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Cecilia McDowell Da Vinci Requiem, Seventy Degrees Below Zero
Cecilia McDowell

Cecilia McDowell Da Vinci Requiem, Seventy Degrees Below Zero

Cecilia McDowell

Label: Signum Classics
Format: CD
Barcode: 0635212074923
barcode
Catalog number: SIGCD 749
Releasedate: 07-04-23

This is Wimbledon Choral’s debut performance on a professional CD album (apart from this CD single ‘Pavane’ released by the BBC in connection with the 1998 Football World Cup)

2. These are World Premier recordings of the two works by Cecilia McDowall.

3. Both works featured on the CD were commissioned in connection with Centenaries and major anniversaries:

The ‘Da Vinci Requiem’: McDowall’s large-scale choral work, commissioned by Wimbledon Choral following their Centenary in 2014 and premiered to coincide with the 500th anniversary in 2019 of the death of Leonardo da Vinci.

4. Artists appearing on the CD are those that took part in the respective premiers of the works:

  • City of London Sinfonia gave the premier performance of Seventy Degrees Below Zero

  • Roderick Williams and Kate Royal were the soloists for the premier performance of The Da Vinci Requiem

“Da Vinci Requiem brings together my chosen Latin texts from the Missa pro Defunctis with extracts from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, and is structured in seven movements in the shape of an arch... It has been a fascinating exploration, aligning Leonardo’s extraordinary insights, both artistic and philosophical, with such a profound and ancient text. 

Seventy degrees below zero is a three-movement work for chamber orchestra and tenor soloist. [Inspired by work carried out by the Scott Polar Research Institute], the phrase for the title was taken from Scott’s Letter to his wife: ‘Dear, it is not easy to write because of the cold – 70 degrees below zero’. The scientific exploration and data collected by Captain Scott’s team at the beginning of the 20th century still powerfully underlies the research which continues to this day. It was with a desire to join the past with the present that I asked the poet, Seán Street, to write two poems to accompany Scott’s words: words from ‘then’ and words from ‘now’.” - Cecilia McDowall

Award-winning British composer, particularly known for her choral compositions.  One of the most popular living composers, ranked in 2022 at number 15 in the list of most performed living composers in the world, and the most popular British woman composer (Bachtrack Classical Music Statistics 2022).  Her music is commissioned and performed by leading choirs and her works are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3.