Cathedral Music: Spring 2015

Assured.

Whichever organ you buy from us, you can be assured of top sound and build quality, our technical expertise, great attention to detail and the best in customer service. We invest in our instruments so you can invest in your future. These are serious instruments for serious people, people like you. Explore our websites and then fall in love with the organ of your dreams in our showrooms.

Makin | Copeman Hart | Johannus

CATHEDRAL MUSIC

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

ISSN 1363-6960 MAY 2015

Editor

Mrs Sooty Asquith, 8 Colinette Road, London SW15 6QQ sooty.asquith@btinternet.com

Editorial Advisers

David Flood & Matthew Owens

Production Manager Graham Hermon grahamhermon@lineone.net

FCM Email info@fcm.org.uk

Website www.fcm.org.uk

The views expressed in articles are those of the contributor and do not necessarily represent any official policy of Friends of Cathedral Music. Likewise, advertisements are printed in good faith. Their inclusion does not imply endorsement by FCM.

All communications regarding advertising should be addressed to:

HMCA Services, Beech Hall, Knaresborough HG5 0EA 07436 791353 wesley.tatton@btinternet.com

All communications regarding membership should be addressed to: FCM Membership, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX Tel: 020 3637 2172

International: (+44) 1727-856087 info@fcm.org.uk

Every effort has been made to determine copyright on illustrations used. We apologise for any mistakes we may have made. The Editor would be glad to correct any omissions.

Designed and produced by:

DT Design, 1 St Wilfrids Road, Ripon HG4 2AF 07828 851458 d.trewhitt@sky.com

Technology

bringing tradition to life

Selby Abbey

Lunchtime Organ Recitals in association with Viscount

In the summer of 2015, the Selby Abbey Trust has arranged a series of Celebrity Organ Recitals to be performed on their new spectacular Viscount Regent 356 digital organ, recently installed in the Abbey, while the historic William Hill organ undergoes restoration by Principal Pipe Organs of York. All proceeds will go towards the Organ Appeal.

This prestigious series of concerts will feature cathedral and concert organists from the UK and from Europe who are among the most distinguished performers in the world.

For further information and a complete programme itinerary, please visit www.viscountorgans.net

2015 Recital Programme

July 7 Dr. Roger Tebbet Selby Abbey

July 14 Joshua Stephens Manchester

July 21 Dr Franz Hauk Ingolstadt Minster

July 28

August 4

Paul Parsons Pontigny Abbey

Paul Hale Southwell Minster

August 11 Jan van Mol Antwerp

August 18

August 25

Michael Overbury Newark

D’Arcy Trinkwon Worth Abbey

September 1 John Scott Whiteley York

All recitals commence in the Abbey at 12.30

The Regent 356, as installed at Selby Abbey

From the EDITOR

Following FCM’s very enjoyable gathering recently at Portsmouth, David Price takes advantage of these pages to expand on his choral scholarship scheme, from which almost a hundred young men to date have been able to benefit. Many of them have gone on to become professional musicians, singing in cathedrals and other choirs elsewhere, demonstrating the depth of experience and maturity gained by undertaking this role. Cathedrals in other parts of the country have followed suit. Often the challenge is for the scholars to find sufficient work locally to occupy the rest of their working day; sometimes the cathedral school if there is one can oblige, though this is not always possible.

Choral scholars are not just a part of the choir at the Old Royal Naval Chapel at Greenwich, but form the entire ensemble. All study save one, exceptionally, at the moment at Trinity Laban College of Music and Dance; many will go on to take up music professionally. The choir, which replaces a group of volunteers formed after the closure of the Royal Naval College, only sings two services a week, a considerable luxury compared to any cathedral choir. Alumni from this choir too are likely to become professional singers. Their conductor is the redoubtable Ralph Allwood, who was recently responsible for the creation of London’s Inner Voices, a youth chamber choir drawn from state schools across the capital.

