Briggs: Hail, gladdening Light

by Trinity College Choir, Cambridge, Stephen Layton

Overview

Various releases celebrated conductor Stephen Layton's tenure as director of the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge as it approached its end in 2023. This one wasn't specifically so billed, but it serves the purpose; it is an ambitious album that exposes a fine composer-organist to a larger audience and shows that Layton was far from losing interest in the choir during his later years as its head. There are several major attractions, one being the Hyperion label's engineering work at the Church of Saint-Eustache, Paris, far from its usual British haunts. It is an acoustically imposing space, and David Briggs fills it with organ improvisations that exploit every corner of the church's instrument. These are interspersed among Briggs' choral compositions, which are an impressively varied group. The album takes its title from one of them, the anthem Hail, gladdening Light, which isn't far off from the usual fare of the Choir of Trinity College, but other works, extended in tonality, seem fascinatingly akin to Briggs' organ improvisations, and some hark back to earlier choral languages. Sample Briggs' recent Trinity College Fauxbourdon Service (2020), a Magnificat and Nunc dimittis that might be called neo-medieval. This album offers new music by an underrated composer, splendidly performed and engineered. Who could ask for anything more? ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	01/12/2024
Label:	Hyperion
UPC:	0034571284408
Rank:	41370

Tracks

1. 'St Davids Service'~Jubilate Deo
2. Prelude
3. Set Me as a Seal
4. God Be in My Head
5. Intermezzo
6. Surrexit Dominus
7. Toccata on Surrexit Dominus
8. Hail, Gladdening Light
9. Vexilla regis
10. Ubi caritas et amor
11. The Trinity College Fauxbourdon Service~Magnificat
12. The Trinity College Fauxbourdon Service~Nunc dimittis
13. Cantabile
14. 'St Davids Service'~Te Deum

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Trinity College Choir, Cambridge   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus
Stephen Layton   Primary Artist,Conductor
Jonathan Lee   Organ
David Briggs   Organ
Harrison Cole   Organ

Technical Credits

Joseph Fort   Liner Notes
Elizabeth Wang   Cover Illustration
John Keble   Text Translation
David Hinitt   Engineer
Venantius Fortunatus   Text
David Briggs   Composer
Simon Perry   Executive Producer
Keith Saunders   Photography
Michael Hudson   Photography
Adrian Peacock   Recording Producer
Todd Harris   Booklet Editor
Paulinus of Aquileia   Text