The People's Mass - CD Booklet

Introit 1:20 Kyrie Days of Thunder (tenor) Psalm 0:58 Gloria The Solstice Stone (soprano) Gradual 1:04 Credo God Is (alto) Alleluia 0:42 In Praise of Saints (bass) Sanctus Offertory 1:26 Benedictus La Muerta (soprano) Communion 0:57 Prayer (baritone) Agnus Dei 2:49 Black over Red Epilogue 2

2:34

0

THE PEOPLES MASS DUNEDIN CONSORT

4:12 4:25 5:29 6:11 5:34 4:51 4:42 2:55 4:47 4:07 4:53 6:10:56 MIN. TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 64:00:00 MIN.

THE PEOPLES MASS PLAINCHANT FOR THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS’ DAY

1

Chant: Introit

2

Kyrie

3

Days of Thunder

4

Chant: Psalm

5

Gloria

6

The Solstice Stone

7

Chant: Gradual

8

Credo

9

God Is (alto)

[5:34]

10

Chant: Alleluia

[0:42]

11

In Praise of Saints

12

Sanctus

13

Chant: Offertory

14

Benedictus

15

La Muerta

16

Chant: Communion

17

Prayer

18

Agnus Dei

19

Black over Red Epilogue 2

Anthea Haddow (b.1969)

[4:53]

Dunedin Consort Susan Hamilton (1st soprano), Libby Crabtree (2nd soprano), Kate Hamilton (alto), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), Matthew Brook (baritone), Noel Mann (bass)

Recorded on 21st-24th April, 2003 in Crichton Collegiate Church, Pathhead, Scotland

Producer: Ben Parry Engineer: Tony Kime Digital editing and mastering: Paul Baxter Cover image and design: John Christ

[1:20] Malcolm Lindsay (b.1959) (tenor)

[2:34] [4:12] [0:58]

Christine McCombe (b.1967) (2nd soprano)

[4:25] [5:29] [1:04]

Tommy Fowler (b.1948)

(bass)

John Gormley (b.1975)

[6:11]

[4:51] [4:42] [1:26]

Anthea Haddow (b.1969) (1st soprano)

[2:55] [4:47] [0:57]

(baritone)

Rebecca Rowe (b.1970)

[4:07] [2:49]

Choir: Helen Acheson, Catherine Backhouse, Lorna Richerby, Rowena Smith, Rosie Sweetnam Harp: Helen Thomson

The People’s Mass A polychoral setting of the Latin Mass is, of course, by no means nothing new, but commissioning a different composer to write each movement certainly is. The nucleus of this project was instigated by composer Tommy Fowler, whose Lullaby for upper voices was performed by the Dunedin Consort in a programme of Christmas music in December 1999. Tommy suggested six Scottish-based composers write one movement of the Mass ‘Propers’ (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei). Composing a new Mass in a new way was always going to be a challenge, never mind the concept of creating one work out of lots of different work – e pluribus unum; as they say in the USA! The composers were given free reign to write within their individual styles under certain prescribed parameters. The original concept was for the music to be based upon the plainsong for All Saints’ Day, which is heard several times in its original form throughout the piece. Over a period of time, further ideas were added to this original concept: each composer was asked to set a poem or text of his or her choosing to act as a sort of ‘antiphon’, or motet, between each of the movements. Furthermore, these songs (in English to contrast with the Latin Mass text) would be sung by each of the six Consort singers (two sopranos, alto, tenor and two basses, with harp accompaniment). Dance and

lighting were incorporated into the performance of the finished Mass. Neither specifically religious nor necessarily liturgical, it is intended as a spiritual work, designed to stimulate or arouse the listener’s inner soul.

The use of young voices to sing the plainsong chants which bind the Mass together brought about an opportunity to work with choirs across Scotland and to tour the Mass to all corners of the country. Six venues holding a special connection with the Dunedin Consort were identified, including Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The Consort had visited Mull in 1998, and had always planned to return. Skye, similarly, was another island where the Consort had achieved a healthy connection with two Arts Guild concerts in previous years. Haddo House in Aberdeenshire, home to the Marchioness of Aberdeen’s own opera company, possesses a fine Youth Choir, as does the west coast town of Ayr. The National Youth Choir of Scotland’s Children’s Choirs provided singers for the Edinburgh and Glasgow performances, while the Choristers of Inverness Cathedral joined forces with the Consort again, as they had done with previous performances of Benjamin Britten’s St Nicolas the previous year.

