Matthew Owens

Review: As he approaches his 90th birthday Francis Jackson remains one of the finest, bestloved and most versatile church musicians of his age. The eleven works on this disc, none of them previously recorded, have all the colour, emotional depth and attention to structural detail that are consistent hallmarks of his style. Working closely with the composer, the Exon Singers bring their customary blend of virtuosity, intense commitment and subtle responsiveness to this special birthday tribute.

Songlist: Missa Matris Dei Opus 72, Tantum Ergo, A Hymn to God the Father, Three Carols for Advent, Gabriel's Message, I Know a Flower, While the Careless World is Sleeping, Evening Service in B flat, Homage to Thomas Weelkes, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, O Most Merciful, The Prayer of Saint Francis, Thanks be to the Lord

Review: The Spanish master of the golden age of polyphony, Tomas Luis de Victoria, left an astoundingly beautiful legacy of antiphonal sacred music devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Realised for the very first time here by The Exon Singers is a Vespers for the Annunciation, bringing together these works of Marian devotion in a glorious and revelatory celebration.

Songlist: Deus, In Adiutorium, Meum Intende, Missus Est Gabriel, Dixit Dominus, Missus Est Gabriel, Ave Maria, Laudate Pueri Dominum, Ave Maria, Ne Timeas Maria, Laetatus Sum, Ne Timeas Maria, Dabat Ei Dominus, Ecce Virgo Concipiet, Angelus Domini Nuntiavit Mariae, Ave Maris Stella, Ave Maria Gratia Plena, Gabriel Angelus, Magnifica anima Mea, Gabriel Angelus, Dominus Vobiscum, Benedicamus Domino, Regina Coeli, Gaude Et Laetare, Deus, Qui Per, ResurrectionFilii, Kurie Eleison

Review: British composer Geoffrey Burgon has managed to carve out a career as a composer without becoming pigeonholed into a particular genre or musical style. He is perhaps best known for his scores for Monty Python's Life of Brian, and BBC's Brideshead Revisited, and an excerpt from his score for the film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy appeared on Britain's Top Ten pop charts. He is equally at home writing for voice and chorus, and a significant part of his catalog is devoted to choral music, some of which is collected on this CD. Burgon's graceful and idiomatic choral writing makes use of contemporary harmonies, but his musical language is basically tonal, rooted in centuries of liturgical tradition; as the program notes aptly describe it, it "manages to sound both timeless and strikingly modern." "At the round earth's imagined corners," using a text by John Donne, and his setting of the Nunc Dimittis are particularly effective in their conjuring of mystery and complex emotion using very simple musical means. The Wells Cathedral Choir, a men and girls choir, conducted by Matthew Owens and accompanied by organist David Bednall, gives unaffected and direct performances, singing with pure and rapt tone. The soloists, members of the Choir, are of variable quality. Hyperion's sound is spacious, but not too resonant to obscure the comprehensibility of the texts.

Songlist: At The Round Earth's Imagined Corners, The Assumption, Short Mass, Of Flowers and Emeralds Sheen, Magnificat, Nunc dimittis, As The Angels Stood, Apple Blossom, The Corpus Christi Carol, The Song of the Creatures, Death Be Not Proud, Come Let Us Pity Not the Dead, Te Deum, Nunc dimmittis