Gabrieli's Rose Magnificat

The centre-piece of Gabrieli and Paul McCreesh's new programme A Rose Magnificat at St John's Smith Square on Thursday 8 June 2017 is a new setting of the Magnificat by Matthew Martin. Martin's A Rose Magnificat interpolates a setting of the traditional canticle with verses from the Medieval poem There is no rose which meditates, in a different way to the Biblical text, on Mary's giving birth to Jesus. McCreesh has surrounded this contemporary Magnificat with music celebrating the Virgin ranging from Robert Wylkinson's Salve Regina a 9 to Kenneth Leighton's Of a Rose. Wylkinson's piece comes from the Eton Choir Book and numerology played an important part in his thinking, the nine parts of the Salve Regina are allocated to the nine ranks of angels, whilst Leighton's sets another 15th century piece comparing the Virgin to a Rose. The concert is full of good things, Tallis's Videte miraculum and music by Howells, Taverner and Sheppard.

If you can't get to St John's then fear not, the concert is also at Winchester College Chapel on 9 June 2017.



Full details from the St John's Smith Square website, and, for Winchester, the TicketSource website.