We made an exhaustive tour of all the venues and local choirs, holding singing workshops and rehearsals for the performances which took place at the beginning of December 2002.

A tour of this magnitude required a serious financial commitment, and the Consort received this from the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund, as well as other grant-giving bodies, who gave the project their full support. Venues for the work were diverse, ranging from cathedrals and chapels to arts centres and concert halls.

The most striking aspect of the People’s Mass on first hearing is its remarkable homogeneity, given the varied background of the six composers. The blending of six-part a cappella voices together with solo songs, harp accompaniment and an upper voice choir for the plainsong sections also gives the work an added dimension of space within its harmonic framework. The piece may function

Special thanks to: Kevin Findlan and Peter Ferguson-Smythe.

The Dunedin Consort wishes to thank: Angus Alnatt, Chase Charity, Educational Institute of Scotland, Esmée Fairburn Foundation, Radcliffe Trust, Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund and Walter Scott and Partners for their financial support and Helen Acheson, Adrian Clark at Highland Council, Martin Heller of Prime Productions, Duncan Macinnes at Arainn Chaluim Chille and the Glasgow University Music Department.

on various levels, but yet untested is its place as a liturgical work; a performance as part of a sung Mass awaits. The songs may also be taken out of their original context to provide some interesting repertoire for the solo singer. It was certainly an interesting concept to expose young voices to the experience of singing plainchant (with the original Latin text), and still more surprising to note how adaptable the various choirs were to mastering this type of repertoire.

Ben Parry, 2004 Ben Parry was co-founder of Dunedin Consort and is a prolific conductor, composer, arranger and singer. He is presently Director of Music at St Paul's School, London.

Texts 1

come the morning come the morning city of ghosts a fragile place

Introit Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum celebrantes sub honore Sanctorum omnium: de quorum solemnitate gaudent Angeli, et collaudant Filium Dei.

prayers of passion in the hour before dawn in the hour for last dreams with wings of angels falling outside the world lies sleeping outside the world lies …

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honour of all the saints: at whose solemnity the angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God. 2

Kyrie, eleison.

Christe, eleison.

Kyrie, eleison.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.

3

P&C The Moors 1995 Adapted by M. Lindsay 2002

Kyrie

Days of Thunder come the morning come the morning man dreams but god decides prayers of passion come the morning and thunder of these days in our land outside the world lies sleeping outside the world lies sleeping outside the world lies

4

Psalm Exultate justi in Domino: rectos decet collaudatio.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Rejoice in the Lord, ye just: praise becometh the upright.

Glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and shall be for ever. Amen.

5

have mercy on us.

Who takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.

Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.

For Thou alone art holy. Thou alone art God. Thou alone, O Jesus Christ, art most high.

Together with the Holy Ghost, In the glory of God, the Father. Amen.

Gloria Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

Laudamus te. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te.

Glorificamus te.

Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.

Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.

Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe.

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.

Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus. Tu solus Dominus.

Tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe.

Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.

Glory to God in the highest.

And on earth peace to men of good will.

We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we adore Thee, we glorify Thee.

We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory.

O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son. Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.

Who takest away the sins of the world,

6

The Solstice Stone All were locked in me, Silence and darkness.

I was a thing of winter.

Hollowed, I might lodge a skull.

I was barrenness.

I was the block rejected by mason, carver, shaper of querns.

A star unlocked the stone.

The stone was a white rose.

It was a dove.

It was a harp with a hundred carols.

It was a cornstalk.

It was the candle at sunset.

It was a fountain, cluster of arches.

On that stone lie the loaves and the cup.

George Mackay Brown, October 1987

Texts 7

Gradual Timete Dominum omnes sancti ejus: quoniam nihil deest timentibus eum.

Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is nothing wanting to them that fear him.

8

Credo Credo in unum Deum.

