This release from the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford under director Mark Williams, bills itself as containing "Five Centuries of Music from Magdalen." Technically that's true; composers represented on the album date back to William Appleby, the first choirmaster (appointed 1539), and his successors, John Sheppard and Thomas Tomkins. William Hayes, an associate of Handel, shows up with a rather academic counterpoint exercise, and there's a big Victorian finale from John Stainer, but most of the music is contemporary, and, ...
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This release from the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford under director Mark Williams, bills itself as containing "Five Centuries of Music from Magdalen." Technically that's true; composers represented on the album date back to William Appleby, the first choirmaster (appointed 1539), and his successors, John Sheppard and Thomas Tomkins. William Hayes, an associate of Handel, shows up with a rather academic counterpoint exercise, and there's a big Victorian finale from John Stainer, but most of the music is contemporary, and, as such, not of an especially adventurous brand. A major attraction here is Opus Arte's sound, captured not at Magdalen's chapel but at the acoustically superb Merton College Chapel. The engineering team achieves a rich, resonant sound that picks out individual strands in the group, and the effect will repay buyers who have invested in fine equipment. The contemporary pieces are often by organist-composers and include organ, but perhaps the most memorable work here is This is the...
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