Cathedral Music: Spring 2011

Cathedral MUSIC

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Cathedral Music

CATHEDRAL MUSIC is published twice a year, in May and November

ISSN 1363-6960 MAY 2011

Editor

Andrew Palmer

21 Belle Vue Terrace

Ripon North Yorkshire

HG4 2QS

ajpalmer@lineone.net

Editor-Designate

Sooty Asquith

For details see page 57.

Deputy Editor

Roger Tucker

Editorial Advisers

David Flood & Matthew Owens

Production Manager

Graham Hermon FCM e-mail

info@fcm.org.uk

Website www.fcm.org.uk

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Cathedral MUSIC Cathedral MUSIC

The Magazine of the Friends of Cathedral Music

CM Comment Andrew Palmer’ ‘

changed in character none has vanished.

The following years have also seen lay clerk numbers fall and as you will read in this edition, female altos are being introduced into cathedral choirs. If this is the case what does it mean for the future of cathedral music? What makes the sound of the English cathedral choir unique is the countertenor voice singing the second line and this is an example of a tradition that could disappear. We are also seeing excathedral choristers abandon the tradition that served them so well for up to five years and I can only think that is because the cathedral music aesthetic experience does not resonate with the modern age.

cathedral festivals has risen. The excellent Southern Cathedrals, Three Choirs and Edington Festivals to name a few continue to innovate and it is encouraging that although they celebrate something that is an Anglican tradition, the increase of support from abroad has been gratifying.

Over the past 20 years this magazine has not shied away from the issues that have seen cathedral music change and adapt.

As this is my last opportunity to comment through this column I thought I would reflect on the last two decades.

Shortly into my editorship Richard Seal inaugurated the era of the girl chorister at Salisbury Cathedral (incidentally with an initial FCM grant of £4000) and a lot of ink was used debating whether it was a wise innovation. My views are widely known: I don’t think it has seriously damaged the tradition but it has led to the existence of two groups – the pros and the antis. The decision, like most changes within our field, was described as a new tradition, which is a clear oxymoron a tradition by definition cannot be new. Despite gloomy prophecies from some of our members and the CTCC, let’s remember that no traditional choir has actually disappeared. Although they may have

There is another worrying trend – the intrusion of the jazz idiom into cathedral music. This recently culminated in one of the worst examples of dumbing down that has ever occurred on Radio 3 on 27th October. It would be interesting to know whose idea it was to produce a live jazz Choral Evensong from St Martin-inthe-Fields, London. If ever there was a broadcast that broke the spirit of the longest running live radio programme this was it and it happened on our watch. After 80 years an appalling travesty occurred that made a mockery of the divine office. Who was it intended for? It was broadcast on the wrong network upsetting the core audience who tune in every Wednesday or Sunday with their expectations for an uplifting experience and these were blatantly violated. But let’s not forget that the BBC serves cathedral music very well indeed. The memorable services from King’s and St John’s Colleges, Cambridge, the excellent choral services, that over the past two years have celebrated Holy Week and Easter as well as all the Advent and Christmas programmes, royal events, the Pope’s visit and numerous other occasions that have been of the highest quality and just terrific to experience.

To conclude let’s look at some positives. The number and quality of

Most heartening and the completely opposite story against cuts is when it comes to the principal instrumental resource of cathedrals – the organ. Here we are seeing a completely different tale. Unquestionably, more resource is being put into restoring and building organs throughout the country and two examples are the plans for Canterbury Cathedral and the organ appeal that has begun at Ripon Cathedral.

I’d like to end my last Comment by thanking the great people who have written for CATHEDRAL MUSIC,especially Timothy Storey, and I am grateful to all who have contributed to its production in any way. My dream of morphing the old Annual Report into what you are reading now was helped on its journey by the insightful FCM Chairman Alan Thurlow. Editorial Advisers, Alan Mould, Andrew Lumsden and Roger Overend gave an early steer followed by David Flood and Matthew Owens whose ideas have been very much appreciated. Roger Tucker as Deputy Editor has contributed enormous amounts of energy and time to CM and Graham Hermon has put the magazine on another level as Production Manager with his skill for obtaining the finest photographs. FCM Founder Ronald Sibthorp’s vision that the FCM has strength is more true than ever before with Peter Toyne’s leadership.

Henry Dobson, the Victorian poet wrote: ‘Time goes, you say? Ah no! Alas, time stays, we go’. Cathedral music will endure, and will always remain timeless; I have always felt it is the responsibility of this magazine to be watchful of the tradition and I would like to think we have had some success in doing that. It’s been a rewarding privilege to have been Editor.

Cathedral music will endure, and will always remain timeless; I have always felt it is the responsibility of this magazine to be watchful of the tradition and I would like to think we have had some success in doing that.

SWEET SINGING IN THE QUIRE Agenda for Lay Clerks Andrew

Reid Director of Music Peterborough Cathedral

Cathedral music is changing. Not that long ago cathedral music departments were all-male environments.

The arrival of girl choristers in cathedrals over the past two decades has been well documented and at times bitterly fought. A number of women organists, since Catherine Ennis a little over 30 years ago, have gained assistant and, recently, director of music posts. More recently still, in November 2010, the shortlisting of Caroline Trevor (a professional singer who is also the wife of Tallis Scholars’

director Peter Philips) for an alto lay clerkship at St Paul’s was brought to public attention via an article in The Spectator

In September 2010 Katie Schofield took up an alto lay clerk post at Peterborough Cathedral. Katie had been a choral scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and a lay clerk in the mixed professional choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. A skilled singer with a warm and colourful voice, a good sight-reader and

Quire of Peterborough Cathedral © mbfoley/Fotolia.com

a motivated individual, Katie was an ideal candidate for the Peterborough post. We had had some difficulty attracting suitable countertenors at the time, and as a consequence one lay clerk post had remained unfilled for most of the previous two years. On some days we found deputies; on others we had just one countertenor, inevitably disruptive to the work of the choir.

Peterborough is not the only cathedral choir to have appointed a woman alto. Several years earlier, St Davids realised that, for them, this arrangement might yield more flexible musical results. Later, under a new Director of Music, their newly endowed choral scholarships were made available to both men and women, and both have since taken them up. Brecon moved to a mixed alto line out of necessity many years earlier, as did Coventry more recently. Reportedly Lincoln will in future be inviting men and women to apply for alto posts. Rochester has employed a woman alto deputy on a number of occasions. (Let us leave aside the situation at Chichester during the War when, in the absence of countertenors, a woman sang alto from behind a curtain!)

The dilemma we face is that there are not as many countertenors as tenors and basses, yet cathedral choirs tend to require equal numbers of each voice part. No cathedral choir or school encourages a third of its former boy choristers to train as countertenors. There are more opportunities than ever before for countertenors to make a living outside cathedral music in opera, professional chamber choirs, and as soloists in an increasing range of repertoire. Many provincial cathedral choirs have for years had difficulty recruiting countertenors of a high enough standard. One cathedral organist I know puts his resources into attracting countertenors from other Commonwealth countries. While countertenors compete for posts in London, Oxford and Cambridge, and in some cathedrals with well-resourced choral foundations, many provincial cathedrals are lucky to have any choice of candidates (or sometimes any candidates at all), and are fortunate indeed if they have a candidate with a suitable voice who is a good music reader, surely a basic minimum for running a choir on the model of excellence we often claim. The truth is that there are not enough good countertenors prepared to sing as lay clerks to staff all the cathedral choirs in the country. Instead of accepting poor candidates and the limits they bring, cathedrals in this position might consider whether the appointment of talented women as altos could improve their musical offering.

I have heard various reasons given for male-only alto lines: tradition (perhaps not a reason in itself, and something that needs unpacking); the fact that much of the music we sing was written for all-male choirs; issues of blend; disruption to the all-male environment of the lay clerks’ vestry; that the presence of women altos might stop boys electing to sing countertenor in future; that appointing women in some choirs makes it difficult for other cathedrals maintaining all-male choirs to do so; that only with countertenors can we realise the notional self-perpetuating choir where the boys become the back row of the future. Arguments, some parallel to these, have been heard but overcome in the world of work over the past century, but cathedral music has been slow to understand the contribution women could make. As a colleague pointed out, it is noticeable at military services that only the cathedral choirs are all-male: both the army and the clergy, obvious past bastions of all-male membership, are now mixed.

Of all the reasons why countertenors might be preferred to women altos, to me only one holds water. This, obviously enough, is to do with the difference in sound. Undoubtedly

Peterborough Cathedral Choir sounds a little different with a woman singing alto alongside countertenor colleagues, particularly in ‘men’s’ voices services! Even here there is overlap because some women’s voices have the bright, clear edge of a good countertenor voice while some countertenor voices do not. But on average a woman’s and a man’s alto voices, producing their sound in somewhat different ways, have different qualities. In our current situation at Peterborough I value the difference and can use the voices at times for different types of solos or to complement each other chorally. Blend isn’t a problem, but has to be understood differently, just as boy and girl treble lines coached by the same staff are brought together successfully for major services in many cathedrals. Indeed, at Manchester and Edinburgh boys and girls sing together daily, though it is possible to see several valid reasons for having them working in separate groups in most cathedrals.

The presence of girl choristers in cathedral choirs also raises questions about the gender of the alto line. In many cathedrals girls now sing as frequently as boys. In some the girls are aged 13 to 18, and have mature voices which might blend better with women altos than with countertenors. (This is perhaps less of an issue with younger girls whose voices are closer to those of boys of similar age.) Then there is the question of succession; girl choristers do not normally have the option of moving into the back row. Yet both St Davids and Peterborough made their experiments through former girl choristers singing alto when there were insufficient countertenors. And female altos provide role models for girls just as countertenors, tenors and basses do for boys.

While, musically speaking, it would be a shame if it were not possible to hear music written for boys and countertenors sung by those forces, there remains the question whether cathedrals are the places to maintain historical performance practice for its own sake. Clearly the all-male cathedral choir still has a great relevance to much of the music we sing, and, anyway, there are choirs in this country so successful that to enforce change upon them would be a negative step. Even so, we must not kid ourselves that the type of singing we hear in the 21st century is necessarily like that of the past: changes in vowel colour, vocal technique, standards (driven by the broadcast and recording industries), musical diet, chorister numbers, age of voice change and so forth must all make a telling difference. In any case, cathedral choirs these days often sing music originally written for mixed choirs (Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Kodály, even some Byrd and Vaughan Williams). The demands of the Common Worship Eucharist and the increasing variety of Evensong repertoire among cathedral choirs suggest this trait increasing in future.

One of my own concerns was how our first woman alto might be accepted by the lay clerks, but in fact the change was straightforward. When I talked with several of the back row before the appointment, most felt it was imperative that we made the right musical choice. Things worked out easily because Katie is a singer who enhances the quality of the choir, and other professional singers respect and value that.

Cathedral music is part of a living tradition which has adapted to many changes. When liturgy and language changed, so did our repertoire, most notably in the sixteenth century. When educational needs changed, daily sung matins was dropped. When Child Protection laws changed so did our policies and provision. When music became more rhythmically demanding and higher standards were required, cathedrals appointed assistants to play so that organists could direct their choirs. When

boarding was lost (and it now exists in only around a third of English cathedrals) choirs adapted, in some cases with fewer choral services, and in others with the advent of girl choristers to supplement what the boys could realistically manage. In the absence of enough countertenor applicants of a suitable standard in some cathedrals, perhaps mixed alto lines are the necessary change for cathedral music to thrive. As with all

these other areas, only time, and the gradual change of several institutions, will tell. It is not as though, with all these changes, cathedral music is now in the doldrums.

There are, of course, other ways to help provincial cathedrals ensure a steady supply of suitable lay clerks. Former choristers and others interested in singing need to be nurtured and have access to committed high level tuition.

Peterborough Cathedral © Graham Hermon

Church choirs need suitable recognition, leadership, development, resourcing and encouragement: a large number of our current cathedral musicians formed a life-long interest when they were church (as opposed to cathedral) choristers. Many have a role to play in this, from those who train and appoint clergy through to school music departments, cathedral outreach programmes, diocesan staff, local professional musicians and the many professional vocal groups who benefit from the skills and interest of former choristers. A body like the RSCM needs the practical help of many supporters and stakeholders if it is to be able to make a comprehensive difference.

Salaries for lay clerks remain generally poor given the skills and duties required. The average lay clerk is paid pro rata close to the national average wage (some, of course, are paid less), which simply does not take into account the cost of training, the difficulty of finding complementary part-time work, the ‘performing’ nature of the work, the high standards required, the anti-social hours, and the high cost of living in many cathedral cities. Calling out a plumber costs a lay clerk as much as a member of a cathedral congregation. Salaries have to increase to reflect job competition not just between cathedrals, but across the marketplace more generally. (In this respect it is instructive that salaries in the London choral foundations, where the market for singers’ time puts them in competition with other professional singing work, is towards three times the national average.) It is detrimental to cathedral music when lay clerks are forced to retire from singing in their late twenties to earn a suitable income to support a family. Nor are some other full-time jobs as flexible as they once were: lay clerks need a meaningful salary from their cathedrals to be able to accept types of additional work which fit around their cathedral duties.

Many cathedrals have seen rises in lay clerk salaries over recent years but recruitment may become still more difficult in future as students with full liability for tuition fees and maintenance have far more debt to pay off, and may feel the need to undertake a realistically paid job immediately after graduation. In this environment the commitment cathedrals require of lay clerks will be severely challenged. Pensions will become increasingly important: how many cathedrals make meaningful contributions and encourage all staff to take them up? Accommodation for rent (especially for those leaving university), help in finding other compatible work, inservice training (particularly defraying the costs of singing lessons) and other benefits are all important when asking someone to commit their time and skills and come to work in a new city. Clarity in contracts, conditions and expectations, job security and cost-of-living salary increases are just as relevant to lay clerks as to other workers. By analogy, in the times of Solomon and Nehemiah, the tithing system allowed those who were the equivalent of modern-day cathedral staff (priests, singers, vergers, security) to live comfortably enough at the Temple in Jerusalem.

For some, change is challenging. Yet tradition is forged by maintaining the best of the past while allowing each generation to offer fresh insights. It will be interesting to see where the many changes and challenges facing lay clerk recruitment lead us. My own feeling is that the heretofore quiet revolution in women altos, seemingly driven by the needs of cathedrals rather than the demands of pressure groups, is here to stay in places where those needs are greatest. I sincerely hope I can make further good countertenor appointments at Peterborough in future, but I also sense that the ability of cathedral choirs to fulfil their core purpose is more important than the gender of any particular singer within the choir.

LIVERPOOL METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL CHOIR CELEBRATES 50 YEARS ON AND 300 CHORISTERS LATER

On the feast of Christ the King, Sunday, 21 November last year, the choir of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first participation in a service on the same feast day in 1960, then held in the Lutyens Crypt. At that time the choir was directed by Christopher Symons, the Cathedral’s first Master of the Music. The cathedral choir was founded in 1960 by the then Archbishop, John Carmel Heenan (later Cardinal at Westminster) who was responsible for the setting up of a choir school and the provision of the magnificent Walker organ in the new cathedral. Fifty years later, a weekend of events marked this milestone. On the Friday evening a dinner took place in the Crypt for 140 boy and girl choristers, their parents, lay clerks, former choristers and guests, including former choir directors, Philip and Terence Duffy and Mervyn Cousins. All the choristers are pupils of the Cathedral’s two choir schools with the junior choristers at St Edward’s School, Runnymede, and the senior choristers at St Edward’s College. The Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside, the High Sheriff and the Lord Mayor of Liverpool were guests of the Dean, and Archbishop Kelly was there to support his Cathedral Choir. On the Saturday, a concert directed by the present Director of Music, Timothy Noon, with Richard Lea at the organ, was given in the Cathedral by the boy and girl choristers together with the gentlemen of the choir, reinforced by former choristers, together with the Cathedral Brass Ensemble.

CITY OF LONDON FESTIVAL, JUNE 26 - JULY 16

Boasting over 160 events, many of them free, the City of London Festival brings the Square Mile to life with artists and composers from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Esteemed didgeridoo player William Barton will perform in Southwark Cathedral alongside the cathedral’s choir and organist Stephen Disley in the London première of Australian musical visionary, Peter Sculthorpe’s deeply moving Requiem (4 July).

The London Symphony Orchestra’s leader Gordan Nikolitch opens a unique concert at St Paul’s Cathedral with J S Bach’s Partita No 2 for solo violin, with Bach chorales sung between the movements by enchanting choir Tenebrae, before being joined by his LSO colleagues in Fauré’s Requiem (28 June). New Zealand-born organist Dame Gillian Weir will rouse the St Paul’s acoustic and underpin the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus in the Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony (12 July). Concert-goers who arrive early will enjoy free dance performances on the steps of St Paul’s: Rambert Dance Company and Central School of Ballet (28 June) and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance (12 July). [See advertisement on p 63].

ORGAN CONSULTANT WANTED (based in Shaw, Lancashire)

Dr Keith Harrington, Managing Director of Makin, tells CATHEDRAL MUSIC that he is looking for an organ consultant to work alongside customers and other Makin staff in the sales process of the purchase of digital organs as manufactured and supplied by Makin and Johannus. Suitable applicants need to be church organists who ideally have experience in the sale of products of between £5,000 and £50,000 in value. Keith says that Makin offers its staff a safe, stable and secure environment in which to work providing an excellent range of benefits including: generous relocation package and holiday allocation, private health insurance covering spouses and children, monthly payments into a personal pension plan and a company car as appropriate. Please send your CV to: keith@makinorgans.co.uk

NEW MAN AT THE HELM

Dr Christopher Batchelor succeeded Mark Venning as Managing Director of Harrison & Harrison on 31 January 2011. Mark, who took up that position in 1975, will remain active as Chairman. Nancy Radford has already taken up her appointment as Administrator. Chris was an organ scholar at Hertford College, Oxford, during which time he was taught the organ by James Dalton. Upon graduation he moved to Cambridge where, under the supervision of Peter le Huray, he pursued research into seventeenth-century English church music, being awarded M.Phil and Ph.D degrees. During this time he held positions at both Downing and Gonville & Caius Colleges. He succeeded Christopher Bowers-Broadbent as Director of Music & Organist of St Pancras Parish Church in 1988. In 2002 Chris founded the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music, an annual event which involves many of London’s world-class choral foundations in a week-long celebration of contemporary music.

Chris said: “I am delighted to be taking up the position of Managing Director of Harrison & Harrison. H&H is a tremendous firm, which is highly regarded across the world. I am also honoured to succeed Mark Venning, whose vision, skill and determination have made such a notable contribution to H&H over the past 38 years.”

HOUSE OF COMMONS SPEAKER ATTENDS HEREFORD CATHEDRAL ADVENT SERVICE

The Speaker of the House of Commons was among a packed congregation who braved snow and ice to attend a special Advent service, sung by the choir of Hereford Cathedral in the Royal Military Chapel (better known to many as the Guards’ Chapel), Wellington Barracks, London on St Andrew’s Day last year. “In spite of the last minute worries about the heavy snowfall across the country, it was a wonderful evening and we have received so very many messages of thanks and congratulations,” said Glyn Morgan, Chief Executive of Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust, which had staged the event. “There are so many close links between the various Guards’ Regiments and Herefordshire. We were pleased to be able to honour this link at the start of the service when our two youngest members of the choir helped to lay a wreath at the memorial to those men who had lost their lives serving with the Special Air Service. It was a very moving moment.” The service was followed by a reception in the Officers’ Mess of the Grenadier Guards during which the Speaker had the opportunity to meet many of our friends and supporters.

“What we found remarkable was just how many people in London have a connection, either past or present, with the county and diocese and were only too pleased to come along and support the evening. We were particularly pleased to have the support of the Shropshire Society in London, many of whose members joined us for the evening. With half the diocese in Shropshire it is always a pleasure to receive this wider support,” said Glyn. Details of future Perpetual Trust events, both in London and in the diocese, can be obtained by emailing perpetual.trust@herefordcathedral.org

O quam gloriosum The life of TOMÁS LUIS DE VICTORIA David Trendell

Tomás Luis de Victoria was the Counter-Reformation composer par excellence. This might surprise some readers who perhaps would afford Palestrina this accolade, but not only do Victoria’s works reflect the spirit of the Counter-Reformation in all its guises, but he himself was right at the heart of such Counter-Reformation movements as the Jesuits and the Oratorians.

Born in Avila, home to the visionary mystic St Teresa, he was a chorister at the cathedral when the maestro de capilla was Bernadino de Ribera (1559-1563). Ribera’s works are little known, but he was one of the leading composers of the day as can be seen in a powerfully expressive setting of the text Vox in Rama, recently published by Mapa Mundi. A contemporary chorister, though about three years younger, was Sebastián de Vivanco, another fine composer who eventually became maestro de capilla at Salamanca Cathedral. Both composers would have attended the Jesuit school in Avila of S. Gil, which had been founded in 1554. St Teresa insisted that her nephews attended it when she wrote to her brother: ‘The Jesuits have an academy at Avila in which they teach grammar, send the boys to confession every week, and make them so virtuous that Our Lord is to be praised for it’.

Victoria’s links with the Jesuits continued when he went to Rome some time between 1563-1565 and continued his studies at their Collegio Germanico, where young men trained for the mission to reconvert Germany alongside a large number of Italian, Spanish and English boarders, one of whom was Victoria. He remained in Rome for the next twentyodd years, holding a number of posts, including that of maestro di capella at the German College, which he held until late 1576. The year before, he had been ordained deacon and then priest by an English bishop, Thomas Goldwell, who must have been one of the few remaining pre-Reformation English

clerics. Shortly afterwards, he joined the newly-formed Congregation of the Oratory, founded by St Philip Neri in 1575. This radical community of secular priests, known as Oratorians because of their practice of standing on squares in front of the churches calling people to prayer (oratio), strove to edify others through their piety and spread Christian culture. Victoria, by joining the community at an early stage of its inception, was allying himself to one of the most fervent demonstrations of the counter-reformation spirit.

In 1583, Victoria dedicated his second book of Masses to Philip II and in the dedication expressed a wish to return to Spain and live a quiet life as a priest. His supplication proved successful four years later when Philip II appointed him to be chaplain to his sister, the Dowager Empress María at the Monasterio de las Descalzas in Madrid. He served as the maestro de capilla at this lavishly endowed convent until her death in 1603 (the famous Officium Defunctorum published in 1605 was written for the obsequies) and thereafter served as organist until his death in 1611. Life at the convent must have been comfortable; each chaplain had a personal servant, meals were served in their private quarters and the provision for music was substantial. Small wonder that during this period Victoria turned down offers to become the maestro de capilla at the cathedrals in Seville and Zaragoza.

Victoria was nowhere near as prolific as his near contemporaries Palestrina and Lassus, and, unlike them, he

only ever wrote sacred music, perhaps since he alone of the three was an ordained priest. Having said that, as a young composer he was not just prolific but astonishingly talented. His first book of 33 motets was published in 1572 when he was 23 or 24 years old. This was followed four years later by a book of masses, psalms, Magnificats and motets. However, once Victoria returned to Spain, he did indeed seem to have his wish fulfilled to lead a quiet life as only three publications were issued after the 1585 office for Holy Week, containing the much lauded Tenebrae Responsories: a collection of Masses published in Rome in 1592, a book of masses, Magnificats, motets and other works in 1600, many of which had appeared in earlier prints and the Officium Defunctorum. The 1592 collection was published in Rome and the convent afforded him some extended leave to oversee its production that seemed to have lasted until 1594 when he attended Palestrina’s funeral on 2 February.

It is often assumed that Victoria studied with Palestrina. Although there is no definitive proof, such an assumption is not necessarily wide of the mark. Palestrina was maestro di capella at the Seminario Romano when Victoria was at the nearby Collegio Germanico and certain of Victoria’s works show very directly the older composer’s influence. In some cases, such as the opening of Vidi speciosam, which is clearly modelled on Palestrina’s six-part setting of Tu es Petrus, the similarity suggests not just influence but a deliberate act of homage. And yet, Victoria’s work is often seen as typically Spanish. Commentators frequently talk of Spanish renaissance music as being definably different to Italian; more intense, rugged and more overtly emotional than the perceived smoothness and impersonal nature of Roman polyphony as typified in the works of Palestrina. There is perhaps something to this notion, but Victoria is a composer of remarkable emotional breadth and, as Robert Stephenson has pointed out, whilst Victoria’s reputation has largely rested on his more penitential works, ‘poignancy and musical fervour are not the only emotions in Victoria’s work, nor indeed the predominant ones’. He cites King João IV of Portugal, famous for composing (or at least it is attributed to him) a setting of the text Crux fidelis, who wrote in his Defensa de la música moderna of 1749 that ‘although there is much in his Holy Week volume that exactly suits the text, nonetheless his disposition being naturally sunny he never stays downcast for long’.

At the risk of oversimplification, there were two main strands to the Counter-Reformation. The first was a very trenchant response to the Protestant reformation, affirming traditional Catholic beliefs, such as the seven sacraments, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the intercessory role of the Virgin Mary and the saints. This went hand in hand with reform of corrupt practices, such as the selling of indulgences, as well as a rationalistion of the liturgy (Palestrina, for example, was commissioned to produce a new edition of Gregorian chant, expunging it of Gothic impurities) resulting in the Tridentine Rite. But if this was a ‘back to basics’, it was to be proclaimed with utter confidence and fervency, hence the creation of such missionary societies as the Oratorians. The second strand to the Counter-Reformation concerned the spiritual reform of the individual. The Council of Trent gave authoritative support to the quest for spiritual life. This had always been the case for those in holy orders, but the Catholic laity was strongly encouraged to imitate that quest. This often took on a mystical quality and it is no surprise that the Counter-Reformation saw the rise of such mystics as St Teresa and St John of the Cross,

both of whom had Avilan connections, as well as artists such as El Greco, whose adopted city of Toledo was the crucible of Spanish Catholicism. The emotional breadth I cited as being a feature of Victoria’s work is very much a result of him embodying both facets of the Counter-Reformation.

No piece could be more representative of the assertive confidence of the Counter-Reformation than Victoria’s famous motet for All Saints’ Day, O quam gloriosum, published in 1572 The three initial chords setting the word ‘O’, in themselves expressive of the wonder of the glorious kingdom, explode joyously into the words ‘quam gloriosum’. Such exuberance continues with the rising scales on the word ‘gaudent’ (‘they rejoice’) though cleverly offset by longer notes in the top voice. Other pictorial devices abound, such as at the word ‘sequntur’ (‘they follow the lamb’ where one voice leads off in a descending phrase followed closely by the other voices. Although he wrote no secular works, such moments show that Victoria had a good knowledge of contemporary madrigals, a fact that is borne out by the skittish setting of the text Nigra sum sed Formosa, where the voices chase each other up the scale on the word ‘surge’ (‘arise’).