Patrem omnipotentem, Factorem coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum.

Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula.

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero.

Genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri: per quem ominia facta sunt.

Qui propter nos homines etpropter nostram salutem descendit de coelis.

Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: Et homo factus est.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis: sub Pontio Pilate passus, et sepultus est.

Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas.

Et ascendit in coelum: sedet ad dexteram Patris.

Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare

vivos et mortuos: cuius regni non erit finis.

Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.

Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et glorificatur: qui locutus est per Prophetas.

Et unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam.

Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.

Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum.

Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.

I believe in one God. The Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Born of the Father before all ages.

God of God, light of light, True God of true God. Begotten, not made, of one being with the Father: By whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.

And was made flesh by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary: and was made man.

He was also crucified for us: Suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried.

And on the third day He rose again, according to the scriptures.

And ascended into Heaven: He sitteth at the right hand of the Father.

And he shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead: And of his kingdom there shall be no end.

And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life: Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son. Who together with the Father and the Son is no less adored and glorified: Who spoke by the prophets.

And in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.

And I look for the resurrection of the dead.

And the life of the world to come. Amen.

9

God Is Song is the incarnation of music, of the divine will.

Prayer is a form of song, which moves from whisper to chant to hymn.

Call and response in pyramidal form: individual, cleric and deity, together re-create the one, original note, the perfect nullity of non-being.

And the spine which runs through all this, is the belief that love is greater than death, but more than that, the simple but cosmic statement: Love is; oblivion is not.

Religion is the great flying dream, the arc of unity.

In the silent vacuum of the individual, faith becomes a subconscious poetry, a link between one another and with the governing forces of the cosmos.

It gives us hope, and taps into that sense of yearning from whence comes art, and, in an infinitely large and infinitesimally minute world, it sinks an anchor.

It frames reality around and within us, so that in the midst of darkness, we yet can say: I am here. I believe. God is.

Suhayl Saadi born 1961

10 Alleluia

Alleluia.

Texts 11 In

Praise of Saints

Where now those souls that once inspired mankind?

We search the earth but them we cannot find.

12 Sanctus

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus, Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Hosanna in excelsis.

The world has long since claimed Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts! their mortal flesh, Heaven and earth are filled with Thy glory.

But in the minds of all their deeds are fresh, And all mankind now sings their endless praise Hosanna in the highest.

In hope that God, with them, may one day raise 13 Offertory To life eternal all who are now deceased, Justorum animae in manu Dei sunt, That all may live fore’er in endless peace. et non tangent illos tormentum malitiae.

Beyond all time and space there sits a King Alleluia.

With angels praising God by what they sing.

The souls of the just are in the hand of God, Can we in this world glimpse and the torment of malice shall not touch them. the glorious throng Alleluia.

Who stand and sing their endless praise of God? 14 Benedictus Yes! all through prayer Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. may hear their distant song, Hosanna in excelsis.

‘Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth!’

Blessed is He that comes Words by John Gormley in the name of the Lord.

May–July 2002 Hosanna in the highest.

15 La

Muerta

If suddenly you do not exist, If suddenly you no longer live, I shall live on.

I do not dare to write it – If you die I shall live on.

But where a man has no voice There shall be my voice.

Where blacks are flogged and beaten, I cannot be dead.

When my brothers go to prison, I shall go with them.

When victory – not my victory – But the great victory comes, Even if I am dumb I must speak.

I shall see it coming even if I am blind.

No – forgive me if you no longer live, If you – beloved, my love – If you have died, All the leaves will fall on my breast.

It will rain night and day, The snow will burn my heart.

I shall walk with frost and fire And death and snow, My feet will want to walk to Where you are sleeping.

But I shall stay alive, Because above all things you Wanted be indomitable.

And, my love, because you know that I am not only a man, but all mankind.

Pablo Neruda (Translated by Brian Cole)

16 Communion

Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt: beati pacifici, quoniam ipsorum est regum caelorum.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God: blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

17 Prayer

I believe that behind the mist the sun waits.

I believe that beyond the dark night it is raining stars.

I believe that this lost ship will reach port.

They will not rob me of hope, it shall not be broken …

My voice is filled to overflowing With the desire to sing, the desire to sing.

