Price: £9.99

Cat No: BMCD701

In 2005 The Ebor Singers worked on a piece by Kerry Andrew, at the time studying composition at the University of York with Professor Roger Marsh. The music was a setting of the Latin hymn O lux beata Trinitas and it was so well-received by the choir and audience that the choir felt compelled to perform more of Kerry's music - and so this commission of Dusk Songs was born.

The Ebor Singers
Directed by Paul Gameson

The purity and youthful freshness of The Ebor Singers suits these fantastic choral works very well indeed. Please record more.

Choir Schools Today

A delightful release from The Ebor Singers. ...an intoxicatingly relaxed ambience.
Will Dawes

Church Music Quarterly (recommended release)

5 stars

Not every young composer has the opportunity to have their music performed alongside an established older generation and survive the experience. Kerry Andrew emerges unscathed. Dusk Songs is a setting of 12 liturgical texts for Compline. Influenced by world music and non-Western vocal techniques, she is able to create a meditative mood for the ending of the day. Andrew's flowing vocal lines and her deep feeling for text presage the emergence of a considerable talent. Moody's Canticum canticorum are three atmospheric settings influenced by Eastern Orthodox liturgical chant that maintains the reflective spirit of the CD. MacMillan's evocative A Child's Prayer and Christus Vincit touch the senses to bring a radiant ending to this inspirational programme. The Ebor Singers are magnificent throughout. I can't wait to hear more from this young group.

Shirley Ratcliffe

Choir and Organ

4 stars

Considering the anti-Christian ethos in the air these days, it is remarkable - and heartening - that so many younger composers are still writing for the church. There are two with University of York connections on this disc, Kerry Andrew and Ivan Moody. Andrew responded to an Ebor Singers commission for Anglican compline last year with 12 Dusk Songs, the disc's title work. Beautifully tailored to voices, the pieces are mainly tranquil. Exceptions include the vivid Gloria in the Nunc Dimittis and the controlled urgency of Hail, Gladdening Light. Moody's Orthodox leanings inspire three, more traditional, Latin settings from the Song of Songs, with warm, almost fruity, harmony well suited to the text. James MacMillan's fertile Catholic faith provides two anthems in prayerful, astringent vein, but exultant at the close of Christus Vincit.

The Ebor Singers under Paul Gameson adapt fluently throughout.

Martin Dreyer

York Evening Press

Current and former students of York University, the Ebor Singers under the direction of Paul Gameson have been performing and recording sacred choral chamber music since 1995. 'Dusk Songs' consists of the eponymous new setting for the service of Compline by East London-based Kerry Andrews, as well as Ivan Moody's "Canticum Canticorum I" and two anthems ("A Child's Prayer", "Christus Vincit") by highly regarded Scottish composer James Macmillan. Beautifully performed and recorded in Everingham Roman Catholic Church, North Yorkshire over two days during October 2006, 'Dusk Songs' is a captivating, enthralling journey which delves deeply into the rich and broad heritage of sacred choral music. Latin, Greek, English and Scots Gaelic lyrics are fused with eclectic musical styles; Andrews' interest in non-Western vocal styles sees her ultilising African, Norwegian, Bulgarian and Byzantine (to name but a few) influences in her compositions. Macmillan draws on Renaissance and Scottish folk melodies, and Moody's music is touched by Eastern Orthodox liturgical chant. Superbly presented with detailed liner notes, 'Dusk Songs' is a quiet delight.

Paddy Hudspith

www.crossrhythms.co.uk

Dusk Songs was recorded on 28th & 29th October 2007 in Everingham Roman Catholic Church, North Yorkshire.

Recording & Engineering: Christopher Barlow
Producer: Paul Gameson & Christopher Barlow
Editing & Mastering: Cloister Records
Design: Northern Storm Design

With thanks to Roger Marsh, John Potter and Neil Sorrell