Monday 8 June 2015

Sackbuts & Cornett for Corpus Christi in Sydney

Yesterday three sackbuttists and a cornettist augmented the Gentlemen of the Cathedral Choir for the Solemn Sung Mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, giving the polyphony (Palestrina's remarkable Missa O Sacrum Convivium and Victoria's Lauda Sion) a dulcet brass undercurrent.



Photos are care of the Cathedral staff.

Westminster Cathedral recently did the same for Midnight Mass (the ordinary was Palestrina's Missa Hodie Christus Natus Est).

The Palestrina Missa O Sacrum Convivium is one of the finest in the canon - I fell in love with it after hearing the recording by the Choir of Christ Church Oxford made when the choir was on top form (see if you can track it down on Amazon either as a single CD or as I did as part of the choir's collected volumes under the title "European Choral Music"). Here is a taste, care of YouTube.


Splendid music, with an unexpected brass embellishment, followed by a successful Corpus Christi procession (which for the first time in many years took place under brilliant blue skies).