Martin Baker composed Missa O sacrum convivium! in response to a commission from Buckfast Abbey, whose choir first performed it on Corpus Christi in 2024. The work principally draws upon two chants of this feast, opening with the melody of the Magnificat Antiphon O sacrum convivium! as well as Caro mea, the Alleluia proper of the day, whose modality suffuses the work with brightness and joy, the spirit in which the Kyrie opens the work. The drive of the Mass emerges in a propelling accompaniment which comes to the fore in the Gloria, developing its chant-inspired melodies into a passionate tour de force for choir and organ. By contrast, the Sanctus exudes a spirit of trance-like concentration, introduced by the organ, but culminating in hushed a capella writing for the choir. The Agnus Dei follows in a similar vein to the Kyrie, with the major-key brightness of O sacrum convivium! thrown into question by a jarring, off-beat accompaniment that slowly fades back into the silence.

Dom Sebastian Wolff was a monk, composer, and long-serving organist of Buckfast Abbey. Fr Sebastian composed his Lullaby Carol for performance by the Abbey choristers towards the end of the twentieth century. This new edition draws upon a recently discovered older score of the carol, which, unlike the version used in more recent years at Buckfast Abbey, maintains a consistent rhythm of the melody throughout. Set in a lilting compound time, the simple beauty of the melody, which can be sung equally as a solo or by a group of voices, makes for an enchanting cradle carol, appropriate for both liturgical and concert performance.

The Graduale Romanum includes multiple antiphons to accompany the washing of feet that takes place annually during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on the evening of Maundy Thursday. Martin Baker takes these chants as its starting point for a choral piece designed to be sung in order to cover (but not overrun) the entire washing ceremony. Taking inspiration from Maurice Duruflé’s choral settings of Gregorian chant, the arrangement incorporates the metrical freedom and shapes of the plainsong neumes. The piece concludes with a setting of the words Mandatum novum, calling to mind the Gospel acclamation set chorally by James O’Donnell, which is included here as an appendix. A simpler arrangement with organ accompaniment is included as an alternative where this is more practicable.

This arrangement of the Easter hymn O filii et filiæ was first made by Martin Baker for the Easter Vigil at Westminster Cathedral in the year 2000. The work uses the ancient melody, believed to date from the fifteenth century, as the basis for a modern pastiche for choir, organ and congregation. The arrangement bubbles over with joy, at times even with giddiness, at the long-awaited arrival of Easter and revels in the return of the Alleluia to the liturgy after its absence during Lent.

This collection of fauxbourdon Magnificats, one for each of the eight tones, originated in a request to add to the settings available for the office of Vespers on Sundays at Buckfast Abbey. Fauxbourdons have been sung alternatim with chant for hundreds of years, and a considerable repertoire exists, particularly from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Many are in four parts and deploy a restricted ambitus across the texture; they can consequently feel rather plain on Sundays and feastdays when heard alongside ornate motets and organ music. The Magnificat, the Gospel Canticle, is the climax of Vespers, and requires a degree of solemnity on these occasions. Yet, while it has inspired many exceptional polyphonic and through-composed works, a more concise form of choral response to the chant suits the setting for which these fauxbourdons were commissioned.
This set is based on the model composed for Westminster Cathedral by David Bevan, a master of the form. They provide dignity and solemnity to the Magnificat, even – perhaps especially – on the greater festivals, and are an ideal length, neatly embracing the censing of the altar; yet each fauxbourdon encompassed an interesting and comfortably repeatable harmonic journey.

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. This new edition of his complete organ works has been prepared by Richard Lea as a companion to his recent recording, and is presented as an authoritative account of the works following extensive consultation with the composer before his death in 2022. This rich corpus of composition has explored a wide range of styles, texts and musical forces, and this new edition celebrates Wolff’s significant contribution to the world of organ music in the twentieth century.