Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Click cover art to view larger version
Track(s) taken from CDA66190

O magnum mysterium

composer
1572; 4vv SATB
author of text
Responsories at Matins on Christmas Day

Westminster Cathedral Choir, David Hill (conductor)
Recording details: January 1985
Westminster Cathedral, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: March 1987
Total duration: 4 minutes 48 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

The London Oratory Schola Cantorum, Charles Cole (conductor)
The Cambridge Singers, John Rutter (conductor)
Royal Holloway Choir, Rupert Gough (conductor)
Voces 8
The King's Singers
Armonico Consort, Christopher Monks (conductor)

Reviews

‘David Hill and the Choir of Westminster Cathedral have repeated the spectacular success of their earlier Gramophone Award-winning record’ (Gramophone)

‘Superb music, and the listener is thrillingly involved when the sound so successfully combines immediacy and body, yet remains admirably coloured by the Westminster resonance’ (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)

‘Magnificent!’ (Hi-Fi News)
The motet O magnum mysterium (published in 1572) has been a favourite of choirs ever since the revival of Victoria’s music eighty years ago. Although the original publication entitles it In Circuncisione Domini, its text is taken from a responsory of Christmas Matins and its use has always been as a Christmas motet. One of Victoria’s most endearing creations, it unfolds serenely, richly warm when it expresses the wonder that even the animals behold the Infant in the manger. Then a wonderful hush as Victoria musically caresses ‘O beata Virgo’. The final ‘Alleluia’ dances in triple time and then, with a welter of running notes, comes grandly to a close. The work is set for four-part choir (SATB).

from notes by Bruno Turner © 1985

Other albums featuring this work

A choral tapestry
Studio Master: SIGCD283Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Christmas Carols with The King's Singers
Studio Master: SIGCD683Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Noël
Studio Master: SIGCD754Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
O sacrum convivium
SIGCD127Download only
Sacred treasures of Christmas
Studio Master: CDA68358Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album
CSCD512Download only
Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...