The Queen of Heaven

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PALESTRINA / MacMILLAN / ALLEGRI
The Queen of Heaven
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers

[ CORO / CD ]

Release Date: Wednesday 10 April 2013

This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.

Now, in its 13th year, The Choral Pilgrimage stands as testament to Harry Christophers' ongoing mission to bring a wide variety of sacred music back to the kind of buildings for which it was written.

Allegri's Miserere is the single most famous piece of sacred music ever written. Although it is instantly recognisable with its haunting tones, mythology surrounds it. This year's Choral Pilgrimage allows Harry Christophers to explore its evolution and enduring appeal. This new version of the Allegri Miserere entitled 'Its Evolution' as performed on the Pilgrimage has been recorded and appears on this disc.

James MacMillan dedicated his powerful and emotional setting of the Miserere to Harry Christohers and The Sixteen who premiered the work in 2010 and recorded it shortly afterwards. Alongside Allegri, MacMillan is one of the few composer to ever set the full Miserere to music. His exquisite version is one of the highlights of this year's programme.

Arguably the greatest composer of liturgical music of all time Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is often billed as 'The Prince of Music' and by some 'The Saviour of Church Music'. The 2013 tour includes some of his wonderful music for Easter including the Stabat Mater a8 and excerpts from the Missa Regina caeli.

"'MacMillan's Miserere, composed last year for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, is a wonderfully sustained, beautifully paced and varied setting, with its own moment of catharsis when it dissolves into purest E major for the final stanzas. The beautifully judged programme also includes three of his Strathclyde Motets, providing the perfect contrast to the late-renaissance polyphony around them. Christophers has planned and prepared it all with his usual care and attention; it was all immaculately performed by the group's 18 members, their diction crystal-clear, their intonation faultless." (The Guardian on the Concert)

Tracks:

Regina caeli
plainsong
Allegri:
Miserere mei, Deus
Its Evolution
MacMillan:
The Strathclyde Motets: Dominus dabit benignitatem
The Strathclyde Motets: O Radiant Dawn
The Strathclyde Motets: Videns Dominus
Miserere
Palestrina:
Missa Regina caeli: Agnus Dei I-III
Improperium exspectavit cor meum
Stabat mater
Vineam meam non custodivi
Regina coeli
Pulchrae sunt genae tuae
Missa Regina caeli: Kyrie