Orchestral Anthems Vol 2 - Bairstow, Elgar, Ireland, Stanford, Walton, Wesley

Orchestral Anthems Vol 2 - Bairstow, Elgar, Ireland, Stanford, Walton, Wesley

DCD34351 (Delphian Records, CD)

FIRST RELEASE (30 May 2025)

Playing time: 60'40"
Tracks: 12
Booklet pages: 24
℗ 2025 Delphian Records Ltd
© 2025 Delphian Records Ltd
Main country of recording: United Kingdom
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Orchestral Anthems Vol 2 - Bairstow, Elgar, Ireland, Stanford, Walton, Wesley published on 27 February 2025

Aine Smith soprano (track 11)
Florian Stortz bass (tracks 11 and 12)
Ruairi Bowen, soloist (track 12)
Olivia Earl, soloist (track 12)
Verity Sawbridge, soloist (track 12)
Harriet Twigger-Ross, soloist (track 12)
Choir of Merton College, Oxford
Britten Sinfonia
Benjamin Nicholas, conductor

Edward Elgar:

1 Light out of darkness (The Light of Life, Op 29)

Charles Villiers Stanford:

Evening Service in A, Op 12
2 Magnificat
3 Nunc dimittis

Edward Bairstow:

4 Lord, thou hast been our refuge (first recording of orchestral version)

Ralph Vaughan Williams, orchestrated by Arnold Foster:

5 Prelude on 'Rhosymedre'

Samuel Sebastian Wesley:

Ascribe unto the Lord (first recording of orchestral version)
6 Recitative - Ascribe unto the Lord
7 Quartett - O worship the Lord
8 Chorus - As for the gods of the heathen
9 They that make them are like unto them
10 Chorus - The Lord hath been mindful

John Ireland:

11 Greater love hath no man

William Walton:

12 The Twelve


The Choir of Merton College reunites with Britten Sinfonia to explore some much-loved Anglican repertoire in its full orchestral splendour. Stanford in A, as it was originally heard in 1880, reveals its symphonic side, not least in the masterful and eloquently scored Nunc dimittis. Anthems by Elgar and Bairstow gain new life in their original scoring, while others, originally for organ, are given added dimensions by their composers' orchestrations. Walton's The Twelve matches W H Auden's striking and dramatic poetry with typically dynamic vocal and instrumental writing; Ireland's Greater love and Wesley's mighty Ascribe unto the Lord bring to the anthem tradition a richness of harmony and orchestral colour to which Benjamin Nicholas' combined forces do full-blooded justice.

Recorded 1-2 July 2024 in St Barnabas Church, Ealing, London, UK.

 

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