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    Track 1 - In Paradisum for Night Time

    Album Release - 8th September 2024

  • Anna Johnstone 1997

    Anna Johnstone

    'Throughout my childhood I sang hymns as though my life depended on it. I was passionate about singing to heaven; singing to the Holy Trinity -to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When I was 5 my headmistress stood me on the blocks at the front of the whole school assembly and said that she wished that everyone sang with as much enthusiasm as this little first year infant.

     

    When I was 18 I heard the English Baroque Choir rehearsing a great choral work in a school hall in London. I wanted to be part of that glorious and angelic music....

     

    And so the journey of singing lessons began... in London...in Italy....

     

    One of the highlights and priveleges of my life was singing as a Cantor at Westminster Cathedral for nearly 20 years.

     

    I still sing.....I still pour out my heart in music to my Father in Heaven. For now I sing alone with Jesus, surrounded by Angels. It's my joy, my privilege, my purpose...... '

     

     

    Photo: Anna Johnstone 1996 by Peter Mares

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • May the Angels Lead you into Paradise

    'I have always prayed that those who feel a connection with my music will one day find their way to heaven.'

    Mary, Music and Angels

    'Before I realised how much I loved our Blessed Lady, Mary, Queen of Heaven and earth, I used to sing her Ave Marias. And then I fell in love with our Heavenly Mother, our Heavenly Queen. I realised that in conceiving our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit she was the Spouse of God and the most passionate, beautiful, womanly woman who has ever lived. She is Beauty, Humility, Grace. She is Queen of all the Angels. I never consciously planned my recordings to revolve so much around Mary and the Angels, but, with the passage of time it feels entirely natural that they should.... '

    Recordings

    'Over the years I have made recordings. And I am still recording...... But I have barely shared what I have recorded. Now, in 2024, I am beginning to release all the music. Gradually, step by step, the music and its story will appear here.....'

     

  • In Paradisum for Night Time

    A sung decade of the Holy Rosary, including 10 different settings of Ave Maria

    Fading out with Caccini's Ave Maria.....to send you to sleep....

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    Album

    Release Date:

    8th September 2024

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • In Paradisum for Night Time

    Album Information

    1

    Tracks

    Quando Corpus Pergolesi

    Pater Noster Plainsong

    Ave Maria Plainsong

    Ave Maria Bach Gounod

    Ave Maria Schubert

    Ave Maria Saint Saens

    Ave Maria Saint Saens

    Ave Maria Estorninho

    Ave Maria Mascagni

    Ave Maria Marschner

    Ave Maria Arcadelt

    Ave Maria Caccini

    Gloria Plainsong

    Salve Regina Plainsong

    In Paradisum Faure

     

    Gradually fading out,

    repeats of

    Ave Maria Caccini

    Ave Maria Caccini

    Ave Maria Plainsong

    Ave Maria Plainsong

    Ave Maria Plainsong

     

     

    2

    Artists

    Anna Johnstone

    Soprano

     

    Thomas Wilson

    Organ

     

    Track 1

    Madeleine Wilson

    Mezzo Soprano

    3

    Recorded

    in Westminster Cathedral

    24 August 2005

     

    Engineer and Production

    Neil Hutchinson

    Classic Sound Ltd

  • Singles

    From the Album: In Paradisum for Night Time

    First three released Online: including Spotify, Itunes and Amazon

    in August and September 2024

     

    Tap the image to listen to the first three on YouTube

     

    The last six will be released as Singles on 21st November and 8th December 2024

    Ave Maria, Schubert
    Ave Maria, Bach Gounod
    Ave Maria in E, Saint Saens
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  • Tchaikovsky

    As well as hymns, there was a classical composer who grabbed my soul as a child, who remains my favourite classical composer and who must have had a role in leading me to my adventures in Siberia in my 20s.....all of which I will come to.....

    But first I will share with you Tchaikovsky's great 'Hymn of the Cherubim,' which is an excerpt from the 'Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.'

     

    'We, who mystically represent the Cherubim,

    And chant the thrice-holy hymn to the Life-giving Trinity,

    Let us set aside the cares of life

    That we may receive the King of all,

    Who comes invisibly escorted by the Divine Hosts.' 

  • My Father

    The happiness of having a gentle, tender father by whom one is adored! ........

     

    So there is no mystery in how my heart found my Heavenly Father so easily.

    My earthly father (an Anglican cleric for 33 years, a Catholic Priest now 25 years) taught me that God the Father is Abba - Daddy - and that our Abba/Daddy in Heaven loves all his children.

    Here I am baptised in my father's arms one month after being born.....

     

     

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  • My Sisters

     

    Rachel and Katherine

    My Father, with his wide pastoral experience, has always said that he has never met a family who hasn't been visited by suffering. In my family, after my birth, my parents conceived twins, Rachel and Katherine. Sadly Katherine was still born and Rachel, pictured here with me, was born severely disabled. She died when she was 11. Rachel has had a tremendous impact on my life, as I will descibe with photos and the song that I used to sing to her.....

    But first...

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  • This is a beautiful Requiem by Joseph Estorninho. It was composed to mourn all babies who have died before birth. It is a tender, beautiful, impassioned piece of music that deserves to be better known. I hope that one day it will bring much comfort to those who have lost loved ones.

    By the time I sang this in 2004, there was much in my heart.

     

    But amongst all of it, there were, still, my Sisters, Katherine and Rachel; Katherine lost before birth and Rachel, whose innocence was indisputable, who died aged 11.

     

    In my Sisters' memory I share this Requiem for the Innocents

     

     

     

     

    The Performers are

    Anna Johnstone

    Makiko Hiratsuka

    David Clasen

     

    Conducted by John Harmar-Smith

    Recorded at the Church of St Alban the Martyr, Brooke Street, London, 14/15 February 2004

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    Stabat Mater

     

    Release day 12 December 2024

     

    More details coming soon

  • More coming soon

     

    Please note: the story, music and photos will unfold more or less chronologically

    Watch this space!

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