Burgon’s Magnificat, written in 1979 as a natural companion for his Nunc dimittis, was created for the Royal Choral Society and its chief conductor Meredith Davies. The organ’s flamboyant melodic riff, which supplies the anthem’s unifying feature, bears more than a passing resemblance to the late medieval estampie, a wild, dance-like instrumental form; likewise, the initial parallel fifths and brief canonic exchanges between the divided trebles bear ancient ancestral roots.

from notes by Andrew Stewart © 2006