Your basket:
There are no items in your basket.
Use the Buy? buttons across the site.
The following discounts will be applied:
over £20 for 10% discount on whole order
over £40 for 15% discount on whole order
over £60 for 25% discount on whole order
(P&P free on almost all orders.)
Bookmark and Share
Click album cover to view larger version
Stained glass window depicting the Annunciation in Seville Cathedral (1534) by Arnao de Vergara (?-?)
CDA66910
Superseded by CDH55313

Recording details: March 1997
Westminster Cathedral, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: September 1997
Total duration: 63 minutes 39 seconds

RECORD OF THE MONTH, CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE

'Exhilarating, full of variety, and spiritually uplifting. Westminster Cathedral Choir are on their very best form, incisive and thrilling. Very highly recommended' (Gramophone)

'Spellbinding: a really magnificent achievement' (Goldberg)

'The music and performances on this disc defy superlatives - just go out and buy it!' (Early Music Today)

Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599)
Missa Sancta et immaculata
Westminster Cathedral Choir, James O'Donnell (conductor)
LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS
Missa Sancta et immaculata
1
Movement 1: Kyrie  [4'29]
2
Movement 2: Gloria  [5'53]
3
Movement 3: Credo  [9'16]
4
Movement 4: Sanctus  [3'41]
5
Movement 5: Benedictus  [3'01]
6
Movement 6: Agnus Dei  [3'36]
7
Hei mihi, Domine  [4'40]
8
Trahe me post te, virgo Maria  [4'26]
9
Magnificat septimi toni  [7'33]
10
Vexilla regis  [10'40]
11
O lux beata Trinitas  [3'24]
12
Lauda mater ecclesia  [3'00]
Guerrero, Victoria and Morales together comprise the triumvirate at the pinnacle of the Spanish Renaissance, and of these Guerrero was without doubt the most highly respected in his time. Missa Sancta et immaculata comes from his first published collection of Masses (1566) and takes its theme from Morales's motet Sancta et immaculata virginitas ('Holy and immaculate virginity'). Guerrero expands the original four-part texture to include a second soprano line, and the resultant shimmering texture marks this out to be a truly remarkable Mass. This is its first recording. Two motets, a Magnificat setting, and three Vesper hymns complete this recording, the latter works beginning a long-overdue exploration of the wealth of Hispanic melody, a unique treasury in the chant repertoire. Lauda mater ecclesia is an extraordinary work setting a - somewhat smutty - text (now removed from the liturgy) in honour of Mary Magdalen.