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Sun, 10 Dec 2006

Christmas Vespers

Christmas Vespers at Westminster
Cathedral,
incl. Sweelinck, Tallis, Victoria, Shutz,
Langlais
the choir of Westminster
Cathedral, Martin Baker
LP, Hyperion

The cathedral not the abbey - it's easy to get the two confused and this is from the catholic cathedral just down the road from the abbey. Interestingly, and totally tangenitally, when I was last at an Abbey service last Easter, most of the congregation were catholics. Perhaps they were reclaiming the once catholic place.

The cathedral can be problematic for music in the sense that frequently, at minor services, there isn't much. Alternative places with very high musical standards are the Brompton Oratory (my home church, so I'm prejudiced) and Farm Street, Mayfair. However, the cathedral does have very fine music on certain occasions - and Christmas Vespers is one of them.

And this recording is, as is usual from Hyperion, a very nice capture of the whole thing. (Baron K)

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