Choir of Clare College & Cambridge - Ascendit Deus - Music for Ascensiontide & Pentecost (2015) [Official Digital Download]

The Feast of the Ascension, celebrated on the 40th day of Easter, is one of the chief feasts of the Christian year, in which the resurrected Jesus was taken up to Heaven in the presence of eleven of his disciples. The Feast of Pentecost, which falls ten days after Ascension seven Sundays (50 days, hence the name) after Easter Sunday commemorates in the Christian church the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. Both feasts are rich in imagery and in musical material. Many of the Ascensiontide works in this programme set all or parts of psalm 47, whose fifth verse begins God is gone up with a merry noise . 'Ascendit Deus' is a five-part setting of that verse in Latin by the English Renaissance composer Peter Philips, which leads to a triple-time Alleluia . Ralph Vaughan Williams s 'O clap your hands', dating from 1920, sets the opening verses of the psalm, performed here in the composer s expanded version for choir, organ, brass and percussion. Patrick Gowers, an alumnus of Clare College, is known mainly for his film and television scores, but his double-choir setting of 'Viri Galilaei' is much performed and was written for the ordination of the Bishop of Oxford at St. Paul s Cathedral in 1987. Graham Ross s expanded arrangement for choir, organ, brass and percussion receives its world première recording here, alongside four new works, commissioned by Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College in 2014, also receiving their world première recordings.

'all beautifully performed by this accomplished choir.' –Richard Lawrence Gramophone, April 2015

Performance: **** Recording: **** 'Wide-eyed keenness … Sonorous work here from organist Matthew Jorysz … Amid the muscular Christianity are welcome oases of reflection. Conductor Graham Ross's Ascendo ad Patrem meum is one of them, the stratospheric soprano saxophone of Anthony Brown piercing the layered choral textures, probing the mysteries underlying the observable events of the ascension period.' –Terry Blain - BBC Music Magazine, April 2015

'This is another very fine and varied album from Clare College. The singing is consistently superb in every respect throughout a demanding programme.' –John Quinn - Music Web International, 3rd April 2015

TRACKLIST
1. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – Ascendit Deus (02:14)
2. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross & Dmitri Ensemble – O Clap Your Hands (03:13)
3. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Matthew Jorysz, Dmitri Ensemble, Peter Harrison & Graham Ross – Viri Galilaei (06:56)
4. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – Was it a voice? (Music for Ascension Day) (07:51)
5. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Peter Harrison, Ben Michaels & Graham Ross – Let All the World in Every Corner Sing (04:40)
6. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Matthew Jorysz & Graham Ross – God is gone up (04:42)
7. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – Coelos ascendit hodie (01:52)
8. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – Messe: Credo (06:04)
9. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross & Anthony Brown – Ascendo ad Patrem meum (09:01)
10. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Peter Harrison & Graham Ross – Ascending into heaven (07:41)
11. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – Come, Holy Ghost (06:46)
12. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – Pinsesalme (01:26)
13. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross & Matthew Jorysz – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (07:42)
14. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – God is gone up (A Song for the Ascension) (07:17)
15. Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross – If ye love me (Bonus Track) (02:20)