Victoria based a mass on his motet, O quam gloriosum, an example of what is often referred to as a parody mass. Victoria’s tally of 20 mass settings may pale against the 104 by Palestrina and the sixty-odd by Lassus, but they are again astonishing in their range. Sixteen of them are of the parody type and the Missa O quam gloriosum is certainly representative, drawing heavily on material from the motet. It is also written in a very direct style; shorter than the average Palestrina mass, it makes a virtue of more syllabic writing and points of imitation that use shorter note values, such as in the opening Kyrie. Other four-part masses include the one based on the famous Christmas motet O magnum mysterium as well as the Missa Ave maris stella, the Missa Quam pulchri sunt and the Missa Quarti toni, based on his Candlemas motet Senex puerum portabat. But Victoria was mindful of the legacy of his Spanish forebears. Foremost amongst these was Cristóbal de Morales, who, like Victoria, had spent some time in Rome, and one of the younger composer’s most interesting masses is the Missa Gaudeamus based on Morales’s motet Jubilate Deo. This motet was written to celebrate the peace treaty signed by Francis I and Charles V at Nice. Pope Paul III had persuaded the warring sovereigns to meet and had also brought with him a large body of singers and instrumentalists from Rome. The motet was obviously intended to impress the assembled company and includes a plainchant motto on the word ‘Gaudeamus’ that recurs throughout the motet. Victoria took over this ostinato motif that provided the title for this, one of his most substantial masses. Victoria also composed a number of polychoral masses, three for eight voices, based on his own Marian antiphons, one, the Missa Laetatus sum, scored for three choirs and twelve voices and one for nine voices based on Clément Jannequin’s famous chanson, La guerre. Victoria wittily entitled his setting the Missa pro Victoria (literally ‘the mass for victory’) but splendidly punning his own name.

One of the most important roles of the Counter-Reformation composer was writing music for every liturgical eventuality. If Victoria did not quite go to the lengths of Palestrina, who can veritably be described as a musical encyclopedia for the Counter-Reformation, composing music for every single liturgical occasion and season, he nevertheless provided a comprehensive treasury for the new Tridentine liturgy. The motets in his first collection of 1572 were written for the major

solemnities of the liturgical year and his oeuvre includes the customary polyphonic Magnificats, psalms, hymns, litanies and other liturgical items that required polyphony.

If one were to turn to the more mystical side of CounterReformation piety, then few motets are as powerful as O vos omnes (there is another closely related setting of this text in the Tenebrae Responsories). The text, a responsory sung at Holy Saturday Tenebrae, though Victoria specifically designated it for Good Friday, beseeches the people who walk by ‘to behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow’. This might be a cry from Christ on the cross, but it might also plausibly be the cry of his mother after the crucifixion. David Davies, in an essay on El Greco, described the processes of prayer and meditation as practised and described by the Spanish mystics. ‘Mental prayer, the “ascent of the mind to God”, embraced first meditation and contemplation… Meditation involved the application of the senses in order to imagine, for example, the size of the garden at Gethsemane, or the physical suffering experienced by Christ on the cross… In contemplation, the spiritual reformers would seek to transcend the physical world, and hope to attain through grace a union of the soul with Christ.’ Something of that process can be heard in this motet. Victoria achieves this through arresting use of homophony, especially at ‘Attendite et videte’ (‘behold and see’) but also through dramatic use of rests that intensify the content of the individual phrases; the listener is instinctively drawn into the heightened expression of the individual moment, rather than experiencing the perfected totality that might be experienced in listening to a motet by Palestrina. This is coupled with a number of unusual dissonances. At bar 15, the resolution of the suspension in the Altus results in parallel 4ths with the Tenor, and elsewhere we see several

strange harmonic intervals, such as the diminished 4th in bar 22. This is what commentators perhaps mean when they talk of the intensity of Victoria’s music and certainly the bitterness of the harmony is apt for the expression of profound dolour.

Some of the writings of St Teresa of Avila are almost erotic in their content and it is no surprise that The Song of Songs proved to be a favourite biblical book of the mystics. The love for Christ is so profound and intense that it is akin to the erotic relationship of the lovers in the Song of Songs. St John of the Cross wrote a poetic paraphrase of the book in his Spiritual Canticle of the Soul, whilst St Teresa’s Conceptions of the Love of God muse upon individual verses from that strange biblical book. Take this excerpt from Teresa’s book: ‘Let the Lord kiss me with a kiss of his mouth.’ [Song of Songs 1i] These words, then, if taken literally, would smite fear into anyone who was in a normal state of mind when he uttered them. ‘But in anyone, Lord, whom love for Thee has drawn right out of himself Thou wilt pardon the use of them, and even of more words of the kind, notwithstanding their presumption.’

Victoria, like many Spanish composers, frequently set texts from the Song of Songs, perhaps reflecting the interest of the mystics. Perhaps the most remarkable of these is the six-part Vadam et circuibo civitatem. This motet was described as a lament of Mary Magdalen, perhaps like O vos omnes, depicting Mary Magdalen after the Crucifixion. The text tells of the central character wandering the streets of the city searching for her beloved. She beseeches the daughters of Jerusalem that if they find her beloved to tell him that she languishes for love. They ask her to describe her beloved and she says that he is ‘candidus et rubicundus, electus ex milibus’ (‘he is white and ruddy, chosen from thousands’). Victoria sets this text to rich and highly pictorial music (the use of still homophony when the lover describes her beloved is breathtaking) and captures the highly charged rapture of the text; for Victoria too, the relationship of the individual with Christ is one of intense love.

Victoria’s last publication, the Officium Defunctorum (1605) is often described as his masterpiece. Here the pace is dictated by the slow-moving plainchant cantus firmus. Far from being an inhibiting presence, the slow-moving chant allows Victoria’s music to unfold in achingly beautiful long paragraphs, pointed by searing suspensions and expressive use of accidentals. One of the choral scholars in my choir at King’s College, London when he left a few years ago commented that he would never have believed when he first entered the choir that one of his favourite pieces would become the funeral motet Versa est in luctum. Interestingly enough, as Noel O’Regan has discovered, the first 10 measures of this piece are actually a quotation from a madrigal by Luca Marenzio, Dolorosi matir. Perhaps it was a favourite of the Dowager Empress Maria, for whose obsequies the Officium Defunctorum was composed. Notwithstanding that, there are few passages in renaissance music as passionate as the setting of the words nihil enim sunt dies mei (‘for my days are as nothing’) first in music of profound anger subsiding into a gentle and rather beautiful resignation where the texture thins, before an ending which can only be described as chilly and haunting. That emotional power (found also in Byrd) is often rare in renaissance church music and it is perhaps Victoria’s principal achievement to have unleashed it within the context of the liturgy, a liturgy renewed by the CounterReformation he so much epitomised.

David Trendell is College Organist and Lecturer in Music at King's College, London.

MALE ALTO VERSUS FEMALE ALTO James

The inevitable has finally happened – and I’m actually surprised that it has taken this long. Peterborough Cathedral has appointed a female alto lay clerk. As a long-standing member of the male alto fraternity, it could be assumed that I would come out with all guns blazing, and denounce the whole thing as ‘a gross betrayal of a long and honourable tradition’, ‘an insult to the memory of many loyal servants of the Anglican church’ etc, etc.

But wait... I’ve thought long and hard about this before putting pen to paper, and I feel strongly enough about the pros and cons to want to air my thoughts in, I hope, a measured way. I certainly don’t want to initiate a shrill debate, similar to that which raged around the introduction of girl choristers at Salisbury cathedral.

Female altos in a cathedral choir are not an unknown species. Some readers may remember that during the war years, and well into the 1950s, Chichester Cathedral had two ‘lady altos’ – I think it was during the time of Horace Hawkins (correct me if I’m wrong). At service, they sat rather demurely, in the stalls adjacent to the choir, both wearing hats, and they neither robed nor processed in with the choir. Presumably this situation arose because of a shortage of available male altos, due to the war, but, the fact that they remained after peace was declared would suggest that they did the job rather well and that there was no need to replace them. I have no idea as to their ages, but people who actually saw and heard them say that their voices blended well with the rest of the choir, even if they weren’t exactly outstanding singers. I suspect they were ladies ‘of a certain age’ who were only too happy to help out during the emergency. But, not an eyebrow was raised and no one questioned their presence. I would love to know more about them.

However, the male alto has existed unchallenged for centuries in cathedral and collegiate choirs, and that has been, and still is, the tradition; the English, quite rightly, love and respect such a tradition. After all, the great composers of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries all conceived their works with the male alto in mind, and herein lies a problem with the female voice. Many of the alto parts lie very low in the voice, especially where they are divided. The Cantoris part frequently stays below the stave, and the male sound is deemed more suitable to carry the line, particularly in a choir of just six lay clerks. However, even a really good low male alto is hard to come by these days, as the vocal technique of many young altos tends to favour singing in the higher register. One often hears glowing reports of ringing high notes – ‘wonderful – he can sing up to top A!’ So what! – that’s not much use during the average weekday evensong. A good solid sound from A down to bottom G is far more useful in a cathedral choir. The great Alfred Deller never ventured up to those dizzy heights. Interestingly enough, old recordings of cathedral choirs made earlier in the last century often feature male altos with astonishing low notes, but not much at the top. For example, New College, Oxford, for many years, had a very distinguished alto lay clerk, known to this writer, whose range gradually decreased over the years, so much so, that latterly his top note was only a G. But his lower register remained unimpaired and he was able to descend to well below bottom G in his falsetto – a godsend when singing Byrd and Tallis with divided altos. There are female altos who can also plumb these depths, with the requisite volume, but they are few and far between. The late Helen Watts was a fine example.

But, and it is a big ‘But’, the male alto has been regarded in

many cathedral choirs as a necessary evil to be tolerated, and no more, even though many of them are perfectly good singers. Quite recently, an alto in a provincial cathedral said to me sadly: ‘The organist never speaks to us. He addresses the tenors and basses on musical points but we are always ignored’. It’s interesting to note that in, for example, music by Stanford, the altos are rarely exposed. Take his fine setting of the Te Deum in C. The basses are allotted the phrase ‘The glorious company of the apostles praise thee’ Next the tenors sing ‘The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee’. Now you might expect the altos to be given ‘The noble army of martyrs praise thee’... ...But no, this goes to the boys. The poor altos are passed over. Stanford, with his fabled acid tongue, is, to my mind, making a point. Why didn’t he bring the boys in for the climax at ‘The holy church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee’? Cathedral altos must have rejoiced when Dyson in D appeared and they were finally given that tiny phrase –‘Throughout all generations’. One must accept that the average cathedral alto in the 19th and early 20th century made a pretty mediocre, if not downright unpleasant sound. There is the famous story about the alto who was singing the little recitative in Purcell’s Thy word is a lantern –‘The ungodly have laid a snare for me’. An elderly canon said loudly: ‘I wish to God they had caught you’. There were exceptions. Freddy Hodgson, who sang at Tenbury, Lincoln, Lichfield, Windsor and the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, had a sweet, mellifluous voice right up to his death, but many of his contemporaries were certainly not of the same standard. It is an inescapable fact that the male alto voice does deteriorate with age, simply because the muscles surrounding the vocal chords become weaker as time goes by and the falsetto technique requires those muscles to be finely tuned. I have heard some ageing altos in my time, and it’s not a pretty sound. You can understand why, for many years, the high alto phrase ‘One who never changes’ in Parry’s My soul there is a country was always given to the Cantoris boys; it was simply beyond the reach of some singers. To be fair, Parry wrote the piece with female voices in mind, but it has always been a staple item of the cathedral repertoire, and the problem had to be addressed. When I joined the choir of New College, Oxford I made sure straightaway, (with the supreme arrogance of my youth), that this phrase was given back to the altos. David Lumsden readily agreed. This potentially explosive situation would never arise with female altos.

But then, the poor chaps probably never had a singing lesson in their lives; they discovered that they could sing alto, auditioned for a cathedral choir, and probably stayed there for the rest of their singing days. The salaries paid in the 1920s and 1930s were more than adequate to live on. That situation is completely reversed now. Male altos are recognised by the music colleges; they receive excellent tuition and develop sound techniques. But they can’t exist on the very meagre salaries and in the absence of other employment, few singers stay in the same choir for more than a few years. More often they are lured to London with the promise of fame and fortune. In fact, London is positively awash with excellent male altos, the majority of them originating from Oxbridge college choirs. St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey are never faced with a shortage of candidates whenever they have a vacancy and this goes for Southwark, the Temple Church and the Chapel Royal. So where does this leave the provincial choirs, which all these talented young singers have turned their backs on? I believe

that female altos are now poised to come to the rescue of what is slowly but surely becoming something of a problem –I won’t yet dramatise it into a crisis. I know of at least two cathedrals who have recently lost both their altos. I had an email from one organist who asked me if I could recommend any young singers in his area, as he was about to become altoless. Another cathedral had a vacancy and there was only one applicant, who was appointed simply because there was no one else. Thirty years ago, had there been this shortage, then it would have been quite serious, but with the advent of mixed choirs, starting with Trinity College, Cambridge, a new pattern has emerged. Trinity, closely followed by Clare College, very sensibly opened the alto line to both male and female singers. If a suitable candidate presented themselves, they were elected, irrespective of their gender.

The excellent Eton Choral Courses, run by Ralph Allwood, have a large part to play in this change. Both boys and girls who want to apply for Choral Scholarships are encouraged to apply, and for those who want to sing alto, the experience of singing together creates a completely natural atmosphere –the ‘ghetto’ approach is being broken down.

The norm in most Oxbridge choirs now is to have male and female altos singing together, each blending with the other. Neither sex seeks to dominate the other; the overall sound is what matters. Anyway, they have probably all been cathedral choristers in the past. I recently heard an excellent CD of anthems by S S Wesley, recorded by the choir of Clare College, Cambridge, and I was hard pushed to identify the gender of the alto soloists – I had to consult the CD booklet to find out.

I was greatly impressed, for instance, by the soloists in Ascribe unto the Lord. There is some tricky writing in the quartet O worship the Lordin the beauty of holiness which can tax a male alto quite severely. It was written with men in mind, but on this occasion the two girls acquit themselves extremely well, without in any way resorting to vocal histrionics – they just get on and sing it, as to the manner born.

So, what conclusion am I hoping to draw? Obviously, in common with the traditional London foundations, there is little likelihood of the big Oxbridge Five changing. Some years ago George Guest was lamenting that he had been unable to elect a first-rate male alto to his choir at St John’s, because the candidate lacked the requisite grades in his A levels. Ralph Allwood suggested to Guest that he knew just the person to fill the vacancy – a singer with an excellent voice and a good sight-reader. He felt that ‘She’ would fit admirably into the St John’s choir. George Guest was silent for a moment, and then said: “Did you say She?” ‘Yes’, said Ralph. George’s reply was classic – “That’s all very well, but what would we do about showers when we are on tour?” I think that rather sums up the attitude of the well-established all-male choirs.

But cathedral choirs, faced with a dearth of male alto applicants, may well feel that the time has come for them to adapt to changing times, and Peterborough has bowed to the inevitable and appointed a female alto, who by all accounts fills the post admirably. I am not advocating the eclipse of the male alto – I have a great loyalty to a long and uniquely English tradition, and I hope it will continue to flourish, but at the same time I am glad that there now exists a viable choice.

CELEBRATING TWENTY YEARS OF GIRL CHORISTERS AT SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

Salisbury Cathedral celebrates the 20th anniversary of the formation of the first girls’ cathedral choir in the UK during the weekend of 24-25 September and is inviting all its former and current girl choristers to two days of singing and festivity. The undoubted success of the girl chorister tradition is now firmly established in cathedrals throughout the country, adding to the glorious heritage of boy choristers.

David Halls, Director of Music, is very much looking forward to the occasion. “This will be a great weekend of choral singing. We hope to fill the cathedral to capacity with the superb sound of these girls’ voices and welcome back many of those who have been part of this extraordinary journey and supported the girls’ choir through these first two decades. I am delighted we will be joined by Dr Richard Seal, Organist and Master of the Choristers (1968-1997), whose original vision of a girls’ choir at Salisbury crowned his distinguished career here, and by my predecessor Simon Lole, Director of Music (1997-2005).”

On Saturday 24, there will be open rehearsals in the Cathedral between 2.00pm and 5.00pm. The celebration concert begins at 7.30pm and the programme includes Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Brahms Vier Gesänge Opus 17, and Britten A Ceremony of Carols. Tickets, price £20-£10, are available from 1 March from Salisbury Playhouse, Tel: 01722 320333.

Sunday is dedicated to services with the Festival Eucharist at 10.30am also sung by the massed choir. The weekend’s celebrations conclude with Festal Evensong at 3.00pm sung by the Cathedral’s current girl choristers and men of the choir alone and includes the admission of the new choristers and officers of the choir who will carry this new tradition into its third decade.

Since 2001, almost 120 girls have been choristers at Salisbury. A significant number have subsequently become choral scholars in the Oxbridge Chapel Choirs, and some have sung with the country’s top choral groups including the Monteverdi Choir and The Sixteen. Several are making names for themselves on the international music circuit.

YORKSHIRE COMPOSER SIGNS TO SPARTAN PRESS

The award-winning Yorkshire-based composer, Tim Knight, has signed an exclusive sales and distribution deal with the Highland-based music publisher and distributor Spartan Press.

In addition to their very successful publishing and retail sales side, Spartan Press represents a handful of composers’ catalogues and has a major distribution network both here and overseas. Tim’s catalogue of works comprise mainly choral items which, because of their accessibility and appealing nature, have received widespread performances both here and overseas. Several instrumental works (including some on examination lists) and the best-selling ‘Survival of your choir’ books are also included though music published in the USA, Germany and Australia will remain available through their respective publishers.

HYMN-WRITING BISHOP ON ROYAL LIST FOR CHURCH MUSIC AWARDS

The well-known hymn-writer, the Right Revd Timothy Dudley Smith, is among those to receive honorary awards from the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM). The awards, made annually for outstanding contributions to church music, range from the conferral of Fellowships (FRSCM) and Associateships (ARSCM) to Honorary Membership (HonRSCM) and Certificates of Special Service. The 2011 awards will be presented at a special RSCM service in Peterborough Cathedral on 14 May.

Bishop Timothy, one of the leading hymn-writers of his generation, is to receive an FRSCM. Born in 1926, and formerly Bishop of Thetford, he is probably best known for his hymn Tell out, my soul,the greatness of the Lord. He has published around 300 hymn texts to fulfil liturgical and seasonal needs.

News from Choirs and Places where they sing

Offering his warmest congratulations to Bishop Timothy, the Director of the RSCM, Lindsay Gray said: “Bishop Timothy has been typically self-effacing; he knows all there is to know about the powerful combination of good words and music in a hymn. He, and the others receiving honorary awards, have given exceptional service to church music over many years. Their outstanding contributions have influenced, guided and inspired countless others across the world.”

A NEW FOUNDATION DEGREE COURSE FOR CHURCH MUSICIANS

A brand new foundation degree course for those working in church music will start from September 2011. Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) and the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) are working in partnership to offer the course, which can be achieved in two years by a full-time student or four years if studied part-time. Many of the practical elements of the course, which is aimed at students of all ages, are focussed around the student’s work in their own church. The modules cover a wide range of topics from ‘Ministry and Worship’ and ‘Music and Liturgy’ to practical musicianship and the management of church music.

The new course brings together the expertise of two church-based institutions. The core content has been devised by, and will be administered from CCCU, itself a Church of England foundation, while the RSCM will use its regional network of practising church musicians to mentor and support students in their home base. “We know there are many church musicians working incredibly hard, who would like to deepen their understanding of what they do, and why,” says Sue Snell, RSCM’s Head of Education. “The structure of a foundation degree offers an ideal opportunity for students to develop all they are learning on the course in the context of their own church, choir or music group.” The course is now open for applications to begin studying in September 2011 – subject to validation. More information is available on both the CCCU and RSCM websites: www.canterbury.ac.uk/studyhere/church-music and www.rscm.com/fdcm

PANCAKE FUN AT HEREFORD

The choristers of Hereford Cathedral were having fun at the beginning of March practising their pancake-tossing in preparation for Shrove Tuesday. There was a practice of a different sort the day after, Ash Wednesday, when they sang one of the world’s most celebrated pieces of church music, Allegri’s Miserere

Geraint Bowen, the cathedral’s director of music said: “The Allegri is an eagerly-awaited piece in our choir’s annual calendar because of the famous top Cs which it contains – five of them – which are sung by one of the choristers. In the weeks leading up to it each year, I often hear some of the boys trying it out when they think no-one’s listening. It’s high-wire stuff, but with plenty of practice hopefully both their pancakes and their voices will reach unforgettable heights.”

A TASTE OF HEAVEN on a Grey November Afternoon

Timothy Storey ventures north to Carlisle

Anadmirable feature of the northern Daily Telegraph each Saturday (and of other papers, no doubt) is the list of Sunday services and music at the region’s cathedrals. Mrs Storey and I were staying about thirty miles from Carlisle: the Telegraph told us that Gibbons (Second Service) and Travers (Ascribe unto the Lord) were to be sung at Evensong; and we might be able to scrounge a cup of tea afterwards from Jeremy Suter, the Cathedral Organist. A quick ’phone call to warn the Suters resulted in an invitation for me to sing, as one of the basses was ill, so I would have the pleasure of performing as well as hearing the Gibbons service, one of our all-time favourites and surely one of the greatest examples of what many of us still like to call Tudor church music.

It must be admitted that Carlisle did not look its best on a cold, grey November afternoon, the ubiquitous red sandstone giving it a particularly sombre appearance. Dominated by its castle, the city has the atmosphere of a frontier outpost; the ancient cathedral’s incomplete state testifies to a difficult and chequered history, for it lacks most of its nave, though some of the monastic outbuildings survive and are used as a particularly good tearoom. It is somewhat of an outpost of cathedral music too, for Carlisle is 300 miles from London and other cathedrals are a long way off, the closest being Newcastle (60 miles) and Durham (75); Blackburn and Ripon are around 95 miles away, Liverpool, Manchester and York around 120. Carlisle’s Choir School was closed in 1935; since then the choristers have been recruited first from the Grammar School and more recently from a variety of local schools, thanks to a great deal of hard work from Jeremy Suter and his predecessors Frederick Wadely (Organist 191060) and Andrew Seivewright (1960-91). The cathedral choir’s recent recording of Dr Wadely’s music is on sale, and jolly good it is. Carlisle Cathedral has never been a parish church, and as befits an ancient cathedral of the post-dissolution ‘New Foundation’, choral services are still maintained on Sundays and five weekdays, though now with separate boys’ and girls’

Director of Music, Jeremy Suter

choirs to share the work; some of the lay clerks also operate a kind of ‘job-share’, as full-timers are exceptionally hard to find. The cathedral’s youth choir, composed of former choristers and their friends, sings Evensong once a week.

On this particular Sunday it was the turn of the girls, twelve in number, mostly quite young, but thoroughly on top of their work. Not the least merit of the Gibbons Second Service is that almost everyone can have a solo, and almost everyone in the front row duly had one; all were sung sweetly, tunefully, confidently and accurately. The full treble sound, though not especially robust, was nonetheless easily projected beyond the beautiful and ancient choir stalls into the resonant open spaces beyond. There was some fine singing from the back rows as well, the undoubted hero of the hour being my bass colleague who nonchalantly and capably moved from the bass part as required to cover for a missing alto (there has been a vacancy for the past two years), an ability shared I believe by the great Henry Purcell. Despite these unusual exertions he was in fine (bass) voice for Ascribe unto the Lord, especially in the wonderful and wideranging solo Let the heavens rejoice, a showpiece for singer and organist alike; some choirmasters might have cut the anthem short before this final jeu d’esprit but that is not their way at Carlisle, and it does choristers good to be reminded that the men have a part of their own to play rather than being merely a ‘backing group’ for the trebles.

I cannot remember a more satisfying Evensong, and that is not just because I had the privilege of singing with the choir, though it was certainly good to be part of such a dedicated and friendly team, and to observe the skill and patience with which the Director rehearsed his singers. There were one or two very talented individuals among the girls, but overall the impression was of a normal group of ordinary (if they will pardon the expression) young people, successfully taking part in something far greater than themselves, and being taught to ‘worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’ through their participation in music and liturgy of a quality befitting their

ancient and beautiful (if somewhat battered) cathedral. It was significant that the vestry prayers were led by a chorister, not a lay clerk or ordained minister.

We duly had our cup of tea with Jeremy Suter and headed back to our cottage through the increasing cold and gloom with much to ponder and discuss. What lucky choristers they are to be able to sing such great music (a performance of Messiah was also in preparation), and how fortunate is the cathedral to have musicians of quality who, despite perpetual difficulties with finance and recruitment, continue to uphold the vision to which every Friend of cathedral music must subscribe. FCM’s revered past Chairman, the late Christopher Dearnley, put it most aptly, as he was wont to do: ‘There are choirs now whose performances have quality. By quality I do not just mean technical excellence. The odds against achieving this are often heavily weighed; we are aware of the problems created by inadequate skill, frustrating circumstances, lack of financial stimulus and so on. Yet, in spite of this, there is an enthusiasm and loyalty amongst organists and singers that underpins all their work and gives it a quality which is precious and immeasurable.’1

The real heart of cathedral music, I would suggest, is in the smaller, more remote and less celebrated establishments of our land. We can rejoice in the excellence and international renown of our great cathedral and collegiate choirs (the ones who make lots of CDs and appear at the Proms), but surely the missionary and evangelical influence of the Carlisles of this world is more tangible and worthy of our encouragement and support. I do not just mean our financial support – though a few thousand pounds can go a lot farther in these establishments than in London – but we can show ourselves true Friends by our presence at our local cathedral’s choral services, by acting as unofficial public relations officers and even in helping a lay clerk find suitable employment.

1 The need for a reformed approach to church music; Church Music Society Annual Report 1967

Choir of Carlisle Cathedral

Seconds in Music Profile

TIMOTHY RAVALDE

Age: 23

Education details: Nelson Thomlinson School, Wigton, 1999-2006

St John’s College, Cambridge, 2007-2010, where I studied Music.

Career details to date:

2004-2006Organ Scholar of Carlisle Cathedral

2006-2007Organ Scholar of Salisbury Cathedral

2007-2010Organ Scholar of St John’s College, Cambridge

2010-presentAssistant Organist of Chichester Cathedral

You were the youngest organ scholar at Carlisle Cathedral. What did you learn whilst doing the job?

Lots of things that I now take for granted – how to go about registering accompaniments, psalms and hymns; aspects of console management (it’s a large 4-manual organ); discovering how quickly all the music had to be learnt and how to play in time with a choir. It was a great opportunity while I was still at school for which I remain very grateful.

You moved on to a similar position at Salisbury. What do you enjoy most about working in a cathedral like Salisbury?

I enjoyed working in the school, playing the Willis, living in the Close, having more responsibilities and working with people who set high musical and professional standards. I had to learn a lot very quickly.

What or who made you take up the organ?

I heard the organ every week in Wigton Parish Church and I knew from a young age that I wanted to learn to play. Lots of inspiring teachers were of fundamental importance while I was growing up – Margaret Maxwell, Charles Harrison, Jeremy Suter, David Gibbs, John Robinson and David Sanger.

At which cathedral would you most like to be the Director of Music?

This is a question that I’m deliberately not asking myself at the moment. I feel there’s a danger in aiming for something too specific, rather than taking opportunities as they arise.

Which organists do you admire the most?

There are so many fine players around that I find it very hard to say. Lots of organists, famous or otherwise, have something interesting to say through their playing.

What organ pieces have you been inspired to take up recently and why?

Lots of Bach recently. The Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, the Toccata and Fugue in F, some of the Leipzig Chorales. I keep a list of pieces that I want to learn and I’m adding to it all the time. The F major went on the list about two years ago when I heard a really exciting performance by James O’Donnell in Jesus Chapel in Cambridge.

