This page describes the data held in the discography. Each entry represents a discrete performance of Allegri’s Miserere that has been preserved as a recording. Some original recordings have been included more than once where the recording has been reissued, and where the nature of the re-issue is considered significant.
Entry Titles
Title: the title of each entry is in the format: release-year – choir name e.g. “1964 – The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge“. Choir names attempt to reflect the most modern format of the name, particularly if a legal identity for the choir can be confirmed.
Album Title: the sub-title of each entry is the full name of the album or release e.g. “Evensong for Ash Wednesday“.
Excerpt
A relatively short description of the recording and its attributes that is presented in the Discography List or Archive view, and also presented in the detailed view. The Excerpt is used, along with the Entry Title, to support search engine optimisation.
Unique Identifiers & Ordering
Unique ID unique identifier (UID): Each entry has a unique identifier that represents the following elements: recording year – choir – conductor – label – release year.
The recording in 1963 by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, conducted by David Willcocks, released on the Argo label in 1964 is identified as: 1963-kcc-dw-argo-64, and its subsequent reissue in 1965 as a 45rpm EP is identified as: 1963-kcc-dw-argo-65.
Where releases are made in one year by the same combination of choir, conductor and label, a further modifier will be appended to keep the identifiers unique.
Sort order Sort Order: a numeric value used to manually control the order of the data for convenience and to allow for moves and insertions. The discography is ordered by the year of release and where multiple releases exist in a year the most commonly recognised release date will also be used. Where the precise release date is not known, the recording date will be used to support an editorial decision as to the most likely ordering. The use of a manual sort-order value allows the greatest flexibility in presenting the data. Where archive material is presented in the discography, it will reflect the date of the original performance – for example a performance of Choral Evensong from 1965 will be included in that year, even though the archive material was only made available online in 2015.
Last updated Last Updated: The detailed view for each entry notes the date on which that entry was last updated.
Original Releases & Reissues
Original recordingOriginal Release: An original release is defined as a unique performance issued as a recording for the first time either on a single medium or simultaneously on more than one medium e.g. LP & Cassette. Only significant reissues are included.
Original recordingReissue: A reissue is defined as an original Miserere recording that has been re-issued with a significant change or combination of changes e.g. packaging, medium, label, audio re-mastering or compilation.
Release & Reissue Linking
Any original release will list all the significant reissues that exist within the discography, and all re-issues identify and link back to the original release. The discography can easily be filtered to show only original releases or reissues.
Common Fields
Certain fields are common across the discography, which means they are defined centrally and not individually within each entry. This allows for entries to be grouped by these fields. In summary and detailed views, selecting these fields will reveal the other entries that are related to them. For example, clicking on “David Willcocks” as the conductor will reveal a list of all the entries for which “David Willcocks” is the conductor, and clicking on the name of a choir will reveal all the other recordings made by the same choir. You might also view all the recordings made in a certain country, or all the recordings from a certain label. The full list of active fields is:
Original recordingIssue Type (Original, or Reissue) / Record label Record Label / Recording medium Recording Medium
Choir Choir / Conductor Conductor / Choir type Choir Type / Choir Country Choir Country
Music note Performance Type / Country of recording Recording Country / Recording type Recording Type
Tags Discography Tags
The common fields are marked with * below.
Subjective Fields
The following fields contain subjective data intended to give a more personal view of the Miserere performance, or sometimes the album that contains it.
| Icon | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | miserere.org Rating | A rating that considers the qualities of the Miserere performance. This is completely subjective and entirely the view of the Curator: 5 – Timeless Perfection / 4 – Excellent / 3 – Good (maybe an occasional flaw) / 2 – Significantly flawed / 1 – No musical value |
| Favourite | miserere.org Favourite | Whether the Miserere recording (or the whole album) represents a personal favourite or recommendation of the Curator. |
| Influential | Influential Recording? | Whether the recording (or album/release) is considered influential for any reason. |
Arbitrary Fields
The following fields contain arbitrary data relevant to each entry which support a more freeform capability to associate entries together.
