Recordings of my music

A New Spirit

My continuing relationship with the Kent chamber choir, Caritas and their conductor Benedict Preece continues with this wonderful release (in October 2024) A New Spirit. The album contains three of my motets: Christus Resurgens (2023), Veni Sponsa Christ (2015) and O Lord, Save Thy People (2022) as well as unrecorded works by James MacMillan, Andrew Smith and Henrik Dahlgen (who also happens to be my PhD student). The choir are having two launch concerts in Kent and London (12 & 19 October), the London one I am hoping to attend.

19/10/24: Great to attend the London launch concert at the Holy Sepulchre Church in Holborn. Fantastic concert, wonderful music and lovely to connect with the choir again.

02/12/24: Nice review on the website Interlude particularly of my motet Veni Sponsa Christi - ‘This work is very much of the new school of choral writing – direct and pressing. The opening word, Veni (Come), is a direct call to its hearers to take action. From its opening imperative command to its closing Alleluias, the work’s careful balancing of dissonance and climax gives us an exciting work.’

24/12/24: Another nice review, this time from The Gramophone which states ‘for an edgier and more full-blooded idiom, try the sopranos attack at the beginning of Phillip Cooke’s Veni Sponsa Christi or the equally striking Christus Resurgens.’ A fantastic review all round.

14/02/24: A lovely review from the webiste Textura which states: ‘The fifty-four-minute release opens auspiciously with Cooke's soaring Christus resurgens, its Easter text taken from Romans, 6:9, verses 9-10. The high-volume intensity with which it begins doesn't continue throughout, however: contrast arises when the resounding “Christus” declamations are countered by introspective passages until a repeated “Alleluia” brings the work to a powerful end.’ The full review goes on to say: ‘A work that exploits dynamic extremes, Cooke's Veni Sponsa Christi repeats “Veni” as a direct call to action but is as memorable for its hushed passages as its fortissimo “Alleluias.” Its incorporation of dissonance also lends it distinguishing character, as does the stirring obbligato solo Heyward delivers midway through. A supplicating and humble spirit permeates Cooke's O Lord, save thy people, which was written for the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music and is dedicated to the people of Ukraine. An atmospheric work, the material is made even more chilling by the inclusion of humming.’