Have you been listening to recordings of them and if so is it just one interpretation or many and which players?

I’ve particularly enjoyed listening to some of Duruflé’s Bach recordings – the tempi and registrations are very interesting and it’s certainly good to be reminded that there isn’t just one ‘correct’ way of playing these pieces. I take an interest in all the interpretations of a piece that I hear – recorded or live –and try to take inspiration from as many sources as I can.

What was the last CD you bought?

Gillian Weir’s Messiaen recordings.

What was the last recording you were working on?

The last thing I ever did as Organ Scholar of St John’s was to play the Chamber Organ in a recording of motets by Lassus in July 2010. We were joined by His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts and the sound was astonishing and unlike anything I’d heard before. The more I heard of Lassus’s music, the better it got.

Has any particular recording inspired you?

Christopher Robinson’s series of Naxos recordings from St John’s College, Cambridge. They were particularly inspiring after I’d been offered the organ scholarship there – knowing that I was going to join this institution with its amazing sound was very exciting.

What is your favourite organ to play?

Either Salisbury Cathedral or Trinity College, Cambridge, depending on the repertoire.

What is your favourite building? Carlisle Cathedral.

What is your favourite anthem?

Elgar: Great is the Lord.

What are your favourite set of canticles? Gibbons Second Service.

What are your favourite psalm and accompanying chants? Every time I move to a different choir I change my mind. At St John’s Psalm 23 was very special – always unaccompanied to Hylton Stewart. I haven’t been in Chichester long enough to have a favourite here yet.

What is your favourite organ piece?

Bach Prelude and Fugue in B minor

Who is your favourite composer? Bach, then Beethoven.

What pieces are you including in an organ recital you are performing?

The Elegy by John McCabe, which is new to me, along with the Bach Fantasia and Fugue in C minor (BWV 537), Howells Psalm Prelude, Set 1 number 2, and the Alain Scherzo from the Suite.

Any forthcoming appearances of note?

I’m going back to St John’s to give a recital in October. During the college’s 500th anniversary celebrations they’re inviting back as many former organ scholars as they can, and it’s a real honour to be part of the series.

Have you played for an event or recital that stands out as a great moment?

Playing in the Concertgebouw was fun. Broadcasts tend to stick in the memory too.

How do you cope with nerves?

Trying to turn nerves into performance energy can be a useful way of thinking about it. But being well prepared is the most important thing for me.

What are your hobbies?

I like playing football and squash, but these have dried up somewhat since coming to Chichester. I hope to remedy this soon.

Do you play any other instruments?

I enjoy playing the piano very much. I used to play the clarinet but I wasn’t at all good.

What was the last book you read?

The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson.

What are your favourite radio and television programmes?

I don’t have a TV at the moment so I go to the pub if there’s an important football match on. I like lots of Radio 3 and 4.

What Newspapers and magazines do you read?

Private Eye and The Economist.

What makes you laugh?

Lots of things. A bad joke will do.

Which football team do you support?

Arsenal and Carlisle. They don’t play each other very often.

If you could have dinner with two people, one from the 21st century and the other from the past, who would you include?

From the past I’d go with St Peter. I can’t think of a more amazing time in history to have lived. From the present, Ross Noble. He’s a very funny man.

2011 sees the 500th anniversary of St John’s College, Cambridge. FCM member and Cambridge resident, Philip White, is a regular at Evensong in the college chapel.

SOUVENT ME SOUVIENT

It’s the best of times; it’s almost 6.30pm on a chilly winter’s evening, and time for Evensong at St John’s College. Time for escaping from the mad Cambridge traffic into the blustery tranquillity of First Court, turning by the Great Hall, being prepared for dinner, and then leaning a shoulder onto the giant door into chapel (which you are advised, politely, to see is firmly shut behind you). Dimly lit, but assuredly looking down on you as you enter is a portrait of Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, at prayer. Further on into the ante-chapel, a white marble statue – an elderly gent rather slumped in his chair and deep in thought on the plinth. It’s William Wilberforce, champion of the Act which led to the abolition of the slave trade. The toe of his delicate shoe is highly polished; not the result of conscientious professional dusting, but a consequence of many little hands giving him an affectionate pat – this is where the choir gathers at the start of Evensong for a prayer before processing into the chapel.

To the left of the wrought iron gates leading from the antechapel is a more recent plaque – that commemorating George Howell Guest – a modest memorial to a giant of choral music. More of him later.

College chapels are, of course, noticeably different if you are used to attending a parish church, the stalls face inwards rather than towards the altar and are three-tiered. The oak of the stalls is dark and rich and rather comfortably worn in places. Some of them come from the original chapel and date back to 1516. Looking around, there doesn’t seem to be that many people here; it’s a very large building and would need about 300 or so souls to make it look full.

The organ softly improvises; these quieter stops on this organ really do suit the building well and make the most of the acoustic, more intimate than a great cathedral, though you are aware of being in a much larger space than most other college chapels allow. And now you can just hear the choir assembling in the ante-chapel; there is a ‘ssshhh’ from someone as the boys line up, and rustling of surplices as the last couple of choral scholars arrive, only just in time.

It is said that the college has possessed a choir for the singing of services during term time since the 1670s. There was a chapel on the site though, long before the college was granted its charter on 9 April 1511, in fact this earlier chapel had been built in 1280, when the site was the Augustinian Hospital of St John. It was substantially altered in 1512 for use by the new College of St John the Evangelist, but as the college quickly grew, this chapel was deemed to be far too small, and towards the end of the seventeenth century there were moves to fund the construction of a new building. But it seems that the will to go ahead with the project was not stirred until 1861, and the chapel we have today was built between 1866 and 1869, to the design of the architect, George Gilbert Scott. The old building was demolished, though its footprint can still be seen in the grass of First Court. The tower is one of the most dominant features of the City, though it was not in Scott’s original plan. The funds to build it were put up by a past member of the college, Henry Hoare, by planned instalments, but poor Hoare was killed in a train accident and the college was left with a grand tower and a huge debt! It is to the very top of this tower that the choir makes its way each Ascension Day to sing a seasonal carol.

The choir procession is led by the Chapel Clerk; he bears a verge topped with an eagle, the traditional symbol of St John. The boy choristers carry in their ‘squares’ with them; these are

Bridge of Sighs, Cambridge © Scott Latham/Fotolia.com

worn with long cloaks for the walk from school, through ‘the backs’ and across the river over the picturesque Bridge of Sighs, a very frequent promenade for them. It was in the early days of George Guest’s 40 years as organist and choirmaster that the future of the choir school was uncertain, but he persuaded the Fellows (it is said, supported by a telegram from Vaughan Williams) to establish the current school in Grange Road.

Worship follows the order in the Book of Common Prayer, though a psalm or two is selected from those set for the day of the month (Morning and Evening prayer), that way they all get an airing over time. Psalms are chanted with great care so that even slight changes to dynamics, length of words, tempo and so on, has a breathtaking effect. There are 15 choral scholars and 18 boy choristers and, when singing full fortissimo, it is a huge sound, but it is those intensely quiet sections, perhaps with delicate extemporisation from the organ accompaniment, that lay the words – the poetry – on one’s heart.

As a soul is lifted, so may our eyes be raised to take in some of the other features of the chapel interior. The organ, high in the arches above Cantoris, is adorned with a fine array of trumpets, standing out over the proceedings – it’s tempting to want to hang those military banners from them. Listen to a St John’s recording of Tippett’s astonishing Magnificat and you will hear a stirring flourish. Look closely at the top of the case in the left of the two arches it occupies and you will see a fivepointed golden star. This is a cimbelstern – used only sparingly, but as it turns, it tinkles to add charm and a little magic to the final verse of a Christmas hymn. Almost all the pipework is new, dating from the most recent reconstruction by Mander in 1993, though some work was done in 1955 under the watchful eye of George Guest, and indeed some pipework dates back to the Hill instrument of 1869.

The wooden ceiling is intricately painted to depict niches and standing in each one a colourful character; college Masters, Saints, clergy, and Lady Margaret Beaufort, again, next to Bishop John Fisher. It was Fisher, then Bishop of Rochester, and confessor to Lady Margaret (mother of King Henry VII), who persuaded her to found the new college in place of the decayed hospital. Lady Margaret died in 1509, so it was Bishop Fisher’s persistence in gaining the approval of Henry VIII, the Pope, and the Bishop of Ely that led to the commencement of the project two years later.

On winter evenings you can’t see the stained glass of course, so although I prefer the atmosphere created by the darkness of the season, it’s a delight to enjoy them in the summer months. These great windows, by Clayton and Bell, busily portray scenes from the life of Jesus, and St John appears in many, recognisable in his clothing of green and red. A window opposite to where I often sit shows the wedding at Cana – a grand affair – the bride looking beautiful in what looks to me the most fashionable of Victorian wedding dresses, though everyone else seems to be in what we have come to think of as Galilean robes.

I would find it impossible to pick out favourite evening Canticles, though I have already referred to the Tippett, and I should also mention another service written for St John’s by Phillip Moore. The choir seems very much at home with relatively recent music, yet Byrd and Tomkins, Stanford and Dyson are all carefully prepared and bring such sense and feeling to the worship. Mind you, I have to admit to a soft spot for Daniel Purcell in E minor. And on a very personal level I have to confess to being spellbound by their interpretations of Britten and Walton anthems, though the Cantata Evensongs, in collaboration with members of the Orchestra of the Age of

Enlightenment, are worth making a trip to Cambridge for. It is an opportunity to hear a choir of outstanding young voices expertly and lovingly singing some of Bach’s wonderful cantatas. The choir’s latest recording, under the masterful direction of Andrew Nethsingha, titled Hear My Words, contains a mix of pieces which confirm all these feelings for me.

Evensong has again been special. It was a service primarily intended for those currently Members of the College – Fellows and students. The public are, of course, made very welcome indeed by the Dean, Chaplain and Chapel Clerk, but I still feel greatly privileged to have been there. I love my Sunday services in my little parish church, but weekday evenings afford me the opportunity to learn, to contemplate, to be uplifted and to be thankful that young people are prepared to bring so much

talent, dedication and hard work to the service of God.

Now, everyone with access to the Internet can capture that evensong experience, through the weekly webcasts which are available throughout the year, and not just in term time. In the words of the Dean, the Revd Duncan Dormor: ‘Our intention is simple: to provide the very best the Anglican Choral tradition can offer, free at the touch of a button, to anyone, anywhere in the world’. Go to www.sjcchoir.co.uk/webcast

The College is now celebrating its quincentenary, and the chapel is a focal point for many special events. There is an organ recital every Sunday during term time at 6.00pm, and during this special year 24 former organ scholars will return to the College to play. These will include notable players such as John Scott, David Hill, Stephen Cleobury, Adrian Lucas,

Jonathan Bielby, and Andrew Lumsden. Admission is free, and is followed by Choral Evensong sung by the College Choir. Look out for other events on the website.

The title of this article, Souvent me souvient, is the Beaufort family motto, and means ‘often I call to mind’. The cycle ride home along by the river in the darkness allows time for a little contemplation: but words that are called to mind seem inadequate to describe the last hour – history, tradition, culture, heritage, beauty, skill... maybe the best summing up is the college prayer, said at all services: ‘Bless, O Lord, the work of this college, which is called by the name of Thy beloved disciple, and grant that love of the brethren and all sound learning may ever grow and prosper here, to Thy honour and glory and to the good of Thy people. Amen.’

St John’s College, Cambridge © Scott Latham/Fotolia.com

NEWS BITES

News from Choirs and Places where they sing

HEREFORD CITY COUNCIL HELP FUND A LOCAL MUSIC EDUCATION SCHEME

Despite funding cuts at a national level, a local music education scheme is able to continue with the support of Hereford City Council and the Sylvia Short Educational Trust. Thanks to the two grants, Year 5 and 6 pupils from St James’s CE Primary School in Hereford got a taste of what it is like to perform in Hereford Cathedral with pupils from Walford and Wellington primary schools, alongside the cathedral choristers. Martyn Lane, Project Leader for Hereford Cathedral, said: “The Singing Day at the cathedral on Thursday 24 March was a special celebration, as it was the twenty-fifth singing day that we have held since the scheme began in 2003.” Part of the preliminary work for the singing day is to take groups of

Know a child who loves singing?

Salisbury Cathedral Choir offers a wonderful opportunity in a spectacular setting

Be a chorister for a day

Saturday 12 November

Open day for prospective choristers in School Years

2,3 and 4 and their parents

Voice Trial Workshop Saturday 3 December

Voice Trials

School Years 3 & 4

Saturday 21 January 2012 (boys) Saturday 4 February 2012 (girls)

Informal Pre-auditions any time by arrangement

All children are educated at Salisbury Cathedral School Scholarships and Bursaries available

For an informal discussion with the Director of Music please contact: Department of Liturgy & Music 01722 555125 litmus@salcath.co.uk

www.salisburycathedral.org.uk

cathedral choristers into the participating schools to work with the pupils on the songs that they will be singing. Martyn added: “A visit from the choristers like this helps to encourage young people of a similar age to sing, to enjoy singing, and to do it well.” Since its inception, government funding has made these visits possible as part of Hereford Cathedral’s Music Outreach Scheme; with national funding ending in 2011, however, the scheme was in jeopardy. Councillor Anna Toon, Mayor of Hereford, attended the workshop at St James’s School on Wednesday 9 March after expressing an interest in seeing the project working at first hand.

“It is fantastic that we are able to continue the scheme,” said Martyn Lane, adding “it’s such a bonus that the Mayor has taken a personal interest.”

Martyn Lane (left) and Peter Dyke, assistant organist Hereford Cathedral, leading the music outreach watched by the Mayor of Hereford and the Dean at St James’ s CE School.

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60Seconds in Music Profile DAVID NEWSHOLME

Age 25

Education details:

King’s School, Worcester (8-18) New College, Oxford (BA, Music)

Manchester Metropolitan University (PGCE) York University (Ph.D, ongoing)

Career details to date: Chorister and Lay Clerk, Worcester Cathedral Organ Scholar, Salisbury Cathedral Organ Scholar, New College, Oxford

Assistant Director of Chapel Music, Winchester College

Assistant Organist, Canterbury Cathedral (January 2011)

You were a chorister at Worcester –can you describe the experience?

I loved almost every moment of my time as a chorister and I gained many of my formative musical experiences under the directorship of Donald Hunt and Adrian Lucas (three years of each). Just as importantly, I made lifelong friends amongst my fellow choristers and retain a loyal affection for the place.

What did you enjoy most about being an organ scholar at New College, Oxford?

The opportunity to work to high musical standards on a daily basis with one of the greatest choirs in the world.

What or who made you take up the organ?

My father was a great influence – he was an organ scholar himself and encouraged me to persevere with my own practice at an age when other distractions were numerous!

At which cathedral would you most like to be the Director of Music?

I’d have to say my home cathedral of Worcester.

What organ pieces have you been inspired to take up recently and why?

I’m currently working on J S Bach’s six Trio Sonatas – some of the most brilliant and beautiful pieces ever composed for the instrument.

Have you been listening to recordings of them and if so is it just one interpretation or many and which players?

I greatly admire Professor John Butt’s recording of these works – it was one of the first organ discs that I ever owned. However, I try to avoid listening to the interpretations of others while I am still in the process of developing my own.

Which organists do you admire the most?

Nicholas Wearne, John Scott, David Briggs and Gillian Weir, to name but a few.

What was the last CD you bought?

A recording of works by James Macmillan, Visitatio Sepulchri and Sun-Dogs, performed by the Netherlands Radio Choir and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic. At the same time, I bought a disc of cantatas by André Campra, performed by Les Arts Florissants/William Christie.

What was the last recording you were working on?

I recently played a selection of chorale preludes by J S Bach that will be released on a disc of Christmas music performed by the Quiristers of Winchester College.

What is your favourite organ to play?

Southwell Minster.

What is your favourite building? Worcester Cathedral.

What is your favourite anthem?

Henry Purcell’s Praise the Lord, O My Soul.

What are your favourite set of canticles?

Orlando Gibbons’s Second Service

What are your favourite psalm and accompanying chants? 23 (C Hylton Stewart).

What is your favourite organ piece?

Healy Willan’s Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue.

Who is your favourite composer?

J S Bach

What pieces are you including in an organ recital you are performing? Amongst other things, Herbert Howells’s Sonata in D, Arild Sandvold’s Introduktion og Passacaglia, J S Bach’s Trio Sonata V in C, York Bowen’s Fantasia and Maurice Duruflé’s Suite (Op.5)

Have you played for an event or recital that stands out as a great moment?

Accompanying the choir of New College, Oxford and playing Duruflé’s Scherzo(Op.2) in front of an audience in excess of 1,000 at Washington National Cathedral certainly stands out.

Has any particular recording inspired you?

Yes – a recording of Murray Somerville playing Reger’s Hallelujah! Gott zu loben on the organ of New College, Oxford inspired me to learn the piece as a teenager.

How do you cope with nerves?

Keep going!

What are your hobbies?

Squash, walking and watching sport.

Do you play any other instruments?

I suppose I should own up to having played the viola.

What was the last book you read?

Jeeves and Wooster, simultaneously with Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year.

What are your favourite radio and television programmes?

Blackadder, Dinner Ladies... and I still miss Wogan on Radio 2 in the mornings!

What Newspapers and magazines do you read?

The Times, Private Eye and International Record Review

What makes you laugh?

Bad puns.

Which football team do you support?

Aston Villa!

If you could have dinner with two people, one from the 21st century and the other from the past, who would you include?

William Davis, musician at Worcester Cathedral between c.16851745 and the principal subject of my ongoing PhD thesis. I imagine he might be able to answer some nagging questions that I have! Other than that, I’d have to say William Shakespeare as my historical personality. I can’t think of anyone alive now I’d rather have dinner with than my wife, Kate.

As a FCM Council member what do you think should be the role of the FCM in the 21st century?

To keep up the good work it currently does.

TRADITION ON THE ASCENT

FCM Chairman Peter Toyne in conversation with Andrew Nethsingha

It wasn’t any easy decision. Very happy at Gloucester, but with St John’s College looking for a new Director of Music to succeed David Hill, Andrew Nethsingha had a real dilemma. Should he stay at Gloucester or put in for Cambridge? He knew St John’s well since he’d been Organ Scholar there under George Guest (one of FCM’s former Presidents) and at that time he’d often thought how wonderful it would be to return there someday as Director.

His CV was now most impressive: Head Chorister at Exeter Cathedral (where his father, Lucian Nethsingha was Organist and Master of the Choristers); music scholarship at Clifton College; student at the Royal College of Music; Organ Scholar with Christopher Robinson (now our President) at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, before moving on to John’s; Assistant Organist at Wells; Director of Music at Truro and finally Director of Music at Gloucester. So, perhaps the time had now come for his early dream to be realised.

“It was exceptionally difficult knowing what to do,” said Andrew, “after all, St John’s was the perfect job in so many respects and yet Gloucester was also a perfect job and I knew that it would be a big wrench to leave it if I got St John’s. Every day I’d think about it and then mark the calendar in our kitchen with a ‘C’ or a ‘G’ depending on what I’d decided that particular day.” When it came to the crunch he added up the Cs and the Gs and the Cs got it by a short head!

Now in his fourth year there, Andrew is clearly building on the heritage of his immediate predecessors (George Guest, Christopher Robinson and David Hill) with infectious enthusiasm and professionalism. “They were giants of the choral world who did so much to put St John’s on the map,” he says, “and though at first it was somewhat intimidating to be following in their illustrious footsteps, their legacy of excellence means that I can retain the ‘tradition’ I’ve inherited whilst having freedom to do my own thing.”

That ‘freedom’ based on the John’s ‘tradition’ has already borne a number of significant fruits.

First, there have been some notable changes to the repertoire. A dozen new works have been commissioned from well-respected composers such as MacMillan, Harvey, Weir, Rutter, McCabe, Swayne and Panufnik. With characteristic modesty Andrew explains that ‘that’s simply building on one of Christopher Robinson’s legacies.’ At the other end of the range, however, he’s introduced ‘a lot of Bach’ and he’s especially pleased that, once a term, he’s been able to include a Bach Cantata at Evensong, accompanied by members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

A highlight of the past year for Andrew has been exploring the music of Lassus. “I wanted to do a CD of Byrd, but our record company, Chandos, wasn’t very keen so I thought ‘how about Lassus?’ and that’s now going to be our next disc, which came out in March,” he says. “I spent a week in the University Library looking through many of Lassus’s 550 motets, imagining the sound in my head, and I finally chose 25 of which 15 have never been recorded. We performed them with His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts. Lassus was a highly cosmopolitan composer, encompassing numerous styles. There is huge variety of texture in the disc, sometimes giving a platform for our fine

Choir of St John’s College Cambridge

solo singers. For three motets we had instruments only; it was a very stimulating experience to try to create the right colours and articulation for the word painting, even when the words weren’t being sung!”

No doubt that disc will be greeted with the same critical acclaim as their most recent releases, Howells: St John’s Magnificat, a disc of Howells’s choral music (one of Andrew’s favourite composers under whom his father had studied at the Royal College) and Hear my Words, a wide-ranging collection of music regularly heard at St John’s Evensongs that demonstrates just how versatile and broad the repertoire continues to be; there’s music by Allegri, Grieg, Pärt, Rachmaninoff, Parsons, Palestrina, Tallis, MacMillan, Franck, Vaughan Williams, Rutter, Fauré, Parry and Stanford.

Commenting on the Howells recording, one reviewer (Terry Blain in the April 2010 edition of BBC Music Magazine) wrote” ‘Overall, it is the bold, confidently assertive nature of the choir’s attack under director of music Andrew Nethsingha which is constantly striking, a trait typical of the John’s style...’ while another (‘Catterline’ in the online Amazon Customer Review) concluded that ‘St John’s, on the strength of this recording, must be in the top three or four choirs in the world and lead the way in the English choral tradition’ singling out ‘the swelling thunder of the Gloucester Service’ on this disc as ‘simply magnificent’. Similar euologistic comment was heaped on the Hear my Words disc by the same reviewer who, giving it a five-star rating under the headline ‘World Class Singing’ concluded that ‘It is hard to find fault with the choir’s performance’. And in the January 2011 edition of Gramophone John Steene considered that ‘The famous choir appears to thrive under Andrew Nethsingha’s management’.

The second development is the weekly St John’s webcast. It’s the first scheme of its kind in the country and is attracting worldwide interest for its broadcasts of services, 52 weeks of the year. “We get emails of appreciation from all over the place,” Andrew explains with characteristic modesty, “but it could not have happened so quickly had it not been for the pioneering work of David Hill and our excellent Dean, Duncan Dormor. I’m sure it’s something that George (Guest) would have done – I like to think it’s a natural follow-up to his pioneering Argo recordings and broadcasts.”

Also building on the inheritance of his predecessors is the busy programme of international tours. Almost as soon as last term had ended just before Christmas, the choir went off to Denmark for a series of recitals, all of which attracted huge audiences. When they recently gave a concert in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam it was sold out six months in advance! In April, they went to the USA for a two-week tour and future tours include Japan and Hong Kong. “Sometimes it almost seems as if the choir is more famous abroad than at home,” he says, “but we do give recitals nearer home whether at major venues such as Symphony Hall in Birmingham, the Royal Festival Hall and St John’s Smith Square in London or in smaller parish churches, most recently at Kingston-on-Thames and at one of our College’s livings, St Mary, Hadleigh (Suffolk).” And, of course, they are particularly well known at home for what has become their ‘traditional’ BBC radio broadcast of the Advent Carol Service, a few weeks before the choir next door at King’s makes its famous broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve.

What underpins all these exciting developments is the ‘John’s sound’ and a serious commitment to maintaining excellence. As Andrew explains: “I’ve inherited an excellent

choir and although each of my predecessors added their own personality to the sound, it remains a big, rich, warm sound, in which all four parts are important. The sonority of the choir is built from the bottom up and there is a freshness and enthusiasm to the sound which derives in part from the age of the outstanding choral scholars. When you watch the Vienna Philharmonic giving the New Year’s Day concert on the television, you see the eight double basses looking and sounding magnificent in a row in the middle of the stage at the back. That sense of the basses being at the heart of the orchestra’s sound is how I have always thought of the sonority of the St John’s Choir. I hope we are managing to maintain that warm, resonant, glowing underpinning to the choir’s sound. The St John’s Chapel has a very particular intimacy. When I was a student here I always felt the choir communicated a unique sense of spirituality and emotion; I trust that we continue to enhance people’s worship in a profound way.”

The choir’s enthusiasm, freshness and excellence is undoubtedly made possible because of the way in which Andrew inspires and nurtures his choristers, choral scholars and organ scholars. He motivates them by respecting them as musicians, individually and collectively, and by aiming for what he calls ‘an open, happy and relaxed atmosphere’. That said, he is acutely aware of the fact that, unlike in a cathedral, this music foundation is an essential part of an academic environment – and a world-class one at that. Choral scholars and organ scholars have to balance their choir commitments with the rigours of academic demands and those demands are now far more onerous than when he was organ scholar.

“It’s changed a lot,” he says, “so the Dean and I do all we can to remind them to take their academic studies seriously and I’m very pleased that their examination results have improved considerably. We have to remember that we are, first and foremost, an educational establishment and that we strive to nurture really good potential professional cathedral musicians – the lay clerks, organists and Directors of Music of the future – as well as a succession of international operatic soloists. Not only that, we also have one or two ordination candidates at Westcott House and Ridley Hall (the two Church of England Colleges at Cambridge) on placement in our Chapel to encourage future ministers’ appreciation and commitment to high quality church music. We should do more of this!”

As for the choristers, Andrew is fulsome in his praise both for them and their school. “One of the best things about the infrastructure of the St John’s Choir is the wonderful College School which the boys attend. They are cared for and nurtured as individuals in an extraordinary way. I’ve been associated with many superb schools, but this one is in a league of its own and helps make choristerships here very appealing to parents.”

Choir of St John’s College Cambridge

It’s a busy and demanding routine for everyone involved in the choir; each day begins with the choristers’ rehearsal from 8.10am to 9.10am and there’s a full choir rehearsal from 5.15pm to 6.15pm before Choral Evensong at 6.30pm. But the Director of Music is also a Fellow of the College and in that role he takes an active part in its collegiate life. As if directing the choir were not enough, he serves on the College’s Development Committee and its Entertainments Committee and enjoys dining in and talking with his colleague Fellows who include experts in so many different fields of research.

“It’s very different from cathedral life,” he says. “Although my office is in College, my family home is about a mile away, whereas in most cathedrals, as it was for us in Gloucester, home is in the Close and one’s family becomes an integral part of the Cathedral community. I miss that in many ways, but it’s wonderful to be part of a different kind of community – one that I find really stimulating – and it’s a real privilege to be able to play a significant part in its daily life and future development.”

That seems to sum up the Nethsingha attitude – 100%+ committed to the College of which he once dreamed of being Director of Music. That dream has now been realised by this dynamic dynamo who is determined to continue keeping St John’s Choir at the height of excellence by building on the inheritance of his famous predecessors. The first results are already there and reflect what he himself says he hopes he’s delivering; it’s an outstanding example of what might best be summed up as ‘Tradition on the ascent”.

How blessed is John’s that the Cs finally outweighed the Gs on the Nethsingha’s kitchen calendar!