Many readers will know that Leeds Parish Church (now, of course, Leeds Minster) has for many years been under

the benign dictatorship of Simon Lindley. He is the longestserving musician there in almost 300 years of continual musical endeavour. John Scott-Whiteley, Organist Emeritus of York Minster, talks to him about his life’s work, his choirs, his family background, his recordings and his fellow musicians. There’s so much packed into Simon’s life that it’s hard to envisage him taking retirement.

Also covered in the magazine are two notable anniversaries: The Three Choirs Festival (TCF), which is 300 this year (by a slightly arcane counting system explained by Clare Stevens), and The Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy, which is celebrating its Diamond Jubilee this year one year ahead of FCM. These festivals have some wonderful programming, so support them both if you can; the singing at either is some of the finest you will hear anywhere.

One man in search of fine singing travelled recently to the UK from Canada to hear our best choirs, scheduling his trip with enormous care so as to include as many evensongs and other services in his programme as possible. A former chorister himself, Lindsay Eaglesham travelled to Cambridge, Oxford and London, rejoicing in the choral offerings at the various establishments he visited. Several advent services later, what stood out most from his pilgrimage? Not just the music, though clearly that was the raison d’etre for his trip, and remarkable of course in so many cathedrals and chapels, but also ‘the quiet meditations . . . reflecting on all that had transpired in those lovely spaces’. Should we not all be taking time out of our busy lives to reflect in a similar way, and to enjoy these spaces? Hats off to Lindsay, not just for his memorable trip, but for putting into words what is lurking at the back of many of our minds.

JOINING FRIENDS OF CATHEDRAL MUSIC JOINING FRIENDS OF CATHEDRAL MUSIC

How to join Friends of Cathedral Music

Log onto www.fcm.org.uk and fill in the form, or write to/email the address given on p3.

Member benefits include:

• welcome pack

• twice-yearly colour magazine and twice-yearly colour newsletter

• ‘Singing in Cathedrals’: a pocket-sized guide to useful information on cathedrals in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Opportunities to:

• attend gatherings in magnificent cathedrals

• meet others with a shared interest in cathedral music

• enjoy talks, master-classes, choral and organ performances etc.

Subscription

UK members are asked to contribute at least £20 per year (£25 sterling for European members and £35 sterling for overseas members). UK choristers and full-time UK students under 21 qualify for a reduced rate of £10. New members subscribing at least £30 (standing order) or £50 (single payment) will receive a free fulllength CD of cathedral music, specially compiled for FCM members.

FCM’s purpose is to safeguard our priceless heritage of cathedral music and support this living tradition. We strive to increase public awareness and appreciation of cathedral music, and encourage high standards in choral and organ music. Money is raised by subscriptions, donations and legacies for choirs in need.

Since 1956 we have given over £2 million to Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedral, church and collegiate chapel choirs in the UK and overseas; endowed many choristerships; ensured the continued existence of a choir school, and worked to maintain the cathedral tradition. Please join now and help us to keep up this excellent work.

Sooty Asquith

REFLECTIONS ON A MOVEABLE CHORAL FEAST by Lindsay George Eaglesham

It was only after I had arrived at Heathrow on November 22, greatly anticipating my choral ‘pilgrimage’ (as I liked to call it) that I discovered from reading a London paper that that day happened to be the birthday of Benjamin Britten. Even more auspicious, I thought, is the fact that it is also St Cecilia’s Day – the patron saint of musicians. Not that any auspiciousness of the date should attach to my little life, like the wonderful omen it obviously was for the great composer.

Even so, I was thrilled at the thought that perhaps there was a personal Jungian-type meaningfulness here; that this longawaited trip to see and hear some of the finest traditional Church of England choirs would be a success – that Murphy’s Law would have no application to my fortnight of choral events, as it is too often wont to have when we travel.

