Henry Purcell: Hear My Prayer, O Lord Context Composed between 1681-82, Henry Purcell’s choral anthem Hear My Prayer, O Lord was most likely set for the Chapel Royal. Often assumed to be part of a larger unfinished work due to the blank pages at the end of the autograph score, Read more…
George Frideric Handel: Lift Up Your Heads Messiah Part II Context George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has remained one of the composer’s most beloved works. Incredibly, Handel completed this 260-page oratorio in just 24 days during the summer of 1741. The scriptural text was compiled by Charles Jennens, with the source Read more…
Ola Gjeilo: Ubi Caritas Context Ola Gjeilo was born in 1978, in Sandvika, Norway. From an early age he was exposed to a range of different genres of music, but he took a special liking to both jazz and classical choral music. Gjeilo began playing piano, and gravitated towards jazz improvisation. Gjeilo mainly learned Read more…
Hubert Parry: I Was Glad Context Hubert Parry (1848-1918) was at the height of his fame by the start of the 20th century. He held a Professorship at Oxford from 1900, as well as being knighted two years previously in 1898. It was during this mature period of Parry’s life Read more…
James MacMillan: A Child’s Prayer Context Scottish composer James MacMillan (b.1959) composed the choral work A Child’s Prayer in memory of the victims in the Dunblane tragedy of 1996. The massacre took place in March 1996, where a shooter entered a primary school and shot sixteen children and their teacher, Read more…
Benjamin Britten: Jubilate Deo Context Jubilate Deo was composed in 1961 at the request of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh. This joyful work is based on Psalm 100, with Britten using the English translation. This four-part choral work also features a prominent organ part. Jubilate Deo was first heard in Read more…
Samuel Barber: Agnus Dei Context Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei is a choral arrangement of his timeless work, Adagio for Strings. Barber set the Latin words from the liturgical Agnus Dei to his original 1936 work in 1967, with the score calling for a mixed chorus and optional accompaniment. The Read more…
Henryk Górecki: Totus Tuus Context Composed in 1987, Totus Tuus (‘Totally Yours’), is perhaps one of Henryk Górecki’s most treasured works. The work was composed to celebrate Pope John Paul II’s third pilgrimage to Poland. During the Pope’s pilgrimage, Totus Tuus was performed twice – once at the start in Read more…
Sally Beamish: In the Stillness Context Sally Beamish was born in London. She studied viola at the RNCM with Patrick Ireland, and in Detmold with Bruno Giuranna, and was a founder member of the Raphael Ensemble. She also performed regularly with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields and the London Sinfonietta, Read more…
George Frideric Handel: He Trusted in God Messiah Part II Context George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has remained one of the composer’s most beloved works. Incredibly, Handel completed this 260-page oratorio in just 24 days during the summer of 1741. The scriptural text was compiled by Charles Jennens, with the source Read more…