Edmund Spenser, Christopher Fry and W.H. Auden.

Track 08 Rubbra - There Is A Spirit [excerpt]

Does music add substance to words or is music inspired by them? Songs of departure and farewell are deeply rooted in the great tradition of British choral music, nourished by ancient myths of testing journeys, wayside transformations and homecomings. This album features music from varied composers such as Thomas Tomkins, Benjamin Britten and James MacMillan as well as words from poets such as Edmund Spenser, Christopher Fry and W.H. Auden.

Track 04 MacMillan - The Gallant Weaver [excerpt]

Track 01 Faire Is The Heaven [excerpt]

Handel and Haydn Society's brand new recording of Haydn's The Creation. 

Inspired by Haydn’s trips to England, where he first heard Handel’s oratorios, The Creation is widely considered Haydn’s crowning masterpiece. Set for three vocal soloists, four-part chorus, and a large Classical orchestra, there seems little doubt that Haydn wanted a big sound (by the standard of his day) for this work. Based on both the biblical Book of Genesis and Milton’s Paradise Lost, the oratorio was premiered in the US by the Handel and Haydn Society in 1819. 

The Creation: The Heavens Are Telling The Glory Of God [excerpt]

In a programme packed full of great drama and theatricality, Harry Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society present a new live recording devoted to the master of the symphony. This album showcases Haydn’s Symphony No. 7 Le midi which is amongst the most striking of his early symphonies and one of the very first the composer wrote as Kapellmeister to Prince Paul Anton Esterházy. It is set alongside the much later Paris Symphony No. 83 La poule, named as such because of its famous clucking dotted note motif. Completing the programme is the Violin Concerto in C major performed by H+H’s fiery and expressive Concertmaster, Aisslinn Nosky.

Track 08 Symphony No. 83 in G minor, Allegro Spiritoso [excerpt]

Track 07 Violin Concerto in C major, Finale - Presto [excerpt]

Track 1 Symphony No. 7 in C major, Adagio - Allegro [exerpt]

Whilst coming from very different eras, William Byrd and Arvo Pärt are both considered masters of sacred music despite having faced considerable persecution for their work. This programme presents six of William Byrd’s works from the Cantiones Sacrae including the monumental Tribue, Domine, and the mighty eight-voice motet Ad Dominum cum tribularer. The three works by Arvo Pärt speak in his unmistakable voice, with its unique blend of ancient and modern, and include his mesmerising Nunc dimittis which is crafted in his bell-like ‘tinitinnabuli’ style.

Track 12 Byrd - Laetentur coeli [excerpt]

Track 11 Part - Nunc Dimittis [excerpt]

Buxtehude’s cantata cycle, Membra Jesu Nostri, is a unique work. Based on texts from a medieval Latin hymn, ‘Salve mundi salutare’, the cycle contains seven cantatas each dedicated to a different part of Christ’s crucified body. The texts are based on the concept of an observer contemplating Christ’s body on the cross starting with his feet and moving up to his knees, hands, side, breast, heart and finally his head. Buxtehude plays cleverly with musical colours and textures and changes the mixture of voices and instruments to dramatic effect as the work develops.

COR16082 Track 33 Buxtehude - Cantata VI Ad Cor, Summi Regis Cor (From Membra Jesu Nostri)

Since they were founded in 1979 Harry Christophers and The Sixteen have recorded over 100 discs of choral music spanning 600 years. On this new collection, CORO presents a selection of their most celebrated recordings of music by British composers.

From Tallis’s monumental Spem in Alium and Sheppard’s Media Vita in morte sumus to the delights of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and MacMillan’s powerfully emotive A Child’s Prayer written in memory of the Dunblane tragedy, this disc provides a superb collection of works from some of Britain’s most eminent composers.

COR16016 Track 4 Tallis - Spem In Alium

Arguably the most famous oratorio ever written and certainly Handel’s best known work, Messiah needs little introduction. Composed in a staggering twenty-four days Messiah was first performed in Dublin in 1742 where it received a rapturous welcome. Not so the following year when it premiered in London to a distinctly hostile reception. It wasn’t until Messiah began to be presented in charity performances at the Foundling Hospital in London that the public started to embrace the work we now regard as Handel’s greatest composition.

COR16062 Messiah: Part 2 Track 21 - Hallelujah! (Chorus)[excerpt]

From the devastation of Saxony in the Thirty Years War comes this very individual Requiem, first performed at the funeral of the aristocrat Heinrich Posthumus Reuß in 1636. The texts were engraved on his coffin in advance and the Prince, being a keen singer and not wishing to miss his own funeral music, took part in performances of the first part of it during his lifetime.

Track 1 Deutsches Magnificat SWV494 (from Schutz's Musikalische Exequien) [excerpt]

Despite the mystic beauty of his music, John Tavener's place in Western music is a controversial one. His desire to create musical ikons for a time in which he believes 'man has lost his belief not only in God, but also in himself' is provocative. Yet part of the attraction of his music must surely arise from its symbolic nature, a reflection of his deeply-held Orthodox faith.

Track 3 Tavener - The Lamb [exerpt]

Susanna Ogata, violin, and Ian Watson, fortepiano, join forces to record the complete Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin of Ludwig van Beethoven in four installments. The second CD in the series features Beethoven's tenth Sonata, Op. 96 in G major, as well as the exquisite ‘Spring’ Sonata, his fifth, Op. 24 in F major. Using period instruments for which the music was originally written, Watson and Ogata reveal not only the clarity of Beethoven’s extraordinary musical structure, but also the beauty and lyricism of these two particular sonatas.

