The Tree of Life Daniel Taylor

• 1 Puer natus est 03:00
• 2 O Weisheit 01:45
• 3 O Adonai 02:40
• 4 Nesciens Mater 06:31
• 5 The Lamb 04:14
• 6 Hymn to the Virgin 04:06
• 7 O Spross 01:19
• 8 O Schlüssel 02:21
• 9 O Morgenstern 02:07
• 10 The Deer's Cry 04:03
• 11 Jesus Christ the Apple Tree 03:45
• 12 Salvator Mundi 02:57
• 13 Ave Maria 04:59
• 14 O König 01:26
• 15 O Immanuel 03:13
• 16 Hymn to the Mother of God 02:53
• 17 Veni, Veni Emmanuel 04:32
• Total Runtime 55:51

Info for The Tree of Life

This album The Tree of Life follows Daniel Taylor's successful 2015 album Four Thousand Winter.

Within this beautiful sequence of Christmas music ancient and modern we find a stillness that is central to the experience - an awakening. The Tree of Life takes the listener on a new journey drawing each of us through the notes and through the moments of silence between them. Here we remember and reflect, hope and give thanks.

These compositions span over two thousand years, from a sixth-century chant to the miraculous works of Parsons and Mouton to the remarkable compositions from today by Pärt, Britten and Tavener. Among the pieces we find the “Seven Antiphons” by Arvo Pärt, disarmingly impassioned, otherworldly; the extraordinary “Hymn to the Mother of God” by John Tavener, and Benjamin Britten’s transformative “Hymn to the Virgin”. In close kinship with these profound offerings, the restrained ecstasy of “Nesciens Mater” by Jean Mouton, the “Ave Maria” of Robert Parsons and the moving “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree” by Elizabeth Poston, bring forth a sense of serene wonder.

Recorded in London, England with esteemed producer Nicholas Parker and bathed in the acoustics of Saint Augustine, The Tree of Life features the Trinity Choir including choristers from across Canada and members of the Tallis Scholars, the Gabrieli Consort and the Monteverdi Choir. These are magnificent interpretations that Daniel Taylor directs with passion and dedication.

The pure voices of The Trinity Choir include the best of today’s soloists from England’s choral and vocal stars: Jeremy Budd, tenor; Ellen McAteer, soprano; David Clegg, alto; Nicholas Pritchard, tenor; Alexander Dobson, bass; Charles Daniels, tenor. The album was recorded in London, England with esteemed producer Nick Parker and engineer Andrew Mellor.

Daniel Taylor, countertenor
The Trinity Choir

Daniel Taylor
A Sony Classical artist, Daniel Taylor is one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world. Daniel appears on 100 recordings which include Bach Cantatas/Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner (for Deutsche Grammophone Archiv and SDG); Renaissance duets with Bowman /Actor Ralph Fiennes/TEM (BIS); Handel’s Rinaldo with Bartoli /AAM/Hogwood (Decca); Cantatas “Before Bach” with Collegium Vocale /Herrewege (Harmonia Mundi); Sakamoto’s pop-opera “Life” with the Dalai Lama and Salman Rushdie (Sony); Bach Cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan (BIS); a Bach recital with the Theatre of Early Music and a recital of Shakespeare’s songs (Sony); Vivaldi Gloria with the Bethlehem Bach Choir/Funfgeld (Analekta); Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater(BIS); four recordings of Handel’s Messiah, these being with the Montreal Symphony/Nagano (Universal), Kammerchor Stuttgart/Bernius (Carus), with the American Bach Soloists/Thomas(Koch) and a CD/DVD with Tafelmusik (Bravo Television). Daniel has recorded the CD/DVD of the Bach B minor Mass with the Ensemble Orchestral Paris/Nelson (EMI Virgin) and also a CD with the Kammerchor Stuttgart/Bernius (Carus). Upcoming recordings include Bach Cantatas with the Magdalena Consort/Chandos, Bach St. Matthew Passion with the Kammerchor Stuttgart/Bernius (Carus) and Handel Messiah with the Handel & Haydn Society/Christophers (Coro).