I believe that peace will be sown throughout the earth.

I believe in our nobility, created in the image of God, And with free will reaching for the skies.

They will not rob me of hope, it shall not be broken, It shall not be broken.

Anon. from Chile. Taken from ‘An Iona Prayer Book’ compiled by Peter Millar, 1998

Texts 18 Agnus

The Composers Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: grant us peace.

19 Epilogue

‘… I would like to name them all but they took away the list and there's no way of finding them.

For them I have woven a wide shroud from the humble words I heard among them.

I remember them always, everywhere, I will never forget them, whatever comes.

And if they gag my tormented mouth with which one hundred million people cry, then let them also remember me on the eve of my remembrance day …’

Anna Akhmatova, Requiem Composer’s note: This piece is taken from Black over Red, a choral work I wrote for the Latvian Radio Choir in 2001.

The piece is a setting of Anna Akhmatova’s Requiem, and is dedicated to the victims of Stalin. This is the last movement; the theme of Epilogue is remembrance.

Tommy Fowler is ‘among the brightest of … Scottish compositional talent’ (The List). His works are acclaimed, and have been performed at music festivals across Britain: Nesting Cranes gained first prize in the 2001 British and International Bass Forum Composition Competition; his awardwinning Life’s Rejoicing had its premiere at the Incorporated Association of Organists’ Festival, Dundee (1994). Fowler holds a PhD in Composition (University of Glasgow, 2001) and has been commissioned to write for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Cappella Nova, the Hilliard Ensemble and Dunedin Consort. www.scottishmusiccentre.com/ tommy_fowler/ Organist, conductor and composer John Gormley has worked extensively with a number of Scottish vocal ensembles. He has directed the Glasgow University Chamber Singers; vocal octet, Song-Circle, the Eastwood Choral Society and, since 2003, the Glasgow Renaissance Singers. His choral music has been performed by Scottish Voices, Cappella Nova, St. Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow and

Dunedin Consort. Gormley’s compositions include Qi (2004) for flute, cor anglais, violin and cello; Dark Minds – Viscosity (2004) for brass quintet; and Lansdowne Service (2001) for mixed choir. Gormley teaches at the University of Glasgow, Douglas Academy Music School and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he is working towards a PhD in Composition. www.gormley.org.uk Anthea Haddow’s work has been performed widely across Central and Eastern Europe, North and South America. Composer in residence at Glasgow’s Theatre Cryptic since 1997, she has composed Tunnel Visions, Each … and Every Inch, Black over Red for the Latvian Radio Choir and Prologue.

Recent commissions include Apocalypse, to be presented during City of Culture, Cork 2005; Scenes from an Execution for Dundee Repertory Theatre; and works for Dunedin Consort and Lung Ha’s Theatre Company.

The Composers Malcolm Lindsay is celebrated for his musical diversity as a jazz musician and composer: his string quartet music, Solitary Citizen, has been broadcast worldwide. He has worked as a string arranger for international stars, such as David Byrne (Young Adam, 2003) and has written orchestral film scores for 16 Years of Alcohol, Richard Jobson, (Highly Commended; Edinburgh 2003) and Blinded, Oscar Films, (due for release 2004). Lindsay’s most recent major project was in collaboration with the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (2003). www.malcolmlindsay.com Christine McCombe was born in Australia and, having recently attained a PhD in Composition from the University of Edinburgh, now teaches at the Queensland University of Technology.

When based in Scotland for five years, McCombe worked with ensembles including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Dunedin Consort and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Her compositions include Night Alchemy; Anregung; Utterance and an audiovisual piece, Tidal. Her music-theatre work,

Dunedin Consort An Opera of Clouds, had its recent premiere in Edinburgh, combining chamber music, electro-accoustic soundscapes, video projections and live electronics.

Rebecca Rowe is former director of the Edinburgh University Contemporary Music Ensemble, and member of the Squair Mile Consort of Viols. She has been commissioned to write for such groups as the Dunedin Consort, the Allegri String Quartet, Cappella Nova, the Hilliard Ensemble, One Voice and her compositions have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and World Service.

