Choir of New College Oxford
Choir of New College Oxford
The Choir of New College Oxford, composed of men and boy trebles, is one of the leading choral ensembles in the world, celebrated for its distinctive and stylish performance of music from five centuries. You can hear the choir in choral services live in New College Chapel, Oxford, and via webcasts, on concert tours and on its 100+ recordings. The choir is directed by Robert Quinney.
More About UsChoir of New College Oxford
The Choir of New College Oxford, composed of men and boy trebles, is one of the leading choral ensembles in the world, celebrated for its distinctive and stylish performance of music from five centuries. You can hear the choir in choral services live in New College Chapel, Oxford, and via webcasts, on concert tours and on its 100+ recordings. The choir is directed by Robert Quinney.
More About UsJoin
In this section you will find information about joining the Choir of New College Oxford, whether as a chorister, lay clerk, academical clerk, or organ scholar. You'll find information about admissions to New College, New College School, and auditions for layclerkships, as well as details about our 6th Form Scheme, which offers prospective choral scholars the opportunity to join the choir for a service of Choral Evensong.
Find out moreChoral Services
The Choir of New College Oxford is one of the most celebrated and acclaimed choral groups of the UK. When William of Wykeham founded his ‘New’ College in 1379, a choral foundation was at its heart, and daily chapel services have been a central part of college life ever since. The choir comprises sixteen boy choristers and fourteen adult clerks; the latter a mixture of professional singers and undergraduate members of the college.
Find out moreFriends of New College Choir
To ensure New College Choir is still being heard beyond the walls of the college, particularly on recordings and in concert halls, we are launching the Friends of New College Choir to build a stronger connection between the choir and all who love its work. Click below to find out more about this exciting new scheme.
Find out moreParry: Songs of Farewell and other choral works
Novum NCR1394
RELEASE DATE: 28 September 2018
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2018 marks the centenary of Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918). We hope you will please consider our new release for review. As is well known, Parry was a dominant force in British music making. Yet recent scholarship has demonstrated how his music brought his native land into the European musical mainstream, through its assimilation of continental—specifically German—models.
This disc situates Parry’s music in its European context. Parry was a social and political liberal, and crucially—like all the leading British musicians of his time—his horizons extended beyond the island of his birth. His late set of six motets, Songs of Farewell, are among his greatest achievements in any musical genre, demonstrating his capacity for deeply affecting introspection. In this recording, they are prefaced by another sextet: the pithy Sechs Sprüche by Mendelssohn, which make clear the debt Parry owed to his continental forebears and contemporaries.
Moreover, this recording presents, for the first time, an early version of ‘There is an old belief’, edited by Robert Quinney from the autograph manuscripts in Oxford’s Bodleian Library and a printed proof copy. The evidence suggests Parry vacillated between two strikingly different versions of the section ‘serene in changeless prime’ until shortly before publication.
