The vocal group The Sixteen and their conductor, Harry Christophers, have recorded contemporary music in the past, but this focused and intriguing collection represents a step forward for a group that has never once rested on its considerable laurels. St. John Henry Newman, until recently known as Cardinal Newman, was a 19th century theologian who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism. He penned the three-paragraph A Meditation on Trust in God that forms the core of this album. The text has been adapted by Robert ...
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The vocal group The Sixteen and their conductor, Harry Christophers, have recorded contemporary music in the past, but this focused and intriguing collection represents a step forward for a group that has never once rested on its considerable laurels. St. John Henry Newman, until recently known as Cardinal Newman, was a 19th century theologian who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism. He penned the three-paragraph A Meditation on Trust in God that forms the core of this album. The text has been adapted by Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, to make it more amenable to musical setting and also more inclusive, and listeners will immediately notice that the new versions are gender-neutral. The second novelty here is that there are five new works commissioned for the project under the guidance of the well-established composer James MacMillan. They generally fall into the accessible vein of MacMillan's choral music, but with this said, each refracts Newman's text through a different...
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