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CHORAL SETTINGS OF KASSIANI
The Choir's latest CD has just been released on Naxos. This collects some of the finest of the music inspired by Kassiani - an abbess of 9th Century Byzantium and poet and composer, whose hymns are sung in the Orthodox church to this day. The CD opens and closes with chants composed by Kassiani and includes
contemporary pieces by Mikis Theodorakis, Ivan Moody, Christos Hatzis, as well as the 19th century Corfiot composer Nikolaus Mantzaros. Naxos provides digital downloads, either per track or in full (iTunes link). In addition, the ECC have done a limited edition run of hard-copy CDs, which are offered for sale here. These come with full programme notes and with postage and packing included in the price. Click for details and track listing
ECLECTICA
The Choir's 2007 CD includes
several pieces commercially available for the first time including
John Tavener's O thou gentle light, Sweelinck's Psalm
33 and the original version of Handel's Chandos Anthem As pants the hart. plus a whole collection of favourites
from the Choir's eclectic repertoire. Click for Details and Track Listing
Do listen to samples (mp3) of some of the tracks:
03 Sergei Rachmaninov - Bogoroditse Dievo
04 Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck - Psalm 33
13 Rick Wakeman - Childhood Dreams
THE BYZANTINE LEGACY
This recording was made in 1998 in the Greek Cathedral of St Sophia, Moscow Road, London W2, following two highly-acclaimed concert performances of the same sequence of music as part of that year's Byzantine Festival in London. It was available on Sony Classics (Greece) between 2000 and 2007 and has now been re-issued by popular demand on the Byzantine Festival Archive label.
The works included on this compilation date primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries and include 3 movements from Tchaiovsky's Liturgy of St John Chrysostom and 3 from Rchmaninov's Solemn Vespers There are recent works from Ivan Moody and Christos Hatzis and also John Tavener's world-famous Song for Athene. Click for Byzantine Legacy Track Listing
A detailed set of programme notes to the CD (in PDF format) can be downloaded here by clicking on The Byzantine Legacy CD notes
For samples of some of the tracks (mp3 format), click on the links below:
02 Tchaikovsky Dostoyno yest
05 Hatzis Heirmos
07 Rachmaninov Voskresenie Khristovo
10 Moody Arkhangelos
11 Pavlovsky Cherubic Hymn
THE CRUCIFIXION (STAINER)
The choir have, for the past 20 years, sung at St Marylebone as the chorus in the annual Good Friday performance of Sir John Stainer's 'Crucifixion'. St Marylebone has seen both the work's first performance - in February 1887 -and the only known performance with orchestral accompaniment - in 1987, the centenary year, when the magnificent new Rieger organ that features on this recording was still under construction. The CD of Stainer's 'Crucifixion' available here is a live recording of the performance on Good Friday, 1999.
Peter Barley Conductor
Andrew Burden Tenor
Francis Brett Bass
Matthew Martin Organ
English Chamber Choir, Director Guy Protheroe
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