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ID: SIGCD059
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Choral Collection
Signum Classics are proud to release the second disc from the Vasari Singers on Signum Classics - Anthems for the 21st Century.
To celebrate its first twenty-five years of vibrant music making, the Vasari Singers commissioned ten composers to each write an anthem that would in their eyes reflect the state of the world at the start of the new millennium.
The brief indicated that each work should be suitable as an anthem in an Anglican cathedral Evensong, and that it could also look beyond any constraints of Liturgy or formal religious doctrine to embrace a wider, ecumenical audience. Perhaps something more humanistic that would have a voice in the multi-cultural, multi-faith societies of the new 21st century world?
6 - Fiona McWilliams, soprano / Daniel Burges, tenor
7 - Nicola Balzan, soprano / Julia Field, alto / David Jackson, tenor / Andrew Angus, bass |
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ID: SIGCD065
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: Voices and OrchestraSignum Classics are proud to release the King's Singers fifth disc on Signum; Sacred Bridges.
For thousands of years, the biblical Psalter has been the liturgical “heart” of the three main book religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Psalms announce the word of God and, simultaneously, contain the full range of human experience.
Jews, Christians and Muslims sing and listen to the same songs of lament and joy, confessions of sin, hymns of praise and adoration. In this project of the King’s Singers and Sarband, psalm settings by composers from three religions give an example of how psalms can be a source of spirituality, a political instrument, a link between tradition and modernity and, above all, a bridge connecting human beings.
Programme Idea and development - Dr. Vladimir Ivanoff
Sarband performs this program with different choirs and vocal ensembles, until now: King's Singers, RIAS Chamber Choir, Innovantiqua Ensemble, Chorakademie Dortmund.
The group’s name Sarband stems from the Persian and Arabic languages, and means an improvised connection of two parts within a musical suite. Vladimir Ivanoff founded the ensemble in 1986 and has been pursuing an archaeology of complex connections ever since: Above all, ‘Sarband’ endeavours to explore and demonstrate connections between the music-cultures of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Both sensitively and intensely Sarband celebrates the symbiotic relationship between Orient and Occident.
The continuous musical collaboration within the Ensemble ensures that a dialogue on equal terms is maintained. It is the exchange of practical musical experience between musicians from different cultures that make the performances of Sarband gripping, lively and utmost authentic.
Sarband’s unique repertoire has won them wide acclaim internationally. In the past two decades, the ensemble has performed at numerous international festivals and recorded 15 CDs.
Sarband’s musicians do not see their work as something sporadic but as a part of being and living. Just as religious, economic, cultural and political differences between Orient and Occident play a predominant role in today’s society, Sarband’s music endeavours to show that music has always served as communication in which people found reciprocal respect for each other and could easily contribute in the process of relating in the same way today. Uniting people around the world, offering mutual recognition towards each other, in other words: music as an example for peace. |
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ID: SIGCD068
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Choral Collection
Subcollection: ChoirNow and again a choir director finds he has an exceptional voice at his disposal. Andrew Swait was only ten years old when this disc was made - his voice was the original inspiration for the disc - and it features his outstandingly colourful tone quality and musicianship. In choosing the repertoire, we kept in mind the integrity of the great English church music tradition. We decided to do what choirs - their men and boys - do best in this country; sing, enjoy and relish the music of that tradition. Solo arias are interspersed with full choir numbers, some featuring treble solos and duets. Works by Schubert and Rachmaninoff are coupled with works from our own English masters, Sir Hubert Parry and John Rutter. Morten Lauridsen’s setting of Ubi caritas, combines a lushness of texture with the age-old plainsong melody. We hope you will enjoy this collection from Tewkesbury.
Benjamin Nicholas |
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ID: SIGCD127
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Choral Collection
Subcollection: ChoirChoral music from the sixteenth-century, right up to the late-twentieth-century features on this beautiful eleven-track album, with stunning performances from The Choir of Royal Holloway.
The Chapel Choir was established in 1886 for women’s voices & became a mixed choir in 1965. Forty-three years on and the choir have made 14 CD recordings & have toured most European countries, under the guidance of Rupert Gough, who began his musical training as a chorister at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace. |
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ID: SIGCD073
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Choral Collection
Subcollection: ChoirRecorded in the beatiful church of Notre Dame, Rozay-en-Brie, by Concerto Delle Donne, this CD celebrates 300 years of Marc-Antoine Charpentier, whose works ranged from simple settings of hymns composed for unaccompanied solo voice to works of great complexity and virtuosity for soloists, double choir and double orchestra. Here, the focus is on the sacred works that Charpentier composed for two and three solo women's voices. The three principal sopranos of of Concerto delle Donne all feature as soloists. Other composers included on this disc are Jean-Baptiste Lully, Nicholas-Antoine Lebčgue & Guillame-Gabriel Nivers.
