Set Upon the Rood 
New Music for Choir and Ancient Instruments
Choir of Gonville & Caius/Webber
Delphian DCD34154

The lure of reconstructing and reimagining lost worlds has hooked many devotees. While architecture and artefacts speak for themselves, in the case of music the task of re-creation is more speculative. We can copy and play ancient instruments, but we can only wonder at what music they produced. The European Music Archaeology Project and Delphian have been exploring this area.

In a parallel venture, Geoffrey Webber and the Gonville and Caius choir with typically adventurous spirit have given a new twist to ‘ancient and modern’ by presenting a varied and fascinating programme of contemporary works featuring instruments from the Celtic past. Using instruments such as the triplepipe, the Loughnashade horn, the carnyx (a type of bronze trumpet) and the lyre, together with a variety of texts (primarily medieval), the composers have created wide-ranging, evocative soundscapes that present the choir with expressive opportunities.

As expected, they relish these challenges, whether in James MacMillan’s thunderous Noli Pater or the ecstatic conclusion to Francis Grier’s Cantemus. John Kenny’s The Deer’s Cry melds all sorts of human sounds (vocalised and not) with instruments to telling effect. Harmonising with the disc’s title, Gregorian chants relating to the cross feature in Bill Taylor’s Crux Fidelis and Stephen Bick’s Set Upon the Rood. Works by MacRae and Wishart offer further insights in this absorbing offering.


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