Favourite Anthems from Winchester

Info & track listings

In Quires and Places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem. These words appear, tucked away in italics after the Third Collect in both Morning and Evening Prayer, in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Yet ever since, this insignificant-looking rubric has given permission to choirs and organists to enrich the worship of the Church through the singing of anthems. The anthem is essentially an Anglican creation, whose purpose (sometimes despite appearances) is not to let the choir to justify its existence, not even the preacher to move discreetly to the pulpit under cover of music. Rather, it offers an opportunity for the choir to perform works which, through the setting of texts to music of complexity and richness, can enable the congregation to enter more deeply into prayer through the active participation of listening.

The Winchester Cathedral Choir has become world-famous through its concerts and recitals, recordings, television and radio broadcasts. Since its first service in May 1999, Winchester Cathedral Girls’ Choir now contributes to the worship of the Cathedral with a weekly Sunday service with the Lay Clerks. The eighteen girl choristers, aged between 12 and 17, are educated at schools in the Winchester area. They make their recording d & eacute;but here singing in three of the anthems.