Hail, O Queen by Various, De la (2023/2023), St Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

Virgin, Queen, Star of the Sea: Mary has had many names over the centuries. This Marian-inspired programme weaves together music that explores her shifting status as both mother of God and a young woman, through settings of texts both familiar and new. Under the direction of Nicholas Mulroy, our a cappella consort traces her influence across the centuries, from Kerry Andrew’s hypnotic contemporary miniature, Apples, Plums, Cherries, through the ecstatic richness of Bruckner’s mediation on Mary’s majesty, right back to the jubilant polyphony of Palestrina’s mass, which takes the glory of Mary’s ascension as its central theme.