Osgood: Magnificat Clive Osgood, Excelsis, Amy Carson, London Mozart Players & Robert Lewis

• Clive Osgood (b. 1977): Magnificat:
• 1 Osgood: Magnificat: i. Magnificat, anima mea 03:43
• 2 Osgood: Magnificat: ii. Et exultavit spiritus 04:01
• 3 Osgood: Magnificat: iii. Quia respexit 03:33
• 4 Osgood: Magnificat: iv. Et misericordia 05:03
• 5 Osgood: Magnificat: v. Fecit potentiam 03:12
• 6 Osgood: Magnificat: vi. Esurientes implevit 02:50
• 7 Osgood: Magnificat: vii. Suscepit Israel - Gloria 09:21
• Total Runtime 31:43

Info for Osgood: Magnificat

This new large-scale setting of the Magnificat has been written as a companion piece to J.S. Bach’s famous setting (BWV 243). Although making use of a more contemporary musical language, it uses similar instrumentation, follows the same framework of chorus and solo movements, and makes use of a number of features that are typical of Bach’s music.

Composer’s Notes: It also makes extensive use of a particular Gregorian plainchant, the ‘tonus peregrinus’, or ‘wandering tone’, that Bach used in both his Latin setting of the Magnificat (No. 9. Suscepit Israel), and more extensively within his German setting (Cantata 10).

The opening movement, in the manner of an overture, begins with a grand introduction leading to a faster section with fugal textures. This is followed by Et exultavit spiritus for soprano soloist, which turns the tonus peregrinus into a rhythmic dance. Movement three, Quia respexit uses the first phrase of the chant as a ground bass, in a chaconne of increasing intensity. This is contrasted in the slow and peaceful movement that follows, Et misericordia. In this piece, two gentle contrasting themes are eventually brought together with the movement ending in stillness.

The pace quickens in Fecit potentiam, in which the tonus peregrinus is hammered out in separate chords. Later the choir sing forcefully in unison Deposuit potentes (he hath put down the mighty). The musical tension is maintained to the end but then resolved in the following movement for soprano soloist, Esurientes implevit, this time joined in duet with a flute.

The tonus peregrinus is used to introduce the final movement, Suscepit Israel, and is then heard in various guises as the music intensifies, then calms. The reappearance of music from the opening movement announces the Gloria Patri, which draws the music to a grand conclusion.

Amy Carson, soprano
Excelsis
London Mozart Players
Robert Lewis, direction

Amy Carson
began her singing career as the youngest founding girl chorister at Salisbury Cathedral, and went on to study at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music.

From a young age Amy has been performing and recording in venues around the world, both as a soloist and as an ensemble singer. She is a versatile artist, who performs recital, oratorio and operatic repertoire and whose regular commitments in both choral and solo contexts mean she enjoys exciting and diverse performance opportunities.

Highlights of Amy’s operatic roles include Pamina (in a film of The Magic Flute directed by Kenneth Branagh), Soprano chorus in The Rakes Progress and cover Alinda in L’incoronazione di Dario (Garsington Opera), Amy Cumnor in The Cumnor Affair (Tete a Tete Opera), Susanna in Marriage of Figaro and Constance in Dialogue des Carmelites (Royal Academy Opera Scenes), Musetta in La Boheme (Choir of London, conducted by Nick Collon), Galatea in Acis and Galatea (Music for a While directed by Margaret Faultless), The Spirit in Dido and Aeneas (alongside Magdalena Kožená conducted by Nicholas Kraemer), Soprano Role in The Fairy Queen (at The Wigmore Hall conducted by Matthew Halls), Newspaper Seller and Strolling Girl in Death in Venice (The Queen Elizabeth Hall conducted by Richard Hickox and at St Endellion Festival conducted by Martyn Brabbins).

On the concert platform, Amy has sung much of the core repertoire from Monteverdi to MacMillan, and has appeared as a soloist at many of the UK’s most prestigious venues including the Barbican, Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall and The Queen Elizabeth Hall. Highlights include singing the Semi Chorus in the premiere of James MacMillan’s St John Passion with the LSO (Barbican) conducted by Colin Davis; Soprano soloist in St Matthew Passion (Barbican) and Bach Cantata BWV 79 (Royal Albert Hall BBC Proms) with The Monteverdi Choir conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner and a consort performance of St John Passion with the OAE directed by Mark Padmore, which toured Japan and Korea.

Amy has sung with many of the UKs leading ensembles (with solo appearances) including Solomon’s Knot, The Sixteen, The Monteverdi Choir, Tenebrae, The Gabrieli Consort, London Voices, Philharmonia Voices, Contrapunctus and The Choir of the Enlightenment.

Recent projects include: singing solos with The Gabrieli Consort in Versailles, London, Gdansk, Rotterdam, featuring as one of an ensemble of five singers on the new album by Nick Cave, singing in ‘Bach, the universe and everything’ with The OAE, singing BWV 210 with Music for A While, led by Maggie Faultless, singing with ORA and recording with Aurora Nova.

The London Mozart Players
has been the resident orchestra at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls for thirty years, and in September 2019 enjoyed a gala concert to celebrate the Halls’ reopening. As Croydon’s resident orchestra, the ensemble has shown an invigorated and growing commitment to the borough’s cultural life. In 2016, LMP relocated its office from Fairfield Halls to St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, undertaking a programme of initiatives within the local community. The orchestra has brought classical music stars Nicola Benedetti, Michael Collins and Sheku Kanneh-Mason to Upper Norwood in world-class performances, and its annual St John’s season has included family concerts and collaborations with local community groups and schools. During the closure of Fairfield Halls for refurbishment, the orchestra took classical music to new and unusual venues across Croydon in its award-winning three-year series #LMPOnTheMove. This saw the ensemble pushing the perceived boundaries of classical music performance in the borough, welcoming new audiences and partnerships. Events included a live film score played on top of a shopping mall car park, a house music set at Boxpark with young DJ/producer Shift K3Y, free concerts in libraries for children and a series of musical initiatives in Centrale. [..]

Robert Lewis
A conductor, performer and educator, Robert specialises in nurturing emerging young talent and working with them to create their unique musical voice through the recording process and beyond. Early training as chorister at Westminster Cathedral and later at New College, Oxford; also led to an eclectic musical career in the fields of jazz and pop, giving him wider experience to bring to the modern classical market. Robert’s recent recordings with treble Cai Thomas continue to attract millions of views on social media, and he regularly conducts leading orchestras and choirs.

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