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Orchestral Anthems Vol. 2: Bairstow | Elgar | Ireland | Stanford | Walton | Wesley
Britten Sinfonia, Choir of Merton College Oxford, Benjamin Nicholas
By the clock, the most substantial work is Walton’s The Twelve which acquired its multicoloured orchestral respray to mark the Westminster Abbey 900th anniversary celebrations. Its opening is...
Orchestral Anthems Vol. 2: Bairstow | Elgar | Ireland | Stanford | Walton | Wesley
Britten Sinfonia, Choir of Merton College Oxford, Benjamin Nicholas
Purchase product
By the clock, the most substantial work is Walton’s The Twelve which acquired its multicoloured orchestral respray to mark the Westminster Abbey 900th anniversary celebrations. Its opening is...
About
The Choir of Merton College reunites with Britten Sinfonia to explore some much-loved Anglican repertoire in its full orchestral splendour.Stanford in A, as it was originally heard in 1880, reveals its symphonic side, not least in the masterful and eloquently scored Nunc dimittis. Anthems by Elgar and Bairstow gain new life in their original scoring, while others, originally for organ, are given added dimensions by their composers' orchestrations.Walton's The Twelvematches W.H. Auden's striking and dramatic poetry with typically dynamic vocal and instrumental writing; Ireland's Greater love and Wesley's mighty Ascribe unto the Lord bring to the anthem tradition a richness of harmony and orchestral colour to which Benjamin Nicholas's combined forces do full-blooded justice.
Contents and tracklist
- Choir of Merton College Oxford, Britten Sinfonia, Aine Smith, Florian Störtz
- Benjamin Nicholas
- Choir of Merton College Oxford, Britten Sinfonia, Florian Störtz, Ruairi Bowen, Olivia Earl, Verity Sawbridge, Harriet Twigger
- Benjamin Nicholas
Spotlight on this release
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Benjamin Nicholas on (more!) Orchestrated Anthems
Merton College Choir's Director introduces his second volume of favourite anthems and church music, reimagined once again in glorious orchestral Technicolor, with the choir and the Britten Sinfonia.
Awards and reviews
July 2025
By the clock, the most substantial work is Walton’s The Twelve which acquired its multicoloured orchestral respray to mark the Westminster Abbey 900th anniversary celebrations. Its opening is despatched with shimmering urgency; the choral answers to Part 2’s solo interjections are silkily suave; and the conclusion’s invitation to praise ‘with a merry noise’ does not go unheeded as Waltonian jubilation sweeps all before it.
July 2025
All are performed with magnificent richness of tone and perfect diction, with a natural blend and balance between chorus and orchestra.
