Choir Of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Matthew Owens - Ascension

Published Wednesday 1st September 2004
Choir Of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Matthew Owens - Ascension
Choir Of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Matthew Owens - Ascension

STYLE: Choral
RATING 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 10049-
LABEL: Delphian DCD34017
FORMAT: CD Album

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The music on this recording is presented in two parts: the first takes the form of the Anglican service of Choral Evensong to commemorate Ascension, presented here without the spoken element from the clergy; the second is a performance of Messiaen's organ work "L'Ascension", which, following Evensong, fulfils the role of an extended organ voluntary. All music on this disc, which runs to a generous hour and a quarter, has been written by composers active in the 20th century, and much of the choral music has associations with the Choir Of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh. There are three first recordings: James Macmillan's evocative "Tremunt Videntes Angeli" and the "Magnificat" and "Nunc Dimittis" from Richard Allain's Exon Service. Other composers featured are Kenneth Leighton and Patrick Gowers. There is some beautiful music here, all of it played and sung very well indeed. Matthew Owens, the organist and Master of the music at St Mary's, brings out the best of his talented choir and tackles Messiaen's meditative organ work very thoughtfully.  There is only one word to describe this recording: uplifting.

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