You see, it was not just a matter of dropping in cold on evensongs and the like. I had planned everything to a close schedule. Special Advent services and regular evensongs were my prime target, for which precise dates and times and train schedules were important. And the regular evensongs were carefully researched online as well, in order that my 12-day trip calendar might be completely filled with as many fullchoir (men and boys, both) services as possible.

After overnighting in London with a relative, I was off to Cambridge; first for a Friday evensong at King’s. Very excited, after checking in to my B&B, I took a short bus ride to the centre of town, then chose to walk a fair distance to the Chapel, viewing the dreaming spires (note to Matthew Arnold: just as ‘dreaming’ as Oxford). Walking the route, passing by

King’s College Chapel, Cambridge © 2008 John Dalkin

the markets, the enormous ranks of students’ bicycles, along cobbled narrows, suddenly there was the looming King’s College Chapel.

And not much of a queue for the service that night. Good! I’ll get a stall seat close to the choir, but not too close, must be a few wavelengths away of course. But then, scanning the meagre congregation, it occurred to me how this English treasure of traditional all-male choral evensongs is so underappreciated. There ought to be queues round the block at every service (ahhh! except when I’m attending).

Certainly, large numbers show up for the special choral services and concert events. But why is this gorgeous evensong not a pilgrim’s experience? Such a high art form is there to be breathed in, available to everyone, without charge. There are always the aficionados like me, of course; but one would imagine there should be crowds at every singing of this (almost) daily delight, happening in a heavenly space where hypnotic musical strains ring off the ancient vaults, the stained glass and the giant columns of the breathtaking buildings that are homes to these great choirs. The singing enthrals, while the airy, shimmering candlelit beauty of the interior space enhances one’s ‘transport of delight’. It is an otherworldly dance of sound and light worthy of the pilgrim experience. Taking in the great evensongs ought to be the English version of the journey to Santiago de Compostela.

Next day, Saturday, was the focal event of my trip, the Advent Service at St John’s College; an occasion I have long wished to attend in person, ever since, in the 1960s, as a young music student, I obtained a vinyl recording of the choir under George Guest. Entitled A Meditation on Christ’s Nativity, it was a musical epiphany, and seemed to me the apogee of Christian celebration in the brilliance of the singing, the thematic selection of the music, as well as the exceptional quality of the readings, done with perfect diction and cadence.

So now, as a newly-minted member of the St John’s Choir Association, I was finally able to get a ticket for the live event. Actually, I got two tickets, one for each of the Saturday and the Sunday services. I felt that if I am to travel 3500 miles for this, I needed to sit through the two performances, at least.

I am happy to say, the legacy of great choral directors like George Guest, David Hill and Christopher Robinson continues. The quality of the choir was first class, and every element of the production as precise as ever, and impressively rehearsed. I use the term ‘production’ advisedly because, as someone mostly familiar with the often annoyingly amateurish and overly-casual North American form of Anglican service, it is uplifting to experience form and protocol that is the ne plus ultra of Christian worship. Nowhere that I know of in the world are there churches that match the excellence with which all the fine points of a service are conducted in England’s finest traditional cathedrals, collegiate chapels, and royal peculiars. Everything is done with utmost decorum, timing and professionalism: from the processions to the readings, to the standing and sitting of the choir, to the admirable discipline and self-control of the young trebles. Services and concerts at these great venues are meticulous, wondrous productions.

The Sunday Advent service, like Saturday, was scheduled for the early evening, so there was time for another attendance at King’s. It was a lovely Choral Eucharist, with the comforting and familiar BCP liturgy. There was a solemn, sizeable congregation, the day was bright and sunny, and the soft morning rays streamed angled fingers of multi-coloured light through the chapel’s famous 16th century window, creating a vision quite different from the lustrous candlelight at St John’s in the evening, though just as supernaturally beautiful. I was seated in the aisle row, just east of the choir, and it was fun to see all the choirboys processing past me with great dignity to receive the Eucharist at the altar, hands folded in front. The entire service was a delight.

