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The Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh perform A Spotless Rose on 22 December 2009.

The Gabrieli Consort makes their debut at the Sage Gateshead (Gateshead, UK) on Tuesday 22 December 2009 at 7.30pm with the a cappella programme A Spotless Rose. The programme, which was released as a recording for Deutsche Grammophon earlier this year explores the vast legacy of music in honour of the Virgin Mary, contrasting music from all over Renaissance Europe with works from the 20th century. Reviews in the press have been outstanding:

There can be nothing but praise for the breathtaking assurance and responsiveness of McCreesh’s singers throughout. – Gramophone Magazine

Time and again in this profoundly sentient collection of Marian compositions the Gabrieli Consort effectively bypass the whole self-orientated notion of ‘performance’, drawing the listener into what, in many of the pieces, is process of prayer through music. It’s magnificently sung here by the Gabrieli Consort, whom Paul McCreesh directs with passion and dedication throughout a CD I have no hesitation calling essential. – BBC Music Magazine

Programme
Josquin Desprez (c.1440 –1521) Ave Maria, virgo serena
Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Ave Maria
Giles Swayne (*1946) Magnificat I
Robert Parsons (c.1535–1572) Ave Maria
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) Hymn to the Virgin
Anon. (15th century) Ther is no rose of swych vertu
Thomas Adès (*1971) The Fayrfax carol

Interval

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) Stabat mater
Herbert Howells (1892 –1983) A spotless rose
Herbert Howells Here is a little door
Jean Mouton (c.1459-1522) Nesciens Mater
Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) Ave Maris Stella
Arnold Bax (1883–1953) Mater ora filium

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