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 Westminster Cathedral Choir Recordings

Latest Release -
Palestrina Third Book of Lamentations
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Martin Baker Master of Music

Palestrina composed four sets of Lamentations, the third of which is recorded here. This most opulent of liturgies runs as a continuous narrative describing momentous Biblical events from the Last Supper through to Christ’s crucifixion and death. Throughout the centuries composers of sacred music have aspired to do justice to this most dramatic of scenarios and Palestrina’s settings rank amongst the finest. He employs a rich harmonic palette, constantly varying the vocal texture and using up to seven voice-parts simultaneously.

The Choir of Westminster Cathedral has an unparalleled reputation. Since its inception under Cardinal Vaughan and Richard Runciman Terry the choir’s uniquely ‘continental’ sound and its position as the world’s only Catholic cathedral choir to sing the full daily liturgy have met with consistent and repeated acclaim.
(Hyperion CDA 67610)

Recent Releases -
Christmas Vespers at Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Matthew Martin organ
Martin Baker Master of Music
This disc presents an adorned version of the Office of Vespers as it might be heard on the eve of Christmas in Westminster Cathedral, a building steeped in art, music and spirituality.

The chant on this disc is the golden thread which runs throughout the entire liturgy giving the Office a natural rhythm and inevitability as well as clarity of text and beautiful language; it is complemented here by motets and canticles by Thomas Tallis, Tomás Luis de Victoria and Heinrich Schütz, while Jean Langlais’s massive Fête for organ concludes the service.
(Hyperion CDA 67522)


Brahms Missa canonica
Rheinberger Mass
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Matthew Martin organ
Martin Baker Master of Music
Brahms’s Missa canonica is something of a rarity: composed around 1856, the work lay unperformed until 1983 despite being regarded highly enough by its composer for him to have re-used some of its material in the popular motet Warum ist das Licht gegeben?. The absence of both Gloria and Credo settings (these texts being too long to be easily suited to the form of a canon) probably explains the neglect, yet the four movements of this work show all the hallmarks of Brahms’s compositional mastery and deft handling of choral effect that are well known from his many motets, six of which, including the sublime Op 30 Geistliches Lied, are also recorded here.

Concluding this new disc from Westminster Cathedral is the extraordinary double-choir Mass in E flat by Joseph Rheinberger, Liechtenstein’s most famous organ prodigy. This is music born of the polychoral Venetian tradition of Gabrieli and Monteverdi, nurtured on the harmonic milk of Bach and Mendelssohn, and finally offered up to the world as a miniature choral symphony that is uniquely Rheinberger’s. (Hyperion CDA 67559)

Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor
Judith Bingham Mass
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Robert Quinney organ
Martin Baker Master of Music
(Hyperion CDA 67503)
Vaughan Williams's Mass in G MInor has been described as the first "English" Mass setting since the sixteenth century and the time of Tallis and Byrd. In this new performance of the work, which had its first liturgical performance at Westminster Cathedral in 1923, the Choir of Westminster Cathedral promises to set a new standard.
Also included are Vaughan Williams's Te Deum, O Vos Omnes, Valiant-for-Truth and A vision of aeroplanes.

Judith Bingham now counts among the pantheon of composers who have responded to commissions from Westminster Cathedral - including Vaughan Williams, Howells, Holst and Britten. Her Mass recently won a British Composer Award for Liturgical Music and the new recording offers it a place in the repertory beyond the cloister.

Victoria’s Ave Regina Caelorum and other Marian music.
Ave Regina caelorum; Missa Ave Regina caelorum; Ave Maria for four voices; Dixit Dominus; Laudate pueri Dominum; Laudate Dominum omnes gentes; Laetatus sum; Nisi Dominus; Magnificat septimi toni; Ave Maria for eight
voices
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Robert Quinney organ continuo / Martin Baker Master of Music


The Choir of Westminster Cathedral continues its survey of the music of Tomás Luis de Victoria with this new recording of the Missa Ave Regina caelorum, an opulent double-choir setting based on Victoria’s two eponymous motets. Also included are a four-voice Magnificat, two Ave Maria settings (for four and eight voices), the double-choir Ave Regina caelorum, and five Vesper Psalms.

The Choir's recording is called 'magnificent' by the Daily Telegraph, which says 'recordings of Renaissance polyphony rarely come much better than this.' (Hyperion CDA 67479).
Maxwell Davies: Sacred choral music
Missa parvula; Mass; Veni Creator Spiritus; Dum complerentur; Reliqui domum meum; Veni Sancte Spiritus
Westminster Cathedral Choir,
Robert Quinney organ / Martin Baker


This disc presents two new settings of the Mass by the new Master of The Queen’s Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Both works were composed for, and first performed by, The Choir of Westminster Cathedral. Also on this disc are the Two Latin Motets, and two organ works based on plainchant themes. (Hyperion CDA 67454).

The discs can be bought in the Cathedral Gift Shop or alternatively on the Hyperion web site - www.hyperion-records.co.uk .

