Graindelavoix, the ensemble performing on this album, concluded a four-year residency at Fondation Royaumont near Paris with this recording.
Compositional Technique
Thomas Ashwell's Missa Ave Maria is a six-part composition for the Lady Mass on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, with the Ave Maria antiphon given in the tenor throughout the mass.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Both John Browne and Thomas Ashwell, composers featured on this album, shared the idea that music should make the text not just comprehensible, but also plastic and liquid, to move the listener through its material.
Composition History
The program for this album, featuring works by composers Browne and Ashwell, was prepared, produced, and premiered at Fondation Royaumont in October 2017, shortly before being recorded.
Compositional Technique
Ashwell's polyphony often combines a very high soprano voice and a middle-range alto with four men's voices, creating a striking tessitura that can be arranged into crystalline high choirs or dark-sounding low choirs.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in Beaufays, Belgium, at the Église de Saint-Jean l'Évangeliste, in October 2017.
Composer Biography
Very little is known about Thomas Ashwell, the composer of the Missa Ave Maria on this album; he was a chorister at St George's Chapel, Windsor, and later choirmaster at Lincoln and Durham Cathedrals.
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