3 Review(s)

Oxford Choral Classics: English Church Music assembles in two volumes around 100 of the finest examples of English sacred choral music. The second volume presents a wealth of service material suitable for use throughout the year. The evening canticles are given due space, with seventeen settings, including those by Byrd, Gibbons, Purcell, Walmisley, Stanford, Noble, Howells, Walton, and Tippett. Also included are settings of the Te Deum and Jubilate Deo, alongside seven settings of the Preces and Responses and two additional early Lord's Prayers. The selection is completed with three supplementary items: a set of previously unpublished Psalm chants by Howells, John Sanders's Good Friday Reproaches, and a written-out Order for Compline.Robert King has prepared completely new editions of all the pre-twentieth-century works, going back to the earliest and most reliable manuscripts or printed sources. Playable keyboard reductions have been added for the majority of unaccompanied items.