St John’s webcast is at www.sjcchoir.co.uk

Choir of St John’s College Cambridge

AN AMERICAN IN HEREFORD

American Nancy Potter, spent the last week based at Hereford Cathedral as part of the visiting choir group from the Cathedral of All Saints, Albany, New York. She was so touched by the welcome she and her son received that she wanted to keep a lasting link with Hereford by sponsoring a stone in the current restoration of the nave. “Although we had never visited before, Hereford has become such a special place to my family and the whole choir. The welcome and kindness we have received has been wonderful and I am glad that I have been able to create this lasting bond with the cathedral,” said Nancy, shortly before leaving to return to the USA. “During our stay we had the opportunity to visit Windsor, Oxford and a number of other cathedral cities, Herefordshire will remain a very special place and one where we all hope to return in years to come.”

The piece of stone tracery, which will be used to repair one of the windows on the south-western end of the nave, will be carved with the initials of her son and All Saints chorister Wyatt Kirschner. The work is part of an £880,000 restoration of the stonework, which has been taking place since 2007 and it is hoped it will be completed by the end of this year.

“The first four phases attracted funding from English Heritage,” said Glyn Morgan, Chief Executive of Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust, “however, with the various Government spending reviews and cuts, that has come to an end. We are, however, determined that this final phase will be completed and therefore the support we receive from our many visitors is even more important.” “We have a few pieces of decorative window tracery left for sponsorship, and a number of buttress stones, which will only be available over the next few months as the final works will be glass repairs and lead-work. We would be delighted to hear from anyone who would be interested in sponsoring a stone in this final phase,” said Glyn.

GEORGE SIXSMITH –AN OBITUARY

After a very short illness the organ builder George Sixsmith, died on Saturday, 16 October. On Saturday, 8 January Roger Fisher gave an organ recital in St Werburgh’s Church, Chester, to celebrate the life and work of this esteemed organ builder. It was given on the highly acclaimed Binn/Sixsmith three manual organ that was installed in 2004 after George rescued it from the redundant Queen’s Park High Church in Glasgow.

TONING UP

Makin Organs has announced the appointment of Professor Ian Tracey as Tonal Consultant. For some twenty-five years Ian has worked with Makin by ‘opening’ new instruments, and more recently by playing at our ever popular Sounds of the Summer and Autumn Shades concerts at Mixbury and Shaw, and in the design of new models such as the popular Westmorland Village organ. With this latest collaboration, Ian will work alongside Makin staff in the recording and selection of pipe organ samples and be personally involved in the on-site voicing of all our Westmorland Custom Drawstop instruments at no additional cost to the customer.

AN ELGAR EXPERIENCE: ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH, MALVERN WELLS

Sunday, 3 June 3.00pm to 5.00pm.

Elgar’s house, Craeg Lea (1889), is just along the road from this church. The architect of the church is Arthur Troyte Griffith, who was remembered by Elgar in Variation 7 of the Enigma Variations (Troyte). There is evidence to suggest that Elgar composed part of the Enigma Variations in the church, but his offer of the original manuscript of his oratorio The Apostles, as a gift to the church, was refused by the Anglican authorities because Elgar was a Roman Catholic and the oratorio was heavily based in that tradition. Next to the church is the Wyche School; Land of Hope and Glory, set to Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, was first performed here in the presence of Elgar. In later life Elgar came to dislike the nationalistic overtones which became associated with the setting. The organ is the work of A H Winfield, a friend of Elgar. It has his characteristic stop tablets and ingenious piston system used by Nicholson’s at that time. Apparently, Ralph Downes admired the similar 1909 console that was present at the Birmingham Oratory. It is an unusual instrument having 9 speaking stops spread over three manuals and pedal with 13 couplers. A further 8 stops were prepared but have never been put in place. The organ is given a full description by Jim Berrow in BIOS Journal Volume 18 1994. The church members are now seeking to restore this instrument and publicise the historical nature of the building in this Elgar’s 150th anniversary year. On Sunday, 3 June, from 3.00pm to 5.00pm the church is holding an ‘Elgar Experience’. Not only does this include a cream tea, but it will also include demonstrations of the organ. www.cofe-malvern.org.uk/~allsaints

FELLOWSHIP (FRSCM)

News from Choirs and Places where they sing

For achievements of international significance, or exceptional work for the RSCM

Terence Duffy FCM Council member and former Director of Music at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Terry is an organist, church musician and teacher who has made a distinctive contribution to Roman Catholic liturgical music in Britain, notably at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral (organist 1963-1993 and Director of Music from 2004-07). He is a skilled and much respected recitalist and teacher, who, with his brother, Philip Duffy, helped to nurture the music department in the newly-established Cathedral. Several generations of musicians have now benefited from this musical heritage, and the cathedral choir celebrated its 50th birthday in November 2010 (see Newsbite on page 9).

Dr Donald Hunt OBE Conductor, lecturer, composer and former Organist and Master of the Choristers at Worcester Cathedral. While Director of Music at Leeds Parish Church, he conducted several notable choirs including the Leeds Philharmonic, was Leeds City Organist and a lecturer at the Leeds College of Music. He received a Doctorate in Music from Leeds University for his work in Yorkshire. From 1976-1996 he was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Worcester Cathedral, and conducted eight Three Choirs Festivals. He has written several books and has had much of his music published. He masterminded and directed the 2007 Elgar 150th anniversary festival in Worcester and is Music Advisor to the Elgar School of Music in Worcester. He was appointed OBE in 1993.

Peter Wright Organist and Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral, Chairman of RSCM Southwark Area Committee. Peter Wright was nominated for his general contribution to the health of church music. He has served as Organist and Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral and the chairman of RSCM’s Southwark Area Committee for over 20 years. He was President of the Royal College of Organists from 2005-2008, and played a significant role in their relations with the RSCM for a number of years. At Southwark he has raised and sustained the standard of the cathedral choir as well as introducing a girls’ choir and the Merbecke Choir for ex-choristers. Peter is also much in demand as an organ recitalist and choral conductor, both in the UK and abroad.

There is a studied ambiguity in this title, as will be revealed in due course. William Boyce was born in the City of London and was baptised on 11 September 1711, presumably within four to eight days of his birth as it was then the custom to baptise infants as soon as possible; he was married in 1748 and died on 7 February 1779. ‘He was endowed with the qualities of truth, justice, and integrity, was mild and gentle in his deportment; above all resentment against such as envied his reputation, communicative of his knowledge, sedulous and punctual in the discharge of the duties of his several employments, particularly those that regarded the performance of divine service, and in every relation of life a worthy man.’1

His father was a joiner and cabinet maker who later became Beadle of the Joiners’ Company; ‘discovering in his son while an infant, a delight in musical sounds, [he] placed him for tuition under Mr. Charles King, almoner or more properly master of the children in the cathedral church of St. Paul’s, into which, after a little instruction in the music-school, he was admitted a chorister. Upon the breaking of his voice and his consequent dismission (sic) from the choir, he was taken as an apprentice by Dr Maurice Greene, then organist of that church, and by him taught the principles of music and the practice of choral service.’2 He also studied with Pepusch, the greatest musical theorist of his day.

In 1734 Boyce was appointed organist of the Earl of Oxford’s chapel near Cavendish Square; two years later he moved to St Michael’s Cornhill and was also appointed composer to the Chapel Royal in succession to John Weldon. Though the duty of the office was exactly what its name suggests, ie to compose music for the choir of the Chapel Royal, Boyce’s interests and fame were more widely spread, for he also composed an oratorio, stage works masques, numerous songs, and sonatas for two violins and continuo. He was appointed conductor of the Three Choirs Festival in 1737.

On Maurice Greene’s death in 1755 he was appointed Master of the King’s Music. His duties were to compose annually a New Year Ode and an ode for the King’s birthday, and for the rest of his life he appears to have written little else; the overtures to eleven of the odes were included in the Twelve Overtures which he published in 1760, and two others in the Eight Symphonys published in 1760 but containing much

material re-cycled from earlier compositions. Another duty he inherited from Greene was to direct the annual performance at St Paul’s for the benefit of the Sons of the Clergy. In 1758 he became one of the three organists of the Chapel Royal, but his increasing deafness was becoming a severe hindrance to the performance of his duties, and for the rest of his life he devoted himself principally to dealing with an important musical legacy, which would result in the publication of the famous Boyce’s Cathedral Music.

‘Dr Greene... considering the corrupted state of our cathedral music, which, by the multiplication of manuscript copies, and the ignorance of transcribers, was become so incorrect as that many of the services and anthems of which it consisted were scarce fit for practice, let himself to reform and secure it from future injury. It is true that, in the year 1641, a like attempt was made by the publication, under the patronage of King Charles the First, of a work entitled “The first book of selected church-music, ...[collected] by John Barnard, one of the minor Canons of the cathedral church of St. Paul, London.” But this being printed not in score, but in parts, single books were in a short time purloined. ...Dr Boyce himself has been heard to say, that the library of the church of Hereford was the only one in the kingdom in which he was able to find a complete set of Barnard’s books.

‘To repair this loss, and to prevent any such calamity for the future, Dr Greene undertook to collate the several manuscript copies of the most esteemed services and anthems, composed for the use of the reformed church from the final establishment of its liturgy to his own time. To this end, he some years before his death, set himself to collect all the written church music, either in score or in parts that he could come at, together with a complete set of the books published by Barnard. What progress he made in the collection, is not known; but it is certain that, dying in the year 1755, he was disappointed in his hopes of giving to the world the work he had so long meditated, and remitted to Dr Boyce the future conduct and publication thereof, by a bequest in his will of all his manuscript music.’3

This was to result in the publication between 1760 and 1778 of the three volumes of Cathedral Music, printed in full score, not in separate voice-parts; Blow, Gibbons, Humfrey and Purcell are the composers chiefly represented, but there is a representative selection from the ‘Golden Age’ including contemporary English versions of motets by Byrd and Tallis. The collection initially was greeted with a disappointing indifference, but a second edition in 1788 (after Boyce’s death) was enthusiastically received; together with a further three volumes of ‘left-overs’ by his pupil Samuel Arnold, Boyce’s Cathedral Music (as it was universally known) saved much music of earlier generations from oblivion and provided the basis of cathedral choirs’ repertoire for over a century.

Boyce was so disheartened by the initial failure of Cathedral Music that he did not publish any of his own music; however in 1780 and 1790 his widow published the real Boyce’s Cathedral Music, two volumes of selections from his three morning services and sixty-two anthems, and in 1855 Vincent Novello published an edition with treble instead of soprano clef. The settings of Te Deum and Jubilate in A major and C major were later issued in octavo along with a small number of anthems.

It is sad that in his tercentenary year Boyce seems so neglected in our cathedrals and great churches, though Boyce in A and Boyce in C are still sung in those few places retaining choral Matins on a Sunday. It would seem that this neglect is

William Boyce

no new phenomenon; to the Victorians the music of Boyce, Croft, Greene and co, represented the ‘Old School’ which was replaced, especially in those establishments which followed the example of St Paul’s Cathedral, by the more highlycoloured products of Gounod, Mendelssohn, Spohr and their native imitators. There was also (at St Paul’s) the sound practical reason that the solos and trios characteristic of the eighteenth-century anthem were ineffective in the vast spaces opened up by the removal of the choir–screen. Our current liking for brevity in church services does not favour lengthy verse-anthems, but it does seem an especial shame that when our choirs contain so many excellent counter-tenors they are denied the very music that makes best use of their gifts.

John Patton’s 1986 survey recorded that only three fullchoir anthems were sung in more than ten places, but all three are readily available from the Church Music Society in new editions. O, where shall wisdom be found is a classic which every chorister should know: I have surely built thee an house will give your best three lay clerks an outing; and Turn thee unto me, O Lord has a wonderfully expressive opening movement, a treble duet of great charm, and a vigorous Handelian fugue. It was good to see this anthem in the current (March) lists at York Minster. Your library may contain in old Novello editions

By the waters of Babylon, or All the ends of the world (a fine fivepart chorus from O praise the Lord) or Blessed be the name of the Lord, the final chorus from Lord, thou hast been our refuge. This is a large-scale anthem for the Sons of the Clergy, available from OUP in a modern edition by the late Maurice Bevan, who also edited Boyce’s anthems for the Coronation of George III (1761). These are available from the publisher Cathedral Music.

CELEBRITY ORGAN RECITALS

Thursdays at 6.30pm

5th MAY

HENRY FAIRS

Head of Organ Studies

Birmingham Conservatoire

2nd JUNE

TIMOTHY WAKERELL

Sub Organist, St Paul’s Cathedral

7th JULY

JOHN SCOTT

St Thomas, Fifth Avenue

New York City

4th AUGUST

BEN VAN OOSTEN

The Hague, Netherlands

1st SEPTEMBER

SIMON JOHNSON Organist, St Paul’s Cathedral

Less easy to find will be The heavens declare (OUP Cathedral Anthems editor, Hylton Stewart, or in The Treasury of English Church Music Volume III, edited by Christopher Dearnley); but what a splendid piece for your trebles to enjoy as they listen to two lively trios and highly effective solos for bass and countertenor before they crown the fine edifice with Great and marvellous are thy works and Alleluia. Apart from its intrinsic merits it is highly economical of the full choir’s rehearsal-time. Possibly even finer is O sing unto the Lord a new song with duets for treble and bass (the same improbable but effective combination as in Wise’s The ways of Sion do mourn), a charming solo for treble and a rousing final chorus in which the soloists are pitted against the full choir. Also edited by Maurice Bevan, this was published by Schott.

So, enterprising choirmasters, take the chance of a fresh look at his music in Boyce’s tercentenary year, and perhaps have a ‘Boyce-fest’: if you cannot use the works for full choir, your trebles (or sopranos) would still enjoy various solos and duets such as Examine me, O Lord, O turn away mine eyes and The sorrows of my heart are enlarged (Novello or OUP); if your resources are modest, there are a few excellent chants and the hymn-tune Halton Holgate which goes well to Come thou longexpected Jesus and Firmly I believe and truly. You could also buy New College Choir’s excellent recording of Boyce’s anthems direct from the college or via Amazon; and you could look for a second-hand copy of Christopher Dearnley’s English Church Music 1650-1750, an informative and entertaining read. At its finest Boyce’s music will hold its own against the best of the eighteenth century; and we should also reflect on this modest man’s great service to cathedral music in his preservation of so much of the heritage we continue to enjoy and support.

Footnotes

1 Sir John Hawkins, Memoirs of William Boyce, preface to the 2nd edition (1788) of Boyce’s Cathedral Music

2 Hawkins, op. cit.

3 Hawkins, op. cit.

John Scott returns to St Paul’s on 7th July!

ROLL OUT THE BARRELS

On Friday nights, lay clerks, organ & choral scholars, organists and a few other cathedral vagabonds descend, for what is affectionally known as ‘Bible Study’, on The Barrels, an historic 18th century coaching inn run by Herefordshire-based Wye Valley Brewery.

Normally tucked into a back bar, which is housed in the former stable block and which less than 10 years ago was the site of the brewery, the ‘chaps’ can be found putting the world to rights, while enjoying the local brews of Butty Bach, HPA, Wye Valley Bitter (known as ‘cheapest’) and even the occasional pint of Dorothy Goodbody. Enhancing the taste of the finest Herefordshire hops, which helped earn Wye Valley the inaugural BBC Food and Farming Award for the Best Drinks Producer, will be a side order of Tyrrells Potato Chips, another award-winning Herefordshire brand. Plentiful supplies of the crisps can normally be found at any cathedral event as the matriarch of the farming family who founded the brand is the Secretary of the Cathedral Friends and a great supporter of the choir.

The gathering of souls, at the end of a long Friday evening practice, brings together a very wide range of experience, with the senior four lay clerks sharing over 110 years of service in

the Hereford back row, while our gap-year choral scholars only entered the stalls last September. As well as a vast experience of services and concerts, both in the cathedral and at the Three Choirs Festival, the chaps have sung in recent years in the USA (four times) and South Africa, and in London at events organised by Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust in The Barbican, Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal and, last November, in the Guards’ Chapel.

Inevitably, in a cathedral city in the depths of the Welsh Marches, many of the lay clerks have careers which take them away from professional singing, ranging from an educational psychologist to a musicologist to a computer trainer. Conversations also range wide and free, from the merits (or otherwise) of Bullock in D (perhaps appropriate in the Diocese of Hereford) to Birmingham City Football Club, and from why it’s taking so long to restore the double track from Hereford to Ledbury to the finer points of typography.

While lots of stories are spun about days gone by, and past choir members, the chaps also look to the future and all that is to come over the coming months and years. Undoubtedly this will include a ‘little more Bible Study’ and a few more yarns!

In this the last Lay Clerks’ tale we travel to Hereford.

In search of MAURICE DURUFLÉ

Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris © Alexey Usachev/Fotolia

Timothy Hone reflects on a visit to Duruflé’s church

and apartment, by the Cathedral

Organists’ Association, in May 2010

The steep climb on the left bank of the Seine from the South side of Notre-Dame takes you close to the heart of the University of Paris, one of the areas where you can still feel in touch with the Medieval core of the city. Following signs to the Panthéon brings you to a district which is a magnet for those who love the music of Maurice Duruflé. The most obvious place of pilgrimage is the great church of Saint Etienne-du-Mont, where Duruflé was appointed titular organist in 1929, on the recommendation of Widor, Tournemire and Vierne. In his letter of recommendation, Vierne wrote:

‘He is one of my best students, a virtuoso, admirable, remarkable improviser, an excellent musician. I consider him one of the best organists of this time, and by employing him you are acquiring one of the future glories of the French organ.’

In May 2010, members of the Cathedral Organists’ Association had the privilege of following in a long line of musicians who have travelled to Paris to be inspired by the instruments and musicians of this great city. One of our first visits was to Saint Etienne-du-Mont, an architectural highlight of Paris dating mainly from the end of the 15th century, with flamboyant stone carving characteristic of this period. Inside, there is a tremendous feeling of light, space and height, while the chancel screen is a virtuoso piece of construction. However, at the time when Duruflé was appointed, the church had no particular musical distinction.

No doubt the newly-appointed organist, then in his late twenties but still a student at the Paris Conservatoire, was inspired by the sight of the superb organ case at the west end that survives from 1633, built to house the organ by Pierre le Pescheur, dating from 1636. However, the fortunes of the organ itself were much more mixed. A fire destroyed much of the instrument, though not the case, necessitating a rebuild. This was begun by Nicolas Somer in 1760 and was continued

after his death by François-Henri Clicquot. Although damaged, this organ survived the Revolution. It was in poor condition in 1833 when it was restored by John Abbey.

In 1862, a more far-reaching revision was carried out by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. This resulted in an instrument which had fundamental musical restrictions, particularly in terms of the limited compass of the Pedal organ (27 notes) and Récit (42 notes). Cavaillé-Coll did further work on the organ in 1873 and continued to care for the organ, handing over responsibility to Charles Mutin, who looked after it until 1908.

In 1911, the compass of the Pedal was increased to 30 notes and the bottom octave of the Récit completed. An electric blower was added in 1922. A more thorough-going but incompetent restoration by Théodore Puget and Paul-Maric Koenig began in 1928 and was therefore in progress when Maurice Duruflé was appointed titulaire in 1929. He wrote in his memoirs that a ‘restoration’ was being carried out by a clumsy worker. The mechanism was unreliable and the sonority mediocre, despite a few fine stops. Vierne called the organ ‘a horrible cuckoo’.

Duruflé had already begun the production of the small series of organ and choral works by which we remember him. The Scherzo was published in 1929 but written in 1926. The Prélude, adagio et choral varié sur le Veni Creator won the competition of the Amis de l’Orgue in 1930. The Suite (Prélude, Sicilienne and Toccata) was written 1932 – 33. For a composer whose completed list of works is so small, this marks a period of high creativity. The Trois Danses for orchestra also appeared in 1932. It seems astonishing that these wonderful pieces are not better known. They are very much a match for Debussy’s Images, for instance. All of this activity reveals a young composer writing with great fluency and skill. There is a self-confidence about all of this which seems to defy any frustrations Duruflé may have felt about the organ he had inherited. The amount of music produced at this time is particularly surprising in view of the marked reduction in his compositional output in subsequent years.

Soon after being appointed to the post, Duruflé moved to an apartment at 8, Rue Dupuytren, in the sixth arrondissement, south of the boulevard Saint Germain, and west of boulevard Saint Michel. In 1932, he married Lucette Bousquet, a partnership that is often overlooked. The marriage ended with a civil divorce in 1947, though the relationship had deteriorated much earlier, and was only formally annulled by the Church in 1953. Maurice and Lucette had moved to an apartment near the church on the eighth floor of 6, Place du Panthéon by December 1938 and remained together as a couple until the early 1940s. The commemorative plaque on the wall of the building honours Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé (his second wife), but makes no mention of Duruflé’s first marriage. It also suggests that Maurice moved there in 1930, which seems at odds with the facts. Marie-Madeleine Chevalier become Duruflé’s assistant at Saint Etienne-du-Mont

Frederic Blanc (left) shows delegates the view of Paris from Duruflè’s apartment

in 1947, the year of the Requiem and of the civil divorce, though they were not to be married until 1953, immediately after the annulment of Maurice’s first marriage.

Staring up at this plaque, I had often wondered what the apartment would be like. Visiting it for the first time, it was possible to imagine the impression it must have made on Duruflé when he first saw it. Clearly, the proximity to the church would have been a great attraction. However, his first impression would have been of the small caged lift followed by two further flights of stairs to reach the top floor of the building. The apartment, now the home of the organist Frédéric Blanc, one of the last pupils of Mme Duruflé, is also the headquarters of the Association Maurice and MarieMadeleine Duruflé. It is kept in a way which makes it easy to imagine them living and working alongside each other in this very small space. M Blanc told us that what appealed to Duruflé was the roof-top balcony which opens out from the music room. This has the most spectacular vista of the Seine and Notre-Dame below, with Montmartre and Sacré Cœur in the distance. However, it was the vastness of the sky which appealed most to the composer. The contrast between the infinite outdoor space and the more compressed area of the apartment itself is striking. It is astonishing to think of two musicians working alongside each other in this space, and managing their routines of composing, teaching and practice.

Re-focusing attention on the church, Duruflé realised that he had to raise questions about the direction the work on the organ was taking and immediately asked the priest to obtain an evaluation from a committee that included Vierne, Tournemire, and Marchal. Their report was highly critical. A subsequent study by Marcel Dupré and Félix Raugel suggested that the organ should be completely rebuilt with the mechanical action replaced with electro-pneumatic, making it possible to move the console to a side gallery and freeing up space inside the instrument. A contract was signed with Joseph

Beuchet in January 1939. However, the war intervened and progress was slow.

The composer’s compositional activity seems to have followed a similar trend. In 1942, one of his finest organ works appeared: his Prélude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain, Op 7. This memorial to the composer Jehan Alain, killed in June 1940, has a marvellous balance between the apparent spontaneity of the Prélude and the finely-wrought craftsmanship of the Fugue that makes it one of the most satisfying works in the repertoire. His Op 8 was an Andante et Scherzo for orchestra. The Andante was written in 1940 but had to wait until ten years later for its companion piece, an orchestration of the organ piece composed more than twenty years previously. It is a work that has disappeared from view.

After the end of the war, plans for the organ in Saint Etienne-du-Mont started to be re-shaped. By 1946, there was a revised and more expensive scheme, though work was not to begin for another four years. In the meantime, the composer had completed his Op 9, the Requiem, perhaps his best-known work and one which by itself secures his reputation as a choral composer of distinction. It received its première on 2 November, 1947.

Work on the organ finally began in earnest in 1950, by which time the scheme had grown to eighty-three stops, only fifty-six of which were inside the case. The final voicing took two years, largely because the wind was found to be unstable. By that time, Duruflé’s ideas about the ideal organ sound had also taken a more neo-classical route. The restoration was finally completed in 1956. Nevertheless, Duruflé was not pleased with the result. The only division with which he seemed satisfied was the Echo. Various attempts were made to improve the instrument over subsequent years, many of them funded by Duruflé himself. In 1958, the instrument was again re-voiced.

In 1960, Duruflé’s Quatre Motets were published. These exquisite miniatures show that his ideas about church music

St Etienne-du-Mont, Paris © Graham Hermon)

Place du Panthéon, Paris © Graham Hermon

had changed little over the years. The heart of the inspiration remains Gregorian chant, harmonised in a way which grows out of the modes but which has the sure touch of a master of harmonic language. His only other significant choral piece appeared in 1966: the Messe ‘cum Jubilo’. The original version of this piece is for unison men’s voices and organ, though the composer subsequently made two orchestral versions. This places the chant in the richest harmonic context, creating a work of astonishing richness and some complexity, which

belies the fact that the chant itself is largely unchanged. The difficulty is that the apparent rhythmic freedom of the chant is in fact carefully notated. It needs to be measured with precision in order to achieve good ensemble; while, at the same time, it needs to sound spontaneous.

Perhaps growing out of his frustration with the instrument in the church, Duruflé turned his attention to another project, the installation of an organ in the apartment, completed by Gonzalez in 1967 to the following specification:

GRAND ORGUE POSITIF RÉCIT EXPRESSIF PÉDALE

Flûte à fuseau 8

Prestant 4

Doublette 2

Plein jeu III

Cromorne 8

Chalumeau 4

Bourdon 8

Flûte 4

Nasard 2

Quarte 2

Tierce 13/5

Larigot 11/3

Régale 8

Chalumeau 4

Principal 8

Dulciane 8

Unda maris 8

Principal 4

Cymbale III

Régal 8

Trompette 8

Clairon 4

Soubasse 32

Soubasse 16

Bourdon 8

Flûte conique 4

Flûte 2

Trompette 8

Régale 8

Cromorne 8

Clairon 4

Chalumeau 4

Notre-Dame as seen from the window of Duruflè’s apartment

One can only marvel at the ingenuity needed to install such a substantial instrument in such a small space. What is even more remarkable is the way in which the instrument works in the room. It seems perfectly scaled yet speaks properly in a way that is unusual when multi-purpose instruments of this kind are cut down to size. It seems perfect for the Duruflé aesthetic, particularly for works such as the Scherzo, with its quicksilver-like changes of tempo and mood.

In 1975, the Duruflés were both seriously injured in a car accident, though Maurice was more affected than Marie-Madeleine, and he never fully recovered. Sadly, he had to stop playing the organ at Saint Etienne-du-Mont just after further substantial changes had taken place to the instrument. For the first time, Duruflé seemed pleased with the ensemble as a whole. This is the organ as it can be heard on Olivier Latry’s recording of the organ works, made in 1985, a year before the composer’s death. Most recently, a final restoration and revoicing took place in 1992 by Bernard Dargassies, resulting in the instrument we hear today. Mme Duruflé was ecstatic: “The organ became superb again!” Finally, an instrument emerged that matched the aesthetic of a composer whose major organ works had been completed fifty years previously.

It was this instrument which the Cathedral Organists’ Association had the privilege of discovering under the expert guidance of Thierry Escaich, co-titulaire with Vincent Warnier since 1997. Here is the specification:

The organ of St Etienne-du-Mont, Paris

I’m sure the visit to the church of Saint Etienne and the apartment of Maurice Duruflé will live long in the memories of those who were fortunate to be there. However, reflecting on the experience leads me to raise a number of questions about the relationship between art and the circumstances in which it was created. In the case of Duruflé, it seem that his own artistic values retained their core values and beliefs throughout his life, while he struggled to create both artistic and practical results that reflected his inner convictions. One senses that his extreme self-criticism acted as a barrier to his own artistic development and that perhaps his greatest satisfaction lay in his relationship with Marie-Madeleine. Certainly, as a player, he was content to play a subsidiary role

ECHO EXPRESSIF PÉDALE

in their many joint recitals. Despite a very small compositional output, the quality and integrity of his music seem likely to ensure that his music, particularly the Requiem and his finest organ works, will continue to occupy a particular place in repertoire, not least in our own cathedrals.

