Ad Fontes is a record label and publishing house founded by Buckfast Abbey dedicated to presenting the finest sacred music.
Given its roots within the Roman Catholic Benedictine tradition, the label specialises in choral and organ music drawn from that rich heritage, with a focus on the Choir of Buckfast Abbey and the new Ruffatti organ.
...The name of the label is taken from the Abbey’s motto, Psalm 41: Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus (Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God).
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Latest album releases
Sur le nom d'Alain: Organ music by Jehan Alain and Maurice Duruflé
Sur le nom d'Alain
Organ music by Jehan Alain and Maurice Duruflé
...
For his debut recording with Ad Fontes, Matthew Martin has brought together a recital showcasing two of the greatest organist-composers of twentieth century France: Maurice Duruflé and Jehan Alain. The lively voicing and colour of the Ruffatti organ of Buckfast Abbey provides the ideal vehicle for this programme, expertly captured in a building which lives and breathes the music.
L'Orgue Spirituel: Organ music by César Franck and Charles Tournemire
L'Orgue Spirituel
Organ music by César Franck and Charles Tournemire
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The organ stands at the spiritual heart of music heard in French Catholic liturgy. In this disc, Peter Stevens invites us to encounter two contrasting titans of this world, César Franck and Charles Tournemire, at one time teacher and pupil, who forged compositional idioms that continue to dominate the world of the organ and its use as an instrument capable of inflecting the spiritual sensibilities of French culture.
L'Orgue Grégorien: A year of chant-based organ music from the London Oratory
L'Orgue Grégorien
A year of chant-based organ music from the London Oratory
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Prizewinning performer Ben Bloor makes his debut recording on the iconic instrument with which he is so well acquainted: the Walker organ of the London Oratory, designed by Ralph Downes in 1954. The carefully constructed programme is one close to his heart: music centred around Gregorian chant, and takes in a liturgical year of plainsong-based works from 20th- and 21st-century France, Germany and England.
Lumen Christi: A sequence of music for the Easter Vigil
Lumen Christi:
A sequence of music for the Easter Vigil
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The Choir of Westminster Cathedral is the crowning jewel of Catholic church music and has been at the forefront of English sacred music since its foundation in 1901. This new disc draws us into the mystery of the Paschal Vigil, the very apex of the Church’s liturgical year, transporting us on a journey from darkness into light through a sequence of plainsong and polyphony.
Angelus: French Sacred Song
Angelus:
French Sacred Song
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Marking the hours of the day by praying the Angelus is a tradition dating back to the eleventh century. By the late nineteenth century, this devotional prayer was given musical life in Louis Vierne’s triptyque for voice and organ of the same name, whose first and last movements’ timeless quality is imbued with the repetition of the tolling Angelus bell hidden within the accompaniment...
Missa Festiva: Choral music by Flor Peeters
Missa Festiva:
Choral music by Flor Peeters
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Flor Peeters was one of the most significant Catholic composers of the twentieth century, whose deeply spiritual œuvre incorporates elements of Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony. This recording celebrates his Latin choral music, a perfect assimilation of the motu proprio of Pope Pius X in 1903, which was unjustly neglected following the Second Vatican Council but is now sung in both Catholic...
Processional: Organ music by Dom Sebastian Wolff
Processional:
Organ music by Dom Sebastian Wolff
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The name Dom Sebastian Wolff is synonymous with the music of Buckfast Abbey. Born in Ireland in 1929, Fr Sebastian became a monk of Buckfast in 1948, and has crafted a considerable oeuvre of music including settings of the Mass, responsorial psalms for the complete three-year cycle, and a Requiem. However, it is perhaps the organ which provided his greatest compositional inspiration. In this, the first recording...
Symphonie Romane: Organ music by Dupré, Widor and Tournemire
Symphonie Romane: Organ music by
Marcel Dupré, Charles-Marie Widor and Charles Tournemire
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Peter Stevens plays works by three towering figures of the French organ world. Charles-Marie Widor’s Symphonie Romane is a radiant meditation on the Gregorian chants of Easter Sunday, and the Fantaisie-Choral from Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique is a deeply spiritual reflection on two of the best-known chants of Pentecost: Veni Sancte Spiritus and Veni Creator Spiritus. Two contrasting pieces by Marcel Dupré bookend the...
Puer natus est: Christmas Day Mass from Buckfast Abbey
Puer natus est:
Christmas Day Mass from Buckfast Abbey
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The Choir of Buckfast Abbey presents music for the Mass of Christmas Day. Weaving between the Gregorian chant propers are George Malcolm’s evocative Missa ad Præsepe (Mass at the Crib), and traditional carols and festive motets. The much-loved hymn Adeste fideles opens the Mass, progressing from the original plainsong melody through to a dramatic new arrangement of the penultimate verse, epitomising the joy of the Incarnation.
Messe Da Pacem: Music by Pierre Villette, Yves Castagnet and Ravel
Messe Da Pacem:
Music by Pierre Villette, Yves Castagnet and Maurice Ravel
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The Choir of Royal Holloway presents the debut recording of Pierre Villette’s Messe Da Pacem in a new arrangement for choir and organ by Rupert Gough. Alongside the Mass is Villette’s well-known Hymne à la Vierge, and works by contemporary Parisian composer Yves Castagnet recorded here for the first time. The album opens with a new choral arrangement of Ravel’s ever-popular Pavane pour une infante défunte. The Choir is joined by alumna,...
Ave Maria: First Vespers of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Buckfast
Ave Maria:
First Vespers of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Buckfast
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The Choir of Buckfast Abbey presents music for the First Vespers of Our Lady of Buckfast, the Abbey’s patronal feast on 24 May. The Gregorian chant of the Monastic Rite is interspersed with glorious polyphonic works by Felice Anerio, William Byrd and Francisco Guerrero, culminating in the splendid Magnificat Octavi toni by Tomás Luis de Victoria. A thrilling new arrangement of the traditional devotional hymn Hail, Queen of heaven is the climax of this joyous service....
Vexilla Regis: A sequence of music from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday
Vexilla Regis:
A sequence of music from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday
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The Choir of Westminster Cathedral is world famous for its staple of plainsong and polyphony. The choir explores a wealth of music from this repertoire for the richest of liturgical seasons: Holy Week. Masterpieces of the Renaissance by William Byrd and Tomás Luis de Victoria are woven together with ancient Gregorian chants, including Pange lingua and Adoro te, and later penitential works by Anton Bruckner and Maurice Duruflé. Three of the Cathedral’s illustrious Masters of...
Pictures at an Exhibition: The Ruffatti Organ of Buckfast Abbey
Pictures at an Exhibition:
The Ruffatti Organ of Buckfast Abbey
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Martin Baker plays works selected from his inaugural concert on the acclaimed new organ of Buckfast Abbey. This magnificent instrument – the largest in the South West of England – was the first built in the United Kingdom by the renowned Italian organ builder Fratelli Ruffatti. Martin's programme opens with music by Dom Sebastian Wolff, the Abbey's long-serving monk, composer and organist. Other works explore each nuance and tonal variety of this innovative instrument, located in both the Quire and West Gallery of...