The Choir of Merton College, Oxford, Britten Sinfonia, Benjamin Nicholas - Orchestral Anthems Vol. 2: Bairstow | Elgar | Ireland | Stanford | Walton | Wesley

The Choir of Merton College reunites with Britten Sinfonia to explore some much-loved Anglican repertoire in its full orchestral splendour.Stanford in A, as it was originally heard in 1880, reveals its symphonic side, not least in the masterful and eloquently scored Nunc dimittis. Anthems by Elgar and Bairstow gain new life in their original scoring, while others, originally for organ, are given added dimensions by their composers' orchestrations.Walton's The Twelvematches W.H. Auden's striking and dramatic poetry with typically dynamic vocal and instrumental writing; Ireland's Greater love and Wesley's mighty Ascribe unto the Lord bring to the anthem tradition a richness of harmony and orchestral colour to which Benjamin Nicholas's combined forces do full-blooded justice.