Daffyd Rees

Signum s second disc with the Choir of the Queen s College Oxford is centred around the concept of revelation , both divine revelation (particularly the apocalyptic visions of the Book of Revelation) and revelatory visions of earth and heaven. The bulk of the pieces on the recording are inspired by the extraordinary visions of John, the writer of the Book of Revelation, describing the ravaging of the world through divine judgement; the battles between good and evil; and the world s eventual remaking as a new heaven and a new earth in which death and suffering are no more. The disc features three new commissions, by Phillip Cooke, Toby Young and Marco Galvani, who was a final-year student at Queen s at the time of recording.

Coupling powerful interpretations with path-breaking scholarship, Contrapunctus presents music by the best known composers as well as unfamiliar masterpieces. The group’s repertoire is drawn from England, the Low Countries, Spain, Portugal and Germany, particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The scholarly facet of the group’s work – including the discovery of long-lost music and reconstructions of original performing contexts – allows audiences to experience the first performances of many works in modern times.