The Magnificat Antiphons for the last seven days of Advent, the Great O Anthems, have inspired composers over the centuries and London Concord Singers present a survey of each anthem set by a different composer.
One anthem is sung to the original plainchant, another is in a setting by the seventeenth-century English composer Robert Ramsey, the remaining settings are by contemporary composers from Estonia, Poland and the UK. Those of Arvo Pärt, Pavel Lukaszewski, Bob Chilcott and Keith Roberts are from taken from complete settings of all seven antiphons. Cecilia MacDowell's, which was premiered earlier this year, is from a set commissioned from seven different composers by Merton College Choir. The Magnificat Antiphons are complemented by Andrea Gabrieli's for three choirs.
Other Advent music in the concert includes the premiere of Robert Hugill's motet 'Propre es tu plus', motets and anthems by Franciscus Banciardus, Victoria, Bruckner, Rheinberger, Howells and Richard Rodney Bennett.