Mater ora filium - music for Advent & Christmas

For its Christmas concert, London Concord Singers and conductor Jessica Norton are performing two major British unaccompanied choral pieces from the 1920s, Vaughan Williams' Mass in G minor and Arnold Bax's Mater Ora Filium. The concert, which takes place at the Church of St Botolph without Bishopsgate on 14 December 2017 at 8pm, also includes Christmas and Advent music by Herbert Howells, William Matthias, Julian Merson and Kenneth Leighton.

Vaughan Williams' Mass in G minor dates from 1921 and is imbued with the composer's love of British 17th music, notably the music of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. Though its premiere was given in concert form, the work was intended for R.R. Terry and the choir of Westminster Cathedral. Arnold Bax's glorious motet Mater Ora Filium dates from the same period. Setting a medieval text, the work was inspired by Byrd's Mass in Five Voices, the work was considered by composer Patrick Hadley to be 'an unsurpassed example of modern unaccompanied vocal writing'.