                 
COMPOSER
WORKS
 
CATALOGUE
           
             
ALLEGRI
Miserere + various
(City of London Sinfonia-Cleobury)
A 410 005-2
       
ANERIO
Requiem & motets (O'Donnell)
H 66417
             
BINGHAM   Mass       H CDA 67503
       
BRAHMS   Missa Canonica   H CDA 67559
         
BRITTEN
Missa brevis, Ceremony of Carols (Hill)
H 66220
       
Rejoice in the Lamb, Festival Te Deum, etc (Corydon Singers-Best)
H 66126
       
DURUFLE
Complete sacred choral works including Requiem (O'Donnell)
H 66757
       
FAURE
Requiem (City of London Sinfonia-Hill)
IMP 896
       
GUERRERO
Missa Sancta et immaculata (O'Donnell)
H 66910
       
Missa de la battalla escoutez (O'Donnell)
H CDA 67075
       
HANDEL
Esther (Academy of Ancient Music-Hogwood/Kirkby etc)
LL 414 423-2
       
JOSQUIN
Missa Pange lingua, Planxit autem David, etc (O'Donnell)
H 66614
       
KODALY
Missa brevis, Ludes organi, Pange lingua (O'Donnell)
H CDA 67147
             
JANACEK   Unfinished Mass (completed by Paul Wingfield) (O'Donnell)   H CDA 67147
       
LANGLAIS
Messe Solennelle, Missa Salve regina, etc (Hill)
H 66270
       
LASSUS  
Festal Sacred Music of Bavaria [+ ERBACH & HASSLER] (His Majesty's Sagbutts & Cornetts-O'Donnell)
H 66688
       
MACMILLAN  
Mass (Baker)
H 67219
       
MARTIN  
Mass for Double Choir, Passacaille (organ) with Pizzetti: Messa di Requiem, De profundis (O'Donnell)
H 67017
             
MAXWELL DAVIES   Missa parvula; Mass; Veni Creator Spiritus; Dum complerentur; Reliqui domum meum; Veni Sancte Spiritus   H CDA 67454
       
MORALES  
Motets (O'Donnell)
H 66635
       
MOZART  
Exsultate, Jubilate (Academy of Ancient Music-Hogwood/Kirkby)
LL 411 832-2
       
   
Requiem Mass (Academy of Ancient Music-Hogwood/Kirkby, etc)
LL 411 712-2
       
PALESTRINA  
Missa brevis, Missa Papae Marcelli (Hill)
H 66266
       
   
Missa O Rex gloriae, Missa Viri Galilaei (O'Donnell)
H 66316
       
   
Missa De Beata Virgine, Missa Ave Maria (O'Donnell)
H 66364
       
    Missa Aeterna Christi munera, motets (O'Donnell)
H 66490
       
Missa Ecce ego Johannes (O'Donnell)
H 67099
         
      Music for Advent and Christmas   H CDA 67396
           
      Third Book of Lamentations (Baker)   H CDA 67610
           
  PENALOSA  
Mass & motets (O'Donnell)
H 66629
         
  POULENC  
Sacred Choral Music (O'Donnell)
H 66664
         
  PRAETORIUS  
Christmas Music (The Parley of Instruments-Hill)
H 66200
               
  RHEINBERGER   Mass       H CDA 67559
         
  STRAVINSKY  
Symphony of Psalms, Mass, etc (City of London Sinfonia-O'Donnell)
H 66437
               
  VAUGHAN WILLIAMS   Mass in G Minor, Te Deum, O Vos Omnes, Valiant-for-Truth and A vision of aeroplanes.   H CDA 67503
         
  VICTORIA  
Missa Ascendens Christus, O magnum mysterium (Hill)
H 66190
         
     
Missa O quam gloriosum, etc (Hill)
H 66114
         
     
Missa Vidi speciosam, Ave Maria etc (Hill)
H 66129
     
Requiem Mass (Hill)
H 66250
     
Tenebrae Responsories (Hill)
H 66304
         
     
Missa Trahe me post te + motets (O'Donnell)
H 66738
         
     
Missa Dum Complerentur (O'Donnell)
H CDA 66886
               
      Ave Regina Caelorum and other Marian music   H CDA 67479
         
  VIERNE  
Messe Solennelle in C Sharp minor (and other works) (O'Donnell)
H CDA 66898
         
  COLLECTIONS  
Treasures of the Spanish Renaissance (Hill)
H 66168
         
     
Masterpieces of Mexican Polyphony (O'Donnell)
H 66330
         
     
Masterpieces of Portuguese Polyphony II (O'Donnell)
H 66512
         
     
Adeste Fideles - Music for Christmas (O'Donnell)
H 66668
         
     
Panis Angelicus - favourite motets (O'Donnell)
H 66669
         
     
Exultate Deo - Masterpieces of sacred polyphony (O'Donnell)
H 66650
         
     
Mortuus est Philippus Rex - Music for the life and death of the Spanish King (O'Donnell)
H CDA 67046
         
     
Music of Westminster Cathedral Choir (O'Donnell)
H WC100
         
     
Wesminster Mass (Roxanna Panufnik) etc. (O'Donnell)
T 3984-28069-2
 

           
      Christmas Vespers at Westminster Cathedral (Baker)   H CDA 67522
               
  H=Hyperion : A=Argo : LL=L'Oiseau-Lyre : IMP=Pickwick : T= Teldec Recordings on the HYPERION label are usually available from the Cathedral Gift Shop and from the Hyperion website.
 
 
 
 
 


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