Bibliography

Frazier, James E, Maurice Duruflé: The Man and His Music, University of Rochester (2007)

Blanc, Frédéric, Maurice Duruflé: Souvenirs et Autres Écrits, Atlantica-Séguier (2005)

Doublette 2 Flûte 8

Sesquialtera II

Plein-Jeu IV

Grosse Tierce 62/5

Quinte ouverte 51/3

Trompette 8 Grande Septième 44/7

Hautbois 8

Régale 8 Flûte 4

Trompette en chamade 8

Clairon 4

4

Tierce 31/5

Nasard 2/3

Flûte 2

Fourniture IV

Thierry Escaich at the console of the organ at St Etienne-du-Mont

William Hayes was born in Hanbury, Worcestershire in December 1706 or 1707 and baptised in St John the Baptist’s Church, Gloucester on 26 January 1707 or 1708. He became a chorister in Gloucester Cathedral under William Hine (c.1687-1730). Upon hearing William sing in the choir, a Mrs Viney taught him to play the harpsichord and later she arranged for him to become an articled pupil under William Hine. His first appointment was as organist of the parish church of St Mary, Shrewsbury (1729-1731), followed in 1731 as organist of Worcester Cathedral until 1734. Upon the recommendation ofJenner, Lady Margaret, Professor of Divinity c.1734 he thereupon succeeded Thomas Hecht (c.1664-1734) to become organist and master of the choristers at Magdalen College, again in Oxford. This position he continued until he died in 1777. He graduated with a B.Mus. (1735) followed by D.Mus. (1749), both from the University of Oxford.

Hayes was active in championing the music of George

Peter Kirk continues his

regular series.

CHANT COMPOSERS NO. 1 DR WILLIAM HAYES

Frideric Handel (1685-1759). Joint co-editor of Cathedral Music with Dr William Boyce (1711-1779), Hayes became a steward at the Three Choirs Festival in 1735 and conducted the Gloucester Festival in 1763. In 1742 Hayes succeeded Richard Goodson, the younger died (1741), as Professor of Music. He was well known outside Oxford and conducted the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy in London on occasions, and the 1763 Gloucester Music Meeting. Both in Oxford and the provinces he conducted many performances of the oratorios of Handel. He was the proud owner of the ‘Goldschmidt’ manuscript of Messiah. Output consisted of around twenty anthems, a few hymn tunes, cantatas and ballads. A Chime in C minor was quite popular in his day, the theme being from the bells of Gloucester Cathedral.

On the chant front, a couple of doubles (sample below) including this rare acquisition to the archive plus a dozen or so single chants.

Dr Philip Hayes

Philip Hayes (second son of Dr William Hayes) was born in Oxford and baptised on 17 April 1738 and died in London on 19 March 1797. He is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral. He became a chorister under Bernard Gates (1685-1773) at the Chapel Royal. He studied at Magdalen College and graduated B.Mus. (1763) and D.Mus. (1777) in Oxford. After a short spell (1763-1765) as organist of Christ Church Cathedral until Thomas Norris (1741-1790) was formally appointed to that post in 1765, he moved to London and became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1767, retaining this position until his death.

In 1776 Philip Hayes took up numerous appointments in Oxford and succeeded Richard Church (c.1699-1776), as organist of New College, also in 1776. Upon the death of Dr William Hayes, Philip succeeded his father as organist of

Magdalen College, and became Oxford’s Professor of Music. In 1790 he became organist of St John’s College, following the premature death of Thomas Norris. He maintained both of these appointments until his death.

Philip was a very large man. Rumours were rife as to his actual weight. He certainly weighed no less than twenty stone. Obviously in such cruel times, nicknames were applied to his name – Phil Hayes – became ‘Fill Chaise’! He was reputed to be very handsome as a young man and could have married well but as his weight increased, so did his sour temper and countenance. He wrote around eight anthems, one oratorio Prophecy and some miscellaneous items. He composed a small number of chants (see single above), two doubles, one from Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) and the other written (in A minor) for the Benedicite. Like his father, about a dozen single chants were composed.

worcester 6-13 August 2o11

Philharmonia Orchestra Academy of Ancient Music

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Programme to include: Elgar Caractacus & Dream of Gerontius, Brahms German Requiem, Vaughan Williams

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An Oxford Elegy, Handel Dixit Dominus, & Mozart Requiem. Guest Conductors: Sir Andrew Davis & Susanna Mälkki.

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The world’s oldest and greatest choral festival, at Worcester Cathedral beside the River Severn. www.3choirs.org

CATHEDRAL CHORISTER DURING THE WAR David Gedge based

on the unpublished memoirs of David Apperley

One day a Hereford boy, David Apperley, of Welsh origin having been born in Builth Wells, showed enough musical aptitude for his father to take note an invitation published in the Hereford Times inviting boys aged 9 - 10 to attend a voice trial for the cathedral choir. An added inducement was the fact that cathedral choristers attended Hereford Cathedral School as day-boys and enjoyed all its benefits. He applied and a few days later a letter arrived inviting David to attend a voice trial. One cold January morning, father and son made their way along St Ethelbert Street and on turning into Castle Street were presented with a breath-taking view of the magnificent cathedral tower in the distance shrouded in mist. They passed through the big iron gates at the entrance to the Cathedral Close and so to the great north doorway. On the way to their seats they noticed several other boys sitting quietly close by with their parents. This was the first time that David had been inside the cathedral. Sitting in the nave that morning and taking in the vista stretching away to the east end, beyond the ornate iron screen at the entrance to the chancel and into the distant Lady Chapel, the building appeared vast and overwhelming. As the morning mist began to disperse, giving way to watery sunshine, shafts of sunlight filtered through the stained glass windows creating multi-coloured mosaic patterns on the tiled floors and onto the massive Norman arches of the nave. Stray beams of sunlight filtered onto the ornate metal screen, picking out the glass embellishments adorning that amazing example of Victorian extravagance, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, the eminent architect and executed by James Skidmore. In its day this screen had been considered one of the most elaborate ornamental chancel screens in England, rivalled only by those in Lichfield and Salisbury Cathedrals. Sadly, soon it was to be removed and, following restoration, taken away to be exhibited permanently in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Meanwhile David’s gaze had wandered upwards, to the stone piers in the lantern tower high overhead and, to while away the time, he counted them. Then, to use up more time, he counted them again but from the other end and, surprise, surprise, there seemed to be one more. However, as he began counting them for the third time he was distracted by the loud click of a door latch away to the right and moments later there appeared from the direction of the Bishop’s Cloister, one of the most unforgettable and influential characters he was ever to meet.

Dr Percy Clarke Hull, known as ‘PC’ had been organist and Master of the Choristers for the past twenty-one years, during which time he had become something of a legendary figure. Born in Hereford 1878, he himself had become a cathedral chorister in 1889 and afterwards a pupil of the Organist, George Robertson Sinclair (GRS), then his Assistant Organist in 1896. He was on holiday in Germany at the outbreak of the First World War with the unfortunate result that he had been interned in a PoW camp at Ruhleben so that when Dr Sinclair died on Feb 7 1917, he was not available in Hereford to succeed him. So the vacant position of Organist was held open until the end of the war and although a sick man, he returned to Hereford in time for the Dean and Chapter to appoint him Organist on Armistice Day, Nov 11th 1918, the first former chorister to be appointed since John Bull. PC’s first Three Choirs Festival programme at Hereford in 1921, included music by composers Benjamin Dale and Edgar Bainton, with whom he had been interned at Ruhleben. Despite ill health, PC immediately immersed himself in his work. Short in stature, quick in all his movements, impatient to get things done, unable to suffer fools gladly, he soon accomplished much especially with the Three Choirs Festival. He received an honorary FRCO in 1920, a Lambeth DMus in 1921 and Elgar dedicated his Pomp and Circumstance March No 5 to him.

Young David watched as this dapper little man in a brown serge suit, with a shiny bald head, strode from the Bishop’s Cloister towards them. He approached, exclaiming a breezy “Good morning”, leaving them all to conclude that here indeed was the renowned Organist of Hereford Cathedral who was about to decide which, if any, of the boys was good enough to grace his cathedral choir. He called out their names and explained that each one in turn, in alphabetical order, was to follow him to the Song School. As David’s surname began with an ‘A’ he had the dubious privilege of going first, following PC to the Song School which in those days was adjacent to the Cathedral Library.

It was a most interesting place, dominated by a large black grand piano on either side of which were two long desks at which the choristers stood for their daily practices. Its walls were covered by photographs of distinguished musicians associated with the cathedral and the historic Three Choirs Festival. Prominent among these was a photograph of the three cathedral organists of the day: Ivor Atkins (Worcester), Herbert Sumsion (Gloucester) and PC, all standing behind the

seated Edward Elgar. Then there were photographs of groups of 19th century choristers from Sinclair’s days, (GRS’s bulldog, Dan, had been immortalised in Elgar’s Enigma Variations). They were all resplendent in their Eton suits and mortar boards, sometimes looking not too happy, maybe because the photographer had requested them not to smile or maybe on account of Sinclair who could be something of a martinet .

David had little opportunity to study the photos in detail because of his anxiety to do his best in the voice trial. PC seated at the piano, instructed David to stand next to him, then proceeded to fire questions at him to discover his interests: his favourite subjects at school, what books he read, if he was learning to play a musical instrument and why he wanted to become a chorister PC offered only a series of noncommittal grunts in reply, yet he seemed satisfied with what he heard. Suddenly opening the lid of the piano he played a flourishing ascending and descending arpeggio, landing on a three-note chord and asking David to hum the middle note and then the lowest one. This was greeted with another grunt of satisfaction then followed a request for David tossing a series of ascending and descending scales in a variety of keys, first to ‘oo’ then to ‘ah’. Then he played on the piano the first line of the hymn There is a green hill far away and asked him if he recognised it. Fortunately, David had been learning it at school a few days earlier and was able to remember the words of the first two verses because when he said that he knew it, PC asked him to sing the first verse without piano accompaniment. At the end PC played the note David had ended on and he was spot in tune. The voice trial came to an end with a “Well done my boy”, which David later discovered was praise indeed!

On the walk home his father asked about the voice trial. So David told him all about it and that Dr Hull had “seemed alright”. The next few days were anxious as they waited to hear

if David had been successful as there were only three or four vacancies available. One morning a week later a letter arrived from the Chapter Clerk’s Office saying David was to be offered a place as a probationer. Naturally they were all delighted and David’s father wrote back immediately to accept on his behalf. Eventually the day arrived for David to start as a chorister. Although excited David was feeling somewhat self-conscious, wearing for the first time his Eton collar and black tie, along with the yellow-ringed school cap, this being the formal school dress for choristers. Over the years David never really did get used to stiff Eton collars which distinguished the choristers from other pupils but they were compulsory during the term. On Sundays he even had to wear a traditional Eton suit along with a mortar board which had a yellow and gold silk tassel. David had been told to enter through the St John’s Door, where the new choristers were met by some of the older ones, taken to the Chorister’s Vestry to be fitted out with a purple cassock and white surplice and allotted a locker to hang his newly-acquired robes in. Then, he walked with the older choristers along the south choir aisle, past the huge organ pipes, to the Bishop’s Cloister where he heard the unmistakable sounds of scales and arpeggios with various vowel sounds wafting through the air because choir practice had started. Once inside the Song School, David and the other new boys were motioned to sit down on the stone seating behind the piano, facing the choristers, making no sound but just listening to the musical proceedings. Always this practice was to start in the same way at 9am with the Assistant Organist in charge: vocal exercises, then a quick revision of familiar canticles or anthems before embarking on new music which had to be learned thoroughly. After a few minutes in came PC, at the same time removing his overcoat and scarf in a businesslike manner. His assistant leapt up from the piano, allowing PC to take over and welcome the new boys.

Off to Sunday Evensong in 1942 David is on the right

Hereford Cathedral © David Merrett

They were each allocated a place beside one of the senior choristers at one of the two desks, those to the left of the piano were known as ‘Cantoris’ while those to the right were ‘Decani’. These designations applied to the positions the choristers occupied in the cathedral choir stalls. Decani on the south side where the Dean sat, Cantoris on the north, where the Precentor sat. In the Song School the most senior choristers stood at the end next to the piano keyboard, where incidentally, were placed the two electric fires that heated the room, while the remaining choristers positioned themselves in descending order of seniority, with the result that the most junior choristers were furthers from the two fires!

When the practice resumed after PC’s welcome, it was the psalms for the day that occupied everyone’s attention. Then there was a run-through of the morning canticles they would soon be singing with the lay clerks at Matins. Then there was time for an equally quick look at the canticles for Evensong. Then cassocks and surplices were donned for Matins. The Dean’s verger appeared bearing the silver mace at the head of the clergy procession whereupon the choristers stood and filed out into the south east transept. The lay clerks tagged on the end and a short vestry prayer was said. The verger led the procession through the ornate chancel screen to the choir and clergy stalls. David had been allocated a position on Decani, a position he was to retain for the remainder of his time in the choir.

Up until 1949, the end of PC’s time as Organist and Master of the Choristers, Matins and Evensong were choral on every day of the week, with the exception of Wednesday when both services were said, as was Evensong on Thursday, which meant that the choir sang eleven services every week. Often the choir sang to an empty cathedral but that was never allowed to affect the quality of its singing, not only because so much of the music itself was an inspiration but also because the choir held PC in such affection that it did not want to disappoint him. Much of the music the choir sang required its keenest concentration, particularly the beautiful music of the Tudor era, especially that of Tallis, Gibbons, Weelkes and Tye, most of which was sung at the services on Fridays, when, by tradition the organ was silent – the unaccompanied psalms on these occasions were always special.

David learned a lot on that first day, for example, one never took too many liberties with PC because he was a man of unpredictable moods indeed attempting to identify his particular mood, in the mornings became something of a challenge. A hard taskmaster, he demanded total commitment from his choristers . If at any time he suspected that someone was not pulling his weight, he would erupt into an almost apoplectic rage which lasted for a few minutes but then would be over and done with, leaving everything to return to normal as if nothing had happened. However, in time David learned to recognise the many-sided facets of the strict disciplinarian that PC was, consequently he never felt entirely at ease with him.

Yet PC was always fair in his dealings with his choristers, certainly they knew where they stood with him although secretly, they all feared him, particularly the younger ones. No one dared play him up because he could be quite generous when dealing out corporal punishment with the long swishy cane that he kept in a cupboard that stood in a corner of the Song School. If the misdemeanour had occurred during a service, PC would request the boy in a sarcastically – polite way to present himself at the Song School after the service. This generally gave the boy sufficient time to take such necessary precautions as removing an exercise book from his school

satchel and stuffing it down the seat of his trousers. However, PC was wise to such tricks; had he not been a chorister himself under Dr Sinclair who, apparently, was also generously inclined in meting out physical retribution to his choristers. So he would politely request his victim to remove any foreign body which may have found its way down the seat of his trousers whereupon the sentence would be duly carried out. For a trivial offence, two strokes were deemed sufficient but more serious ‘crimes’ warranted perhaps three or even four strokes. Over the years PC had developed an effective kind of ‘stroke’ with plenty of wrist movement. After one or two practice swishes with the cane, in the manner of a lowhandicap golfer, he would strike the target with an effective whip-lash flick across the seat of the trousers, an action cultivated and perfected over many years.

From time to time, but not very often, PC was absent from the cathedral, usually in his capacity as an examiner for the Royal College of Organists in London, or perhaps for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, work which could take him abroad. On these occasions his pupil-assistants would stand in. When David arrived in the choir this would have been Colin Ross who went on to become Organist and Choirmaster of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, and later at St Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. After Colin Ross was called-up for military service, there was Christopher Morris, a young man with striking blonde hair who seemed little older than some of the senior choristers. Finally from 1942, there was Colin Mann who lodged in the Vicars Cloisters with Ross’s mother and who spent much of his time tending her garden, so much so that on one occasion he failed to notice that Choral Evensong was about to start and found it necessary to sprint along to the cathedral from the vegetable patch to play the organ for the service in his muddy wellington boots! Choir practices taken by the assistant organists were always relaxed affairs, when it was not unknown for the musical proceedings to come to a temporary halt whilst an amusing anecdote, not always of a musical nature, was told. However, assistant organists had other uses. On Thursday evenings in the summer, the choristers used to go to Wyeside, the cathedral school playing fields, for ‘choristers cricket’ when sometimes the assistant organist would be prevailed upon to become an umpire. Always these happy occasions began with the two youngest choristers being given the dubious privilege of fetching the heavy cricket-bag containing the bats, stumps, pads and wicket-keepers gloves from PC’s house at the top of Broomy Hill, This could take up to half-an-hour and would leave the two youngsters hot and flushed as they struggled with the heavy bag between them while the older boys lazed around in the sun. One particularly warm evening, when the country was sweltering under a heat wave and there was no adult with them, the boys abandoned their game and instead, set off on a leisurely stroll along the bank of the River Wye towards Breinton Springs a mile or so upstream. All went well until they arrived at a secluded part of the river where the water was quite shallow, whereupon two of the boys having decided to cool off, removed their shoes and socks and started to paddle. At this the remaining boys also removed shoe and socks and joined in but unfortunately one of them slipped and ended up in the water whereupon the others, throwing caution to the wind and, despite not having swimming trunks nor towels with them, stripped off. Moments later they all were enjoying a cooling dip in the River Wye, stark naked! Such was their fun that they failed to notice a rowing boat approaching from around a

bend in the river. Suddenly someone gave a warning shout as the boat with its two passengers came into view. Everyone scrambled up the river bank and ran for cover, crouching behind a clump of bushes, their clothes still scattered around in confusion. To their horror, as the boat drew level with their hiding place, the boys recognised that the rower was none other than PC himself. Unfortunately while the bushes afforded the boys barely enough cover luckily, however, the foliage made it well – nigh impossible for them to be seen clearly and recognised. However, It must have been fairly obvious to the occupants of the boat that a dozen or more small boys were crouched there together, because as the boat passed Mrs Hull gave a cheery wave in their direction from the far end. As soon as the boat had disappeared round the next bend in the river, the boys made a mad dash to retrieve their clothes, scrambling into them as they raced round to the Wyeside playing field to collect the cricket bag and deposit it in PC’s garage before hurrying home.

The next morning the boys waited nervously in the Song School for PC to arrive for choir practice, hoping against hope that none of the them had been recognised on the previous evening. Much to their relief he commenced the practice without mentioning a word. As David was filing out from the Song School at the end of the practice, he overheard PC ask two senior choristers how the cricket had gone on the previous evening and was sure he detected the suggestion of a twinkle in his eyes.

Occasionally a lay clerk might be called upon to help with umpiring the choristers’ Thursday evening cricket matches. At Hereford, David could remember six in particular: Fitzjohn, an alto who had transferred from Peterborough Cathedral, Jinks, Boot, Wilson, Aiksen and Proctor, all of whom were long-serving members of the choir, therefore, to him, very old. The legendary Alastair Proctor, who ran a second-hand book shop in Church Street, occupied a stall behind David. Having a beautiful, mellow bass voice, he was a pleasure to hear. His main claim to fame was that on one memorable Sunday between Matins and Evensong, he consumed so much beer at the Conservative Club, that when he sang a solo by SS Wesley (from The Wilderness) that evening he had to be held upright by two of his fellow lay clerks – miraculously, apparently, he sang ‘wonderfully well’! Alec Boot who transferred from Lichfield to Hereford, was unforgettable. Although a small man he had a powerful voice and an infectious laugh which the choristers and lay clerks were not privileged to hear very often as he was rather a moaner! He was particularly vociferous when there was a long sermon. Should the preacher have difficulty in recognising when he had said enough, Alec would tell him.

After about ten minutes into a sermon, a series of ‘tuts’ and ‘sighs’ would be heard coming from his direction moving up into crescendo mode in direct proportion to the length of the sermon. Alec could be seen referring to his watch over and over again whereupon he would take out his handkerchief and trumpet loudly into it, much to everyone’s amusement. When, at last, a particularly long sermon drew to its conclusion, Alec would mutter sotto voce “About time too!” It seems that Alec also enjoyed a beer or two after Matins on Sunday because it was his custom to call in at the Constitutional Club in East Street before going home for lunch, consequently a long sermon curtailed his drinking time! As for the concluding vestry prayer in the south choir aisle after Matins, almost before it was over, Alec would be

galloping back to the lay clerks’ vestry in the north-east transept, at the same time removing his surplice, most of the buttons on his cassock having already been unfastened!

Among other memorable characters associated with the cathedral was George Lowe, ‘Keeper of the Close’; whose duties included trundling a large four-wheel trolley of coke around the interior of the cathedral several times a day during the winter months to ‘feed’ the large stoves that heated the building. A big, brawny man with a bristling moustache, George always wore his cap, presumably to keep the dust out of his hair. On cold mornings, it was the custom of the choristers and lay clerks to gather round one of these stoves before services to warm up as they awaited the arrival of the clergy. Then there was kindly, sprightly James Poulter, the Head Verger, who lived very near David’s house in Nelson Street, who always smiled and had time for a chat. When David joined the choir he seemed to be a very old gentleman but that was not really surprising as when he retired in 1949, he had served as Sexton and Verger for fifty years, almost as long as his predecessor, Alban Moore who had served for two years longer. One of James Poulter’s jobs was to verge the Dean from his lodgings in College Cloisters to his stall in the cathedral for divine service every day. The Dean at this time was Reginald Waterfield and he made a great impression on young David. Before coming to Hereford he had taught at Rugby School, been Headmaster of Cheltenham College, then a canon of Gloucester Cathedral and Archdeacon of Cheltenham. With such a pedigree it was hardly surprising that he was an imposing person who in appearance vaguely resembled a character from Trollope, with his long, white curly hair which reached below his collar. Feeling the cold intensely, in very cold weather he always wore a pair of grey mittens during services. Retiring in 1946 after 27 years as Dean he moved away from Hereford still retaining his love for the classics, indeed during sleepless nights when well over 90, he occupied his mind with turning nursery rhymes into Latin hexameters which he published! His wife died in 1959, at the age of 91 but he himself lived on for eight more years until 1967, dying in his 100th year. One contact he retained with Hereford was through correspondence with his old friend Prebendary T H Parker who died not long before him at the age of 103! This Prebendary had always had a kind word to say to the choristers and they, for some reason, always knew him as ‘Larry’. There was an occasion on one warm summer afternoon, when David arrived early at the cathedral for an extra practice. Seeing the Prebendary sitting alone in the Chapter House garden enjoying the sunshine, he went and sat with him for a few minutes. While chatting David mentioned casually that he was interested in the organ and hoped to become an organist when he was a little older. The next day the Prebendary sent for him from the Choristers’ Vestry and with a wink, handed him a brown paper package on which was written his name. When David unwrapped the package he found it contained a bound book of organ voluntaries which the Prebendary had brought from home specially for him. Inside the front cover was written ‘David Apperley, Learn a new piece every day. W H Parker’.

Not surprisingly, David held this wonderful clergyman in great affection and never forgot one of his last sermons in the cathedral, preached when he was well past his hundredth year. He lived at Hampton Park in Hereford, at an imposing residence called The Vineyard, directly opposite Edward Elgar’s house, Plas Gwyn (1904). Further more in her

younger days his wife had received violin lessons from the great composer.

One other prebendary impressed young David very much, the distinguished-looking Prebendary Beattie. For some reason which remained a mystery to the choristers, he had been awarded the Military Cross during the First World War, so the choirboys always regarded him with awe and admiration. However, they had less admiration for his sermons which invariably were long affairs, indeed at Matins one Sunday, he preached for 37 minutes! Interestingly the name ‘Beattie’ became famous during the Second World War as the result of an incident which took place in 1942, involving Stephen the Prebendary’s son. Stephen Beattie was Captain of the Destroyer Campbeltown, which he sailed up the Loire Estuary in Western France with several tons of high explosives, in the ill-fated commando raid by the British forces in their attempt to destroy the German submarine pens at St Nazaire. As a result of his outstanding valour, Stephen Beattie was awarded the Victoria Cross.

There was rarely a dull moment for choristers at Hereford Cathedral, especially as the year drew to a close and Christmas approached. It was at this time of year that coughs and colds frequently affected members of the choir much to the dismay of PC because should one or more of the six lay clerks be absent through illness then he had to rely on the help of supernumerary singers among whom was Mr Freeman Newton, Chief Constable of the Herefordshire Police Force. However, the absence of two or three of the older choristers could be more serious, especially when the annual carol service and annual Christmas concert came near because there were solos to be sung. PC took no chances. At the first sign of a cough or cold amongst the choristers, he would take immediate, drastic action. He kept a large, three pound jar of cod-liver oil and malt in that cupboard in a corner of the Song School where also lived the springy cane. So choristers would be instructed to fetch their spoons from their lockers in the vestry in order to be dosed. Then they would line up along the length of the Song School, each to receive a generous spoonful of the ‘medicine; which resembled runny toffee. Refusal was not allowed, choristers had to swallow the stuff whether they liked it or not. Any choristers who were reluctant to take the mixture would be told by PC “ Get it down you, boy, it will do you good,” and down it would go! However, much was at stake with the approach of the annual Christmas concert by the cathedral choir, as for many people this was a musical highlight of the year. Indeed such was the popularity of this event that it was essential for the audience to arrive well before the appointed hour if a seat from which the choir could be seen as well as heard was wanted. The programme generally consisted of carols along with Christmas music from Handel’s Messiah , although sometimes there might be selections of music from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

The tradition of playing on the organ the Pastoral Symphony from Messiah then following it with a solo boy singing the four recitatives about the shepherds being visited by the angels, dated back to the time of Sinclair and continued by PC. In his third year David was chosen by PC to sing these recitatives. In preparation PC took him up into the organ loft many times to rehearse. Even so, that did not stop him from feeling quite nervous when the time came for him to stand up in front of a full cathedral and launch into “There were shepherds abiding in the fields....” Yet he must have done all that was required of

him because at the end of the concert PC himself came round to the choristers’ vestry specially to tell him, much to his embarrassment, that he had done well. That was not all; a few days later PC called David into his inner sanctum’ – the small office below the organ loft off the north choir aisle to inform him that he had decided to award him the Warner Prize for solo singing. So, the next morning, PC accompanied David to Brumwell’s bookshop in Broad Street where David chose as his prize Batsford and Fry’s Cathedrals of England, in which PC added and inscription written in the green ink that his fountain pen always contained.

