Herald AV Publications

HAVPCD346 – AVE VIRGO SANCTISSIMA

	Disk Title	AVE VIRGO SANCTISSIMA
		A Garland for Our Lady
	Soloists	John McGreal – Organ
	Choir	The Choir of the London Oratory
	Conductor	Patrick Russill
	Location	The London Oratory, Brompton.
	Date Recorded	May 2008
	Audio Tracks	18

The most familiar texts recorded here – the Ave Maria, Ave Regina caelorum, Regina caeli, Salve Regina and Mary’s own canticle, the Magnificat – have for centuries played a central part in traditional Catholic devotional life. Through them countless faithful have embraced Mary, not just as the mother of their Redeemer, but also as their own mother, and through her have sought to draw closer to her Son.

Many of the other texts here are entirely different in mood. They seek to express feelings not so much of filial devotion but of ecstatic rapture addressed to that most extraordinary product of God’s creation – the human mother of God-made-Man – by drawing on poetic images of creation, terrestrial and extraterrestrial: of birds, trees, rivers, flowers and perfume, of the heavens, light, stars, sun and moon.

The highly imaginative, sensual language of these texts, many of them embedded in the liturgy, is mainly drawn directly, or adapted, from the highly-charged Song of Songs and similar Old Testament sources. Offering wonderful possibilities for rich colour and passionate expression, they were understandably popular with composers from the medieval period onwards, and most especially in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Choir of the London Oratory is England’s senior professional Catholic choir, serving the liturgical celebrations of the Roman Rite for which the London Oratory has been famous ever since it moved to its present Brompton Road site in 1854. Previous distinguished directors have included Henry Washington, John Hoban and Andrew Carwood.

Singing at Solemn Mass and Vespers on all the Sundays and great feasts of the year, as well as on many other important occasions, chief amongst them the solemn liturgies of Holy Week and Easter, the Choir is noted for its communicative power and stylish deployment of a wide range of vocal colour in a huge working repertoire, including more than 100 settings of the Mass and 500 motets. Broadcasts and CD recordings, especially in recent years for Aid to the Church in Need on the Herald label, have led it to be acclaimed as ‘among the finest mixed voice choirs in the country’ (Choir and Organ) and ‘a Rolls-Royce of its type’ (Church Music Quarterly).

Patrick Russill is one of England’s leading church musicians, combining the post of Director of Music of the London Oratory with that of Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music where he is also a professor of organ. In addition he is Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting at the Leipzig Hochschule für Musik und Theater and Chief Examiner of the Royal College of Organists.

He studied music as organ scholar at New College, Oxford, 1972-5, where his organ teacher was Nicholas Danby, and at the age of 23 he was appointed Organist of the Oratory in 1977 on the nomination of his predecessor, Ralph Downes, becoming Director of Music there in 1999. He is now respected equally as choral conductor, organist, teacher and scholar. He holds Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music and Honorary Fellowship of both the Guild of Church Musicians and the Royal College of Organists – the highest honours of each institution.

John McGreal read music as an organ scholar at Peterhouse, Cambridge where he studied organ with David Rowland and Peter Hurford. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in organ with Nicholas Danby and harpsichord with Ruth Dyson winning major prizes, especially for the performance of the organ music of Bach. Further study continued with Dame Gillian Weir and Gustav Leonhardt. A fluent speaker of German, he spent a year in Northern Germany while based in Lübeck.

Subsequently he was appointed Organist at St Etheldreda’s Church, Ely Place where he first recorded for the Catholic Charity Aid to the Church in Need. In 1999 he was appointed Organist of the Oratory, where the organ enjoys a special role in the liturgy, one which he has maintained and developed. His performance of Bach on the Organ Club 75th Anniversary CD was praised in Organists’ Review for its ‘great power, compelling utter absorption from the listener.’ He is also in demand as a private music teacher.