The second release in our Magnificat series features nine settings of the Evening Canticles, sung daily at Evensong. The recording features Howells Collegium Regale and Julian Anderson's St John's Service, as well as settings by Berkeley, Jackson, Pärt, Sumsion, Swayne, Walton & Watson.

The nine settings of Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis featured on Magnificat 2 fall into two groups - four by celebrated Organist-Composers, written between 1932 and 1952, and four by non-church musicians from 1974-1989. The recording culminates with a contemporary setting by Julian Anderson, composed for the 150th anniversary of St John’s Chapel, a neat follow-on from the previous album’s final track of canticles by Michael Tippett, commissioned for the College’s 450th anniversary.

The aim of the recording is to compare the varied ways in which composers have created musical form out of these timeless texts, and Andrew Nethsingha has selected these choices due to a variety of links between them. These include notable clergymen-commissioners of the mid-twentieth century; Christ Church, Oxford as the place Walton was chorister, Watson was Organist and for which Swayne composed Magnificat I; and French influences for both the works by Berkeley and Anderson.

This album follows the first volume of Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis settings, titled simply Magnificat, released in 2019. This first volume was given five stars by Choir & Organ, and The Observer called it ‘inventive and brilliant’. The two volumes are designed to compliment one another, with the first in the series starting earlier (Stanford, 1880s) and the second bringing the listener up to the present day. Volume One was ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone.

Our Director of Music, Andrew Nethsingha, said:

“I am very excited to be releasing this disc, especially at a time when the choir has been unable to sing to a public congregation for over a year. I think it is perhaps the best recording the choir and I have made during my first 14 years at St John’s. This is music which we live with day by day, and interpretations deepen over time. I am keen to share this fine repertoire with others. It fascinates me how the two texts, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, can provoke such varied responses from composers.”

Composer Julian Anderson, said:

“I was enormously excited to be invited to compose my Evening Canticles for Andrew Nethsingha and the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. I want to thank all the performers for giving the work such a splendid launch, and for the magnificent recording on this CD. The work is dedicated to Andrew Nethsingha.”

The album includes illuminating booklet notes, featuring an introduction from former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, alongside Andrew Nethsingha’s conductor reflections and a note from Julian Anderson, with scans of the original manuscripts of the works. This is thought to be the first time that all of these manuscripts have been published. The booklet can be viewed below.