This release marks the 70th birthday of composer Cecilia McDowall, whose music has always been difficult to classify. Is it neotraditional English cathedral music in the classic mode? A modern adaptation of Renaissance styles? A carrying forward of the English pastoral style? Yes, to all, but there is always something in her works that goes beyond such parameters. Perhaps the best way to approach her music is through the varied texts she sets, and this is no less true of this collection of sacred choral pieces than in any ...
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This release marks the 70th birthday of composer Cecilia McDowall, whose music has always been difficult to classify. Is it neotraditional English cathedral music in the classic mode? A modern adaptation of Renaissance styles? A carrying forward of the English pastoral style? Yes, to all, but there is always something in her works that goes beyond such parameters. Perhaps the best way to approach her music is through the varied texts she sets, and this is no less true of this collection of sacred choral pieces than in any of her other works. Here, she uses not just traditional liturgical texts but, in the highly effective Standing as I do before God, the last words of British nurse and World War I POW Edith Cavell before her execution in Germany. McDowall often begins a piece with pure consonance that leads listeners to expect a more traditional sound than they end up getting. She inflects the harmony according to the text, producing a musical language that is both flexible and highly accessible; there...
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