Oxford Choral Classics: English Church Music assembles in two volumes around 100 of the finest examples of English sacred choral music of the past five centuries. The first volume,dedicated to anthems and motets,presents both favourite and lesser-known works,from the exceptional Renaissance polyphony of Taverner,Tallis,and Byrd,through the Restoration led by Purcell,to the glorious works of the great nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers,including Wesley,Elgar,Stanford,Vaughan Williams,and Howells. The volume contains a number of more substantial works,including Mendelssohn's Hear my prayer,Stainer's I saw the Lord,and Naylor's Vox dicentis: Clama,as well as a wonderful selection of shorter pieces,from Gibbons's O Lord,in thy wrath to Walton's Set me as a seal upon thine heart. With the second companion volume of canticles and responses,this bipartite collection presents a comprehensive survey of English sacred music at its best.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Publisher: Oxford University PressISBN: 9780193368415Weight: 737 gDimensions: 270 x 190 x 23 mmEdition: Vocal score
MEDIA REVIEWS
Say goodbye to falling-apart copy woes,throw away your tatty Tallises and dog-eared Stanfords with this spanking new volume from OUP. The answer to many a choir librarian's prayers,this anthology of fifty-one of the best-known and most popular Anglican anthems is a complementary volume to the popular European Sacred Music,and deserves to become just as successful. John Rutter has handed over the editorial reins to Robert King,who makes a thorough and dedicated job of it,re-editing all the pre-20th-century works from original sources,inventing fine new translations of the handful of Latin works,and mixing attention to scholarly detail with practical nous.Here is the long-awaited English church anthem volume of the Oxford Choral Classics series under John Rutter's series editorship,and well worth waiting for. If much of the selection is familiar,there is a convenience (as with the previous European Sacred Music volume) in having so much material in one volume,well edited and well presented. But there is also much that is not so familiar,such as Elgar's They are at rest,Hadley's My song is love unknown,and Purcell's Let mine eyes run down...Orchestrations are available for four of the anthems,and continuo parts with figured bass for the seven pieces by Boyce,Greene and Purcell. There are English singing translations for almost all of the Latin texts and a helpful commentary on each piece. This volume should become as indispensable as its predecessors in the series.The creation of new editions throughout has allowed for a uniform'look',which is an aesthetic plus; the editorial practices for historical literature seem to strike a fair balance between scholarly responsibility and practicality...The collection of brief but pithy editorial comments on each piece that concludes the volume is informative and admirable,ranging from biography to source information and musical analysis.
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