Daniel’s debut at Glyndebourne in Peter Sellar’s staging of Handel’s Theodora(recorded for Erato) followed on his operatic debut in Jonathan Miller’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda (EMI). He took the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo at the Edinburgh Festival. His North American operatic debut was in Handel’s Cesare at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Daniel receives invitations from an ever-widening circle of the world’s leading early and contemporary music ensembles, appearing in opera (Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, San Francisco, Rome, Welsh National Opera, Canadian Opera, Opera North, Montreal Opera and Munich); oratorio (Gabrieli Consort, Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists, Bach Collegium Japan, Les Arts Florissants, Berlin Akademie fur Alte Musik, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, King’s Consort); symphonic works (Cleveland, St. Louis, Lisbon, Philadelphia, Tonhalle Zurich, Toronto, Gothenburg, Rotterdam, Montreal); recital (Vienna Konzerthaus, Frick Collection, New York, Forbidden Concert Hall, Beijing, Lufthansa Baroque Festival, Carnegie and Wigmore Hall, London) and film (Podeswa’s Five Senses for Fineline – winner at Cannes and also of a Genie). Daniel Taylor is now recognized as “Canada’s star countertenor” and “Canada’s most prolific recording artist”.

Highlights of past engagements include Handel’s Messiah with San Francisco Symphony/Christophers; Handel’s Rinaldo with the Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood, Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Cleveland Orchestra/McGegan; Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Toronto Symphony/Oundjan; Messiah with the St. Louis Symphony/Christophers; Bach Christmas Oratorio with the National Arts Centre/Pinnock; Handel’s Rinaldo at the Munich Opera House/Bickett; Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Philadelphia Orchestra/Dutoit; Handel’s Saul with Bachakademie Stuttgart/ Rilling (for Hänssler Classics); Buxtehude Cantatas with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra/Koopman (Channel Classics); Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Taiwan National Symphony/Grossman (Koch) and Schnittke’s Faust Cantata with the Rotterdam Philharmonic/Gergiev. Daniel also sang at a Pow-Wow of First Nations in Alberta and on Parliament Hill for Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Minister of Canada. He appeared on German Television for the Prime Minister of Germany, on Spanish Television for the Queen of Spain and in a recital for the King and Queen of Sweden. With the Gabrieli Consort/McCreesh, Daniel toured Europe in Purcell’s Odes, appeared in recital on Polish Television and toured Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas; he also appeared in the Bach Christmas Oratorio with the Tonhalle Zurich Orchestra/McCreesh. With the Madrid National Orchestra/Goodwin, he sang in the Bach St. Matthew Passion on Spanish Television. With the Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner, Daniel appeared on the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage joining in concerts and recordings across Europe and North America. With the English Baroque Soloists/Gardiner, he appeared in Handel’s Israel in Egypt at the BBC Proms; returning to the BBC Proms in recital with the Berlin Akamus.

During the last season, new recordings were released : Handel Messiah with the Montreal Symphony/Nagano (for Universal), Bach St. John Passion with the Bethlehem Bach Choir/Funfgeld (Analekta); Daniel also appeared on the new soundtrack with the Cirque du Soleil (Universal). Messiah performances included Dallas Symphony/Rilling, Tafelmusik and a return to Los Angelas and San Francisco Philharmonia Baroque/McGegan. Highlights also included Orff Carmina Burana with National Arts Centre Orchestra /Matheus. Recital appearances across the United States culminated in his return to New York’s Carnegie Hall followed by his return to the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires for Handel’s opera Rinaldo.

Upcoming engagements include the World Premiere of Robert Lepage’s production of Ades’ The Tempest‘, Handel’s Messiah with the Minnesota Symphony/Halls, Handel & Haydn Society Boston/Christophers and the Toronto Symphony/McGegan, Bach Cantatas with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a recital with the Milwaukee Orchestra and also at Lincoln Centre and a recording of medieval music on the ECM label. Daniel’s latest recording was the new recital disc “Come Again, Sweet Love” on Sony.

As an educator, Daniel has offered master classes at the Beijing Conservatory, the Sao Paolo Conservatory, at the Royal Academy, the Guildhall and the Royal College of Music. He has also given classes at leading Universities across North America.

