Judith Weir:
Drop down, ye heavens, from above

Will Todd:
O Wisdom

Pierre Certon:
O Adonai

Matthew Kaner:
O Adonai

Bonnie Miksch:
There is no rose

Samuel Rathbone:
O Root of Jesse

Antoine de Mornable:
O Clavis David

Francis Pott:
O Key of David

Richard Allain:
O Day-spring

Michael Praetorius:
Praesepe iam fulget tuum

Gareth Wilson:
O King of the Nations

Stuart Turnbull:
O Emmanuel

Josquin des Prez:
O Virgo virginum

Ralph Allwood:
O Virgin of virgins

Siglo de Oro’s first commercial recording sees the choir and its director Patrick Allies in collaboration with saxophonist Sam Corkin. Their intriguing programme highlights the saxophone's natural kinship with the human voice, as well as the endless expressive possibilities which this versatile instrument stimulates in the imaginations of modern composers. Its athletic vigour launches Will Todd’s O Wisdom, the first of eight settings of the Advent antiphons in English which, having been commissioned by the present artists, now form the backbone of this recording. Elsewhere the instrument soars above the voices’ urgent prophecy and imploration, while the choir is heard unaccompanied in glowing renditions of sixteenth-century polyphony – works by Pierre Certon, Antoine de Mornable, Michael Praetorius and Josquin des Prez, whose music complements the atmosphere of quiet expectancy proper to Advent.

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This beautiful and compelling programme highlights the saxophone's natural kinship with the human voice, as well as the endless expressive possibilities which this versatile instrument stimulates in the imaginations of modern composers.