Edward Higginbottom

Review: This is a splendid sampling of some of the world's finest choral music, sung by one of the world's outstanding choirs. This "anthology of sacred choral music" spans 400 years and includes such masterpieces as Allegri's Miserere, Bach's "Jesu, joy of man's desiring," and Barber's exquisite Agnus Dei, which is the composer's choral setting of his famous Adagio for Strings. Along the way we also hear Mozart's sublime "Ave verum corpus," Elgar's "Lux aeterna," and the Kyrie from Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli. There has been a choir at England's New College, Oxford, since the year 1379, and this impressive line of experience shows in the intelligent, unfaltering, and finely polished performances by today's ensemble of 16 boys and 12 adults.

Songlist: Agnus Dei, Cantique De Jean Racine, Kyrie, Ave Verum Corpus, Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude, Ave Maria, Lux Aeterna, Totus Tuus, Hear My Prayer, The Lamb, In Paradisium (Requiem), Miserere Mei, Deus

Review: The University of Oxford's world famous choir performs a selection of famous and lesser-known carols.

Songlist: O come all ye faithful, Adam Lay Y Bounden, Out of your sleep, The angel Gabriel, A Spotless Rose, Ding dong merrily on high, In the bleak midwinter, The holly and the ivy, I wonder as I wander, A babe is born, Sussex carol, This is the truth, A Virgin most pure, Here is the little door, Alleluya a new work is come on hand, Lully lulla thou tiny little child, In dulci jubilo, There is no rose, Rocking carol, Wassail Carol, Once in royal David's city

Review: This recording of North American music of the last fifty or so years includes music by a Russian, Igor Stravinsky. His origins notwithstanding, he is one of the 'grand old men' of twentieth-century American music, having become an American citizen in the early 1940s, shortly before writing his Mass for choir and double wind quintet. The recording ends with a spiritual, arranged by one of Britain's most eminent twentieth-century composers - a sort of compliment to the American tradition from the other side of the pond. The rest of the music speaks for itself, with an inimitable American accent from beginning to end. "Copland's In the beginning is a stern test for any choir in a live performance...This recording is an amazing tour de force-intonation spot-on, effortless high As from the boys and finally a B flat, all superbly delivered. This CD is well worth having for this refreshingly affirmative evocation of the Creation alone." Gramophone Magazine

Songlist: The Song of Deborah, In the Beginning, I Will Sing and Raise a Psalm, O magnum mysterium, O Deus, ego amo te, Oratio patris condren: O Jesu Vivens in Maria, Thee, God..., Psalm 67, The Dove Descending, Mass, Steal Away (from A Child of Our Time)

Review: This recording presents a sequence of Christmas music from many different cultures and ages. It exemplifies the rich diversity of music written for the feast, which has inspired musicians with a unique enthusiasm for its colourful narrative and message of salvation.

Songlist: Hark the herald angels sing, For unto us a child is born, Silent Night, O magnum mysterium, Hodie Christus natus est, Angelus ad Virginem, O magnum mysterium, This is the truth sent from above, Quem vidistis, Videntes stellam, Noel X, Videntes stellam, Sing lullaby, Puer natus, Lute-book carol, Of the Father's Heart begotten, Hodie Christus natus est, Quem vidistis

Review: One of the UK's finest, oldest boy choirs (New College was founded in the 14th century), the prolific Choir of New College, directed by the renowned Edward Higgenbottom, presents works from the finest period of English choral polyphony (Cornysh, Ludford, Tallis, Taverner, etc.) are juxtaposed with contemporary compositions by Jonathan Harvey, Giles Swayne and John Tavener, music separated by several centuries but sharing the same quality of deeply charged abstraction. Some of the most beautiful, extensive, full-color liner notes we've seen.

Songlist: Magnificat, Quid tetis, o fili?, The lamb, Come, holy Ghost, Gloria, A hymn to the Mother of God, Ave cujus conceptio, Woefully Arrayed, I Love The Lord, Libera nos, God is with us, Audivi vocem de caelo, The Tyger

Review: New College Choir brings the ideal combination of vocal freshness and consummate experience to this music, with commendable individual standout solos exemplifying the standard of the ensemble as a whole. The recording has admirable atmosphere and transparency. If you associate Poulenc with frivolity, lightness and superficiality, track 20 on the first CD here is the antidote. Austere, dramatic, deeply serious, the eight-minute Litanies a la Vierge noire is as far removed from the image of Poulenc the playboy boulevardier as possible. The Mass is an excellent performance of Poulenc's a cappella masterpiece, the edgy rhythmic detailing of the Kyrie and Gloria pluckily projected. A special mention is due to Sasha Ockenden, soaring confidently in the fearfully exposed treble solos of the beautiful Agnus Dei.

Songlist: O Sing Unto the Lord, Christus Vincit, Ecce Beatam Lucem, Libera Nos, On the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, Into Thy Hands, Love Bade Me Welcome, Since I Believe, A Prayer of St. Augustine, Surrexit Christus, Jesu, Dulcis Memoria, Whitsun Carol, Op.115b, Salve Regina

Review: The Choir produces a fine balance, with an overall tone quality which proclaims their expertise in singing services, the boys especially being able to produce thin polished brass as well as peach-blossom tone as required. Directed by Edward Higgenbottom.