Reciting the Divine Office was central to the life of a contemplative nun, and at many convents musical instruction was a regular part of daily life. On major feast-days, it was customary to sing, rather than simply recite, the Offices of Matins and Vespers. Throughout the seventeenth century, there are references to nuns singing the Offices, as well as singing motets during the Mass and at the popular devotional service of Salut (or Benediction). This is witnessed, not only in descriptions from the period, but also in the extensive repertory of sacred music known to have been composed for women’s voices by seventeenth-century composers such as Charpentier, Clérambault, Couperin, Lully and Nivers.
There was a dichotomy in elevated seventeenth-century French society: on the one hand, there was the pomp and ceremony of Court, marked by frivolity and artificiality; on the other hand, there was incredible religious fervour found in the convents and other religious establishments, at which members of Court society spent many hours of each day in pious devotion. These noblewomen balanced the life of luxury and attention to social obligations at Court, with a life of prayer, devotion and service. The Guise princesses, for whom Charpentier worked during the 1670s and 1680s, epitomise the devout noblewoman, fulfilling both their worldly and their religious duties on a daily basis. They were particularly devoted to worship of the Virgin and the Infant Jesus which is reflected in the numerous pieces composed by Charpentier in honour of the Virgin Mary - some of which are recorded here.
The religious practices of convents within Paris differed widely depending on the Order, and this affected the type of music used within the establishment. In keeping with Counter-Reformation ideology, emphasis was placed on devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the penitential rites, as well as the veneration of saints. Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament was seen in the popular evening service of Salut at which the Host was venerated, and hymns, litanies and motets were sung. Motets were also sung during the services held by the confraternities of the Virgin. |
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ID: SIGCD134
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Sacred Music
Subcollection: ChoirThe early music ensemble Gallicantus was born within the ranks of the world-class choir Tenebrae, when five of the choir’s regulars, each with a wealth of experience in the world of consort singing, decided to form a separate group dedicated to renaissance music. Literally meaning Rooster Song or cock crow, Gallicantus is a word from monastic antiquity for the office held just before the dawn. It evokes the renewal of life offered by the coming day.
The group is bound by a shared love of communicating text, and is committed to creating performances which draw out unifying themes within apparently diverse repertoire: To this end they are as meticulous about providing context and insight for audiences as they are about crafting interpretations of the music they love. |
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ID: SIGCD131
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Choral Collection
Subcollection: ChoirThe Flemish-born Giaches de Wert was one of many foreigners to dominate the Italian music scene in the mid to late sixteenth century, therefore to this day his music is largely unknown to many. It is the second of three books of Motets which appears on this disc, written when his skill as a madrigalist had reached its height.
As part of the Kings College Choir, the choral scholars of Collegium Regale perform independently of the choir, singing a repertoire that encompasses 15th Century sacred music, jazz, folksongs and pop. Directed by Kings College’s and the BBC Singer’s renowned director Stephen Cleobury. |
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ID: SIGCD150
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Choral Collection
Subcollection: ChoirThe King's Singers celebrate their 40-year anniversary with a live BBC Proms performance from the Royal Albert Hall. This disc demonstrates the skill, flair and versatility you would come to expect from a King's Singers performance, sampling the besrt from their vast repertoire. The King's Singers have maintained their place at the apex of a cappella singing and are amongst the world's elite classical performers.
Following this concert The Daily telegraph said "every edge was bevelled smooth" and the Guardian described it as "flawlessly realised". |
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ID: SIGCD174
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Vocal Collection
Subcollection: ChoirThis album presents a selection of works commissioned by The Clerks over the last decade, and is their first devoted entirely to contemporary music. The impulse behind each commission was different, as was the context in which they were first performed; so necessarily this is an eclectic anthology. The works were designed to suit the forces of the group and their ranges and timbres, but more than that, they each represent a fascinating and innocative engagement with the compositional techniques, genres and motivations of late Medieval and Renaissance music - the repertoire on which The Clerks have cut their teeth. |
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ID: SIGCD142
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Choral Collection
Subcollection: ChoirA new disc of works by the world renowned choral composer Bob Chilcott. Bob has been involved in choral music for most of his life and since he became a professional composer in 1997 he has had over 100 works published by Oxford University Press. He was hailed by Gramophone magazine as “one of the finest choral composers at work in Britain today.”
This CD includes tracks with The Sirens, an ensemble of young professional women's voices specially created for this recording. Also featuring are a jazz trio with Alexander Hawkins on piano, Michael Chilcott on bass and Dereck Scurll on drums.
The works included here reflect the strong support and interest that Bob’s vocal music generates, with commissions from a wide variety of choral societies, children & youth choirs and professional choruses. |
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