Today I've chosen a setting of the Magnificat - one of our most-used texts in church. We say it each day at Evening Prayer and twice each month the choir sings different settings of it at Choral Evensong.
It is a familiar text, and a particularly appropriate one on which to ponder as we prepare for Christmas, but the setting I've chosen today might be new to you.
I've chosen Magnificat quinti toni by Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629), a late renaissance/early baroque composer based in northern Germany.
Many performances of this piece include interpolations of two German Christmas carols, Joseph lieber, Joseph mein and In dulci jubilo. I've chosen the performance by new up-and-coming ensemble Sansara, directed by Tom Herring.