So much extra work reaped its reward: the annual choristers treat arranged by the Dean and Chapter, an event which the choristers looked forward to very much. The first choristers’ Tea Party which David attended was held in the cathedral cafe, a small but cosy restaurant in Church Street. The next few took place at the Odeon cinema restaurant, a palatial establishment with plush carpets, Art-Deco furniture, chandeliers and with waitresses appropriately attired and anxious to attend to the choristers every need. Wartime restrictions and food rationing resulted in a menu that was frugal and not particularly interesting: sandwiches followed by buns all washed down with tea or lemonade, although, to be fair, the buns were of the Chelsea variety and included scones. Many of the cathedral clergy along with PC himself, joined in these festive occasions and appeared to enjoy themselves as much as the choristers did. Indeed the Precentor, Canon Warner, usually unrolled his Chelsea bun to make it last longer! Always the tea had been preceded by a visit to the cinema to see a film but neither David nor the other choristers appeared to remember anything about the films, only the food is remembered. Sadly the Odeon cinema, once situated in High Town is now no more having been demolished to make way for a large shopping complex. The jewel in the crown of Hereford Cathedral’s music was, of course the Three Choirs Festival which dated back to the early years of the 18th century. The annual event rotates in turn between Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford each of which hosted the Festival in turn. 1939 was Hereford’s year for the Festival but unfortunately Sunday, September 3rd, the date set for the great opening service turned out to be the day on which Britain and France declared war on Germany. Actually by then, the Festival had already been cancelled but with one interesting sequel. W H (Billy) Reed a close friend of Elgar, who had led the Three Choirs Festival Orchestra since 1910, while also leading the London Symphony Orchestra for some of this time, had recently been awarded a Canterbury DMus in recognition of his contribution to the Festival for the past 37 years. He was not to be put off from coming to Hereford, accordingly he arrived there complete with his violin, declaring that as this was Festival week, he would play it. So he

Three Choirs Festival at Hereford 1946. David is second row down 3rd from left. Bottom row seated PC (6th from left), Atkins (5th from right) Sumsion (4th from right, George Dyson (3rd from right), Sydney Nicholson end of row on right

went to the cathedral on the Sunday and played Sir Alexander Mackenzie’s Benedictus during morning service sadly, however, this turned out to be his final performance at Hereford because three years later, before there could be another Three Choirs Festival, he died.

Despite the cancellation of the Festival during the war, orchestral and choral concerts continued to be given from time to time by Hereford Orchestral and Choral Societies either in the Cathedral or in the Shire Hall. Always the choristers were encouraged to attend these concerts, sometimes singing with the chorus. One memorable Messiah was performed in the cathedral in 1943, when the soloists included Elsie Suddaby and Heddle Nash, both at the peak of their singing careers and the conductor was PC. David persuaded these two eminent singers to sign his autograph book at the same time enjoying a chat with Elsie Suddaby, who wanted to know all about his career as a chorister and what his plans were for the future. Other concerts during these bleak war years brought to Hereford two more of the greatest singers of their day, Isobel Baillie and Astra Desmond.

With the end of the war in 1945, thoughts soon turned to a revival of the Three Choirs Festival despite the problems of post-war austerity with its food rationing and shortage of petrol. The programme originally planned for the abandoned Festival of 1939 was made the basis of a Festival in 1946, and PC was confident that all problems could be overcome. Suddenly, however, and unexpectedly, he fell ill early in the year, worse still, later on he suffered a nervous breakdown. The eminent composer Sir George Dyson was called in to help offering to do anything that needed to be done in London, like the occasional orchestral rehearsal. Back in Three Choirs territory the local organists, Atkins, Sumsion and Colin Mann, Assistant Organist at Hereford Cathedral, shared other duties. Happily PC recovered in time for the festivities and was well enough to conduct performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, while Sir George Dyson himself conducted some performances including a fine one of Vaughan William’s Pastoral Symphony.

The year 1947, could not have got off to a better start because in the New Year’s Honours List a knighthood for PC was announced, perhaps as a reward for his having revived the Three Choirs Festival against all odds so soon after the war. However, the end was in sight because the next Three Choirs Festival in Hereford in 1949 proved to be PC’s last, as at the age of 70 he retired after almost 31 years as Organist of Hereford Cathedral; interestingly with his departure went also the custom of choristers wearing the traditional Eton Suit on Sundays. David also was approaching the end of his time at Hereford. For some time now he had been aware of a change taking place in his voice, with high notes becoming increasingly difficult to reach, leaving him unable to tackle any of the more demanding

solo parts. Eventually the sad day arrived when David left what was considered by many to be one of the finest cathedral choirs in the land. One small consolation was the golden handshake from the Dean of Chapter which came about in this way: throughout his time as a chorister he had received ten shillings a quarter as a probationer, 25 shillings a quarter as a full chorister, to which were added certain payments put away annually by the Dean and Chapter, so that when the chorister left, he might receive around £12 which at that time was a considerable sum of money.

However, it had not all been good because at Hereford Cathedral School all had not gone well. Sadly, the school staff had rarely, if ever, taken on board the real reason for the lack of academic progress made by the choristers, their daily commitments at the cathedral. As far as David was concerned, he could not remember any teacher bothering to offer a little extra help to those boys who needed it. Then there was the additional problem that many of the school’s teaching staff had been former teachers called out of retirement to replace younger teachers who had been called up for military service. As a result of all of this, the standard of teaching in some cases had been pretty deplorable. Furthermore bullying and snobbery had been so common around the school that David did not find his time at school as being among the ‘happiest days of his life’. So, when he left the choir his father arranged for him to transfer to Hereford High School for Boys where over the next few years he obtained the necessary academic qualifications to enter St Paul’s College, Cheltenham. Yet it had all been a most valuable experience. Choristers had all been expected to learn to play a musical instrument, also there had been frequent occasions when new music had been introduced and choristers had been expected to learn to sing it within a very short time. Not surprisingly, therefore, sight-reading musical notation came as second nature to them. Often PC had turned up at morning practices with copies of service music, maybe a canticle or an anthem by a contemporary composer or a fellow cathedral organist, which the choristers would be expected to sight-read. PC particularly liked to resurrect music by former organists of Hereford Cathedral such as Langdon Colborne, GRS, S S Wesley, John Clarke-Whitfield and John Farrant which hadn’t seen the light of day for many a year, some of it uninspiring and lacking in imagination. PC also brought along music by his Three Choirs’ colleagues, Atkins and Sumsion; Sumsion’s music was always a joy to sing, particularly his popular Evening Service in G.

With such a disciplined upbringing it was not surprising that there were a number of highly talented musicians among the choristers. Michael Illman who joined the choir on the same day as David went on to become the assistant organist to PC’s successor Meredith Davies and later became organist at the Royal Church at Sandringham

Other choristers went on to attain high positions in industry, the armed forces and the Merchant Navy. One, Ronnie Morgan, made a career for himself in the Merchant Navy and ended up as Captain of what was, at that time, the world’s largest ship.

What about David? He became a teacher and for 23 years was Headmaster of a primary school. He also returned to Hereford Cathedral Choir as Decani Bass in Meredith Davies’s time but when Davies moved on to become Organist of New College, Oxford, he left to become Organist and Choirmaster of St James’s Church in Hereford.

Hereford Three Choirs Festival 1954. 2nd row David is 2nd from left; Henry Sandon of Antiques Roadshow fame is 3rd from right then a young lay clerk at Worcester Cathedral. 3rd row down 5th from the left Sumsion, 6th from the left Meredith Davies, 7th from left David Willcocks

“What do you think of that?” He asks, with a slightly bemused tone, pointing towards a huge portrait, which is unceremoniously leaning against a wall next to a pile of books.

“Well, I can see who it’s meant to be...” I answer, guardedly, as I look at the equally bemused face of William Walton staring from the picture, his characteristically incredulous gaze framed by the exotic vegetation of La Mortella

It turns out that there is a great tale to be told to explain why this giant art work is taking refuge in Meadows 2:2, Stephen Darlington’s Christ Church office, and Stephen wastes no time in getting down to the story. Though his greeting is warm and friendly, paternal, or at least avuncular, as always, with Stephen, the conversation quickly takes an unexpected turn, as he shares the latest quirky claim on his attention.

The bright and airy college rooms have changed little since my first harmony tutorials as a wide-eyed freshman, though during Stephen Darlington’s quarter-century as Organist and

Tutor in Music, he has gently guided well over one hundred undergraduates through the mysteries of fugue and five-part counterpoint, aided by copious cups of coffee and the odd impromptu deviation into art criticism.

Stephen is rightly incredibly proud of Christ Church’s musical alumni and such is the esteem with which he is regarded by former students that most remain in regular contact. As formal moral tutor to the musical undergraduates, Stephen takes his pastoral duties seriously, such that student reunions at which he is present take on the air of family gatherings. Academically, the College has a formidable reputation for music backed up by excellent examination results and vast numbers of applicants for its places. Under Stephen Darlington’s leadership, the College has attracted academics of international calibre such as John Milsom and Jonathan Cross who have shared the teaching, allowing him the time to concentrate on the other half of his massive responsibility, that of directing Christ Church Cathedral Choir.

Stephen (on the right) his brother, Jonathan Darlington, Music Director, Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Vancouver Opera.

Dr David Trendell (left) with Stephen Darlington (right).

Stephen Darlington in the centre of the back row. On the right is Junior Organ Scholar Michael Heighway, on the left are two organists –Sub-Organist Clive Driskill-Smith far left and next to him is Senior Organ Scholar Ben Sheen.

For though Stephen has been heard to joke that he is the only remaining Cathedral Organist without a full-time contract, the reality is that, with two fairly full-time roles to fulfil, it has taken sheer hard work, determination and dedication, to maintain and enhance the Cathedral Choir’s position as one of the very best ensembles of its type in the world. Christ Church Cathedral Choir has been synonymous with musical excellence since the appointment of John Taverner as its first Informator in 1526 and during Darlington’s stewardship, the choir has gone from strength to strength, with a back catalogue of some fifty acclaimed recordings to its credit, and a touring portfolio that has taken the choir to every corner of the globe.

Though he is a man with much to be content with, there is no sign that Stephen Darlington is resting on his laurels. The choir’s most recent recording project is also one of its most ambitious, featuring some of the glories of the Eton Choir Book, including some world premiere recordings. Over coffee in the Senior Common Room at Christ Church we discussed some of the challenges of recording this repertoire with boys’ voices.

“You have to give yourself plenty of time – they can’t learn it in a week,” he explained, “but they end up with a great sense of satisfaction, despite themselves.” With its intricate turns and twists, and melismatic, complex lines, this is not music for the faint hearted, and it can be a struggle to motivate boys at first. But Stephen’s approach of good humoured encouragement, underpinned by fair but firm discipline, and a great sense of

corporate achievement, is clearly winning through, as the recordings have received enthusiastic reviews.

I asked Stephen if his approach to the boys had evolved much over the years, and, while a few things have changed –for instance, like several other choirs, including King’s College, Cambridge, he has abandoned the practice of appointing a Head Chorister – the choir’s atmosphere and ethos have been consistent. Recruitment and retention have been largely stable during Stephen’s tenure, and, though the numbers presenting themselves for audition are slightly lower than once they were, the quality has been dependable and the choir continues to be full for the Academic Year 2011-12. Most boys continue to sing until the end of Year 8, and though some voices change early, Stephen has not noticed a worrying trend, though he acknowledges that the brighter, more gutsy sound of his boys requires a technique very different from that used historically by Willcocks’s boys, for example, who might have continued to be able to sing treble (albeit in a more or less falsetto style) until their fifteenth or sixteenth birthdays.

For a man with so many outstanding achievements to his credit, Stephen Darlington is disarmingly modest and entirely humble. He was astonished to have been asked for an interview and was keen to talk about anything – such as pictures of Walton – rather than about himself. He considers himself fortunate to have had the opportunity of working in both the academic and spiritual environments, and feels that they hold each other in an equilibrium that prevents boredom or staleness, whilst ensuring that the minutiae of either cannot become irritating or distracting.

For twenty-five years he has inspired, nurtured and developed musical talent in children and young adults and he has won the absolute respect of the musical and academic communities in Oxford and beyond; long may that continue.

LETTERS

Robert Patterson, Alberta, Canada.

I truly do share David Martin’s concerns about reverence. However, I think we must be careful not to confuse reverence with being ‘dour, and distinctly lacking in jocundity’, as Bertie Wooster found Tottleigh Towers and its owner, Sir Watkyn Bassett. A choir devoting heart, mind, and soul to making music to the glory of God is itself an act of profound reverence. I thought that this delightful photo of the Rochester choir was just a bit of fun, nothing more. And I am doubly sure that Mr Farrell can be a stern disciplinarian when the occasion requires. Jubilate Deo!!

Ian Barnes Monmouth

While I respect David Martin’s views shared in a letter to this magazine, I think he would have done better to write directly to Rochester Cathedral than raise the issue through CATHEDRAL MUSIC. In fact he could have told us if he was going to write to the Cathedral directly for an answer to his question in the last paragraph. I disagree that it shows a lack of discipline from the choir per se, more a naive photographer trying to be creative. While I can see his point, it did not offend many people, as I am sure you would have produced more letters. I believe that the photo was taken innocently and there are much bigger issues to worry about. However, he has raised a point and many will consider the positioning of photos in future.

Hugh Wilman. Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. When I was a choirboy (many years ago!), it was usual to sing a Vesper at the very end of Evensong, even if it was only Stainer’s Sevenfold Amen. Nowadays, however, the practice seems to have disappeared, even from cathedral Evensongs. My local parish church (Christ Church, Little Heath) is the only exception I have come across. So, where have all the Vespers gone?

All general points and comments welcomed. Please send letters by 5 September 2011 to: The Editor, 8 Colinette Road, London SW15 6QQ sooty.asquith@btinternet.com

Letters may be shortened for publication.

James Smith Cardiff, Wales.

I happened to go back to a very early edition of CATHEDRAL MUSIC and on the front was a very fine line drawing depicting a choir singing in the stalls. Can you tell me if it represents an actual cathedral and why it was used?

The line drawing was the official FCM logo until 2003 and it was drawn by Gwen Marr and depicts Lincoln Cathedral.

church has survived almost unscathed and is the only habitable church in the central city. However, the 1872 Bevington three-manual pipe organ will have to be removed for repairs and renovation. We are seeking donations to help us meet the $500 000 NZD cost. While Christchurch Cathedral has attracted wide publicity, St Michaels has not, but is trying desperately to conduct its vibrant musical and Christian ministry as usual.

It will take many years for the rubble to be cleared and lives be restored to some degree of normality. If any reader wishes to donate to our Organ Appeal we would be delighted. The Parish Website is churchandschool.org.nz

Paul Ellis is Director of Music St Michaels and All Angels, Christchurch, NZ

Christchurch Cathedral, New Zealand, September 2008 © Graham Hermon

Paul V Ellis Christchurch, New Zealand. You no doubt will be aware that a devastating earthquake has afflicted our city of Christchurch. In fact three major earthquakes (4 September, 26 December 2010 and 22 February 2011) have caused major damage and disruption to New Zealand’s most ‘English city’. The Church of St Michael and Angels predated the Cathedral, now seriously damaged, by many years. Our historic Victorian Gothic wooden

BBC PROMS 2011

at the Royal Albert Hall

PROMS REVIEW 2010

We cannot win every season, after the choral riches of 2009, last year was leaner, with only two large-scale sacred works, by Arvo Pärt and Claudio Monteverdi. The First Night opened with a choral masterpiece, Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand, his Symphony No 8, the first part of which is a setting of the Latin hymn Veni Creator Spiritus. Combined choirs mustered over 400 voices, including the choristers from St Paul’s and Westminster Cathedrals and Westminster Abbey, a sea of red and black cassocks. Jiří Bĕlohlávek directed the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with the Crouch End Festival Chorus and Choirs from Sydney.

Sunday August 1 offered the first of the season’s two organ recitals: Wayne Mashall playing Wagner transcriptions by Edwin Lemare; the Mastersingers Overture was painfully loud and heavy. Lemare asks for a dynamic range of ff to pp, Marshall gave us ffff to pppp with no mf! The Tannhäuser Overture was calmer, with more gravitas but again the pedals obliterated the string cascades. After a manic opening, the improvisation on themes from Tristan and Isolde was very fine. The Ride of the Valkyries was too loud and the dotted rhythm in the pedals was lost; technical skill untempered by musical judgement, a common failing among keyboard players!

The other organ recital, by David Briggs, was part of Bach Day, ravishing artistry with no excesses, including Virgil Fox’s wonderful arrangement of Come Sweet Death. Briggs ended with his own superb arrangement of Suite No. 3 in D, played with impeccable good taste. Choral works on offer were Pergolesi’s valedictory Stabat mater, full of wistful lyricism, and Arvo Pärt’s St John Passion, with its sustained mystical style, finely sung by the BBC Singers under David Hill, with Andrew Kennedy as Pilate, Brindley Sherratt as

Jesus and organ accompaniment by Iain Farrington.

On the penultimate night came the greatest, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, immaculately done, of course, by the Monteverdi Choir, under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. I heard this towering masterpiece at St Paul’s Cathedral during the City of London Festival, sung by the Cathedral Choir under Andrew Carwood, but no movement. Both performances were enriched by the unique sound of His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts, who at the Proms lifted the mood by processing into the Arena, together with the English Baroque Soloists. The singers were spread around the Arena to give the spatial effects achievable in St Mark’s, Venice, which for Sir John is the perfect setting. It was a magnificent performance, with vocalists articulating their demanding baroque coloratura lines with élan, inspired by one of our leading exponents of baroque music.

PROMS 2011 PREVIEW

The season’s big news is that for the first time every Sunday will feature a major choral concert. In fact the First Night (15 July) is also choral: Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, and a new work by Judith Weir. There isn't space to give full details but these are the highlights of the eight week choral feast:

Sun 1 (17th July) Organ recital – Stephen Farr

Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony [10 choirs and 1000 performers]

Sun 2 (24th July) Verdi Requiem (BBC SO/Bychkov)

Sun 3 (31st July) All Rachmaninov The Bells

Thur (4th Aug) The Tallis Scholars sing Victoria

Fri (5th Aug) Mahler Resurrection Symphony

Sun 4 (7th Aug) Mahler Das Klagende Lied (BBC SO)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir © Chris Christodoulou

Sun 5 (14th Aug) Purcell & Britten (Trinity Boys)

Sun 6 (21st Aug) Mozart Requiem (CLS/Layton)

Sun 7 (28th Aug) Mendelssohn Elijah (McCreesh)

Sat (3rd Sept) Berkeley Organ Concerto (Goode)

Sun 8 (4th Sept) Organ recital –Thierry Escaish Beethoven Missa Solemnis (LSO)

It is one of the most exciting seasons I can remember. Promming ticket prices are unchanged and the prospectus is now available.

Oxford Service Music for Organ

COMPILED AND EDITED BY ANNE MARSDEN THOMAS

Amajor new collection of pieces, specially selected and organized to suit the needs of church organists. Available for manuals only, or for manuals and pedals.

◆ Pieces grouped according to service needs: Preludes, Interludes, Processionals, Postludes

◆ Attractive and varied repertoire from the 16th-21st centuries, with some new pieces written especially for the collection

◆ Major composers of organ music are well represented

◆ Aclear,practical edition with registration and tempo suggestions for each piece

◆ Anumber of pieces throughout the collection have been selected for the 2011 ABRSM organ syllabus

◆ Book 1 covers approx. Grades 1-4, book 2: Grades 5-6, book 3: Grades 7-8

Both books 1 & 2: £8.95 each. Both books 3: £9.95 each. Available from music shops or direct from OUP, +44 (0)1865 452630, or music.orders.uk@oup.com

978-0-19-337266-5

978-0-19-337267-2

978-0-19-337268-9 978-0-19-337263-4 978-0-19-337264-1

978-0-19-337265-8

First night conductor Jiří Bĕlohlávek © Chris Christodoulou

First night 2010 Mahler’s 8th Symphony © Chris Christodoulou

BOOK & MUSIC REVIEWS

THE CAMIDGES OF YORK: FIVE GENERATIONS OF A MUSICAL FAMILY

David Griffiths

ISSN: 0524-0913

ISBN-13: 978-1-904497-51-6

Borthwick Publications, University of York YO10 5DD

The name of Camidge is familiar in cathedral music circles since three members of the family were successively organists of York Minster between 1756 and 1859. This most interesting and informative booklet provides biographies of seven Camidges, including the York Minster organists, John, Matthew and Dr John. Also included are three of Dr John’s children; Thomas, Elizabeth and another John, all of whom followed musical careers but for various reasons moved away from York. The last musical Camidge, Thomas’s son, John Henry Norrison, was organist of Beverley Minster from 1876 to 1933. Apart from the biographical details, the booklet gives fascinating insights into the musical and social background against which each member of the family flourished. York and its Minster were at the centre of their lives and the three children of Dr John seem to have become rather rootless when the Minster connection came to an end.

Thomas held appointments in Swindon, Hexham, Beverley and also in Wales; Margaret, a composer and music teacher, moved to Sussex after her marriage and John emigrated to Canada. All the Camidges wrote music in conservative styles, Handelian or Mendelssohnian, following the fashions of the day rather than being innovative. Indeed the preface to Matthew Camidge’s published organ concertos (c.1800), in an attempt to forestall his critics, pointed out that ‘he has Endeavoured to imitate the particular style of music which has been so long Admired namely that of Handel and Corelli’. The influence of Mendelssohn is still apparent in the surviving compositions of the last musical Camidge, John Henry Norrison. In his house in Beverley, according to an article in ‘The Organ’ (January 1930), were displayed several family portraits, now in the Camera Cantorum in York Minster, but his most treasured possession was Mendelssohn’s visiting card, formerly the property of his grandfather, Dr John. David Griffiths is a former Musical and Special Collections Librarian at York University and this excellent publication is a tribute to his thorough and extensive research.

Alan Spedding

MUSIC, MUSICIANS AND ORGANS OF ST MICHAEL’S CORNHILL

Jonathan Rennert

ISBN 978-0-9567009-0-2

This delightful book from the pen of Jonathan Rennert is not as it says on the blurb a church guide, or an evangelising tract, or an appeal for money! It is a fascinating and disarming tale of a long line of interesting and dedicated church musicians. I enjoyed reading this book immensely with its interesting snippets such as the markings found on the pipes and Geoffrey Cawthorne’s quarterly payslip and the fact that between 1916 and 1966 Harold Darke gave 1,833 Monday lunchtime recitals. If I gave you many more you would not need to buy the book and that would be a great shame because it is well written and is an enjoyable read. The Monday recitals were considered to be of national importance: in the 1920s, a dedicated landline was laid under the streets of London, to enable the BBC to broadcast a weekly recital ‘live’ to the nation. The research that went in

to this book should be the benchmark for all future publications. I also particularly enjoyed Where ignorance is bliss: Cornhill’s novelistsand poets but you will have to buy it to find out who the famous figures from historical literature are. Good use of photographs, research and information collated to make this an enjoyable read and recommended.

Patrick Mayhew

DEATH IN THE VESTRY AND OTHER STORIES

Humphrey Clucas

ISBN 9780955047039

The Lewin Press. Available from bookshops or from Humphrey Clucas.

The Lewin Press, 19, Norman Road Sutton SM1 2TB accompanied by a cheque for £7.50 (which includes p&p).

Following on from his first book Royal and Peculiar we have Death in the Vestry drawing upon Humphrey Clucas’s experience as a lay clerk. Here we follow Geoffrey Haygarth an amateur sleuth (in the tradition of Miss Marple) a retired music teacher and village organist acting as a detective in a trio of crime stories. The first has a common theme: a new vicar arrives at the church set in her ways and as is her wont, immediately sets about to ridding the church of the Book of Common Prayer with a sentence that will reverberate with you all: “The BCP must go, it’s the language of Shakespeare; people don’t understand it these days”. Anyway, the Revd Abigail Lee is murdered. There are also two short fables, one based on the devil buying one’s soul and a cricketer called Henry Barnes whose modest talent is transformed overnight, and the other about a unicorn’s experience of virgins. The book has a couple of final tales set in Westminster Abbey and some of Clucas’s beautiful poetry around Christmas. He is a good story teller and I am already awaiting his next. Recommended.

Andrew Palmer

THE METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL ORGANS AND MUSIC

Described by Terence Duffy

Available from Cathedral Gift Shop: 0151 707 3525

Priced at £9.55 plus p&p.

+CD Richard Lea, Organist and Assistant Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral plays: Mohrentanz Susato; Purcell Air & Hornpipe; Bach Air (Suite in D); Prelude in B minor; Chorale Prelude Liebster Jesu; Toccata in D minor; Handel Minuet (Samson); Praetorius Courante, Ballet (Terpsichore); Martin Evensong; Camidge Gavotte; Thalben-Ball Elegy; Pachelbel Toccata in E minor; Massenet Meditation (Thais)

FCM Council member and cathedral organist of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool from 1963-1993 and its Director of Music 2004-2007 writes a delightful book to describe the organ and, along the way, gives us a little history of what was proposed for the cathedral as designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Besides writing about the Grand Organ, there are also sections on the Box Organ and the Crypt Organ and information about the cathedral choir. A full organ specification is listed and there is also an accompanying CD and for all the pieces listed there is a registration along with timings which makes for a handsome package.

Daniel Reed

HOW HIGH SHOULD BOYS SING?

Gender, Authenticity & Credibility in the Young Male Voice

Martin Ashley Ashgate.

Illustrations 11 b&w. 194 pages

ISBN 978-0-7546-6475-8

£55.00

£49.50 website price www.ashgate.com

This book is essential reading for anyone working with, or near, boys’ voices. As a teacher of young people myself, Ashley’s discourse brought me up short, for I hadn’t considered for a moment that whilst it is a given that cathedral choristers sing to an (mainly) adult audience, sorry congregation, it is assumed, by parents and choirmasters alike, that young singers are delighted by their introduction to such a rarefied world? But are they? The matter of peer pressure not to sing is tackled head on by the author and he includes snippets of conversations, with non-singing children, that attempt to shed light on attitudes towards boys singing in their treble voice in an environment that might be hostile to their discipline, hence the title of the book. It is a fair bet that many boy trebles will declare their voices to have ‘broken’ before they actually have done so. I have seen it for myself in the course of my singing teaching career, and certainly the respondents’ comments and attitudes to their treble peers appeared at best indifferent, and at worst hostile.

The book is partly about social attitudes to boys singing, as mentioned above, partly a scientific survey, which explores the diverse changes in musculature and vocal fold development in boys, with a little choice gossip thrown in for good measure. It is extremely well researched. Tables detailing changes to a boy’s speaking voice and commensurate deepening of the singing instrument are provided. Researchers are quoted at every turn, one of whom, Cooksey, provides a chart to illustrate the growth spurts of boys from ages 1 to 19 years and asserts that there are six mutational stages in a boy’s development, the inference being that choir trainers should be aware of these changes and react sensitively to them. For example, many of us will have been privy to the sad attempts by some boys to struggle on past their optimum span. Ashley asks: ‘How do we discard talent that is no longer useful to a choir?’ What do we do with the discarded treble, who according to the author, might be pretty useless in his adult voice until he is 20? In my experience, there is no reason whatsoever for a boy to stop singing entirely. Boys often display a ‘proper’ singing talent, be it alto, tenor or baritone at 14-15 years, and I understand that Harrow School runs a plainsong choir for recently broken voices. Continuing singing lessons during this period can be enjoyable and very productive.

