“Be certain in the religion of Love there are no believers or unbelievers. Love embraces all.”
Rumi
“Each work on this CD focuses on a particular mood or sentiment around the theme of love, expressed in a musical language that echoes the origin of the words. I’ve drawn on texts from different faiths, from the fifteenth-century Zen master Ikkyu Soyun to the well loved thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians; from the Christian Mass setting to the fourteenth century Sufi poet and mystic Rumi, to the ancient Hebrew psalm 136 (135). And I’ve married a traditional Anglican text with a Catholic one, creating a truly ecumenical Magnificat. Within the music you will hear fragments of Spanish Sephardic chant, Christian plainsong, Sufi rhythms, and a Japanese lullaby to soothe the soul.”
Roxanna Panufnik
“a superb composer”
Gramophone
“one of the finest contemporary vocal composers”
International Record Review
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REVIEWS:
Sinfini website: "British composer Roxanna Panufnik's new album Love Abide explores the theme of spiritual love through a choral perspective. Andrew Stewart finds her music full of rewarding answers."
"Following a haunting Zen Love Song (Voces8 once more, again on tremendous form, this time with shakihachi [Japanese but-blown flute]), we have two different versions of Panufnik's vision of the well-loved Missa de Angelis, one congregational and other more elaborate. Both of them work beautifully and flow naturally..."
Gramophone March 2013