COMPOSERS: Byrd; MacMillan; Jackson; Skempton; Martin; Victoria; etc
LABELS: Delphian
ALBUM TITLE: Advent At Merton
WORKS: Various
PERFORMER: Choir of Merton College, Oxford/Benjamin Nicholas, Peter Philips
CATALOGUE NO: DCD34122
At the heart of this Advent service is a set of seven antiphons specially commissioned from seven composers for Merton College chapel. They work splendidly as a sequence, ranging from the rapt contemplation of Eriks E≥envalds’s O Emmanuel to the more declamatory O Clavis David of Gabriel Jackson. Among works by Byrd, Praetorius, and Victoria, two contemporary pieces by MacMillan (Advent Antiphon and O Radiant Dawn) make a particular impression. Peter Phillips and Benjamin Nicholas elicit high levels of technical and expressive achievement from their student charges.