It is a far cry, however, from continuing in a choir, where the nature of choral music can make for an uncomfortable experience. Singing Handel’s Wher’ere you walk is an easier proposition for a young tenor than negotiating, for example, Edgar Bainton’s cruel tenor lines in And I saw a new Heaven. A chapter headed Admiration of the Boy deals in part with the dichotomy of girls versus boys singing in cathedral choirs. Ashley describes the angst that followed the introduction of girls at Lichfield Cathedral, where grown men were to be seen shaking and in some cases, weeping at the prospect of a takeover by girls. Clearly, however, it is now accepted that boys and girls can happily co-exist. But the fact often articulated is that it is the boys who go on to be tenors and basses, and that if girls were to supersede boys, then, in a few years’ time, it would be curtains for the backline of choirs. It is a point, but there is still a fair number of young men coming forward to sing, even if, as Christopher Robinson pointed out to me some years ago, more applications from would-be choral scholar men are now received for mixed choirs in Cambridge than for King’s or St John’s Colleges. Moreover, the talent pool of singers at one of the newer universities, York University, is extraordinarily rich, with fine SATB voices exploring a diverse range of music from medieval to contemporary.

Ashley also makes plain the problem of the state sector, where, despite government encouragement, precious little singing is undertaken. For example, I had a boy come to see me for a singing lesson at Ampleforth College, who was on a fact-finding mission, from a state school, about life in a public school. He had talent in spades, a tenor if memory serves. The poor chap couldn’t believe the amount of vocal tuition afforded to the boys at the College. What was indescribably sad was the fact that he required nurturing, but the resources were simply not available. It is an ineluctable fact that

there will be vocal talent in state sector boys. All we have to do is tap into it. But how? In sum, a splendid and useful read, even if a few cathedral choir directors might squirm at some of the waspish comments made about them by some singing teachers, criticising their lack of vocal technique. Well, that may be the case, but, on the other hand, have our choirs ever been better than they are at present? Probably not.

Richard Hill

CHORALCDs

MY SOUL DOTH MAGNIFTY THE LORD

Stanford Great Service in C; Walmisley Magnifcat and Nunc Dimittis in D minor; Wesley Evening Canticles in E; Blair Evening Service in B minor; Wood Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in F, Brewer Evening Canticles in D.

The Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Director: John Scott.

Organ: Christopher Dearnley.

HELIOS (HYPERION) CDH 55401 TT 58:10

Hyperion continues to re-issue its older recordings on the mid-price Helios label; this one dates from 1987 and is of pre-CD length, just 58 minutes. It takes us back to the years when FCM Chairman of blessed memory was still Organist of St Paul’s and a youthful John Scott was making his mark as a choir-trainer, and the performances come up as fresh and satisfying as ever; the ‘best-loved settings’ are Stanford in C, Walmisley in D minor, Wesley in E, Blair in B minor, Wood in F and Brewer in D, a fine robust collection! Speeds are stately, the sound of the full choir is rich and opulent, and the organ whose rebuild Dr Dearnley had designed, supplies a distinctive and tasteful support to the singing. If it is not there already, not even as an LP or cassette, make sure that you add this recording to your collection.

Timothy Storey

MISSA BREVIS

Caplet Messe à trois voix; Leighton Missa Cornelia, Op 81; Delibes Messe Brève; Britten Missa Brevis ; Fauré

Messe basse

La Maîtrise de Toulouse.

Director: Mark Opstad.

Organ: William Whitehead.

REGENT REGCD340 TT 71:11

A recent and welcome phenomenon in France has been the establishment or re-founding of Maîtrises, specialist music schools; the earliest and bestknown is that at Caen (1987), whose founder, Robert Weddle, a former Organist of Coventry Cathedral, set a pattern imitated in other places, even to the extent of the employment of English choir-trainers. Unlike those at Caen and the Basilica of Sainte Anne d’Auray in Brittany (1999) the Maîtrise de Toulouse is a secular establishment for boy and girl choristers aged between eleven and fifteen, part of the Toulouse Conservatoire; it was founded as recently as 2006, and this recording attests to how far these young singers have progressed in such a short time, under the capable direction of Mark Opstad, who began his musical career as a chorister at Bristol Cathedral. Contrasting settings of the Mass are given committed and assured performances with excellent tuning and a particularly lustrous tone which I suspect may have more than a little to do with French vowel-sounds; particularly welcome discoveries are the Mass for Three-part unaccompanied voices by André Caplet (1878-1925), the Messe Brève by Delibes (of all people), and Kenneth Leighton’s Missa Concordia, a setting of the ‘modern’ English text. A little more variety in dynamic level would have been welcome, and I did not like the somewhat exaggerated staccato employed in the Benedictus of Britten’s Missa Brevis with an effect unfortunately reminiscent of the hen-coop; but no performance can suit everyone! This is a disc of more than usual interest, well worth buying; and I would also recommend a carol recording (Noël – Choeurs de la Maîtrise ‘Sainte Anne d’Auray’ , obtainable from amazon.fr or by e-mail via www.centredemusiquesacrée.org) if you wish to compare it with the opposition’ in Brittany (directed by a former Cambridge organ scholar).

Timothy Storey

MUSIC FROM THE REIGN OF KING JAMES 1

Tomkins Be strong and of good courage; O Sing unto the Lord; When David heard; Then David mourned; Gibbons Great king of gods; O all true faithful hearts; Fancy in C fa ut; Fancy in Gamutt flat; See, see the Word is incarnate; Fantazia of foure parts; Hosanna to the Son of David; O Lord, in thy wrath rebuke me not; Almighty and everlasting God;Preludium; O clap your hands; Hooper Great Service; Ramsey How are the mighty fallen.

The Choir of Westminster Abbey. Director: James O’Donnell.

Organ: Robert Quinney.

HYPERION CDA67858 TT 76:56

These indefatigable musicians have produced another anthology of more than usual interest, which contains a great deal of Orlando Gibbons and also works by Edmund Hooper, Robert Ramsey and Thomas Tomkins. The Abbey is justly proud that both Gibbons and Hooper were in its employ in the early seventeenth century. The selection presented here is bound together by music for specific royal occasions, such as Tomkins’s anthem for James’s coronation in 1603, three settings (Ramsey and Tomkins) of King David’s laments for Absolom or Jonathan, probably inspired by the death of the Prince of Wales in 1612, and the settings by Gibbons of the lamentable doggerel marking the King’s visit to Scotland in 1617 (Great king of gods) and his recovery from illness in 1619 (O all true faithful hearts). Fortunately this delightful music was rescued by the Revd H R Bramley and given new texts, the familiar Great Lord of lords and O thou, the Central Orb These and See, see, the word is incarnate, also included, are given in ‘church’ performances with organ rather than viols. The rest of the programme offers a little more Tomkins, Hooper’s Evening Canticles from his Great Service (a magnificent and rare example of a genre established by Byrd), organ music by Gibbons in sparkling performances by Robert Quinney and some of the greatest of Gibbons’s full anthems, Hosanna to the Son of David, O clap your hands and O Lord, in thy wrath. I recommend this as a highly enjoyable disc, a timely reminder of the riches of our indigenous postReformation school of composers.

Timothy Storey

LEAD ME LORD

Wesley Praise the Lord, O my soul; The Wilderness; O give thanks unto the Lord; Wash me throughly; Steggall

Remember now thy creator; Walmisley Remember O Lord; Crotch How dear are Thy counsels; Mendelssohn Hear my prayer

The Choir of York Minster.

Director: Robert Sharpe.

Organ: John Scott Whiteley.

REGENT REGCD344 TT 70:48

Your reviewer recalls with pleasure several outstanding recordings which Mr Sharpe made with the choir of Truro Cathedral before his translation to York, and this disc does not disappoint. There is fine, bold singing, and the Minster’s resonant acoustic has been faithfully captured, albeit at the expense of some clarity in the organ sound. Four of Sebastian Wesley’s finest anthems are included, and not the least merit of their performance is the careful balance and blend of the male voices despite the composer’s idiosyncratic scoring of the alto voice; there are also works by Crotch (an exceptionally beautiful performance of How dear are thy counsels) Steggall and Walmisley, and it is a pity room could not be found for Attwood, Goss, Ouseley and Stainer. We are told that ‘a feature of many of the works ... is the extensive use of the treble voice in radiant and expressive solos’; Master Billy Marshall (as a previous generation would have styled him) and his colleagues sing well, apart from a curiously rushed and nervous-sounding central section in O give thanks (Wesley), but I wish someone had resisted the temptation to add Mendelssohn’s Hear my prayer, surely a cuckoo in this particular nest. If you must perform it, at least do so in the decent obscurity of German; to make boys sing such drivel as ‘My heart is sorely pained within my breast’ is surely cruelty to children!

Timothy Storey

GOD BE IN MY HEAD

Choral works by Paul Edwards

O joyful light of the heavenly glory; Evening Service in C sharp minor; Great shepherd of thy people; O dear and lovely brother; Hymn: Saviour who didst healing give; O Gladsome light, O grace; Bread of heaven; Behold us Lord; Hold thou my hands; O dearest Lord, thy sacred head; Blessed are those servants; Come, healing cross; O Lord, how manifold are thy works; Round me falls the night; Come, dearest Lord; Carols of the birds; Requiem Mass; Hymn: O love that wilt not let me go; How shall I sing that majesty; God be in my head.

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge. Director: Sarah MacDonald.

Organ: Clive So & Ian Tindale.

REGENT REGCD339 TT 69:07

Born in 1955, Paul Edwards was a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral, and it is clear that from his early training there and subsequent experience as a cathedral lay clerk he has absorbed a sense of how to write well and effectively for church choir and organ. He has enjoyed a busy life as organist at several churches in the Bedford area, conductor and accompanist, teacher and editor, and not least as composer; some of us remember that the ill-fated Oecumuse firm published several of his earlier works. He has written his own liner-notes for this recording, and they make fascinating reading; he claims to be ‘a disciple of the school of Delius and Vaughan Williams, with a special admiration for such composers as E J Moeran, Peter Warlock, Patrick Hadley, Constant Lambert and Percy Whitlock’. Curiously he makes no mention of Howells, though as in so much church music of the past few decades one can detect more than an occasional hint of his influence. A major criticism of this programme has to be its fragmented nature, for apart from an Evening Service and a setting of the Requiem Mass, no work is more than five and a half minutes long, and the average is about two and a half. Nor is there much variety of style, and the disc would have been better had it been the length of an oldfashioned LP; just because you can get seventy minutes’ worth of music onto a CD you should not feel compelled to – just as the definition of a gentleman is one who can play the piano-accordian but doesn’t! The performances by the Selwyn choir are very fine, with an impressively wellblended and generally mature sound, and despite my reservations there is much to enjoy on this disc.

Timothy Storey

MOZART MASS IN C MINOR K427

Handel and Haydn Society.

Director: Harry Christophers.

Soprano: Gillian Jeith.

Mezzo-soprano: Tove Dahlberg.

Tenor: Thomas Cooley.

Bass-baritone: Nathan Berg. CORO COR16084 TT 54:10

Harry Christophers is synonymous with The Sixteen, but he is also Artistic Director of America’a oldest continuously performing arts organisation, the Handel and Haydn Society. This CD presents a live recording of a concert in Boston’s Symphony Hall, warts and all; one can say at once that the warts are so small as to be barely detectable, and all concerned deserve the highest credit for a performance that was clearly enjoyed by artists and audience alike. I wish, though that the final applause had been left off the recording; it becomes irritating with repeated listening. Repeated listening also makes the listener feel that something in this great but somewhat elusive work has not been fully grasped despite the technical ability of the performers; the music bounces along happily enough, and the soloists are more than adequate, but there is an absence of awe and mystery. This is a perfectly good disc, well worth your consideration; but try also Christopher Hogwood’s performance with the Choir of Winchester Cathedral, the Academy of Ancient Music and soloists including the late, incomparable Arlene Auger. It can still be obtained via Amazon.

Timothy Storey

COULD YOUR CHILD BE A CHORISTER AT DURHAM CATHEDRAL?

AUDITIONS FOR PLACES for boys and girls

7 MAY & 5 NOVEMBER 2011

For more information please contact The Chorister School 0191 384 2935 enquiries@thechoristerschool.com

26JUNE–16JULY THECITY’S ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATIONOF THEARTS

Tuesday28June,8pm

StPaul’sCathedral

LondonSymphonyOrchestra

Tenebrae

GordanNikolitch violin

GraceDavidson soprano

DerekWelton baritone

NigelShort conductor

JS B Bach Partita No 2 for solo violin with interpolated Bach Chorales

Fauré Requiem

Visit www.colf.org,joinour Facebookfanpageandfollowus on Twitter/CoLFestival todiscover moreaboutour160summerevents

The Choir of Westminster Abbey

Southwark Cathedral

Choir of Southwark Cathedral

William Barton didjeridu

Stephen Disley organ

Peter Wright conductor

Peter S Sculthorpe Requiem

Tuesday 12 July, 8pm

St Paul’s Cathedral

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Chorus

Dame Gillian Weir organ

Anna Leese soprano

Simone Young conductor

Poulenc Gloria

Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony

FestivalSponsor

Tickets range from £5–£40 Book tickets online at www.colf.org or call the Box Office on0845 120 7502

The only specialist Choir School in the UK

James O’Donnell Organist and Master of the Choristers

Jonathan Milton Headmaster

All boys receive a substantial Choral Scholarship

Why not come for an informal audition? (Boys aged 7 or 8)

Details from:

Westminster Abbey Choir School

Dean’s Yard, London SW1P 3NY

Telephone: 020 7222 6151

Email: headmaster@westminster-abbey.org

www.westminster-abbey.org

SONGS OF SUNSHINE

Vivaldi Gloria (1st movt); Rutter All things bright and beautiful; WellsJubilate; A Gaelic Blessing; Carter arr

Owens Lord of the dance; Beibl Ave Maria; American Trad arr Powell Amazing grace; Hollins A Song of Sunshine; Goodall Love divine; Dyson Magnificat; Lindley Ave Maria; Handel Hallelujah Chorus; Worthy is the Lamb; Amen (Messiah); Cocker Tuba Tune; Goodall The Lord is my shepherd; Stanford Te Deum and Jubilate in B flat Wells Cathedral Choir. Wells Cathedral School Chamber Orchestra.

Director: Matthew Owens.

Organ: Jonathan Vaughn.

REGENT REGCD343 TT 72:57

A prime function of this recording is to raise funds for St Margaret’s Hospice, but it is well worth buying for its own sake. Much of the music is from the ‘popular’ end of this superb choir’s repertoire, but there are one or two novelties such as John Rutter’s Wells Jubilate, Ave Maria settings by Franz Bielbl and Simon Lindley, and Howard Goodall’s Love divine

The choir is joined by the Cathedral School’s orchestra in movements from Messiah. This disc contains also such evergreens of the repertory as Stanford’s Te Deum and Jubilate in B flat and Dyson’s Evening Service, and thus might well be a good introduction for someone unfamiliar with cathedral music; and organists will especially enjoy hearing the Wells tuba (a fine early Harrison beast) in Cocker’s Tuba Tune. There’s something for everyone, and it’s all for a good cause; so you have two compelling reasons to buy it.

Timothy Storey

HEAR MY WORDS

Choral Classics from St John’s Allegri Miserrere mei, Deus; Grieg Ave maris stella; Pärt O Virgin Mother of God; Rachmaninoff O Virgin Mother of God; Parsons Ave Maria; Palestrina Exultate

Deo; Tallis Agnus Dei; MacMillan A New Song; Franck Panis angelicus; Stanford Jubilate Deo; Vaughan WIliams O Taste and See; Rutter O Lord, thou hast searched me out; Fauré Cantique de Jean Racine; Parry Hear my words ye people

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge.

Director: Andrew Nethsingha.

Organ: Timothy Ravalde.

CHANDOS CHSA 5085 TT 77:20

This reviewer at least does not always wish to listen to seventy-plus minutes of the same composer, and thus he is always happy to welcome ‘a potpourri of delights to be enjoyed in sequence or individually’, as the liner-notes so eloquently put it. It was, I suppose, inevitable that Allegri’s Miserere should open the batting, indissolubly bound as it is to the annual Ash Wednesday broadcast of Evensong from St John’s, and there is little else that will surprise the seasoned collector; but it is always a pleasure to encounter old friends from the choral repertoire in performances as good as these. There is a group of Marian settings (Grieg, Parsons, Pärt and Rachmaninoff) among other well-known works by composers from Palestrina and Tallis via Franck and Fauré (both with ’cello obbligato) to James Macmillan’s increasingly popular A New Song. A welcome newcomer and a highlight of the programme is John Rutter’s O Lord thou hast searched me out, composed in memory of George Guest, for many years Director of Music at St John’s. It unusually and most effectively begins (I quote the liner-notes again) ‘with a plangent, modally inflected line for cor anglais. The combination of voices, organ, and solo wind instrument allows Rutter considerable textual variety’. Parry’s great festival anthem Hear my words closes the programme; I thought it rather rushed, lacking the grandeur appropriate to the more spacious age in which it was composed, but others may admire its excitement and verve, particularly in the demanding organ part so brilliantly played by Tim Ravalde, whom we congratulate on his recent appointment as Assistant Organist of Chichester Cathedral. A good anthology, warmly recommended.

Timothy Storey

O VIRGO BENEDICTA

Music of Marian Devotion from Spain’s Century of Gold

Navarro Regina caeli; Guerrero Pastores loquebantur; Maria Magdalene;Ave Virgo sanctissima; Agnus Dei from Missa Sancta et immaculata; Lobo Kyrie from Missa Maria Magdalene; Ave Regina caelorum; Sanctus from Missa Maria Magdalene; Benedictus from Missa Maria Magdalene; Esquivel Gloria from Missa Ave Virgo sanctissima;Credo from Missa Ave Virgo sanctissima; de Vivanco O sacrum convivium; Magnificat Primi Toni; Ceballos O Virgo benedicta The Marian Consort.

Sopranos: Gwendolen Martin & Emma Walshe.

Countertenor and Director: Rory McCleery.

Tenor: Nicholas Scott.

Baritone: Steffan Jones.

Bass: Christopher Borrett.

DELPHIAN DCD 34086 TT 75:10

The Marian Consort is aptly named if this first offering of their wares is anything to go by. It is a disc of Marian Devotion, sung by a group of six singers, and includes perhaps one of the most famous pieces of the Spanish Golden Age; Guerrero’s motet Ave Virgo sanctissima. Bruno Turner, in his notes, informs us that the late Middle Ages saw a flowering of devotion to Mary, and this developed into an almost divine status. Feasts and other high days were introduced, and even to this day, Mary is seen as a pivotal character in the Church’s year, especially in Spain. Motets by Lobo, Navarro, and Ceballos are performed, and Mass movements by Lobo, Esquival and Guerrero round the disc off, along with a Magnificat Primi Toni by Sebastian de Vivanco. The consort’s singers clearly enjoy working together, and they display a wide range of dynamics and vocal colour. If anything, the sopranos tend to dominate slightly, and whilst the tuning is generally pretty impressive, there are one or two infelicities in pitch, almost exclusively in the Credo of the Esquival Mass setting, the chief culprit being the alto. However, these are minor blemishes and don’t detract from the overall enjoyment for the listener.

For some, the meandering style of Spanish polyphony might, after a while, stretch the concentration to its limits. One eminent retired cathedral organist wrote it off as being simply ‘one flipping common chord after another’. Personally, I will enjoy dipping into this disc. It is a fine debut recording, sung with panache and with an obvious love of the repertory. Where the opportunity arises, the voices sing soloistically, particularly in the bravura sections, but they also capable of deeply reflective utterances. The skill of the recording engineer and the acoustics of Wadham College Chapel, Oxford, lend credence to the idea that this is essentially domestic music, well suited to the private chapel. I’m sure we will hear more of these fine young singers, for they represent, in the most positive way, the future of consort singing in this country.

Richard Hill

SALVE REGINA

Scarlatti and Hasse Cantatas & Motets

The King’s Consort. Director: Robert King.

Trumpet: Crispian Steele-Perkins.

HELIOS (HYPERION) CDH5334 TT 76:17

This disc of music by two Scarlattis, Allesandro and Domenico, and Johann Hasse, entitled Salve Regina, is a re-issue of one recorded on the Hyperion label in 1996 by Robert King and his King’s Consort. The singers Deborah York and James Bowman alternately sing cantatas and are joined for one item by the trumpeter Crispian Steele-Perkins. When Robert King founded his consort, his brilliant mind concluded that, for it to succeed, he would have to employ the best singers and musicians of the day, and this is precisely what he did, with spectacular success. The performances, as recorded here, are fresh and vital, with singing and playing of the highest order. The music encourages the operatic tendencies in the singers, with a wonderfully varied range of mood and vocal colour. For me, the singing of James Bowman is unparalleled in this repertory. He sings with unfailing musicality and deep commitment to the music. Moreover, he has never held back from taking risks with the music, which makes for exhilarating listening. He is on top form throughout, and given that his philanthropy to many good causes is

proffered quietly and without self-aggrandizement, a knighthood, surely, should be forthcoming, and that soon. Deborah York is very much in the shadow of Bowman, but she too sings with a keen sense of the musical issues at stake. The playing, as you would expect from these expert specialists, is of a very high quality, plangent and joyous in equal measure. In short, I heartily recommend this excellent disc to the CATHEDRAL MUSIC readership.

Richard Hill

MISSA PRO DEFUNCTIS

Penitential motets

by Clemens non Papa

Requiem Missa pro defunctis; Tristitia et anxietas; Vae tibi Babylon et Syria; Erravi sicut ovis; de profundis; Vox in Rama; Peccantem me quotidie; Heu mihi Domine.

The Brabant Ensemble.

Director: Stephen Rice.

HYPERION CDA67848 TT 72:52

On the strength of this CD it is difficult to understand why the music of Jacobus Clemens non Papa is not better known. Choir directors may have encountered some of his minor works, ingenious rounds and the like, as warm-up material but here we are presented with magnificent music by a choral composer of genius. His output was extensive and included 15 complete masses, about 230 motets, some 80 chansons and three-voice settings of the 150 Psalms in Dutch. All the masses are parody settings with the exception of the Requiem (the first item on the CD) which is also the only one of his masses in four-voice SATB texture throughout. Clemens’s gift for writing flowing melodies is evident in all the music in this programme and is relished by the singers. The contrapuntal textures are underpinned by a clear harmonic sense to a degree unusual in a Renaissance composer, so much so that some harmonic shifts can take the listener by surprise, as in the homophonic setting of the Agnus Dei of the Requiem

Clemens is his own man in his word setting, sometimes indulging in illustrative figuration while elsewhere forsaking the meaning of the text for thematic exploration. He is a master of achieving maximum effect by the simplest means. For example, in the exquisite Vox in Rama Rachel weeps for her children with overwhelming grief which lapses into utter desolation with the final motto, quia non sunt – (for they are no more). Clemens’s nickname, ‘non Papa’ has long intrigued commentators. From some recently discovered correspondence it appears that the soubriquet was applied to him in jest because of his irregular and dissolute life to distinguish him from the Medici Pope Clement VII who reigned during the composer’s youth. Stephen Rice and his excellent Brabant Ensemble have played an important role in recording music by several lesser-known composers for Hyperion and it is to be hoped that their championship of Clemens will encourage other choirs to follow their example. Very highly recommended.

Alan Spedding

AMERCIAN VOICES

Bernstein Chichester Psalms; Thompson Alleluia; Copeland In the beginning; Muhly Bright Mass with Canons; Barber Agnus Dei; Castellanos Eternal Light; Rorem Sing my soul; O God my heart is ready; arr Hancock Deep River

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys, New York.

Director: John Scott.

Organ: Frederick Teardo.

Harp: Anna Reinersman.

Percussion: Maya Gunji.

Order from www.saintThomasChurch.org TT 74:45

This well-chosen programme features music by five of America’s most prominent twentieth-century composers interspersed with pieces with special connections with Saint Thomas’s. The establishment of the Choir is reminiscent of St Paul’s Cathedral (London) in earlier times, with eighteen men and twenty-three boys. Two of the trebles are sponsored scholars and all the men are professional singers. This, and the fact that the choir sings only five choral services a week (fewer than many British cathedrals), is reflected in the wonderfully polished performances on this CD. Any choir is only as good as its conductor, of course, and this choir is supremely fortunate in having John Scott in charge. Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms are given an electrifying performance with soloists drawn from the choir. Bernstein, as a student, was present at one of the earliest performances of Randall Thompson’s famous Alleluia which was presented to its dedicatee

about an hour before the first public performance, prompting the conductor to remark that at least its one-word text should give the choir no problems. Copeland’s a cappella cantata In the Beginning was much performed in my youth, the challenge being to maintain pitch and tuning; The Saint Thomas Choir give an immaculate account. Rorem’s disarmingly simple Sing my soul is also beautifully and sensitively sung. The items by Muhly (b.1981) and Castellanos,(b.1995) were composed specially for the choir in 2005 and 2008 respectively and the programme is rounded off with a spiritual arrangement by Gerre Hancock, John Scott’s distinguished predecessor at Saint Thomas’s. Highly recommended.

Alan Spedding

STANFORD CHORAL MUSIC

Evening Service in G; The Lord is my Shepherd; Bible Songs and Six Hymns; Crossing the Bar; For lo, I raise up. Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum.

Director: Benjamin Nicholas.

Organ: Carleton Etherington.

DELPHIAN DCD34087 TT 77:38

This is the fourth recording that Delphian has made with the boys and men of Tewkesbury Abbey and the choice of Stanford’s choral music results in a production of pure delight. There is a real bond between conductor, choir and organist which is apparent throughout the recording and the opening track, the Evening Service in G, demonstrates this admirably. The treble soloist, Salim Jaffar, with his generous vibrato in the Magnificat, produces a joyous sound and the solo of the bass, Christopher Monk, in the Nunc Dimittis reflects well the thoughts of a contented Simeon. The Gloria is a masterpiece of tranquillity and reassurance as interpreted by Stanford. Choir and organ grasp well the contrasting mood music in his brilliant interpretation of Psalm 23, reflecting peace and contentment in contrast to the turmoil of the sinister organ accompaniment ‘through the valley of the shadow of death’ which is followed by joyous shafts of light and total reassurance at its end. Such interpretation as given by Schola Cantorum only comes about by a confidence born of ability and trust of continuous working together.

The Bible SongsandSix Hymns which Stanford lumped together as Op 113 are less well-known works and for that reason worth hearing. The treble soloist in two of these items, Laurence Kilsby, was 2009 BBC Chorister of the Year and he has lost none of his brilliance in the intervening time. Crossing the Bar, a song about death and the hereafter, features another boy soloist, Benoit Andre, as does the final item For lo, I raise up. This piece describes the prophet Habakkuk’s fearsome writings about desolation coupled with reassurance of deliverance and has the phrase ‘We shall not die’, which Stanford interprets so dramatically and the piece ends in masterly, quiet reflection of the Lord in his holy temple. Ben Nicholas has some wonderful soloists at his disposal and this recording reflects this in full measure together with sensitive organ accompaniment. Seventy-seven minutes of pure delight.

Trevor Godfrey

IKON II

Golovanov Our Father; Chesnokov Salvation is created; Let my prayer arise; Let the good spirit; Bless the Lord, O soul; Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous; We have no other help; All of creation rejoices in you;

Grechaninov Of thy mystical supper; Shevedov The Cherubic Hymn; Tchaikovsky Come, let us worship; Kalinnikov Come, let us worship; We hymn thee; Rejoice, O Virgi; Tolstiakov Bless the Lord O my soul; Rimsky-Korsakov Our father; Rachmaninov Rejoice, O Virgin; Blakirev Let all mortal flesh keep silence; Cui Song of the most Holy Theotokes (Magnificat).

Holst Singers.