That was my first choral weekend in England, setting a standard that was happily equalled by all the subsequent services I attended. After Cambridge it was London on the Monday, attending a very fine Vespers sung by the men and boys at Westminster Cathedral. On Tuesday I caught the

St John’s Choir

train to Oxford, another B&B, and three nights of blissful evensongs at the great chapels: New College, Magdalen, and Christ Church. The tradition of brilliance prevails at all three; the sound at New College, especially, seems still to be enjoying an ascendance. And what heavenly spaces! The autumn evenings were dark, the only interior illumination ethereal candlelight, making the effect in Magdalen and New College interiors particularly awe-inspiring, with the dim light only half revealing the intimate space, quivering up the lofty, massively sculptured eastern walls, while the choristers stood out, refulgent in the reflection of their immaculate surplices.

My final Friday I was back in London, this time for an evensong at Westminster Abbey. It had been many years since my last attendance at service there, and I rediscovered that, with all its immensity, the Abbey can always feel as intimate as a chapel when one is seated in the stalls close to the choristers. And that is what I meant at the outset with the sense of my trip enjoying the good fortune of St Cecilia – at every single service and choral event I attended I had a premium seat. Amazing. Even on that final weekend in London, when I simply showed up for the two great Advent services (no tickets were needed) – the procession service at St Paul’s on Saturday, and at the Abbey on Sunday – I managed a fine quire seat for both. What’s more, I was barely on time at St Paul’s, because I had to rush from a 3pm evensong at the Abbey (again!) to get there by 6 o’clock.

myself ahead of most of the throng in the nave, and among the first group to follow the choir into the quire where I enjoyed a stall seat only a few feet away from the choristers. Especially moving was the amazing Magnificat the choir performed, set to a modern composition by Giles Swayne. It took my breath away. The treble line seemed incredibly difficult with the boys separating into multi-part singing, including a very highvoiced extended ostinato.

St Paul’s was glorious with candlelight, as immense as the inside of some magical mountain. The nave was jam-packed, the choir slowly processing west to east; the music at first plaintive, then suddenly joyous with the congregational singing of ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’. The entire service was a feast of anthems. How lucky I felt to be there in the flesh. Among others, there was Charles Wood’s Hail, Gladdening Light; a stirring Rachmaninov piece; and a riveting modern work by Will

Todd, Christ is the Morning Star

The Abbey’s special Advent service on my last Sunday was another high point. The many hundreds of us in attendance all held small votive candles whose light lasted, surprisingly, just as long as the service itself. And again, how lucky to find

Finally, but in no ways least, on the last night of my epic trip, Monday night, it was the Advent Service at the Temple Church A relatively small space with appealing intimacy and very fine acoustics, it has long been one of my favourite places in London. Tucked away from the hullabaloo of the city, off the Strand, entrance to the church (part of the Temple Courts) is through a kind of ancient, magic door, easily missed on the sidewalk, then down a cobbled alleyway, as in a C S Lewis tale. When, as a young student in the 1960s, I lived in England for a year, the Temple Church became my most regular Sunday morning ritual. Famous among traditional church music lovers for its 11.15am Choral Matins, in those days the choir was still directed by the eminent George Thalben-Ball. Here was also the historic, musical home of luminaries like Walford Davies and the famous treble, Ernest Lough.

Today, the choir’s brilliance is still unquestioned, though the sound has changed. The word ‘unique’ came to mind when I sat in the collegiate-style pews close to the choir, enraptured at what I was hearing. What an energy to the sound! In a way, the treble voices reminded me of what has been called the ‘fullthroated’ Continental tone. Some musicologists believe it was George Malcolm, music director at the Catholic Westminster Cathedral in the 1950s and 60s, who was an early exponent of training boy sopranos in the style. However one describes this vocal approach, the Temple boys are clearly prodigious talents whose singing – perhaps more than any other treble section I know – has stayed deep in my memory, piercing the heart.

