Awake My Soul

St Albans Abbey Girls Choir and Lay-clerks of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban

In January 1996, a group of 25 girls aged 7-15 and from many different backgrounds came together to form the new St Albans Abbey Girls Choir. This had been in planning for over a year and was now a reality. Numerous questions were in people's minds, but perhaps the most important ones were: 'How do you start a brand new choir from scratch?': 'What will they sound like?': 'When is their first service'. From the beginning, the girls worked hard and strove to meet the expectations of the congregations who were eager to hear them. Most of the girls had no experience of Evensong, of psalms, of robes or of processions.
Three years on, the choir now has its sound, its repertoire, its look, its identity, and its role - hence the title of this first disc 'Awake my soul'. As its original aim declared, it sings Evensong on Wednesdays and Fridays, which had formerly been plain days, and at other times when there are opportunities. This often happens at a particularly busy season to spread the load previously borne wholly by the Cathedral Choir of boys and men. The girls frequently sing with the lay-clerks and on some special occasions with the boys, but most often they can be heard on their own, singing Evensong in the quire of the Abbey.

This recording is a celebration of the achievement of the new choir's development over three years, with the encouragement and support of the successive Masters of the Music, Barry Rose and Andrew Lucas, and organ scholars, Peter Dyke and Simon Bell. As the girls go to different local schools, the constant help from parents arranging their families' lives around the girls' schedule is also deeply appreciated. The pieces on this disc are a selection of the choir's repertoire, covering a variety of styles, forms and forces, and reflecting the contribution of the Abbey Girls Choir to the regular worship in St Albans Cathedral.