Stanford: Anthems And Services

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CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD
Stanford: Anthems And Services
Choir of St. John's College Cambridge, Christopher Robinson, with Christopher Whitton (organ)

[ Naxos English Choral Music / CD ]

Release Date: Wednesday 1 June 2011

This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.

"Even in the best-stocked collection this would prove a welcome addition, and for those who have as yet nothing of the master, it should provide a lively introduction."
(Gramophone Classical Music Guide)

Gramophone Magazine: Editor's Choice - July 200

"The mean old saying, 'Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach', would have withered in the presence of Stanford; and no doubt one of the reasons why he was such a great teacher is that he could and did, and so set an example. His C major services (Morning, Evening and Communion, all included in this programme) are so eminently the works of a master who knows how to get from here to there in one move, to keep always something in reserve for later use but never to write without a good clear melodic idea in the first place. Everything in this programme has freshness and well-founded assurance. It's music with clarity of purpose: it knows where it's going and doesn't put a foot wrong.
Under Christopher Robinson, the choir has enjoyed a period in which the distinguishing mark has been a renewed vitality of style. It's well caught in this CD. The start of the first track, the C major Te Deum, has it straightaway - the praise carries spirit and conviction. The final track opens still more strikingly. This is For lo, I will raise up, for which Stanford, writing in 1914, set his imagination free to bestir the choir-stalls into an almost fiercely dramatic life. The St John's choir bite into the words with relish, while the acoustic and their well-judged tempo reinforce the rhythmic energy of the passage.
Even in the best-stocked collection this would prove a welcome addition, and for those who have as yet nothing of the master, it should provide a lively introduction."
(Gramophone Classical Music Guide)

Tracks:

Morning, Evening and Communion Services in C Op. 115
Three Latin Motets, Op. 38
Prelude in G major, Op. 105 No. 3
Evening Service (Magnificat & Nunc dimittis) in G major, Op. 81
For lo, I raise up, Op. 145
Postlude in D minor, Op. 105 No. 6