Also, it is hard to forget the quality of the Temple men. Besides the Monday night full-choir Advent Service, I also took in the Sunday Matins when only the men were singing. “Wow!” was the simple exclamation that came to mind. Qualification of sound is so hard to judge when it comes to the professional men singers in the great choirs, but for me the Temple men’s voices stand out: the balance, the hair-raising resonance, the brilliance of the countertenors, the tonality of the

entire ensemble represents the very highest rank of choral interpretation.

The memories of my choral vacation are engraved in me: the musical memories, of course, the spine-tingling reverberations of sound in those ancient stone chambers; but also the quiet meditations I enjoyed, sometimes sitting alone in the quires, reflecting on all that had transpired in those lovely spaces, imagining all the talented choristers who had walked the very stones, and whose voices had echoed there over the centuries. More than that, my memories embrace a wider range of fond sensations: that distinctive, warm odour of polished choir stalls, ancient wood panelling, screens and misericords, which for me has always been redolent of church since I was a boy; the rustle of freshly starched surplices as the choristers process, sit down and rise in their stalls. Reflecting on my trip will also prompt a smile when recollecting small but charming incidents, like catching one of the younger boys casting a quizzical look at the choirmaster during a particularly difficult passage.

My visits to these magical places will always remind me how great choral music, beautifully sung, can be a kind of healing; assuaging loss and heartache, helping mitigate all the unavoidable slings and arrows of this slippery life.

Lindsay Eaglesham is a former Anglican choirboy, later a sometime church soloist and concert tenor, grade school teacher, human resources trainer, journalist, acupuncturist, and freelance writer. He has a passion for choral music, especially of the Anglican tradition. Other interests extend to movies, metaphysics, his dogs, and books – one partially completed book, in particular, which he refers to as his ‘neverending novel-in-progress’. He holds a degree in Education from Toronto’s York University, and in Liberal Arts from Sheridan Polytechnic where he was the Gold Medalist, placing first among over 600 graduating students. Recently retired, he hopes to enjoy more frequent choral holidays in the UK. His musical and religious heart is drawn to the aesthetics of the traditional English cathedral and chapel services, and to the ancient, historic venues.

Westminster Cathedral

FORTY YEARS? IN THE BIBLE THAT’S A GENERATION!

John Scott Whiteley talks to Simon Lindley on the occasion of his fortieth anniversary as Master of the Music at Leeds Minster

John Scott Whiteley

JSW Simon, I believe the spring of 2015 sees you celebrating 40 years as Master of the Music of what we must all now call Leeds Minster?

SL Yes, I was appointed on 11 January 1975 and my first service was Low Sunday morning, but I had a term when I still did the Sundays at St Albans, and Anthony Langford, my first colleague, did the Sundays here; I did the weekdays.

JSW I’d like to begin by asking you about your musical background. Was church music in your family?

SL Both my father and my grandfather were Anglican priests. There was no direct music in the previous generation, but if you go back two generations on both sides of the family, there was really quite a lot. My greatgrandmother on my mother’s side had been the famous Marie Brema, the Wagnerian mezzo.1

JSW I believe she sang in the first performance of Gerontius?

SL She sang in Gerontius because when the score came, they

realised that the orchestration was so loud, they needed a singer who could be heard over the top of it. There was an awful critique that stated that the tenor, Mr Edward Lloyd, had lost his voice, while it was debatable how much voice Madame Brema still had left to lose! My family was not the sort that invariably listened to music, although it is interesting that my sister, in turn, became a professional singer.

JSW And your childhood was spent in London?

SL Yes, I lived there from the age of about five because my father was vicar of St Philip’s Kennington Road,2 which had a big 3-manual Hunter organ in it. This was a very fine instrument that was one of those which Noel Mander nursed. Lots of our parishioners worked in the Imperial War Museum [in Lambeth Road]. My father was also Chaplain of Lambeth Hospital. I remember being taken to the first mass, the Consecration Mass, at St George’s RC Cathedral in Southwark, which was played by Shaun McCarthy at the wonderful Compton organ. That was only just a short distance from where we lived.

