Herald AV Publications

HAVPCD349 – Salve Puerule
Release Date: 10th December 2008

Mail Order Only – from Record Corner or info@codadistribution.co.uk

A Wonderful new Christmas release featuring Andrew Swait, The Trinity College of Music Chamber Choir, Alexander Ffinch and conducted by Stephen Jackson.

Conceived as a showcase for the abilities of the accomplished treble Andrew Swait, this disc is framed by settings of the first great canticle from the service of Evensong. The Magnificat (1) from the evening service in G by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852..1924) was written in 1902 and needs little introduction. Its Marian imagery is heightened by an extended ethereal solo, lightly punctuated by the choir, together with the employment of a staccato accompaniment cast as a perpetuum mobile of quavers, whose Schubertian figuration immediately evokes the image of a spinning wheel and the industrious, untroubled girl singing to her Lord.

HAVPCD336 – Baroque Classics
Music for Organ and Trumpet from Beverley Minster

Baroque Classics Alan Spedding and Crispian Steele-Perkins have enjoyed performing together for several years and decided to record those items from their repertoire which have given them and their audiences particular pleasure. The majority of these works are not familiar to a wide public since they are arrangements which demonstrate different facets of trumpet playing, and various instrumental curiosities from his collection whose repertoire has had to be re-created or re-invented. Happily, Crispian’s musical education included composition lessons from Peter Wishart, who taught him to write in the style of the Old Masters; this has proved invaluable subsequently when he has arranged and reconstructed music by Handel, Mozart and other great figures of Baroque and Classical music as are represented here.

HAVPCD335 – A Cappella
Trinity Boys Choir.

The sound of unaccompanied voices has inspired worshippers for centuries, but the decision not to have instruments playing at the same time has not always been a straightforward one for composers.
Pragmatism no doubt had its place in the Renaissance when the a cappella ideal was occasionally compromised through lack of rehearsal time, and the pioneering efforts of Martin Luther and others to have accompanied congregational singing encouraged later generations to write liturgical settings with opulent orchestral contributions. The starting point for much unaccompanied sacred music is chant and this underpins the earliest work on this recording, the magnificent six-part antiphon Reges Tharsis by John Sheppard: plainsong alternates with polyphonic sections which set five imitative voice parts around a baritone cantus firmus.
The wonderfully rich sonority of the six-part sections represents Sheppard?s distinctive style and it is regrettable that his work receives less attention that many of his younger contemporaries. This is due in no small part to the lack of contemporary prints of his works, a fate which did not befall William Byrd, who, with Thomas Tallis, enjoyed the royal printing monopoly.

HAVPCD311 – My Own Country – A Recital of English Song
Harry Sever (boy soprano) & Robert Bottone (piano), New Hall, Winchester College

Harry Sever was BBC Young Chorister of the Year 2003. He is currently a music and academic scholar at Winchester College, where he was Head Quirister from 2003?04. Harry has performed widely as a soloist and broadcast frequently on radio and television. Besides singing, Harry plays the piano, organ and viola, and is a keen sportsman.

Robert Bottone has been Head of Piano at Winchester College since 1970, and is much in demand as an accompanist. Besides broadcasting and recording he has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room, and toured as far afield as Iceland and India.

HAVPCD309 – Christus Rex – Catholic Music for the Liturgical Year
The Choir of St Etheldreda’s, Ely Place, London

A collection of Catholic music for the liturgical year recorded especially for the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. Motets and anthems from the Renaissance golden age to the 20th century are interspersed with a few items of Gregorian chant. Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity, helping to bring Christ to the world. Seminarians are trained; priests and religious are supported; churches and chapels are built and restored; religious programmes are broadcast; bibles and religious literature are printed; refugees are helped; over 40 million of ACN’s Child’s Bibles have been printed in at least 140 languages.

Please Note – This disk is not available until the 30th of September 2005.
New Release: HAVPCD305 – Thomas Tallis – Latin & English motets and anthems
The Rodolufus Choir directed by Ralph Allwood

Few, if any, composers of the sixteenth century can boast such a variety of musical styles and genres as Thomas Tallis. His diverse yet strikingly individual voice was a product of an outstanding musical imagination combined with the extraordinary historical context in which he lived. His working life spanned the reign of four monarchs, each preferring a drastically different flavour of Christian worship from his or her predecessor.

The Rodolfus Choir, well-known for its imaginative programmes and for its presentation of new, often specially-commissioned music, always makes a strong impact in performance, due partly to the immense vitality, precision, musicianship, and commitment of the singing, and partly to the inspirational qualities of its founder-director, Ralph Allwood.

HAVPCD303 – Hear my Prayer
Winchester College Chapel Choir
Christopher Tolley, Director of Chapel Music

Founded in 1382 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and twice Chancellor of England, Winchester College is one of the oldest and best-known schools in Great Britain. Wykeham?s original foundation included 70 scholars, and although the school has now grown tenfold in size, the same number of scholars continues to live in medieval chambers next to the College Hall and Chapel. Wykeham also made provision for 16 singing-boys called Quiristers, whose duty was to sing at Chapel services.

For over 600 years, Winchester College has maintained its ancient choral foundation, and the Quiristers now form the treble line in Winchester College Chapel Choir, besides singing a good deal in their own right as a boys? concert choir.

The lower voices in the Chapel Choir are provided by senior pupils (and some staff) from the College, many of whom have themselves been Quiristers or choristers at cathedrals and other choral foundations.

Winchester College Chapel Choir sings a full range of choral services in the College Chapel. It gives recitals, broadcasts and records for BBC Radio and Television, and makes regular tours abroad, most recently to Canada and Hong Kong. The current Quiristers have been particularly successful in the BBC Young Chorister of the Year Competition, winning the title in 2001, 2003 and 2004. All three winners (Nicholas Stenning, Harry Sever and Thomas Jesty) are featured on the Herald recordings HAVPCD276 – Something’s Coming” and HAVPCD303 – Hear My Prayer.

BBC Young Choiristers of the Year 2003-2004.