Catalogue

Summary:

“the performances here are undoubtedly among the best. Partly this is because the pace is well-judged and spacious…and the voices are exceptionally nimble and focused…[Browne’s] O Maria evinces a glorious sound from this accomplished choir, a sound to which the recording techniques do full justice” ★★★★ – BBC Music Magazine

“the distinctive Christ Church sound is not lost – and distinctive it most certainly is. The boys, in particular, sound as they always have under Stephen Darlington, singing with confident healthily open voices that allow them to ascend through phrases and create a gloriously soaring effect” – Gramophone
Gramophone Awards – Early Music nominee

“Christ Church proves again and again that its boys are up to the technical challenges thrown up by the music” – International Record Review

“The sound of the trebles is sweet and soft-edged, and seems to reflect more the ‘angelic’ ideal of the Victorian era than the way trebles used to sing earlier in history” – MusicWeb International

“This second volume of what one hopes will be a long series brings to five antiphons, each by a different composer, an abundant grace, sumptuousness and sense of space, with not a hint of frailty in the upper lines” – The Sunday Times

Following a critically acclaimed recording of music from the Eton Choirbook, More Divine Than Human (AV 2167), The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford returns with a second volume from the vast collection of 15^th-century English sacred music, Choirs of Angels. The works range from John Browne’s richly scored eight-part O Maria salvatoris mater, the first piece in the Eton Choirbook, to William Cornysh’s exquisite miniature Ave Maria mater Dei, the choirbook’s shortest work. The compositional range in the Eton Choirbook demands extraordinary virtuosity from its performers, and Stephen Darlington and his choir of men and boys do this glorious music tremendous justice.

Tracklist:

JOHN BROWNE (fl c 1480–1505)
1. O Maria salvatoris mater a 8 (15:50)

WILLIAM CORNYSH (d 1502)
2. Ave Maria mater Dei a 4 (4:07)

RICHARD DAVY (c 1465 – c 1507)
3. Salve Jesu mater vera a 5 (16:49)

WALTER LAMBE (b ?1450–51, d after Michaelmas 1504)
4. O Maria plena gracia a 6 (20:52)

ROBERT WYLKYNSON (b c 1475–80, d 1515 or later)
5. Salve regina a 9 (16:22)

Total duration: 74:05

Recorded 11 – 14 September 2012, Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Producer: David Trendell • Balance engineer and editing: Simon Fox-Gál