Songlist: Mass in G: Gloria, Mass in G: Credo, Mass in G: Benedictus, God's Grandeur, Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing, Feast Songs for Saint Cecillia, Faire is The Heavan, I Love The Lord

Review: The Christmas Story from the Annunciation to Epiphany told in well-known traditional carols, and works by Bruckner, Joubert, Howells, Poulenc and other composers : directed by Edward Higginbottom

Songlist: I Wonder As I Wander, Adam Lay Ybounden, Alma Redemptoris, The Angel Gabriel, Ave Maria, A Spotless Rose, There Is No Rose, The Little Road To Bethlehem, Once In Royal David's City, Stille Nacht, Sing Lullaby, Gloria Sei Dir Gesungen, O Magnum Mysterium, In Dulci Jubilo, O Jesulein Sul, While Shepards Watched Their Flocks By Night, Quem Vidistis Pastores, Shepards Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep, Adeste Fideles, Videntes Stellam, Rocking Carol, Here Is The Little Door, Hark The Herald Angels Sing

Review: The deeply expressive music of Nicholas Ludford (c. 1485-1557) has been re-discovered only relatively recently. Few composers of his stature - comparable to that of John Taverner - have been so comprehensively and so unjustly ignored for nearly fi ve centuries. Recorded in the glorious acoustic of Saint-Martin de Hoff, Sarrebourg - a perfect environment for this extraordinary music - the disc features the Missa benedicta et venerabilis, one of Ludford's most accomplished festal Masses, with its plainsong propers, and two of his extended votive antiphons: Domine Jesu Christe and Ave cuius conceptio. Under the leadership of Edward Higginbottom, the Choir of New College, Oxford, has gained a worldwide reputation and is known particularly for its stylish performances of Renaissance and Baroque music

Songlist: Antienne Ave cuius conceptio, Introit: Salve sancta Parens, Gloria in excelsis Deo, Graduel: Benedicta et venerabilis, Alleluia: Post partum Virgo inviolata Alleluia, Credo in unum Deum, Offertoire: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Sanctus et Benedictus, Communion: Beata viscera, Agnus Dei, Antienne Domine Jesu Christe

Review: Throughout the disc Higginbottom draws exemplary clarity of texture from his New College choristers; the tantalizing, almost acidic harmonies of all these pieces are laid out like jewels ready for the closest of inspections. Moments of beauty (and they come thick and fast) are deliciously understated . . . for performances which are full of musical and artistic integrity and a real sense of involvement with the music, these from New College, Oxford are in a class of their own.

Songlist: Salve Regina, Quatre petites prieres de Saint Francois d'Assise:, -Salut, Dame Sainte, -Tout puissant, tres saint, -Seigneur, je vous en prie, -O mes tres chers freres, Exultate Deo, O sacrum convivium, Quem vidistis pastores dicite, Videntes stellam, Attende Domine, Op. 45, O magnum mysterium, Hodie Christus natus est, Messe en sol majeur:, -Kyrie, -Gloria, -Sanctus, -Benedictus, -Agnus Dei, Panis Angelicus, Op. 80, Hymne a la Vierge, Op. 24, Litanies a la Vierge noire

Review: For such transcendent music to succeed, it has to be performed with sufficient technical prowess. This the Choir commands, and they add to it under Higginbottom's direction, a full realisation of the unparalled range of expression at Pucell's command.

Songlist: Blow Up The Trumpet In Sion, The Lord Is King, Be The People, Lord, What Is Man, Lost Man, Let Mine Eyes Run Down With Tears, Jehova, Quam Multi Sunt Hostes Mei, Oh Dive Custos, Beati Omnes Qui Timent Dominum, Out Of The Deep, Blow Up The Trumpet In Sion

Review: For such transcendent music to succeed, it has to be performed with sufficient technical prowess. This the Choir commands, and they add to it under Higginbottom's direction, a full realisation of the unparalled range of expression at Pucell's command.

Songlist: Aurora lucis rutilat, Tristis est anima mea, Missa "Tous les regretz", Ave Verum, Surgens Jesus, Timor et tremor, Domine convertere, Salve Regina, Veni Creator, Veni sancta spirtus, Requiem, Ave Maria, Ave Virgo gloriosa, Salve Regina, Christe, qui lux es, Victimae Paschalis, Victimae Paschalis, Magnificat, Dum complerentur, Stabat Mater, Alma Redemptoris, Recordare, Ad te levavi, Veni sancta spiritus, Miserere, Peccavi super numerum, Missa "Si ambulavero", Super flumina Babylonis, Domine, quid multiplicati sunt, Spes humani generis, Domine Jesu Chirste, Angelus Domini, Hodie, dilectissimi, omnium sanctorum, Magnificat, Nunc dimittis, Te Deum, Te Deum, Western Wind Mass, Laudibus, Miserere

Review: Edward Higginbottom writes a highly accessible and mellifluous arrangement of "Down By the Sally Gardens". The delicate scoring, smooth vocal lines, and well-judged splashes of harmonic color allow the simple beauty of the tune to be heard. The traditional Somerset folksong "O Waly Waly" is given a delightful treatment and "Early One Morning" features both a solo baritone and solo soprano part that will make the singers shine!

Songlist: Down By The Sally Gardens, Early One Morning, O Waly, Waly