She teaches music at George Heriot’s School (Edinburgh), and, this year, is working with poet Brian Johnstone and artist Jean Johnstone on a large-scale project involving six Celtic saints. www.rebecca-rowe.co.uk

Dunedin Consort is a vocal ensemble based in Edinburgh that draws from professional singers from across the United Kingdom.

Formed in 1996 by Ben Parry (baritone) and Susan Hamilton (soprano), the Consort is primarily an a cappella group that performs repertoire from the Middle Ages to the present day. The Consort's aim is to provide the Scottish community with a vocal group of outstanding quality and Scotland with an international touring group capable of world class performances.

The group has performed at music festivals in Scotland, Canada, Italy, Spain and France, and with ensembles such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia 21, the BT Scottish Ensemble, Paragon Ensemble Scotland, Florilegium, La Serenissima and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. It also broadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Scotland and has appeared on BBC2 and BBC4. In 2000, the group performed Menotti’s opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, directed by the composer, and also gave its London debut at the Wigmore Hall.

With a strong commitment to music in Scotland, Dunedin Consort performs regularly around the country, both for music clubs and independently, and organises educational activities and choral workshops on a regular basis. The group performed Stockhausen’s Stimmung at the 2002 Edinburgh International Festival, which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Performances of a new work, The People’s Mass, were also given recently with children’s choirs throughout Scotland, as part of the Consort’s 2002/03 concert series.

In September 2003, the Consort toured Scotland, from Haddington to the Orkneys, with a programme of sacred and secular works from the sixteenth century.

Dunedin Consort’s discography includes music

by Copland and Barber on the Linn label, and also recordings of Mozart’s Il Seraglio and Idomeneo with Sir Charles Mackerras and the SCO. A disc of music by William Byrd and Thomas Tallis was released in 2003 on the Delphian label.

The Performers Matthew Brook (baritone) has performed as a soloist throughout Britain, Europe, Australia, South Africa and the Far East. He has worked with conductors including Richard Hickox, Harry Christophers and Sir David Willcocks, and with ensembles such as The London Symphony, The Gabrieli Consort and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Brook’s most recent recording is Idomeneo with Sir Charles Mackerras, the SCO and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus on the Naxos label.

Brook is also a member of internationallyacclaimed vocal ensembles Dunedin Consort, I Fagiolini and Tenebrae.

Libby Crabtree (soprano) sings with The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, Dunedin Consort, The New London Consort and Polyphony.

As a soloist, her recent work includes Blow’s Venus & Adonis, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Finzi’s In Terra Pax, Handel’s Messiah in the USA and Poland, Dido and Aeneas in Spain, Germany and Norway and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Bryn Terfel and Renée Fleming.

She has also performed in musicals in London’s West End and recently recorded Israel in Egypt for Dutch television with the Brandenburg Consort.

Kate Hamilton (mezzo) is a core member of vocal ensemble Trinity Baroque and travels frequently with the group throughout Europe.

She also performs regularly with Gabrieli

Consort, Tallis Scholars, Florilegium and Dunedin Consort. Recent engagements include performances at the London BBC Proms, and at the Stuttgart, Utrecht and Spitalfields (London) music festivals. Hamilton has just completed her doctorate at the University of Sussex, where she has been combining her singing career with studies in international development and research.

Susan Hamilton (soprano) is a noted soloist specializing in baroque and contemporary music, singing regularly in Britain and Europe with many ensembles including Dunedin Consort, Il Gardellino, Plvs Ultra and the Ricecar Consort. She has also appeared at major international festivals worldwide. She performs regularly on television and radio and features on many recordings with the bigger independent labels. Recent work has included Rosenmüller's Vespers with Cantus Cölln, and the world premiere of MacMillan’s in angustiis … II at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Susan has recently released a recording of music by Ronald Stevenson with pianist John Cameron for Delphian Records. She is the Artistic Director of Dunedin Consort.

