Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The Choir of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin is made up of 24 boy choristers, the Schola Patricii girls' choir of 24 choristers and 16 scholars, eight lay vicars choral and a number of choral scholars. On this enjoyable recording we hear various configurations, some accompanied by David Leigh or Stuart Nicholson on the organ and others sung a cappella. Due to on-going work on the cathedral roof throughout 2020 the recording was made at the neighbouring Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and with Gary Cole on production duty we get an acoustically excellent recording. All parts and solos are sung very well and the sound of the lower voices is particularly good with a first class vocal blend throughout. The backbone of the programme comes from nine antiphons sung in plainsong by the lay vicars. These short pieces date back to the 13th century, each reflecting on a title given to the coming Messiah by the Old Testament prophets and each being used to illuminate other songs in the collection as well as giving an appropriately numinous atmosphere to the whole. The rest of the programme is a well selected range of ancient and modern. We open with Judith Weir's setting of the Advent Prose "Drop down, ye heavens from above", which made me smile when I remembered that the cathedral roof was under repair. This is followed by John Rutter's arrangement of the 15th century French tune "O come, O come Immanuel" in an English translation of the Latin text. Then it is back to the 15th century for "Adam lay ybounden" in Philip Ledger's enjoyable arrangement. Now we reach the first Antiphon, "O Sapienta" ("O wisdom") appropriately followed by Dublin composer Charles Villiers Stanford's "A Song of Wisdom" with words from the Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus. While I could and perhaps should praise each contribution, I hope this gives a taste of what is on offer, with a well-chosen set of works all pointing to the coming Messiah and all sung very well. One particular standout is the debut recording of "There is no rose" by a former organ scholar at St Patrick's, Jack Oades. This takes a simple mixed Latin and English text from the 15th century expressing the wonder that was felt by the Virgin Mary when she was told she was to be the mother of the Son of God. The music brings across this sense of awe and I would not be at all surprised if this piece does not become widely known and loved in the coming years.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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