£14.50 £12.08 Ex vat
The Choir of York Minster
Benjamin Morris organ
directed by Robert Sharpe
Description
John Rutter’s new Missa Brevis, written for Robert Sharpe and the Choir of York Minster, in memory of composer, Richard Shephard, is the major work in this collection of recent sacred choral music by living composers.
In addition to Rutter’s significant addition to the repertoire of shorter Mass settings, the collection also features contributions from other longestablished composers of church music: Cecilia McDowall, Judith Weir, Philip Moore, and James MacMillan, together with a number of works from emerging new voices – the majority being younger female composers, with most of these pieces receiving their first commercial recording.
York Minster has always been renowned as a place that has maintained and advanced the artistic endeavours of its music. The works on this album reflect that breadth of invention in the continually-developing tradition of sacred choral music over the last twenty-five years with works from 1997 to the 2020s in a wide variety of styles – the majority of pieces written within the last decade.
Track List
Missa Brevis – John Rutter
I Kyrie
2:28II Gloria
5:07III Sanctus
2:17 IV Benedictus
2:10V Agnus Dei
2:54O sing unto the Lord – Cecilia McDowall
4:20Today – Lucy Walker
1:31 After this, we will return – Sarah MacDonald
5:19 Round me falls the night – Annabel Rooney
2:24O sing unto the Lord – Becky McGlade
2:31The Short Service – James MacMillan
Magnificat
4:13Nunc dimittis
2:35Love bade me welcome – Judith Weir
3:08Introit for Creationtide – Sarah MacDonald
1:25Media vita – Kerensa Briggs
2:50The Lamb – Becky McGlade
4:59Lord Jesus Christ – Philip Moore
4:43O lux beata Trinitas – Kerry Andrew
6:22 The Loving Memory – Cecilia McDowall
4:29Come, my way, my truth, my life – Becky McGlade
3:25My eyes for beauty pine – Elizabeth and Thomas Coxhead
2:22Set me as a seal – Kerensa Briggs
3:04 Celebration (Ite, missa est) – John Rutter
5:43Organ accompaniment on tracks 1–5 , 6 and 19 – Benjamin Morris
Total Playing time: 80:19
Production credits
Recorded 18/19 January, 9 February, 30 March 2023 in York Minster
Producer and engineer: Gary Cole
Recording assistant: Pippa Cole
Sample audio extracts
Reviews
‘The performances by the musicians of the minster are of the highest standard… Each time I listen to this album it brings new rewards’ American Record Guide May 2025
‘Conductor Robert Sharpe has been director of music at York through much of the period from which this music dates, and his mixed-gender choir sounds confident and vigorous in the Minster’s extravagant acoustic, full of lively resonance in this recording.’ ★★★★ BBC Music Magazine April 2025
‘quite simply, a triumph.’ Yorkshire Times March 2025