Graham Ross

Graham Ross and Choir of Clare College, Cambridge – Requiem: Music for All Saints & All Souls (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:17:31 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

In memory of the faithful departed. Graham Ross conducts The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in a programme of English and Spanish music for the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls, culminating in Tomas Luis de Victoria’s last published work, his six-part 1605 Requiem, regarded by many as one of the finest works of the Spanish Renaissance.

(more…)

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and Graham Ross – Stabat Mater dolorosa: Music for Passiontide (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:07 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

The second album from the choir of Clare College, Cambridge in their series based on the major festivals in the Anglican calendar and, like „Veni Emmanuel“, produced by John Rutter.

In this richly varied Passiontide sequence, polyphonic settings of the great texts of Holy Week are interwoven with a plainchant rendition of the mournful „Stabat Mater“: the traditional medieval poem meditating on the death of Jesus and the grief of his mother.

Following on from last November’s „Veni Emmanuel: Music for Advent“, the choir under the direction of Graham Ross turn their attention towards the music of Holy Week, featuring a diverse range of works from Victoria, Lassus and Tallis to Bach, Stainer and Duruflé interwoven with a plainchant rendition of the mournful Stabat mata – the traditional medieval poem meditating on the death of Jesus and the grief of his mother.

(more…)

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and Graham Ross – Mater ora filium: Music for Epiphany (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:43 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Graham Ross directs the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in music celebrating the feast of Epiphany, culminating in Arnold Bax’s unaccompanied double-choir masterpiece, ‘Mater ora filium’ (1926). The feast of Epiphany falls on 6 January, 12 days after Christmas. Marked in the Christian world with the story of the Magi, many composers have been inspired by the account of ‘the three kings’ following the star, bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This sequence of music explores some of the greatest musical contributions to the feast, principally from the 16th and 20th centuries. Three great Epiphany hymns frame this sequence, all in new arrangements by Graham Ross, and all here receiving their première recordings. Graham Ross has also written the excellent booklet note and is aided and abetted, again, by John Rutter as producer, engineer and editor.

(more…)

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and Graham Ross – Britten: A Ceremony of Carols (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:56 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

It may seem a little perverse to open this review by bypassing the headline event (Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols) in favour of its surrounding programme of early twentieth century carols and short choral works, but the latter are so very enjoyable that I’m almost of the opinion that they’re where this programme’s true gold lies. Not least because not all of it is much recorded.

(more…)

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross – Remembrance (Bonus Track Version) (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:20:08 minutes | 1,32 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Graham Ross directs the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in a wide-ranging and moving sequence of music for Remembrance, including John Tavener’s “Song for Athene”, settings of the text “When David heard of the death of Absolom “ by two of England’s foremost 16th-century composers, Thomas Tomkins and Thomas Weelkes, and featuring Durufle’s 1948 setting of the Requiem Mass.

Founded in 1971, the Choir of Clare College has gained an international reputation as one of the leading university choral groups in the world. Beyond its primary function of leading services three times a week in the College Chapel in Cambridge, the Choir maintains an active schedule recording, broadcasting and performing worldwide.

In addition to live performances the Choir has produced an impressive discography: their partnership with harmonia mundi includes recordings of Handel’s ‘Messiah’, Blow’s ‘Venus and Adonis’, with René Jacobs, world première recordings of choral works by Imogen Holst, and most recently a series based on the major festivals in the Anglican calendar, produced, engineered and edited by John Rutter and accompanied by excellent booklet notes by Graham Ross.

(more…)

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – Reformation 1517-2017 (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:23 minutes | 1,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

In 1517, indignant at the mercenary abuses of the Church and convinced that a public debate was needed to restore faith in the founding texts of the Bible, Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg Castle. This marked the beginning of the Reformation, which was to spread all over Europe. Five hundred years later, Graham Ross here gives an insight into the emotional and dramatic strength of its theological and cultural legacy in a programme featuring Bach’s two great Reformation cantatas and other chorale-based works from the German and English traditions down to the 20th century.

(more…)

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross – Pange Lingua: Music for Corpus Christi (Bonus Track Version) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:24 minutes | 1,28 GB | Genre: Classical, Choral, Sacred
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Graham Ross directs the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in a sequence for Corpus Christi, one of the most important feasts in the liturgical calendar. Thomas Aquinas’s celebrated Eucharistic hymns appear in settings from the 16th, 20th and 21st centuries, framed by two masterpieces celebrating the Holy Communion: masterpieces celebrating the Holy Communion: Josquin’s Missa Pange Lingua and Finzi’s extended anthem, Lo, the full, final Sacrifice.

(more…)

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross – O lux beata Trinitas (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:54 minutes | 1,17 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

A joyful Trinity. Graham Ross concludes his exploration of music for the liturgical calendar with a programme focusing on the Holy Trinity, as reflected in music of the Russian and British traditions. From the works of the New Russian Choral School led by Tchaikovsky to more modern pieces such as those of Britten, with excursions into the Renaissance and contemporary creation, Graham Ross skilfully brings out the multiple correspondences between the choral traditions that have become established over the centuries around the mystery of the Trinity.

(more…)

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross – Haec dies: Music for Easter (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:54 minutes | 1,16 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and director Graham Ross continue their series of music for the church year with a sequence for Easter Day that spans five centuries and explores the rich tapestry of repertoire from across the European continent.

„That most elegant of mixed Oxbridge choirs“ (Gramophone), The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, directed by Graham Ross present their sixth recording in Ross’s brilliantly conceived series based on the major festivals in the Anglican calendar. This Easter collection spans five centuries, including a world première by Matthew Martin, in a program exploring the rich tapestry of repertoire across Europe. Haec dies was produced by John Rutter, composer and former Director of Music at Clare College, in the glorious acoustics of All Hallows’ Church.

(more…)