Edmund Rubbra, the composer, was a pupil of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams and a close friend of Gerald Finzi.
Composition History
The Missa Cantuariensis, one of Rubbra's five Mass settings, was commissioned for Canterbury Cathedral and demands spatially separate choirs to heighten their interplay.
Compositional Technique
Rubbra's music is characterized by his love of counterpoint, clever working of melody, and a special sense of tonality with abundant enharmonic shifts and unique chord spacing.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Rubbra believed that music is discovered rather than created, stating that a composer's task is to find something that already exists in the subconscious.
Performer Biography
The Sixteen, the ensemble performing on this album, is recognized as one of the world's greatest ensembles, with over 150 recordings and a reputation for early English polyphony and Renaissance masterpieces.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Rubbra, who converted to Catholicism in 1947, believed that the highest function of music is to release one from personal preoccupation to understand the Divine forces that shape existence.
You might also enjoy...
Britten: War Requiem; Spring Symphony; 5 Flower Songs; Hymn to St. Cecilia
Rubbra: Mass In Honour Of St Teresa Of Avila; Missa a3; 5 Motets; 5 Madrigals
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
Hindemith: Messe - Apparebit repentina dies
The Britten Collection
A Ceremony Of Carols - Britten Choral Works II
Howells & Bax: Choral Works
Holst: Ave Maria / The Cloud Messenger / A Choral Fantasia / Part-Songs
