Salve Puerule

Info & track listings

The treble voice is one of the glories of English music. While scholars and musicians devote careers to seeking the authentic sound of ancient music, the English treble, unreconstructed and unapologetic, gets on with his job of conjuring up the world of Dunstable, Tallis, Purcell, Wesley and Stanford simply by opening his mouth.

In the process, he submits to a rigorous training regime of learning on the job that is the best preparation for the music profession — or any profession, some claim — yet devised. Trebles are (more or less) normal boys and resist the gooey sentimentality that follows them around, but there is a real poignancy in the fact that the treble’s pomp is so brief; and at the very moment when he is maturing as a musician, the seeds of the destruction of his voice are sown.

We have tried to capture this precious moment in the life of a remarkable treble, Andrew Swait. Andrew Swait was just ten years old when he recorded ‘Light of the World’ in October 2005 as an Abbey School Chorister. His prodigious talent was spotted at the age of only five, and steeped in the musical whirlwind of a chorister’s life, his remarkable musicianship has flourished.

In addition to the demands of full choristership in The Abbey School Choir where daily Evensong, numerous concerts and international tours were all a way of life, Andrew was also a member of Tewkesbury Abbey Parish Choir.