In typesetting the music for Cardoso450 the aim is, as far as possible, to replicate the clarity and simplicity of the original choirbooks and partbooks but using the modern score format. To this end, barlines are not used since they interrupt the clear flow of the melodic line and over-emphasise the hierarchy of beats.
Read moreThe joy of facsimile
Another day, another edition. Choosing and programming the music for our Cardoso450 project was one challenge; producing performing editions of all the works is quite another. The few pieces that already exist in our library will be redone; except the organ voluntaries, every piece of music on the Cardoso450 Calendar represents a from-scratch edition.
Read moreCardoso450 programme
It is with great excitement that we announce the full programme for our Cardoso450 project 2016/2017. The result of many months of planning and preparation behind the scenes, the Calendar now available shows the true scope of our project and the extraordinary amount of music we have been able to include. Whilst the works of Cardoso are central to the project, we are thrilled to be able to present the complete Masses of Garro and de Magalhães as well as an enormous variety of Motets by de Brito, de Cristo, Melgás and Morago, among others; in total, over 180 works will be sung during the course of the project. Cardoso450 presents a truly unique opportunity to experience the wealth of Portuguese polyphony within the liturgical context.
Q1 Music List 2016 published
The music list for January to March is now available.
This list concludes our focus on Tudor music during Advent and Christmastide with music by Byrd and Sheppard for the Epiphany. The Hassler O sacrum convivium is a firm favourite and we look forward to some works which are new to us - the Palestrina Ave Maria à8 from the Capella Giulia and Padilla’s Missa Ave Regina cælorum. The main focus of the list, however, is the commencement of our Cardoso450 project which runs through 2016/7. A brochure with information about Cardoso and his contemporaries, and a complete overview of all the repertoire to be performed will be available shortly. The project has periods of more intense activity through Lent/Easter and Advent/Christmas and then punctuates the Sundays during the rest of the year. With over 45 Masses and 120 Motets, the project will give a unique view of Cardoso’s works, programming them within a liturgical context and alongside works by other Portuguese composers.
Cardoso450 logo revealed
The Choir is pleased to reveal the logo for its upcoming Cardoso450 project. The logo will provide a visually distinctive identity to our publicity in the lead up to and during the project. We are now preparing a brochure giving details of all the works sung as part of the Cardoso450 project during 2016 & 2017.
Q4 Music List published
The Music List for October - December is now available.
October is vibrant with a rich selection of Marian music, as is traditional, and this selection extends to the celebration of two great Carmelite saints on 1st and 15th, St Thérèse of Lisieux and St Teresa of Avila. For the latter, the Choir will be joined by the Chamber Choir of St George’s College, Weybridge, and will be premiering a new composition written specially for the Choir by Colin Mawby and commissioned by former parishioner John Hughes. November sees Richafort’s beautiful Requiem added to the Choir’s repertoire, and the addition of strings for Mozart and Monteverdi for the feast of Christ the King.
The main highlight of this Music List, though, is our programme of Tudor music for Advent and Christmas. We combine undoubted masterpieces with comparatively unknown works as we continue to explore the enormous wealth of music from the period. By turns grandiose and intimate, joyous and melancholic, confident and troubled, the political and religious turmoil of the Tudor period created some of the most sublimely, sometimes almost agonisingly beautiful music we have.
Meanwhile, planning for our Cardoso450 project continues behind the scenes with the cataloguing of Masses and Motets by Cardoso and his contemporaries and the creation of the first batch of new editions to be used at the start of 2016 when the project launches.