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Chorus vel Organa: Music from the Lost Palace of Westminster
£14.67
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New Item
Label: Delphian
Cat No: DCD34158
Barcode: 0801918341588
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 20th May 2016
Hidden beneath the gothic revival Houses of Parliament is the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, much restored, the only remains of the medieval collegiate chapel of St Stephen, a lost royal foundation. The resourceful Geoffrey Webber has pieced together a sequence of music from its final years under Henry VIII, based around the music of Nicholas Ludford’s Lady Mass cycle. His Gonville & Caius choir is less suavely balanced than some, but sounds invigoratingly individual, especially in Cornysh’s riveting Magnificat and Sheppard’s Sancte Dei pretiose. Magnus Williamson’s improvised chamber organ responses and interludes, based on surviving partbooks, add to the atmospheric archaeology of an extremely worthwhile compilation. 
Geoffrey Webber and the Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge with Magnus Williamson remind us of the riches of the Lost Palace of Westminster. The sound of that reconstructed 16th-century chamber organ adds a highly distinctive character to the sound. And the speculative interweaving of voices and organ feels perfectly plausible. The recording is impeccable. And Webber's notes are really helpful in understanding the sources of the music and the decisions they've taken in bringing it back to life.
The performances consistently breathe an air of gracefulness and musical conviction to which the listener cannot fail to respond with warmth and enthusiasm, and like everything else on this CD, the beauty of tone and musicality are indeed treasured elements; the fruits of true sensitivity from a group of exceptional artists. A riveting historical document, excitingly annotated and wonderfully recorded. 