JSW So then your parents decided to send you to Magdalen College School in Oxford.

SL What happened was that when I was eight, my father went to be vicar of St Margaret’s Church in Oxford, which is one of the northern Anglo-Catholic churches there. Both my parents had been university students in Oxford. My mother came from a large family: there had been six of them in all, and Pieter, a beloved son, died in the war. The eldest brother, Francis, was a celebrated war hero, a member of the Special Operations Executive, although basically a pacifist. He’d been at St Catherine’s Cambridge, with Bernard Rose, and when I began to show an interest in music, my mum frog-marched me down to Magdalen to meet Dr Rose. It was actually a wonderful time even though my voice was not going to be good enough for the college choir; that was very apparent, but I did get into the school, then a direct grant school, on what was a free place.

JSW The musical education you received at Magdalen obviously must have had a very profound effect?

SL It was extraordinary. Looking at public schools then and since, you find that it’s very common to see the director of music or the main instrumental expert conducting everything. I was at Magdalen with Jonathan Bielby, who is four years older than me, but we were each given – as were others – the chance by Richard Silk3 to conduct groups ourselves. Richard didn’t hog the limelight, and when it came to the big services in the chapel or at St Mary’s, as well as the Town Hall commemoration, it was us who played the organ. We were very strictly assisted and controlled, but it was our job to do it. It was an extraordinary attitude on Richard’s part, although it seemed to us that he actually had two other consuming interests. One was rock-climbing and the other was, allegedly, bar billiards. This fascinated us because it taught us that there was far more to life than crotchets and quavers!

JSW So was it the case at Magdalen that a path was established that became both inevitable and inescapable, or was there an independent ‘road to Damascus’ experience?

SL No, no, it wasn’t either, I just fell into it. I knew I was going to as soon as I got to the school. Never a day goes by when I don’t think of something that happened to me at school, something about music, about history or background, about literature or the way words work and so on.

JSW So you then gained a scholarship at the Royal College of Music?

SL Not really; I got a place, and when I’d been there about six months, my teacher John Birch said I needed to put in for an exhibition, which gave you a little bit less than a scholarship. I got that, and I won quite a few of the less glamorous prizes like the Geoffrey Tankard prize, for what the College called ‘Grade 4’ but was specifically for those interested in accompaniment.

JSW Did Dr Birch have a far-reaching effect?

SL Oh yes, he did. As a boy I had been to the Southern Cathedrals Festival at Chichester and I remember hearing an extraordinary ordinary Evensong, at which they had done Smart in G and Bring us, O Lord God (Harris), and as I came out of the cathedral my dad said to me, “Wasn’t that really beautiful?”. I agreed, and said that I would give anything to learn the organ with that man. There seemed little prospect of that then, but I remember at my interview at the RCM asking John Stainer, who was the registrar and the grandson of Sir John Stainer, if the

students had any say in whom they were taught by. He asked if I had any particular professor in mind, and I said, “I would love to learn with Mr Birch”, whereupon he looked over his glasses at me, perhaps because Birch was quite a disciplinarian. But I was sure.

JSW I was a year or two later than you in arriving at the RCM, but during that period John Birch was regarded as a kind of deity of the ilk of Willcocks. This was partly on the strength of recordings he had done with the Chichester choir, notably those for Abbey Records, which were wonderful, and the Treasury of English Church Music.

So, before you left London, you gained some experience in several London churches during the late 1960s. Did any one of these stand out for you?