Track 01 Sonata No. 5, Op. 24: I. Allegro

In an exciting new collaboration, Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral Choir, one of the world's oldest and best-known cathedral choirs, joins forces with soloists from The Sixteen and Oxford Baroque on this new recording of Francesco Durante’s Requiem Mass in C minor.

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Track 3, Requiem Mass in C minor - Dies Irae (excerpt)

Francis Poulenc is considered one of the greatest melodists of the 20th century but it is his individual and immediately recognisable harmonic language that makes his music so distinctive. Often overlooked in his lifetime and in the years after his death, his sacred music was an expression of his more serious side and, following the death of his close friend, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, a re-awakening of his religious faith. The Sixteen’s new recording centres round the themes of conflict and atonement, reflecting both Poulenc’s intense internal struggles and the turbulence of life in France during the mid-20th century.

Francis Poulenc

Francis Poulenc: Track 11 - Un Soir De Neige - De Grandes Cuillers De Neige (excerpt)

Joseph Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross is one of the most unusual and remarkable compositions of the classical period. Performed here by the brilliant Callino Quartet, the piece exists in four different versions and the edition for string quartet, which has a particular purity and intimacy, is the form in which the music is most often heard today. Suffused with profound sorrow and grief but also with strength and hope, The Seven Last Words is a work so deeply moving and contemplative that it has impassioned listeners in all its forms for over 200 years and was considered by the composer himself to be one of his greatest masterpieces.

COR16152 Haydn Seven Last Words - Track 09 Il Terremoto - Presto e con tutta la forza (excerpt)

Ian Watson and Susanna Ogata’s acclaimed series on CORO Connections continues with the third disc in their exploration of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin. Written at a time when the composer was struggling to accept his growing deafness, the three Sonatas on this volume were published together in 1803 as his Opus 30 and provide a remarkable trilogy - a collection of incredible variety and sophistication.

Beethoven Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin Volume 3

Sonata for Fortepiano and Violin Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 30 - Allegro

The fourth volume in the acclaimed series from organist Robert Quinney. Here Quinney explores Bach's use of the ritonello structure in Bach's mature style.

J S Bach Organ Works Vol IV - Track 5 Concerto In D Minor BWV 596 - [Allegro] [excerpt]

The Sixteen's A Renaissance Christmas offers an alternative playlist to the traditional carols this Christmas. The album features music by a wide selection of composers including William Byrd, Orlande de Lassus, Tomas Luis de Victoria and Thomas Tallis.

A Renaissance Christmas - Track 14 - Byrd This Day Christ Was Born (excerpt)

A Renaissance Christmas - Track 5 - Veni, Veni Emmanuel (excerpt)

40: The Anniversary Collection is a 40 track album featuring music that has defined The Sixteen over its 40 year's existence.

The Queen of Heaven

CD 1 Track 6. Allegri - Miserere (Its Evolution) [excerpt]

Eybler Quartet's recording of the three last string quartet's that make up Beethoven's famous Opus 18. (COR16174)

Beethoven String Quartets Op 18 - Track 1 - No 4 in C minor: Allegro ma non tanto

The Sixteen explore the music of Renaissance Rome with their new album, The Call of Rome, released on 6th March 2020. The Sixteen will tour the album as their Choral Pilgrimage 2020 tour, visit www.thesixteen.com for more information.

The Call Of Rome - Tr 13 - Allegri Miserere Its Evolution [excerpt]

The Sixteen and Harry Christophers presents another volume of the masses, motets and Song of Songs of Palestrina. This volume focuses on the theme of the Last Supper and the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross at the first Easter.

Palestrina Volume 8 - Tr 16, Song Of Songs 27 - Victimae Paschali Laudes [excerpt]

Palestrina Volume 8 - Tr 11, Pater Noster [excerpt]

Palestrina Volume 8 - Tr 2, Fratres Ego Enim Accepi [excerpt]

Purcell - Welcome Songs For Charles II Vol 3 - Rejoice In The Lord Alway Z49 - Excerpt

Handel Choruses - And The Glory Of The Lord Shall Be Revealed (Messiah)

Haydn: London Symphony No. 100 and Nelson Mass

Kyrie - Haydn Nelson Mass

After 32 years of worldwide performance and recording, The Sixteen is recognised as one of the world’s greatest ensembles. Comprising both choir and period-instrument orchestra, The Sixteen’s total commitment to the music it performs is its greatest distinction. A special reputation for performing early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance, bringing fresh insights into Baroque and early Classical music and a diversity of 20th-century music, is drawn from the passions of conductor and founder Harry Christophers. In 2009 the group was awarded the Classic FM Gramophone “Artist of the Year” award [the only ensemble in the award’s history to ever win this category]. 

Over one hundred recordings reflect The Sixteen’s quality in a range of work spanning the music of five hundred years, winning many awards including Grand Prix du Disque, numerous Schallplattenkritik, the coveted Gramophone Award for “Early Music”, a Classical Brit Award and Classic FM Gramophone Baroque Vocal Award for their recording of Handel’s Coronation Anthems.

Since 2001 The Sixteen has been building its own record label, CORO, which now boasts over 100 titles. Recent recordings include 'The Earth Resounds' featuring music by  Josquin, Brumel and Lassus, the first volume in a new series celebrating Palestrina and the second volume in the Monteverdi Selva morale e spirituale series. Best sellers include Allegri's Miserere, Handel's Messiah and Tallis's Spem in Alium. In 2010 CORO DVD was launched to release the BBC’s groundbreaking Sacred Music programmes on DVD.

For more information on The Sixteen and to purchase CDs visit www.thesixteen.com

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