This exclusive collection brings together 12 of Nico Muhly?s sacred works for mixed-voice choir. These vivacious fresh and dramatic pieces will make an impact whether in the church or in the concert hall and range from the intimate Lord keep us modest when we claim to the effervescent Bright Star Carol alongside service music such as Muhly?s Third Service. All are accessible to learn and offer choirs a new slant on contemporary choral music at its very best.  'Choral music has always been at the emotional core of my musical output. Even when I?m writing large-scale orchestral works (or indeed chamber music) I alwaysfind myself returning to techniques and textures I?ve greedily stolen from centuries of music from Tye to Howells early and recent. I try to design my own choral music primarily for use in worship where the measure of the success of the piece is if it helps guide the listeners? ears upwards and elsewhere as sacred architecture and the various rituals of the church themselves are meant to do. The specificity of music heard only in certain seasons is for me an important and thrilling element of the choral tradition: a Beethoven Symphony is welcome at any point in the year but an anthem for Candlemas works only then at a certain time of day and on a certain day of the year. With this functional spirit at the heart of the compositional process I hope that the music collected here makes equal sense in a concert setting. These works range from ordinaries of the mass to hymns to motets and represent a decade and a half of output.' - Nico Muhly

On the great feast days the Magnificat was given at the evening service in Leipzig following the sermon. Bach twice set this poem (Luke I 46-55). One of these compositions for solo soprano has been lost. Of the other Magnificat Bach composed his first version In E-flat with four inserted Christmas pieces prepared for the evening service that holiday 1723. His revision of 1728-31 In D Major omitting the Christmas movements was intended for use on any major feast day.Bach composed the motets for special occasions probably for the birthdays funerals or memorial services of prominent Leipzig citizens.In this edition five of the six motets are scored for acappella chouus: Nos. 1 2 4 and 5 for double chorus (SATB/SATB) No. 3 for various combinations of three- four- and five-part voices. Motet 6 is scored for SATB and continuo.