£14.50 £12.08 Ex vat
The Girl Choristers of The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
Mark Swinton and Colin Millington organ
Director Oliver Hancock
Track List
This wide-ranging collection of sacred music for treble voices presents twenty-one pieces ranging from the seventeenth century to the present day, including several first recordings.
The Girls’ Choir of The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, was founded in 1990 by then Director of Music, Simon Lole, whose perennially popular ‘The Father’s Love’ is featured on this recording.
There are first recordings of ‘Four Short Anthems’ by Paul Bryan, written for St John’s College School, Cambridge – beautiful miniatures suitable as introits.
Also included are several major recent compositions for trebles including Mark Blatchly’s ‘Give us the wings of faith’, Sarah MacDonald’s ‘Miserere mei, Deus, together with pieces by Malcolm Archer and Peter Hurford.
The Girl Choristers rehearse after school on Mondays and sing Evensong on Wednesday each week during term time, as well as Sunday services at least once a month. They tour regularly, with recent venues including St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle, and Bristol, Chester, St Paul’s, and Canterbury Cathedrals, and overseas tours to Germany and Normandy. The Girls are regularly heard on BBC Radio 3, have appeared on BBC One TV for the annual Easter Day broadcast in 2019 and Songs of Praise, and the Choir boasts a number of BBC ‘Choristers of the Year’ among its alumni.
My song is love unknown – Malcolm Archer
2:40I will sing of thy great mercies from St Paul, Op 36 – Felix Mendelssohn
2:18Stabat Mater dolorosa (first movement) – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
3:35Four short anthems for upper voices and organ – Paul Bryan
God be in my head
1:45Loving Shepherd of thy sheep
1:54An Evening Hymn
2:00Christ, who knows all his sheep
2:50Miserere mei, Deus – Sarah MacDonald
4:18Long since in Egypt’s plenteous land from Judith – C Hubert H Parry
4:32Light of the world – Sir John Dankworth
2:26I will lift up mine eyes – Colin Mawby
3:50Round me falls the night, Op 268 – Paul Edwards
3:23Ex ore innocentium – John Ireland
3:18 The Lord is my shepherd – Maurice Greene
3:27Litany to the Holy Spirit – Peter Hurford, v3 descant by Oliver Hancock
3:11O virtus Sapientiae – Hildegard of Bingen
2:15 Give us the wings of faith – Mark Blatchly
3:28 The Father’s Love – Simon Lole
3:08 Duo Seraphim – Richard Dering
2:27 I will worship – George Dyson
3:28A song of peace from Bible Songs, Op 113 – Charles Villiers Stanford
4:41Organists:
Mark Swinton tracks 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18, 21
Colin Millington tracks 1, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20
Total Playing time: 64:51
Production credits
Recorded on 21/22 April 2023 in The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
Recording producer and engineer: Gary Cole.
Recording assistant: Pippa Cole
Sample audio extracts
Reviews
‘The girls’ singing is first-rate with clear enunciation and purity of tone. This is a fine survey of compositions for treble voices, some well known and others less familiar. ’ American Record Guide November 2024
‘The choir excel themselves in the complicated polyphony and harmonies of Sarah MacDonald’s a cappella Miserere mei, Deus. Peter Hurford’s serene Litany to the Holy Spirit, with additional descant by Oliver Hancock, is once again sublime, as is the spirited The Lord is my shepherd by Maurice Greene. This disc shows the 18 girl choristers giving a professional, committed performance and must be a source of pride to Oliver Hancock and all at St Mary, Warwick. This disc is one to treasure.’ Church Music Quarterly September 2024
