
O Gemma Clarissima: Music in Praise of St Catharine
The Choirs of St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Edward Wickham (director)
The Choirs of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, with their director Edward Wickham have collaborated once again for this album of Renaissance motets and hymns in praise of St Catharine – one of the most ubiquitous and beloved saints of the Middle Ages who also lends her name to the college (founded in 1473) where both groups are resident.
With composers as diverse as Palestrina, Jean Mouton and Richard Fawkyner (interspersed with Sarum chant for St Catharine) this programme of choral works spans a century in which the cult of St Catharine was at its height, representing the prayers and exhortations of pious communities towards a saint who might represent their interests in the court of heaven.
-