Grace Williams: Missa Cambrensis April Fredrick, Angharad Lyddon, Robert Murray, Paul Carey Jones, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC National Chorus of Wales & Adrian Partington

• Grace Williams (1906 - 1977): Missa Cambrensis:
• 1 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, I. Kyrie Eleison: Kýrie, eléison. Christe, eléison 05:06
• 2 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, II. Gloria: I. Glória in excélsis Deo 02:44
• 3 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, II. Gloria: II. Laudamus Te 04:03
• 4 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, II. Gloria: III. Domine Deus 02:42
• 5 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, II. Gloria: IV. Qui tollis peccata mundi 02:01
• 6 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, II. Gloria: V. Quonium to solus sanctus 01:04
• 7 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, II. Gloria: VI. Cum Sancto Spiritu 02:31
• 8 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, III. Credo: I. Credo in unum Deum 06:32
• 9 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, III. Credo: II. Carol Nadolig 02:00
• 10 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, III. Credo: III. Credo (conclusion) 01:40
• 11 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, III. Credo: IV. Beatitudes 02:41
• 12 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, III. Credo: V. Crucifixus 10:45
• 13 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, IV. Sanctus 06:44
• 14 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, IV. Sanctus: II. Benedictus 05:39
• 15 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, V. Agnus DeI 03:26
• 16 Williams: Missa Cambrensis, V. Agnus DeI: II. Dona Nobis Pacem 06:56
• Total Runtime 01:06:34

Info for Grace Williams: Missa Cambrensis

Inscribed to the memory of Grace Williams’s friend Nancy Elizabeth Jenkins, who died of cancer shortly before the work was completed, Grace Williams’s Missa Cambrensis is a full-scale setting of the Mass in Latin and Welsh, scored for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists, mixed chorus, boys’ choir, orchestra and speaker. The orchestral forces required consist of two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes, (second doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, two tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion (two players: cymbals, glockenspiel, tubular bells, tamtam), piano and strings.

Missa Cambrensis is Grace Williams’s magnum opus, the last major musical statement by a composer of rare integrity. It dominates all her other concert works, investing the score with a commanding, almost legendary status. A. F. Leighton Thomas once commented on ‘the essentially human quality of her music’ and this directly communicative aspect of her writing shines through the score. Her honesty and sincerity inform her individual treatment of the Latin text and the Welsh additions to the material are a natural corollary of the pride she took in her nationality.

As Malcolm Boyd concluded, the Missa Cambrensis is ‘a work of great power, rich in incident, generous in feeling, and exemplary in craftsmanship’. (Paul Conway, 2024)

April Fredrick, soprano
Angharad Lyddon, mezzo-soprano
Robert Murray, tenor
Paul Carey Jones,bass
Dr. Rowan Willliams,narrator
BBC National Chorus of Wales
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Adrian Partington,conductor

No biography found.

Booklet for Grace Williams: Missa Cambrensis