Horslips - Tain (Expanded Edition) - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Hymn singing is fundamental in protestant churches, but not normally the subject of an album released worldwide. The musicianship presented here is singular, sung by two volunteer choirs with power and emotion. The inspired arrangements heard on this recording have developed over decades of working with wonderful choirs and congregations, as well as by singing with, and listening to, many inspired colleagues. Some of the descants were conceived for particular services, while other arrangements grew further for special occasions. Several of the brass arrangements were composed for the ordination and consecration of the Rt. Rev. Alan Gates as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 2014. Australians Michael S. Murray and Stuart Forster have worked together for more than 20 years, including conducting and accompanying in one another's Episcopal churches, Christ Church in Cambridge and Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, located on opposite sides of the river Charles in Boston, Massachusetts, and during choir tours throughout America and Europe. Waiting and planning for the right moment to share their combined parish traditions of engaged singing from the vast legacy of hymnody bestowed upon the Anglican tradition has been fulfilled in this album. The installation of the exquisite Schoenstein organ at Church of the Redeemer, the restoration of the acoustic in Henry Vaughan's exquisite architecture, and the publication of some of Stuart Forster's hymn arrangements made the timing just right. What you will hear on this album is a superlative combined choir of about eighty voices singing some of the best-known hymns accompanied by a newly designed organ as they've never been heard before.

The world premiere recording of Durey's L'Offrande lyrique (Op. 4), six songs set to texts by Rabindranath Tagore (recipient of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature) in French translation by Andre Gide, is a highlight of this collection. Musically inspired by the atonality of Arnold Schoenberg's The Book of Hanging Gardens, and often credited as the first piece of free twelve-note technique in French music, L'Offrande lyrique navigates a harmonic language which can hold clarity and vivid colour in Lumiere ! ma lumiere !, or blur into dark heavy clouded gesture in Les nuages s'entassent, effectively supporting Tagore's language. At times, the words seem to muse over seemingly unconnected piano motifs, before meeting- sometimes harmonically, sometimes not-sometimes walking the same path, other times meandering separately again. For Paris 1913 to include a world premiere recording of such important music, written over a century ago, is thrilling, and places Durey firmly alongside his contemporaries in the cafes and salons of pre-war Paris. Far from being overshadowed by the better-known composers in this anthology, these songs stand as a testament to the strength of French melodies of the era. © Andrew Matthews-Owen & Claire Booth Album Tracks 1. En regardant ces belles fleurs 2. innocence 3. À Chloris 4. Trois poèmes de Mallarmé~Soupir 5. Trois poèmes de Mallarmé~Placet futile 6. Trois poèmes de Mallarmé~Surgi de la croupe et du bond 7. Interludes~Le Pouf 8. Route 9. Offrande lyrique~Le jour n'est plus 10. Offrande lyrique~Au petit matin 11. Offrande lyrique~Les nuages s'entassent 12. Offrande lyrique~Tu es le ciel 13. Offrande lyrique~Cueille cette frêle fleur 14. Offrande lyrique~Lumière! Ma lumière! 15. Petite main 16. Il m'est cher, Amour, le bandeau 17. Je voudrais être une fleur 18. Trois poèmes de Mallarmé~Soupir 19. Trois

Album Tracks 1. Raggle Taggle Gypsy - Tabhair Dom Do Lamh 2. Arthur McBride 3. Planxty Irwin 4. Sweet Thames Flow Softly 5. Junior Crehan's Favourite - Corney Is Coming 6. The West Coast of Claire 7. The Jolly Beggar 8. Only Our Rivers 9. Si Bheag, Si Mhor 10. Follow Me Up to Carlow 11. Si Bheag, Si Mhor 12. The Blacksmith