On this week’s episode of Re-choired Listening (September 9, 2026), The Choral Alphabet continues with choral composers with surnames beginning with the letter ‘N’.

We hear a rare commercial recording by the choir of the Sistine Chapel of music by the Renaissance Roman composer Giovanni Maria Nanino.

His Nativity motet is then complemented by two more Christmas songs, by the modern American composer Paul Nelson, and the Danish master of the last century, Carl Nielsen.

This brings us neatly to the latter’s masterpiece, the Three Motets (op. 55), inspired by Renaissance polyphony: they’re fiendishly demanding, so rarely heard.

Then it’s north of the Danish border to Norway, and motets and prayers created by Knut Nystedt.

We finish with a masterpiece from Edward England, the majestic motet Vox Dicentis by E. W. Naylor, and a sweet postscript from the Willie Wonka movie, courtesy of the British songwriting team of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.

Learn more about Philip Barnes and this program here: Re-Choired Listening with Philip Barnes – Classic 107.3

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