The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
The Westminster Abbey Choir is an institution with a history over 500 years long. Westminster Abbey, founded by Edward the Confessor, was consecrated on December 28, 1065, and William the Conqueror became the first British monarch crowned there the following year. Every British ruler since has assumed power there as well, but beyond pomp and circumstance the Abbey has offered daily worship services for nearly a millennium. Integral to those services over much of that period has been the music of the Westminster Abbey Choir. Records of the choir date to the 1479 appointment of William Cornysh as "Master of the Song Scole." By 1540, Henry VIII had fixed the choir's membership at a size of 12 adult male singers (known as Lay Vicars) and ten boy choristers, and these proportions remain in force today.
The choir may be augmented by students of the Westminster Abbey Choir School, the only choir-based educational institution in England; its 36 students either are choir members or are studying in preparation for membership. These young students sing at Evensong six days a week and at three Sunday services. Auditions for boy singers are held when they are eight years old; when they reach age 14, they leave the choir. Some go on to become Lay Vicars, and the demanding musical training the choristers receive has generated illustrious English musical careers ranging from those of Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell to that of David Willcocks.
Royal wedding enthusiasts will have noted the choir's presence at events pertaining to the British monarchy, and in later years, the choir had undertaken concert tours and recording sessions in addition to its official duties. The Westminster Abbey Choir has toured the U.S. four times and has made perhaps two dozen recordings. They are quite a varied lot, some of them (such as The Royal Golden Wedding) capitalizing on public fascination with English pageantry, while others offer a traditionalist sound in the early music repertory (the choir's recording of Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass is a standard) or expertly fill the need for a Christmas tradition that seems to have existed since time immemorial. What the second millennium will bring musically for the Westminster Abbey Choir remains to be seen.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Vaughan Williams, MacMillan & Tavener: Choral Works
James O'Donnell, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 2 giu 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi, Bax & Ireland: Choral Music
The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, James O'Donnell, Daniel Cook
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 27 gen 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ludford: Missa Videte miraculum; Ave Maria, ancilla Trinitatis etc.
James O'Donnell, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 2 mar 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection" by Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter, New York Philharmonic, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording il 18 mag 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Parry: Jerusalem; I Was Glad; Blest Pair of Sirens etc.
James O'Donnell, Daniel Cook, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 28 ago 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Taverner: Missa Mater Christi sanctissima & Western Wynde Mass
James O'Donnell, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 1 lug 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Make a Joyful Noise
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, Fanfare Trumpeters Of The Royal Air Force
Classica - Pubblicato da Decca (UMO) (Classics) il 6 mag 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Judith Weir, Jonathan Dove & Matthew Martin: Choral Works
James O'Donnell, Peter Holder, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 4 feb 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rejoice, the Lord is King: Great Hymns from Westminster Abbey
James O'Donnell, Robert Quinney, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 5 gen 2014
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli - Allegri: Miserere
The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, Simon Preston
Classica - Pubblicato da Archiv Produktion il 1 gen 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bairstow, Harris & Stanford: Choral Works
James O'Donnell, Peter Holder, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 3 mag 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Parry: Songs of Farewell & Works by Stanford, Gray & Wood
James O'Donnell, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 29 mag 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Music for Remembrance: Duruflé Requiem & Other Works
James O'Donnell, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 28 set 2014
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Rejoice, the Lord is King: Great Hymns from Westminster Abbey
James O'Donnell, Robert Quinney, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Hyperion il 5 gen 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: 4 Coronation Anthems Including "Zadok The Priest"; Dixit Dominus
The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, The English Concert, Simon Preston, Trevor Pinnock
Classica - Pubblicato da Deutsche Grammophon (DG) il 1 gen 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Coronation Anthems; Concerti a Due Cori
The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, Simon Preston
Classica - Pubblicato da Archiv Produktion il 1 gen 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Dettingen Te Deum; Dettingen Anthem
The English Concert, Simon Preston, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, Trevor Pinnock
Classica - Pubblicato da Deutsche Grammophon (DG) il 1 gen 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Dixit Dominus, HWV 232; Nisi Dominus, HWV 238; Salve Regina, HWV 241
Orchestra of Westminster Abbey, Simon Preston, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey
Classica - Pubblicato da Archiv Produktion il 1 gen 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Choir of Westminster Abbey - Christmas Carols
The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, Simon Preston
Classica - Pubblicato da Deutsche Grammophon (DG) il 1 gen 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Allegri: Miserere
The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, Simon Preston
Classica - Pubblicato da Deutsche Grammophon (DG) il 1 gen 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Miserere - Religious Choral Music
Choir of King's College, Cambridge, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, Stephen Cleobury, Sir David Willcocks
Classica - Pubblicato da Decca Music Group Ltd. il 1 gen 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo