Three Latin Motets, Op. 38: No. 1, Justorum animae
Charles Villiers Stanford
Recording
The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Stephen Layton
- Album
- Stanford: Choral Music
- Year
- 2016
- Length
- Period
- Sacred choral
- Listen
Painting
Jean Fouquet
The Right Hand of God Protecting the Faithful against the Demons, ca. 1452–60
The piece
Stanford wrote the three Latin motets of Op. 38 while organist of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Justorum animae was sung in the college chapel in February 1888. It sets the Offertory text from Wisdom 3, "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God," for unaccompanied choir.
The recording
The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge recorded it under Stephen Layton in 2016 for Hyperion. The album was a Gramophone Editor's Choice, and its reviewer wrote that "if any choir has justification to return to them it's Trinity Cambridge."
Other recordings
St Paul's Cathedral Choir under John Scott (Hyperion, The English Anthem, Vol. 2) and Winchester Cathedral Choir under David Hill (Hyperion, 1997) both recorded the motet.