The Choir of Worcester College, Oxford sings songs of refuge and contemplation spanning four centuries.

From Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu nostri (1680), a cycle of short devotional cantatas that lift the spirit and calm the soul, to contemporary interpretations of the same theme by Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) and Gavin Bryars (b. 1943). Both draw on this musical tradition in very different ways, bringing modern harmonies to a timeless narrative.

Programme

Dieterich Buxtehude

• Membra Jesu nostri

Caroline Shaw

• To the Hands
• and the swallow

Gavin Bryars

• Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet