Following a highly anticipated televised performance at the 2023 BBC Proms, Dunedin Consort and its director John Butt now release Mozart’s ‘Great’ Mass in C minor and Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach’s Heilig ist Gott on Linn. Devised to celebrate his marriage to Constanze, but left unfinished at the composer’s death, Mozart’s Mass can clearly be traced back to the choral writing of Johann Sebastian Bach and his son, Carl Phillip Emmanuel. This musical genealogy is displayed here in a lavish double-chorus, double-orchestra feast where both works echo each other. No stranger to Mozart – the ensemble’s recording of the Requiem was a Gramophone Award Winner and Grammy-nominated – Dunedin Consort puts its stamp on these most spectacular contributions to church music.

Whilst the English composer Edmund Rubbra is best known for his symphonic output, he composed a good deal of vocal music, and wrote songs throughout his compositional life. Rubbra studied with Cyril Scott and Gustav Holst, and was a great friend of his contemporary Gerald Finzi. The songs are notable for their variation in accompaniment (less than half are set for piano, the rest for harp, string quartet, string orchestra, or full orchestra). This album contains all his published songs with piano and harp accompaniment, and includes the first and last songs of the composer’s output. Lucy Crowe, Claire Barnett-Jones, and Marcus Farnsworth are the three singers on the album, Catrin Finch (harp) and Iain Burnside (piano) the accompanists. Timothy Ridout (viola) joins for the Two Sonnets by William Alabaster, Op. 87.

CONTENTS:

• Rubbra: Rosa Mundi, Op. 2
• Rubbra: Cradle Song, Op. 8 No. 1
• Rubbra: Nod
• Rubbra: Orpheus with his Lute, Op. 8 No. 2
• Rubbra: Who is Silvia? Op. 8 No. 3
• Rubbra: Out in the dark, Op. 13 No. 1
• Rubbra: It was a lover, Op. 13 No. 3
• Rubbra: The Night, Op. 14
• Rubbra: Rune of Hospitality
• Rubbra: A Duan of Barra
• Rubbra: A Widow Bird Sate Mourning, Op. 28
• Rubbra: A Prayer
• Rubbra: Songs (2), Op. 22
• Rubbra: In Dark Weather, Op. 33
• Rubbra: Invocation to Spring, Op. 17 No. 2
• Rubbra: Two Sonnets by William Alabaster
• Rubbra: Songs (2), Op. 4
• Rubbra: A Hymn to the Virgin, Op. 13 No. 2
• Rubbra: The Jade Mountain, Op. 116
• Rubbra: Nocturne, Op. 54
• Rubbra: Salve, Regina, Op. 119
• Rubbra: No Swan So Fine, Op. 91
• Rubbra: Fly Envious Time, Op. 148
• Rubbra: Psalms (3), Op. 61
• Rubbra: Dear Liza, Op. 7

REVIEW:

Soprano Lucy Crowe and baritone Marcus Farnsworth sing with tonal beauty, clear diction, and great sensitivity for the music and text. Pianist Iain Burnside is a marvelous collaborator, as are harpist Catrin Finch and violist Timothy Ridout. The booklet includes complete song texts and superb liner notes by Jonathan Clinch. [Rubbra] his songs are the product of a thoughtful and sensitive composer, and well worth exploration.

-- Fanfare