Cathedral Music was founded in 1977 by Simon Hill, at that time Choir Librarian and Alto Vicar Choral at St Paul’s Cathedral and Director of the Myriell Consort, and Richard Barnes, Organist of Holy Trinity Brompton, Harmony & Aural Professor at the RAM, and Director of the Renaissance Singers. It came into being as a response to the accelerating contraction of the larger UK publishers’ catalogues, particularly in the area of church music. Its core customers and titles have always been the cathedrals and their repertoire, but over the last 30 years the catalogue has expanded to include nearly all genres of classical music.
Broadly our catalogue encompasses three categories:-
Publishing
- new music being published for the first time. Here our list of composers includes Sebastian Forbes, Patrick Gowers, Francis Grier, Grayston Ives, Nicholas Jackson, Richard Lloyd, Philip Moore, Barry Rose and many others
- new editions of older music. Our editors include Maurice Bevan, Anthony Greening, Peter le Huray and Denis Stevens amongst others.
- reprints of music abandoned by its original publishers, but which we feel still deserves performance and a place in the catalogue.
Retailing
Soon after Cathedral Music’s foundation we began to be asked if we could supply other publishers’ titles as well as our own, and so a retail business has grown up side by side with our publishing. Although we sell any classical music in print, we specialise particularly in finding for customers titles difficult to locate through being out of print, locked up in complete editions and similar volumes, or just obscurely foreign. In addition we are happy to advise on the competing merits of different editions whether by considerations of price, musicology, pitch etc. Our policy of buying foreign music where possible direct from its publishers means that we can save you the mark-up often imposed by other UK retail importers. If you have any sort of wants list, give us a try!
Hire Library
While our smaller pieces are available only on sale (in common with other publishers), we offer performing material for orchestral and large choral works on sale or hire. Hire fees are 30% of sale price per 3 months for choral material, or per one month for orchestral. Sometimes availability on hire marks our recognition of the fact that one or two titles, ones we feel it important to have available, may not reach the high presentational standards to which we aspire, but - unlike some publishers - we like to offer customers at least the possibility of purchase of each of our publications.
Other Services
Although we function basically as a mail order business, visitors are most welcome by prior appointment, and browsing is encouraged by the provision of tea or coffee! In our large music library we have what is possibly the largest private collection of cathedral repertoire in the country. This is often of help in producing copies for customers, particularly when (as is now increasingly the case) the original publishers no longer have master copies of items from their own back catalogues. Subject to copyright laws we are always happy to produce copies of any such titles we possess. Additionally we often visit large libraries such as the Cambridge University Library or the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris to hunt down customers’ requirements. Whether you are a new or returning customer, we hope we may be of service to you.