The Feast of St Michael and All Angels at Westminster Abbey (2007)

performed by Benjamin Turner (alto), Francis Brett (cantor), Jacob Ewens (treble), Julian Empitt (cantor), Julian Stocker (tenor), Mark Dobell (tenor), Nicholas Trapp (treble), Robert MacDonald (bass), Robert Quinney (organ), Choir of Westminster Abbey (choir, chorus)
composed by Benjamin Britten, Charles Villiers Stanford, Herbert Howells, Jean Langlais, Jonathan Harvey, Kenneth Leighton, Michael Tippett, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Richard Dering, Walter Alcock

The aim of this program is simple, but it's one that is not often attempted, at Westminster Abbey or anywhere else. To quote the superb notes by conductor James O'Donnell, "This disc contains music you might hear if you visited Westminster Abbey on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, commonly called Michaelmas, which falls on 29 September." The program, he goes on, reflects the day's three major services, the Morning Prayer (Matins), Eucharist (Mass), and Evening Prayer (Evensong). Such reenactments of liturgical ... Read More

The aim of this program is simple, but it's one that is not often attempted, at Westminster Abbey or anywhere else. To quote the superb notes by conductor James O'Donnell, "This disc contains music you might hear if you visited Westminster Abbey on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, commonly called Michaelmas, which falls on 29 September." The program, he goes on, reflects the day's three major services, the Morning Prayer (Matins), Eucharist (Mass), and Evening Prayer (Evensong). Such reenactments of liturgical events, in most places, are centered on music of a specific style, but at Westminster Abbey, with its centuries-long traditions, music of different eras coexist easily within a single segment of music, linked together by the distinctive warm sound of the Abbey's men and boys choir, by its marvelously clear acoustic, and by the liturgical texts involved. From the opening Factum est silentium by little-known Renaissance composer Richard Dering, the music proceeds through a psalm setting by... Read Less