The Magnificat was commissioned by Francis Grier for the choir of Christchurch, Oxford, in 1982 with funds provided by the Southern Arts Association. It is a unique setting of very familiar words and has become a classic work in the choral catalogue. The Magnificat canticle forms a central part of both Vespers and the Anglican office of Evensong and this setting for double choir in Latin delights in the daringly unconventional interpolation of zulu warrior chant interwoven between ‘Stravinskian’ ostinati-dominated polyphony. Swayne’s distanced approach to specific textual nuance shares a similarity with the great Magnificat settings of the sixteenth century (Victoria, Palestrina, Vivanco, Ortiz, etc.), but the pointillist dabs of colour, the ostinati and increasingly wide-leaping lines place this very firmly in its contemporary milieu.

from notes by Jeremy Filsell © 2003