The University of Toronto recently appointed Daniel Taylor to the position of Head of Historical Performance in the Faculty of Music. Daniel’s responsibilities will include directing the Schola Cantorum Choir and Orchestra at the University of Toronto as well as coaching students in the Opera Department and maintaining a voice studio. Daniel is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa, Artist in Residence at the Opéra de Montréal and Artistic Director of the Quebec International Festival of Sacred Music. Daniel is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music. The Theatre of Early Music performs more than 30 concerts every year in concert halls all over the world.

Theatre of Early Music (TEM)
The Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music (TEM) records exclusively for Sony Classical Masterworks.The Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music is an ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians, sharing a particular passion for early music. Its formation is the result of a search by instrumentalists and singers for opportunities that would allow devotion and dedication to enter into the creative process.The core of the TEM consists of an ensemble based in Canada that is primarily made up of young musicians. Their distinctive style, coupled with its artistic director Daniel Taylor’s expertise and enthusiasm, leads to captivating readings of magnificent but often neglected works. In various combinations, leading international musicians in the field perform on the platform provided by the Theatre of Early Music in concerts conducted by Daniel Taylor in its regular series in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, on tours around the world and on recordings. The choir and orchestra of the TEM appear in some 30 concerts every year, recently having performed on stages in France, Argentina, Brazil, England and China. Future engagements include European, North American, South American and Asian tours in 2010 and 2011.

Guest artists performing with the TEM include Dame Emma Kirkby, Nancy Argenta, Karina Gauvin, Suzie Leblanc, Carolyn Sampson, Deborah York, Robin Blaze, James Bowman, Benjamin Butterfield, Charles Daniels, James Gilchrist, Michiel Schrey, Alexander Dobson, Michael George, Peter Harvey, Daniel Lichti and Stephen Varcoe. In Canada, the TEM is perhaps best-known for its performances of compositions from around the time of Bach; this includes choral literature by Kuhnau, Tunder and Bruhns as well as the early cantatas by Bach himself.

The Theatre of Early Music’s first recording on BIS, Couperin’s Leçons De Ténèbres (Blaze and Taylor) was released in March 2005; critics commented “Beauty of this recording bows to no other.” This highly-praised disc was followed by an imaginative Renaissance programme, Love Bade Me Welcome, featuring the actor Ralph Fiennes reading poetry as well as countertenor duets with Bowman and Taylor. Reviews were unanimous in their admiration for “the legendary countertenor James Bowman in magical duet with the remarkable young star Daniel Taylor.” The most recent release on the BIS label was the Vivaldi disc ‘Stabat Mater’ in June 2009, to be followed soon by the Pergolesi ‘Stabat Mater’ with Dame Emma Kirkby and Daniel Taylor.

The Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music, led by Conductor Daniel Taylor, now records exclusively for Sony Classical Masterworks. The best-selling debut disc on the Sony label entitled The Voice of Bach was praised in Gramophone Magazine as “serious music-making of the highest order”. The disc received five stars from both BBC Music Magazine and Classic Music CD, was featured on BBC’s “Desert Island Discs” and received acclaim worldwide including reviews from the Times (London), the Globe and Mail (Toronto), the New York Times, the Guardian (London) and La Scena Musicale (Montreal).

The Theatre of Early Music is motivated by a desire to communicate both text and music to their audience. The TEM explores the depth and substance of the early choral and instrumental literature, sharing their passion and ideas with audiences worldwide. The key aspect involved in the approach of the Theatre of Early Music is revelation: just as in modern-day we have restored the frescoes of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, so do we hope to reveal the original beauty of ancient works. Therein we hope to understand, communicate and celebrate this inspirational music.

The TEM became a registered non-profit organization in 2002 and a charitable organization in August 2004. We continue to value and appreciate the generous contributions of music lovers across Canada

Quebec’s Le Soleil described the Choir of the TEM conducted by Daniel Taylor in concert: “Listening to the 20 pure angelic voices had already moved many to tears. The mix of light but exact timbres conserves a texture that is lithe yet at times sumptuous. The text is sustained and respects the music of the language. Clear intonation and balance were in evidence: unity and cohesion particularly strong. Daniel Taylor directs as he sings, this is to say with an ease and economy of gestures. The result is a most moving ensemble that could not be more supple, more pleasing. Every moment spoke to the audience and answered perfectly, providing it seemed what the audience was searching for. At a concert entitled ‘The Path to Paradise’, apparently, many had found their path.”

This album contains no booklet.