Noel Mann (bass) has performed with Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, Kent Opera, Pavilion Opera, Opera de Lyon and Diva Opera. Since studying at the Royal College of Music with Edward Brooks,

he has toured throughout the UK, Europe, Australia and USA. Television and Radio appearances include a Handel film for Channel 4, Tony Palmer’s film England my England and the title song for BBC Radio 4’s Cornish Trilogy. Mann has also worked as stage manager for the Monteverdi Choir for five years, tour manager for the Scottish Ensemble and artistic administrator for Diva Opera.

Nicholas Mulroy (tenor) is a member of I Fagiolini and Dunedin Consort.

As a soloist, he has recently performed Charpentier’s Cantatas (Aldeburgh Festival, Emmanuelle Haïm), Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ (King’s Chapel, Cambridge), Mozart’s Requiem (London Mozart Players) and, as the Evangelist, Bach’s St John Passion with the Hanover Band. His operatic roles include Chronos in Boyce’s The Secular Masque (London Handel Festival) and Tamino in The Magic Flute, the title role in Milhaud’s Le Pauvre Matelot (New Professionals), and Peleus in Boyce’s Peleus and Thetis (Opera Restor’d).

Helen Thomson (harp) is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and an Associate of the Royal College of Music. She holds a Diploma in Teaching, a Certificate of Post Graduate Studies and a Masters of Music (Performance). Thomson

works regularly with all the major orchestras in Scotland, including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she is part of the Ceol Flute and Harp Duo who make appearances at private recitals throughout the UK. The choirs who took part in the original project: Mull Youth Choir Conductor: Petrea Cooney Sleat Primary Choir Conductor: Mary Strachan Inverness Cathedral Choristers Master of the Choristers: Gordon Tocher Haddo Youth Choir Conductor: Alice Dennis Ayrshire Youth Voices Artistic Director: Raymond Bramwell West Lothian Children’s Choir Conductor: Lucinda Geoghegan Edinburgh Children’s Choir Conductor: Elizabeth McColl

When I'm Gone: Richard Allain John Harle, Soprano saxophone; National Youth Choir of Great Britain; Laudibus; Mike Brewer, Conductor DCD34026 ‘Allain has developed a unique musical dialect malleable enough to cover the gamut of liturgical purposes represented on this disc.

Whether refracted through the facets of spiritual, carol, motet or Mass setting, his is a music that can only be added to the list of languages from which we should all take inspiration.’ – Gramophone

Ascension Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh; Matthew Owens DCD34017 The powerful imagery of the Ascension has been a potent inspiration to generations of composers, from Phillips and Byrd to Finzi, Stanford, and Messiaen. This recording, featuring Allain’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, presents a Choral Evensong of contemporary works associated with St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, leading up to Messiaen’s meditative organ work L’Ascension.

‘A shining service of contemporary works... The choir sing with tremendous fervour, clarity, and power’ – Gramophone

Dunedin Consort: In chains of gold Byrd/Tallis Susan Hamilton, Soprano; Clare Wilkinson, Mezzo soprano; Ashley Turnell, Tenor; Warren Trevelyan-Jones, Tenor; Matthew Brook, Bass; John Kitchen, Organ DCD34008 The Dunedin Consort, praised by critics for their ‘clear-textured beauty and a thrilling intensity’, surveys the Roman Catholic music of William Byrd and Thomas Tallis on this recording, in which Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices is presented as a full service. The intimacy of single-voicing in motets such as Tallis’s O nata lux and Salvator Mundi creates an atmosphere of quiet devotion not soon to be forgotten.

‘Singing with just one voice to a part doesn’t necessarily guarantee textural clarity – but is a hallmark of the Dunedin style on this beautiful recording.’ – The Herald

A'e Gowden Lyric: Songs by Ronald Stevenson Susan Hamilton, soprano; John Cameron, piano DCD34006 *world premiere recordings The lyric Scots poetry of Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley MacLean, and William Soutar and Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses are featured in this premiere recording of songs by Borders composer Ronald Stevenson. Susan Hamilton’s clarion soprano voice is the perfect instrument for this introspective recital, which is, in the words of MacDiarmid, ‘sharp and sweet and breaks the heart’. ‘the ringing accuracy of Hamilton’s intonation is a continual marvel … enough, in a performance like this, to raise the hairs on one’s neck.’

– International Record Review

DCD34018