SL I enjoyed them all, of course, from Holy Trinity Sloane Street to the two in the City – St Anne and St Agnes, and St Olave, in Hart Street. The one where I really got the chance to understand the liturgy that I’d been brought up with was St Cuthbert’s, Philbeach Gardens (in Earl’s Court) although I wasn’t there for more than about eighteen months. We had a very good, semiprofessional quartet, and the organist since 1950 was Douglas Coates,4 who had had a stroke. He continued to conduct but he needed somebody to play. My job there was important to me because I had a chance really to see how the music fitted into the liturgy. I had that, of course, at St Albans too, but when you were playing the organ there you were miles away from everything, high up in the loft, and it was a very different experience. At St Cuthbert’s you were in the chancel, near to where the altar was. It was a very profound experience.

Simon Lindley conducting the Rothwell Temperance Band in Leeds Town Hall

Photo: Tim & Sharon Sawyer

JSW So what was the repertoire like there?

SL Catholic and extensive; today it might be thought crackers! You probably wouldn’t attempt half of it now. ák in D with four singers!

SL I don’t think I felt a sense of responsibility, but I certainly felt, and continue to feel, a considerable sense of duty. As organist here, you’re responsible for all the services, not just the choral output, and I did feel that when I came it was extremely difficult taking over a very, very successful set-up. There was a large number of boys and also of men, since half of them were volunteers at the weekend. There were six lay clerks, and when I arrived they were probably in their late forties or early fifties, at the top of their game and treated like gods, like opera stars by the congregation. It was quite daunting from that point of view.

JSW So this was Donald Hunt’s legacy?

SL Yes, and he had done quite a lot of contemporary music. They did a very famous BBC Radio 3 live broadcast of the Wilfrid Mellers Mass and the men nagged at me for months, wanting to do it again. In fact, they used to do a lot of things for the Leeds Triennial Festivals and sometimes never pick them up again.

JSW This was the 1970s, of course, a golden age for cathedral music in some respects. Since then cathedral music has changed in a wider sense. How have things changed here?

SL When I came we had a pattern of morning services on a Sunday that went alternately from Eucharist one week to Matins the next. Whatever you think of that, it was a really successful system. Now we have a Common Worship Order One mass each week – though we do Matins eight or ten times a year – and regularly, if the calendar fits, on the second Sunday of most months as well as Good Friday and Christmas Day.

At St Albans you were Sub Organist to Peter Hurford for five years. Was he a hard taskmaster?

SL He is a man of military bearing, and he is incredibly organised. Dr Rose was very organised, but not to the same extent. Peter Hurford I actually found very congenial, but he always knew what he wanted. I used to enjoy it when he played great voluntaries. He didn’t do that very often, but when he did it would either be César Franck or Bach and very often there would be no copy in front of him. He had an extensive teaching practice, and also the most wonderful family, and I was part of that family from day one. Peter always looked out for me, and as an assistant you can’t ask more than that.

JSW From afar he could seem a little formidable, perhaps.

SL To people at St Albans he was quite energised; even those who had nothing to do with music used very much to respect him, particularly since he was beginning to put the Abbey on the map. It was perhaps always on the map, but not to the same extent.

JSW You were appointed to Leeds Parish Church at the end of 1974 in direct succession to Donald Hunt, but indirectly to such giants as Sir Edward Bairstow and S S Wesley. Did you therefore feel a great sense of responsibility?

There used to be a large number of clergy, seven when I first came. They included the vicar of Leeds, the senior curate, the priest in charge of St Mary’s Quarry Hill, the precentor, the succentor, somebody called the Clerk in Orders, and a detached youth worker for the city, a delightful man called Neil Kendra. They all had their own constituencies. In those days, it was quite good because when you had a Matins in April, perhaps on the second Sunday, Easter permitting, you would have a visit from the Association of Engineers. They are the oldest professional body in the city. Then, for the next Matins we might have the market traders, so you could adapt Matins by bringing sector interest groups in, in a way that you couldn’t really with the mass then because it was Series Three and all getting rather chatty.

