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Track(s) taken from CDA67695

Behold it is Christ

composer
author of text
Acts 10: 42–3

The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice (conductor)
Recording details: July 2008
Merton College Chapel, Oxford, United Kingdom
Produced by David Trendell
Engineered by Justin Lowe
Release date: April 2009
Total duration: 2 minutes 42 seconds

Cover artwork: William Mundy’s Te Deum ‘for trebles’ from the Chirk Castle Part-Books. MS Mus.Res.*MNZ(Chirk).
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
 

Reviews

‘The new works are undoubtedly significant additions to the repertoire. On that count alone this recording is self-recommending. An even greater name among the new additions is that of Tallis … the predominant sonority is familiarly clear, transparent and assured … for the sake of the new pieces alone, lovers of this repertory will welcome this enthusiastically’ (Gramophone)

‘This is a beautifully conceived and exquisitely carried out program with much historical interest’ (American Record Guide)

‘You will never hear a more judiciously balanced, vocally better matched, nor technically more accomplished choral group than the 12-voice Brabant Ensemble. Founder/director Stephen Rice has assembled an exemplary company of voices aligned with repertoire that ideally suits the group's size and configuration. Combined with excellently recorded sound—from the Merton College Chapel venue favored by many choral ensembles—this production offers a program that's not only historically significant but that's worthy of repeated listening—intellectually involving, aesthetically pleasing, and emotionally engaging. How can you go wrong with that? Highly recommended!’ (Classics Today)
The Chapel Royal composer Edmund Hooper’s Behold it is Christ was popular in his own day. The music has an unusual intensity of expression enhanced by unorthodox twists of harmony and much use of false relations. The remarkable way in which Hooper threads the motif ‘whosoever believeth in him’ through the texture shows how secure was his technical control of contrapuntal writing.

from notes by David Evans © 2009

Behold it is Christ fut populaire à l’époque de son auteur, Edmund Hooper, compositeur à la Chapel Royal. Sa musique a une intensité expressive inhabituelle, que rehaussent des torsions harmoniques peu orthodoxes et beaucoup de fausses relations. La façon remarquable dont le motif «whosoever believeth in him» est inséré dans la texture montre combien Hooper maîtrisait la technique de l’écriture contrapuntique.

extrait des notes rédigées par David Evans © 2009
Français: Hypérion

Behold it is Christ von dem Chapel-Royal-Komponisten Edmund Hooper war zu seiner Zeit sehr beliebt. Die Musik ist ungewöhnlich ausdrucksstark, was durch unorthodoxe harmonische Wendungen und häufig vorkommende Querstände noch verstärkt wird. Die bemerkenswerte Art und Weise, mit der Hooper das Motiv „whosoever believeth in him“ durch die Textur fädelt, zeigt, wie sicher er die Technik des Kontrapunkts beherrschte.

aus dem Begleittext von David Evans © 2009
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Roedd Behold it is Christ gan gyfansoddwr y Capel Brenhinol, Edmund Hooper yn boblogaidd yn ei ddydd. Mae mynegiant y gerddoriaeth yn anarferol o ddwys, gyda throadau anarferol o harmoni a llawer o ddefnydd ar gysylltiadau ffug yn ychwanegu at hynny. Dengys y modd trawiadol y mae Hooper yn nyddu’r motiff ‘whosoever believeth in him’ trwy’r gwead mor sicr oedd ei reolaeth dechnegol ar ei ysgrifennu gwrthbwyntiol.

David Evans © 2009
Cymraeg: Helen Smith

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