The sound of a viol consort seems to float lightly; the silky, shining tones of the viols, ranging from soprano to bass, combine almost weightlessly - free from all. This consort was particularly popular in England around 1600, and no self-respecting household was without 'a chest of viols' (a box containing a set of different viols). The most important English composers wrote wonderful music for this ensemble, from dance movements and fantasies to complex polyphonic compositions, bringing the repertoire for viol consort to a peak. The 'chest of viols' of the Ensemble Private Musicke has compiled 'highlights' of English viola da gamba music by composers such as Holborne, Dowland, Ferrabosco II, Tye and Coperario, taking the listener on a journey through the air.

CORO Welcomes The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, to the label.

In their first recording for CORO, The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, under the direction of Mark Williams, explore the repertoire that has provided the bedrock of the college’s musical life for the last 500 years, all of which was written for the end of the day.

Much music associated with evening time is naturally calm and soothing, satisfying those seeking transcendental beauty in the form of unchallenging ‘sound baths’. However, this collection also seeks to challenge, contrasting contemporary settings with music from the 16th century. We hope, through this range of works, to capture something of that liminal space between day and night characterized by Evensong and to lead the listener into that ‘peace that passes all understanding’.

The album showcases works by composers from John Sheppard to Joanna Marsh and features much-loved pieces such as Hubert Parry’s Lord, let me know mine end and John Tavener’s The Lord’s Prayer, as well as new additions to the Evensong repertoire such as Grayston Ives’ In pace and Piers Connor Kennedy’s O nata lux.

Over thirty years ago, Fretwork made it's first recording - well, technically speaking it was the second album to be recorded, but the first to be released - and it was called 'In nomine', which consisted mainly of 16th-century examples of this remarkable instrumental form. While this isn't an anniversary of that release, we want to look both back to that first release and forward, to bring the genre up to date. There were several examples of the In nomine and related forms that we didn't or couldn't record in 1987, and this album seeks to complete the project. The form was created unwittingly by John Taverner (1490-1545). His 6-part mass, Gloria tibi Trinitas, is based on the plainchant of that name. In the Sanctus, at the words Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini (Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord), the six-part texture is pared down to two and three parts; and then, with the words in nomine Domini, Taverner makes, for the only time in the mass, a complete statement of the cantus firmus, accompanied by three voices. This four-parts section - very beautiful as it is - must have struck contemporaries as some kind of perfection, to be used as a template, to be emulated and copied. And then those copies were copied and changed again.

The Queen’s Six release their third album on the Resonus Classics label with a scintillating and varied programme of music for Christmas. Both modern and traditional carols feature alongside a selection of lighter and contemplative evocations of the festive season. The Queen’s Six bring their trademark flair to this broad range of arrangements for men’s voices, with works from the Renaissance to the present day, including a tribute to the life of the inimitable David Willcocks - forever associated with the Christmas season - and new works by Thomas Hewitt Jones, Richard Madden & Matthew Coleridge.