Director: Stephen Layton.

HYPERION CDA67756 TT 71:35

Do not be put off by the austere black cover and the twenty-two tracks of Russian choral works. This is a well-chosen collection of music (unaccompanied, of course) by composers linked to the Moscow Synodal School of Church Singing at the time when a new school of liturgical composition was being established during the four decades preceding the 1917 Revolution. Several works of this school, by Balakirev, Gretchaninov, Kalinnikov, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and others, became popular in Britain between the wars, published by Bayley and Ferguson in English translations, but now that choirs are no longer afraid to sing in Russian the

true splendours of this music can be appreciated. Even if some (but by no means all) of the composers’ names on this disc are familiar, most of the music was completely new to this reviewer; hearing Rachmaninov’s familiar Bogoroditse Devo in this company was rather like finding an old friend at a party where one had almost given up hope of meeting anyone who was not a complete stranger. This work, in common with the rest of the programme, is given a performance of extreme beauty, and there is an agreeable difference of style between the various composers. The singing throughout is of the highest quality, and the basses’ low notes are simply amazing!

Timothy Storey

CHORAL MUSIC BY VYTAUTAS MIŠKINIS

Dum medium silentium; O sacrum convivium; Pater noster; Tenebrae factae sunt; Neišeik, salulala; oi šąla šąla; O magnum mysterium; Ave Maria II; Ave Maria III; Salve regina; Time is endless.

The Choir of Royal Holloway.

Director: Rupert Gough.

HYPERION CDA67818 TT 77:57

Contemporary Lithuanian choral music may not seem an obvious choice for your next purchase of a CD, but if you are a devotee of Arvo Pärt and his followers you will find much to enjoy here. As a corollary, if you dislike that particular style of music you may not find this disc to your taste at all! What can be said without fear of contradiction is that the performances are excellent, as one would expect from this up-and-coming choral establishment. Born in 1954, Miškinis is described in Rupert Gough’s interesting and informative liner-notes as ‘the doyen of current Lithuanian choral culture’, whose music is a synthesis of different influences including his country’s folk songs; a welcome feature of the programme is the inclusion of three of his secular part-songs, two of them to vernacular texts, and what a beautiful language this is to sing and hear, especially Neišeik, salulala (Don’t leave me, sun) which is delightfully enhanced by an accompaniment of Lithuanian panpipes. The rest of the programme contains Marian compositions, other liturgical texts and a setting of the seven Advent Antiphons. This is a disc of great imagination and high quality, well worth the attention of discerning collectors.

Timothy Storey

MAX REGER

Der Einsiedler; Drei sechsstimmige Chöre; Drei Chöre; Drei Gesänge; Palmsonntagmorgen; Requiem. Consortium.

Director: Andrew-John Smith.

Piano: Christopher Glynn. HYPERION CDA67762 TT 66:22

It is good to be reminded that Reger composed a great deal beside those notoriously difficult and massive organ works where the page seems to contain rather more black print than white space. There are some very lovely things on this disc, to which Brahms or Schubert would not have been ashamed to put their names, and the performances are of the highest quality. These miniature song-cycles could well be described as ‘choral Lieder’ for they are certainly not church music, not even Psalmsonntagmorgen (‘Palm Sunday morning’) or the Requiem set to a text by the dramatist Friedrich Hebbel (1813-63) and dedicated ‘to the memory of the German heroes fallen in the Great War’. The mood of this anthology is generally reflective rather than dramatic; those seeking excitement might be better advised to look elsewhere, but if you are a lover of the whole German romantic ethos you will enjoy this very much.

Timothy Storey

ALLEGRI’S MISERERE AND THE MUSIC OF ROME

Allegri Gustate et videte; Incipit lamentation Jeremiae peophetae; Miserere mei, De lamentation Jeremiae peophetae Deus; Palestrina Cantantibus organis; Missa Cantantibus organis.

The Cardinall’s Musik.

Director: Andrew Carwood.

HYPERION CDA67860 TT 67:19

Your reviewer dreads encountering Allegri’s Miserere in choral programmes almost as much as Mendelssohn’s Hear my prayer; here at least it is surrounded

by some of Allegri’s other works, two sets of Lamentations and Gustate et videte, and very fine they are. There are also a Salve regina of Felice Anerio and Palestrina’s Cantantibus organis for the feast of Saint Cecilia; the centre-piece of the programme is the twelve-voice Missa Cantantibus organis, a joint effort by as many as seven composers, who each take themes from Palestrina’s motet. The composers are Dragoni, Giovannelli, Mancini, Santini, Soriano, Stabile, plus our old friend Anon. and Palestrina himself; the occasion of the work’s composition is a subject for some conjecture, but since all the composers were members of the Vertuosa Compagnia dei Musici dei Roma it is tempting to regard it as a showpiece to celebrate the founding of that organisation in 1585. What is more important to the CD-buying public is that it is no mere historical curiosity but a highly enjoyable work of great virtuosity, variety and interest; the good folk of Classic FM obviously think so too, for they broadcast one of Dragoni’s movements a couple of Sundays ago! There are none of the tuning problems which marred the Cardinall’s Musick’s recent Guerrero recording; the performances on this disc are uniformly excellent, and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Timothy Storey

THE CANTERBURY COLLECTION

Vierne Messe Solennelle ; Kodály Missa Brevis; Bruckner Three Motets.

The Choir of Canterbury Cathedral.

Director: David Flood.

Organ: John Robinson.

YORK AMBISONIC YORKCD214 TT66:26

This is a wholly delightful disc which finds the Canterbury musicians in absolutely top form, and some ingenious placing of microphones has captured the building’s spacious acoustic and (dare one say) made the cathedral’s somewhat problematic organ sound unusually good. All the excitement of Vierne’s Messe Solennelle is faithfully transmitted, with the choir’s robust and committed singing a good foil to the thrilling outbursts of full organ; Kodály’s more subtle Missa Brevis, with its beguiling flavours of chant and folksong, is given a different but equally effective treatment, and one must admire the various soloists and especially the boys who negotiate their cruelly high triads in the Kyrie and Agnus Dei with security and aplomb. Of the three motets by Bruckner which conclude the programme I especially enjoyed Christus factus est, in which the considerable demands of tessitura and intonation are met with ease in a comfortable and expressive performance. This recording has been promoted by the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, the oldest such organisation in the country, so you could help that worthy cause by buying this excellent anthology, and give yourself a great deal of pleasure at the same time.

Timothy Storey

NEW HORIZONS

Andrew York Mass; Howells Salve regina; O’Regan O vera digna hostia; Beatus auctor saeculi; Dove The Three Kings; Finnissy Ave regina coelorum; Moore Pilgrimage

The Ebor Singers.

Director: Paul Gameson.

BOREAS BMCD901 TT 56:46

This music is not for the faint-hearted, whether performer or listener. The programme is ‘book-ended’ by two works by York composers, the York Mass by Kerry Andrews, who was awarded a PhD in Composition by the University and Pilgrimage by Philip Moore, the Minster’s distinguished former Master of the Music. The Mass has a certain Rubbra-like starkness which grew on one with repeated hearings, and one hopes that its dedicatee, the Chancellor of York Minster, was susceptible to its charms; the choir triumphantly and confidently gives a compelling performance of this taxing work. Sadly, the group of motets forming the centre of the programme do not make anything like the same impact; Howells’s familiar Salve Regina is sung so slowly as to lose all its shape, and the same fault is evident in Jonathan Dove’s increasingly (and deservedly) popular The Three Kings. The fruit of experience and, dare one say, compositional discipline is evident in Philip Moore’s cleverly constructed choral suite, ingeniously bound together by the incomparable melody Dives and Lazarus, so beloved of Vaughan Williams, though even here we are treated to another of the conductor’s funereal tempi in the opening statement of the tune. This is a fascinating programme, whose merits probably outweigh its faults.

Timothy Storey

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI

Selva morale e spirituale (Volume 1)

The Sixteen.

Conductor: Harry Christophers. CORO COR16087

Selva morale e spirituale is regarded as Monteverdi’s ‘most significant anthology of liturgical works since the Vespers in 1610’. Published in 1641, the collection presents works composed at San Marco, Venice, where Monteverdi had served since 1613; it contains various forms of sacred music, from madrigals in Italian to a complete Mass, the instrumentation varying between a single voice to eight voices with orchestra. This recording contains two of the madrigals, a sevenpart Gloria à 7in stile concertato, a number of the psalms for Vesper that are such a prominent feature of Selvamorale and one of the three settings of Salve Regina. Everything is sung with evident enjoyment (if not always great finesse) by a star cast; I was taken aback by some of the speeds in the familiar Beatus vir – surely the Venetians never sang it so fast – but otherwise the disc presents a highly agreeable hour-and-a-bit’s worth of supremely goodnatured music, with a few old friends among a number of works that were new to your reviewer. This disc is well worth buying.

Timothy Storey

ORGANCDs

THE ORGAN MUSIC OF PHILIP UNDERWOOD VOL 2

Philip Underwood plays the organ of St John the Divine Brooklands Sale

Daniels Half Dozen; 9 Lessons on the Chester Carol; Welsh Folksong Suite; Fantasia on Psalm 130; Postcards from Ulverston; A Brooklands Wedding Bouquet.

GRANDEUR GDUR 0801-2 TT69:24

Daniels Half Dozen is six light-hearted pieces based on colours of the organ –trumpet, flutes, cornopean, hautboy, cornet and plenum in styles ranging from jazzy to folksy with a touch of silent film music on the way. 9 Lessons is a set of variations on the Song of the Nuns of Chester which follow the sequence of the readings in the familiar Festival of Nine Lessons in telling the story of Christmas. The title of the WelshFolksong Suite is self-explanatory while Postcards from Ulverston present various local worthies including the Quakers, Sir John Barrow and Stan Laurel in musical guises. A Brooklands Wedding Bouquet is a sort of ‘spot-the-tune’ entertainment for a congregation awaiting the arrival of the bride – the sort of game I used to play with my choristers, especially if the bride was late. Fantasia on Psalm 130, in two sections based on Anglican chants, is the most serious work on the disc. The first section, expressed in Messiaen pastiche contrasts with a joyful outburst of confidence in section two, in which the carol Tomorrow shall be my dancing day is quoted. The composer is essentially a miniaturist and much of the music is not meant to be taken too seriously. Many of the pieces follow recognised forms, rhythms and patterns and the four-bar phrase is much in evidence. The organ is well recorded in a rather dry acoustic. It was originally built by William and Thomas Ginns of Merton, South West London, in 1896. I had not heard of these builders before, in spite of my having been born in what is now the Borough of Merton.

Alan Spedding

FLOR PEETERS

D’Arcy Trinkwon plays the Marcussen organ –Tonbridge School Chapel

Concert piece; aria; Suite Modale; Variationen und Finale über ein altflämisches Lied; Nun sei willkommen, Jesus, lieber Herr; Maria sollte nach Bethlehem gehn; Élégie; Toccata, fugue et hymne sur ‘Ave maris stella’; Lied to the Flowers; Lied to the Sun.

HYPERION CDA67825 TT 74:47

This disc gets off to a cracking start with a performance of the Concert Piece, itself the composer’s arrangement of the Finale of his Organ Concerto, written during Belgium’s bitter struggles towards the end of World War II. Flor Peeters’ refusal to cooperate with the Nazis resulted in the confiscation of his passport. The pieces are carefully chosen to show aspects of the

composer’s musical preoccupations, including his feeling for melody, modal harmony, old Flemish music, plainchant, Lutheran chorale and the brash display of the French-style Toccata. Contrasts in mood, ranging from powerful exultation to quiet introspection, are used with intelligence throughout the programme. D’Arcy Trinkwon displays a clear affinity with the music of Flor Peeters and proves himself equal to its challenges. There is sensitivity of phrasing, with a distinctive use of rubato, especially in the quieter pieces, colourful choices of registration at all levels and life in the rhythm. The toccata movements are delivered with panache, even though the recitalist exceeds the speed limit at times, according to the composer’s rather staid metronome markings. The Tonbridge Marcussen serves the player well and is well recorded. The accompanying booklet includes the organ specification and some excellent programme notes by David Gammie.

Alan Spedding

LIVERPOOL SPECTACULAR

Richard Lea plays the organ of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Gounod Cortége (La Reine de Saba); Bach Prelude in B minor; Fjellestad Toccata; Rathbone Carillon ‘Vlaamse

Beiaard’; Sawa Etude IX; Sowande Obangiji; Lasceux Symphonie Concertante; Monnikendam Toccata; Stubbs Fanfare Once around the Anticlockwise; Tournemire Communion & Fantaisie sur le Te Deum et Guirlandes Alleluiatiques (L’Orgue Mystique No 51); Debussy La Cathédral Engloutie; Parets Toccata 5th Tone; Stout Danza

PRIORY PRCD 1042 TT 77:28

Richard Lea puts the Walker organ of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral through its paces in a varied programme of organ music and arrangements. The playing is energetic and stunningly virtuosic and the instrument is given a thorough dusting with the heavy reeds (including the Orchestral Trumpet en chamade) much in evidence. The programme starts in fine style with an arrangement of Gounod’s procession from his opera, The Queen of Sheba –surely a contender to replace Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba at weddings. The louder pieces by Fjellestad, Stubbs and Stout fare well in the Met’s cavernous acoustic while the Parets, Tournemire and the exquisite Sawa items provide opportunities for savouring the organ’s more delicate sounds. One wonders what Debussy would have made of his submerged cathedral: in his search for a truly legato touch on the piano, would he have found the organ more suited to his needs? The experienced hand of Neil Collier of Priory is in evidence in overcoming the problems set by the Met’s notorious acoustic.

Alan Spedding

SCHUMANN

Thomas Trotter plays Schumann Works for Organ or Pedal Piano on the Ladegast organ of Merseburg Cathedral (1866)

Four Sketches for Pedal Piano, Op 58; Studies for Pedal Piano, Op 56; Six Fugues on the name BACH, Op 60 REGENT REGCD347 TT 65:40

Following the modern preoccupation with anniversaries and centenaries, the music of Robert Schumann enjoyed a re-appraisal during 2010 to honour his centenary. The piano works which have almost been forgotten in recent years have been revisited as well as the orchestral works, chamber music and lieder Thomas Trotter does Schumann and the musical world a great service by presenting these three sets in performances which reveal the music in all its variety and subtlety. The Opus 56 and 58 sets were originally for the pedal piano which Schumann and his wife Clara installed in their Dresden home in order to familiarise themselves with organ technique. The BACH Fugues, Opus 60, were a homage to J S Bach, revered by Schumann as ‘the greatest composer of the world’. Indeed, Schumann told his publisher that these fugues ‘will perhaps survive longer than all my other works’.

The famous Merseburg organ serves the player well, although, as one expects with Thomas Trotter, the performance of the music is what matters most to him, the instrument being the means to that end. The Merseburg organ is most significant, however, in that the Reubke Sonata and Liszt’s BACH were both written for it. The CD is well recorded and presented, with an informative note by David Gammie. The main pleasure, however, lies in the supremely musical playing of Thomas Trotter. Highly recommended.

Alan Spedding

JSW WORKS FOR ORGAN

John Scott Whiteley plays his compositions on the organ of York Minster

Intrada; In Memoriam Maurice Duruflé: Scherzo; Toccata di dissonanze on themes of Frescobaldi; Aubade; Trilogy on Stanzas of Shakespeare’s Sonnets; Scherzetto and fugue on the name Francis Jackson; Five Sisters Windows: Glass effect pieces for organ; Passacaglia.

REGENT REGCG353 TT 76:03

This is a fascinating CD on several counts. It marks the end of John Scott Whiteley’s time as Organist of York Minster where he has spent over half his life. His playing is legendary for his breadth of understanding and technical command. His series of Bach recordings for television have brought him to a wide audience. Those of us who were present to hear him interpret the thirteen diverse pieces written to celebrate the ninetieth birthday celebrations for Dr Francis Jackson in York Minster were astounded by the sheer brilliance and consistency of his playing. To hear a great performer playing an instrument with which he has been in daily contact for almost thirty-five years is pleasure enough but to hear him playing his own music is to be given a privileged look into his innermost thoughts. Much of the music on the disc is highly personal and indeed autobiographical and reflects many aspects of his life – a musical apologia in fact. The programme starts with a processional (Intrada) written for a state occasion with York’s Tuba Mirabilis much in evidence. The Scherzo conveys the essence of Duruflé’s language without descending into mere pastiche. Toccata di dissonanze, based on themes of Frescobaldi, builds through seven connected sections, each employing a different interval and exploring the dissonances between the intervals and the themes. The Trilogy Movements are intensely personal documents with an unexplained tragedy at their heart. The Scherzetto and fugue, with its echoes of Dupré, Duruflé, Ravel and Poulenc, was JSW’s own birthday tribute to Francis Jackson. Five Sisters Windows, the most recent work, is an inventive, musical evocation of the monumental feature of the North Transept in York Minster. Passacaglia, ‘highly personal and partly autobiographical’, dates from 2008/2009 and acknowledges a long list of influences as its twentyeight variations unfold. The booklet goes into minute detail concerning JSW’s compositional processes and influences. There is a note on the York organ together with the added bonus of the composer pictured wearing his trademark dark glasses.

Alan Spedding

ANIMAL PARADE

William Saunders plays the Organ of Brentwood Cathedral

Steel Changing Moods; Gardner Five dances for Organ ; Mathias Recessional ; Tabakova Diptych ; Rutter Toccata in Seven; Farrington Animal Parade

REGENT REGCG346 TT 72:04

William Saunders offers an enterprising programme in which he plays to the strengths of the recently refurbished organ of Brentwood Cathedral. The Mathias and Rutter pieces are standard fare and both are delivered in fine style. Sparkling performances characterise the five movements of Christopher Steel’s Changing Moods and John Gardner’s Five Dances. Dobrinka Tabakova’s Diptych was written at the suggestion of William Saunders who gives its world première recording here. The eponymous Animal Parade is a delightful set of twelve pieces, ten of which portray a variety of animals (carefully avoiding Saint-Saëns’ choices in his Carnival of the Animals, although neither composer can resist a sideswipe at music critics!). The wit shines through the entertainment thanks to the player’s effortless technique and choice of registrations. Animal Parade is already attracting the attention of concert organists and this performance of the complete work is another world première recording (four of the movements were recorded by Christopher Herrick some nine months earlier). To add to the fun, the accompanying booklet prints a set of poems by Esther Eidinow for optional narration. These are much more successful than the rather embarrassing verses Ogden Nash wrote to accompany the Saint-Saëns Carnival some years ago. A most engaging CD, well recorded and beautifully played. Highly recommended.

Alan Spedding

ORGAN FIREWORKS XIV

Christopher Herrick plays the organ of Melbourne Town Hall, Australia

Verdi Grand March from ‘Aida’; Spicer Fanfares and Dances; Franck Pièce Héroïque; Farrington Animal Parade; Penguins, Giraffes, Barrel Organ Monkey; Lanquetuit Toccata in D; Hollins Triumphal March; Wesley Choral Song and Fugue; Buck Variations on ‘Old Folks at Home’; Guilmant Organ Sonata 1 in D minor.

HYPERION CDA67758 TT 72:16

This CD, the latest in Christopher Herrick’s famous Organ Fireworks series, continues his policy of finding organs appropriate to his chosen repertoire. Here the magnificent Melbourne Town Hall organ is put through its paces in a programme designed to show it off to greatest advantage. The organ is rich in colourful sounds from incisive reeds to delicate flutes and the Hall’s acoustic has just enough bloom to enhance the sound without obscuring the lines. The opening Verdi transcription sets the scene and the Franck and Guilmant pieces are given sound idiomatic performances. Iain Farrington’s Three Animal Parade pieces are played with ingenuity and humour and the Hollins March with panache. The whole recital displays Herrick’s instinct for entertaining programme planning, along with his authoritative performances, and will be welcomed by his many fans.

Alan Spedding

JOHN ELLIS –MUSIC FOR ORGAN VOL 2

Robin Walker plays at the organ of Bolton Parish Church Variations on Picardy; Scherzo-Fantasie; Festive Voluntary; Two Hymn Preludes; Toccata; Minuet; Three pieces for Organ; Organ Symphony.

PREMIÉRE RECORDINGS DDA25087 TT 67:04

John Ellis is a retired NHS consultant who has forged a new career as a composer of church and organ music. The music is written in a variety of styles and moods ranging from meditative, through light elegance to powerful and assertive. The programme represents a retrospective of works written between the years 2000 to 2009, the date of the most substantial piece, the Organ Symphony. Geoffrey Coffin’s (Principal Pipe Organs) 2008 rebuild of the organ uses ranks from various sources – the original 1795 Greene, Gray & Davidson (1852), Hill (1882), Hill, Norman & Beard (1953) – and, with the judicious addition of nine second-hand ranks, he has skillfully blended the whole into a most satisfying fifty-five stop instrument of three manuals and pedals. Still housed in Arthur Hill’s splendid 1882 case, the organ sounds well in the comparatively unhelpful Bolton acoustic. Robin Walker’s enthusiasm for the music informs his colourful playing and Dr Ellis is fortunate in having such an accomplished advocate for his pieces.

Alan Spedding

Edington Festival

August 21st - 28th 2011

The 56th Festival of Church Music within the Liturgy at the Priory Church of St Mary Edington (near Westbury in Wiltshire)

Information from John d’Arcy, The Old Vicarage, Edington, Westbury Wiltshire BA13 4QF

Tel: 01380 830512

www.edingtonfestival.org

M usica DeoSacra

A festival of sacred music performed within the liturgy

1 - 7 August 2011

TEWKESBURY ABBEY

CHURCH STREET TEWKESBURY

GLOUCESTERSHIRE GL20 5RZ

Tel: 01684 850959

office@tewkesburyabbey.org.uk

CORPORATION OF THE SONS OF THE CLERGY

357th Festival Service

Tuesday 17 May, 2011 –5.30 pm

St Paul’s Cathedral

The choirs of St Paul’s and Worcester

Cathedrals and St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh will take part

Free tickets are available from The Registrar, Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy, 1 Dean Trench Street, Westminster, London, SW1P 3HB

Charity No: 207736

Tel: 020 7799 3696

www.clergycharities.org.uk

George Sixsmith & Son Ltd Organ Builders

We provide all types of new instruments

New Organs

Restoration

Rebuilding

Tuning

Maintenance

We can give unbiased advice for all your requirements

Hillside Organ Works

Carrhill Road, Mossley, Lancashire OL5 0SE

Tel: 01457 833 009

Fax: 01457 835 439

Cathedral MUSIC Cathedral MUSIC

Allegro Music ..................................................................8

Cambridge Summer Music Festival ............................38

Campaign for the Traditional Cathedral Choir ........26

Canterbury Cathedral Voice Trials ..............................63

Christ Church Cathedral School ................................13

City of London Festival ................................................63

Dean Close Preparatory School ..................................16

Durham Cathedral Voice Trials ..................................63

Edington Festival ..........................................................68

Festival of the Sons of the Clergy ................................69

George Sixsmith Organs ..............................................69

Harrison & Harrison ....................................................13

Incorporated Association of Organists ......................70

International Organ Festival at St Albans....................29

Makin Organs ................................................................2

Advertisers and Supporters

Musica Deo Sacra ........................................................69

Oxford University Press ................................................59

Regent Records ............................................................71

Royal School of Church Music ....................................13

Salisbury Cathedral Voice Trials ..................................26

Southern Cathedrals Festival ......................................71

St Davids Cathedral Festival ........................................71

St John’s College ..........................................................34

St Paul’s Organ Recitals ..............................................38

Three Choirs Festival ....................................................47

Viscount Classical Organs............................................27

Westminster Abbey Choir School ................................63

Westminster Abbey Summer Organ Series ................21

Westminster Cathedral Grand Organ Festival ............69

14 – 17 JULY 2011

AT WINCHESTER

Concerts and services sung by the choirs of Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester Cathedral

Organ recital by James O’Donnell and chamber music concert by camerata freden of string sextets by Brahms and Korngold

Music to be sung includes works by Langlais, Finzi, Walton, Sheppard, Pärt and the first performance of a commissioned piece by Philip Moore

Tickets available from Winchester Cathedral Box Office (01962 857275)

For more information visit www.southerncathedralsfestival.org.uk

REGENT Spring releases

‘Few have done more to champion our choirs than Regent Records’ Classic FM magazine

SONGS OF SUNSHINE

Wells Cathedral Choir directed by Matthew Owens

An uplifting and inspiring collection of popular choral music sung in the radiant acoustic of Wells Cathedral. Gloria (1st movement) Vivaldi, All things bright and beautiful Rutter, Lord of the dance Carter arr. Owens, Ave Maria Biebl, Wells Jubilate Rutter, Amazing Grace arr. Powell, A Song of Sunshine (organ solo) Hollins, A Gaelic Blessing Rutter, Love divine Goodall, Magnificat in D Dyson, Ave Maria Lindley, Hallelujah (Messiah) Handel, Tuba Tune (organ solo) Cocker, The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) Goodall, Te Deum in B flat Stanford, Jubilate Deo in B flat Stanford, Worthy is the lamb: Amen (Messiah) Handel

Sold in support of the work of St

BENJAMIN

BRITTEN:

CHORAL AND ORGAN MUSIC

Truro Cathedral Choir directed by Christopher Gray, Luke Bond organ

All of Benjamin Britten’s most popular sacred choral works, alongside two rarities, The Sycamore Tree and Advance Democracy, in this critically-acclaimed choir’s first recording under Christopher Gray.

Te Deum in C, Jubilate Deo in E flat, Corpus Christi Carol, The Sycamore Tree, A Hymn to the Virgin, Hymn to St Cecilia, Prelude and Fugue on a theme of Vittoria, Missa Brevis, Antiphon, Rejoice in the Lamb, Advance Democracy

REGCD349

TU ES PETRUS

Sheffield Cathedral Choir directed by Neil Taylor, Anthony Gowing organ

A unique collection of music in honour of St Peter, to whom Sheffield Cathedral is dedicated. Includes rarelyheard works from Jonathan Dove and Carl Rütti, and the first recording by a British choir of the stunning Grande Messe Solennelle by the contemporary French composer, Thierry Escaich.

Tu es Petrus Widor, Messe ‘Cum Jubilo’ Duruflé, Tu es Petrus Duruflé, Missa Brevis Dove, Hymn to St Peter Britten, Grande Messe Solennelle Escaich, St Peter & St Paul Rütti

REGCD360

A SONG OF THE LIGHT: CHORAL AND ORGAN WORKS BY MARCUS HUXLEY

Birmingham Cathedral Choir, Timothy Harper organ, Marcus Huxley director and organ soloist

A comprehensive survey of choral and organ works by Marcus Huxley. All but one of the 22 works on the disc are new to the catalogue. Huxley’s music is very approachable and skilfully-crafted, much of it within the capabilities of parish church choirs.

REGCD361

Psalm CL, Magnificat (falso bordone setting for Men’s Voices, Nunc dimittis in A flat (upper voices), A Psalm of Thanksgiving, Common Worship Evening Prayer (The Shirley Service), The Passion of our Lord according to Luke, Prelude on Walsall (organ solo), Susanni, Whence is that goodly fragrance?, Of A Rose, Variations on ‘This Endris Night’ (organ solo), Mass of St Henry & St Philip, Fantasy-Prelude on the Old Hundredth (organ solo)

REGCD343

Margaret’s Hospice, Somerset