John Sheppard - Cantate Mass: The Sixteen
Two discs and only 4 of 20 tracks are the Cantate mass - there's also a good range of motets including many of Sheppard's best known pieces, such as the Christmas motet Verbum caro factus est and the beautiful Libera nos. If you need convincing of Sheppard's genius, just listen to the Amen of Jesu salvator saeculi, redemptis - taken individually some of the lines sound positively 20th century in their modernity, and in combination it takes your breath away - it's hard not to say 'he can't do that!' - but he does. Perhaps the only criticism is that the Sixteen underplay the clashes so they aren't quite as shocking as they could be. Even so, probably the best introduction to Sheppard now on the market.
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If you've information to add to our list (or a query), drop us an e-mail at music@cul.co.uk and we will include it here.
For information on getting sheet music, see our books and sheet music section. For information on getting CDs, including CDs of hymns and organ music for special occasions, see the CD section.
Church music information
General information
- The Royal School of Church Music provides a very useful site, particularly but not exclusively for Anglican churches, with courses, an excellent training scheme called Voice for Life and a lot of sheet music
- For general choral music, but also a specific church music section, don't forget Choral Net.
- The Anglican church music site - a very rich source of information and links to UK church and cathedral choirs.
- British choirs on the net. Just what it says! Some overlaps with the above, but both worth a look.
- Then there's the Anglican church music Web ring, with links to over 70 sites.
- An essential if you are going to make copies of hymn texts in booklets or overheads is membership of Christian Copyright Licensing International - it's not hugely expensive, but it keeps you legal. There are worldwide subsites, most popularly US and UK.
- And for a little light relief, check out the article Who was Caleb Simper? on the lost Victorian bestseller.
- A general UK church site which has a directory including music resources is Church Net
Church music to listen to/practice with
- If you need to practise hymns or carols, but have no one to accompany you, take a look at our organ accompaniment CDs
- A great resource is Hear the Choirs Sing, which has links to a huge range of audio clips from choral pieces. Not always the best performances, and often it is just an extract, but even so it's an excellent way to get the feel of a piece.
Choirs to join
- See the British Choirs on the Net site which has listings of over a thousand choirs (not all church choirs) both alphabetically and by location.
- For choirs in the Newbury (UK) area, see the Cope Music website, which also has information on instrumental and vocal tuition.
Organ composers
If you are an enthusiast for organ music, you may well be interested in a recent book by Dr John Henderson, the Hon. Librarian of the RSCM, A Directory of Composers for Organ. See www.organcomposers.com for more information.
- If you are looking for a half-remembered hymn, the Cyberhymnal's huge set of over 3,000 hymns (some with scores and/or MIDI) might give you a good starting point.
- The Silvis Woodshed. A huge collection of MIDI files of choral pieces to help learn parts.
- A smaller online hymnal, but with a good set of information/MIDI files etc. is Digital Hymnal
- If you want MIDI versions of hymn tunes that very from the funky to the bizarre, try the Family Friendly Churches' Trust site