| Icon | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Tags | Discography Tags * | Arbitrary “Tags” that are used to associate multiple entries together. |
Choir Details
| Icon | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Choir | Choir Name * | The full, official name of the choir whose Miserere performance has been recorded. Where relevant, choir names are standardised based on the most commonly accepted version of the name. |
| Choir type | Choir Type * | The choir type, e.g. Collegiate Choir, Professional Choir, etc. |
| Conductor | Conductor * | The conductor of the Miserere performance (if not conducted, the musical director). Otherwise “Unconducted” or “Conductor Unknown”. An internal field holds the conductor’s name in surname, forename format to enable ordering in table views. |
| Choir Country | Choir Country * | The country where the choir is primarily based. |
| Link | Choir Website | Link to the choir’s official website or other online presence where available. |
Further information about the Choir / Conductor will be included in entries containing original releases. For reissues, the entry will point to the original for this information.
Performance Details
| Icon | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Music note | Performance Type * | Distinguishes the various different performance types – see our detailed explanation of performance types. |
| Performance language | Performance Language * | Whether the performance uses the original Latin or an English translation of the psalm text. |
| Performing edition | Performing Edition | The edition of the performing score used where known, otherwise the most likely association based on the performance. |
| Verses | Miserere Verses | Whether all psalm verses, or a specific subset of psalm verses (and which ones) have been included in the performance. |
| Recording duration | Performance Length | Overall length of the performance. Primarily included to support comparisons where all verses have been included. |
| Soloist | Soloist Name | Name of the treble soloist(s) – relevant in Traditional and other ornamented performances. |
Further information about the performance will be included in entries containing original releases. For reissues, the entry will point to the original for this information.
Recording Details
| Icon | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Recording date | Recording Year | The year in which the recording was made. |
| Recording date | Recording Date | The specific date of the recording if known, or less specific information if available. Otherwise the same as Recording Year. |
| Recording date | Recording Venue | The venue where the recording was made. |
| Country of recording | Recording Country * | The country in which the recording was made. |
| Link | Venue Website | Link to the venue’s official website. |
| Map link | Venue Address & Map Link | The street address of the venue, including a link to the location on Google Maps. |
Further information about the recording will be included in entries containing original releases. For reissues, the entry will point to the original for this information.
Release Details
| Icon | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Album | Release Title | The full title of the “album” or release containing the specific Miserere recording detailed in the entry. |
| Original recording | Release Type * | Whether the release is “Original” i.e. issued as a recording for the first time or a “Reissue” – where the recording has been reissued with a significant change or combination of changes. |
| Release year | Release Year | The year in which the release was made. |
| Release year | Release Date | The specific date of the release if known, otherwise the same as Release Year. |
| Record label | Label * | The record label responsible for publishing the release, typically the owner of the ℗ phonographic copyright and overall © copyright. |
| Recording type | Recording Type * | The commercial arrangement by which the recording was made and subsequently released. |
| Recording medium | Release Medium * | The recording medium on which the release has been made available, e.g. Vinyl – LP, CD, Cassette. |
| Recording format | Audio / Video Format | Details of the audio / video format – Stereo / Mono, SPARS code, bitrate etc. |
| Catalogue number | Catalogue Number | The record label’s catalogue number for the release. |
| Barcode | Barcode | If available, the barcode. |
| Other info | Other Identifiers | Any other relevant and unique identifiers, e.g. matrix number. |
Online & Gramophone References
Up to 5 relevant online references can be populated for each entry, and up to 2 references to content in the Gramophone Magazine online edition. Free content will be prioritised. If there is more significant content it is likely that the release will have its own separate feature page to contain further information and analysis.
Archive Details
miserere.org maintains an archive containing physical copies of recordings containing Allegri’s Miserere and these fields represent the status of recordings in the archive.
| Icon | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Collection status | miserere.org Archive Status | Whether the recording is present in the miserere.org archive, being sought, unavailable, or other status. |
| Collection info | miserere.org Archive Notes | Details of the recordings within the archive – quantity, condition, location etc. May contain internal references. |
Page last updated: 2 March 2025