One or two of the men, the lay clerks, wouldn’t come on the mornings when it was Series Three. At any rate, there were two who simply couldn’t hack it, and neither Donald nor I were prepared to see them walk out of the door, so a system evolved whereby they sent a deputy.

JSW Am I correct in thinking that the boys here don’t come from one particular school?

SL They used not to. They used to come from the grammar school, prep schools and high schools, but now – and I am absolutely sure of this – if we didn’t have our own parochial

school in the city centre we would have lost the boys ten or fifteen years ago. We currently have two boys from high schools in addition to the boys from St Peter’s.

JSW Have you always been responsible for recruitment?

SL Yes, but we’re coming up to changing that, since a generous grant will enable us to employ a full-time professional animateur for some time into the future. We’ve had them in the past and it has worked very well.

JSW Churches in inner cities must have seen huge difficulties with recruitment in recent years.

SL Oh yes, and of course it’s not only recruitment that’s very hard, it’s now difficult to keep them once you’ve got them. In the old days I used to say that if they come for a fortnight that’s it, but nowadays something really basic like the volume of traffic on the city roads can get in the way. They are travelling in and out at the most busy times of the day, and many of the families have both parents at work.

JSW Do you think social media on the internet has replaced the social experience they would otherwise gain in the choir?

SL Yes, to an extent it has. The local paper asked me the other day why I was on Facebook, and I said that I didn’t go on it very often. They then asked why I was on it at all, and I said, “If you want to organise a funeral or memorial service with the choral scholars, you can send them emails and texts seemingly for ever and, eventually, get a reply, but if you write to them on Facebook, within minutes they’ll come back to you and tell you whether they are free or not.”

JSW You were, in 2008, elected President of the Campaign for the Traditional Cathedral Choir and yet here at the Minster you have introduced a girls’ choir. What form does that take, and do you think it actually threatens the traditional cathedral choir?

SL I don’t really think so, because here our format is very different from the foundations such as Ripon, York and Salisbury, where now the girls and the boys have a kind of parity and they do half the work. Here, the boys do all the work except that the girls come on a Saturday morning and do one service on that morning. However, we are now getting them in on more occasions than formerly; the present group are very keen and able.

JSW Has the introduction of the girls’ choir in 1997 caused the music to be ‘dumbed down’ in any way?

SL No; there are reasons why we do a smaller repertoire and there are reasons why we sometimes struggle numerically, but the presence of the girls in the set-up is not a contributory factor in respect of those challenges.

JSW The 20th century witnessed a decline in the music of inner city churches; even in cathedrals some might say that the tradition has been diluted. Has the actual sound of the cathedral choir been affected?

Simon Lindley conducting in Leeds Minster

Photo: Tim & Sharon Sawyer

SL It is very difficult to persuade people that it is not a matter of gender. If we’re really honest it is not so important whether the top line is sung by boys or girls, because some choir-trainers can make girls sound like boys and boys sound like girls. George Thalben-Ball even made his boys sound like mature women! More characteristic is the rather refined timbre of the countertenor as opposed to the sound of the female alto. Byrd and Gibbons and Morley, and quite a bit of Tomkins, all require a double alto part, which binds together, rather like the horn part in a symphony orchestra. We now have expert Early Music contraltos who can do very beautiful things, but it’s somehow not the same.

The point about the development of the cathedral sound – and it’s very often the collegiate chapels who achieve the highest standards – is that it is obtained by the use of falsetto singing, rather refined, a little gentle though sometimes really quite effulgent and blooming.

JSW How do you see the future of music at Leeds Minster, when you are no longer Master of the Music?

SL We’ve got a working group that has been meeting throughout 2014. There is a very gritty determination from the church authorities to keep children at the ‘chalk face’ on the top line. Whether all the singing at the Minster will be done by youngsters twenty years hence I somehow doubt, but Leeds is a fairly conservative place and I think the majority of it will land in that area.

We have also been really successful in recent years with gap-year students, whom we have had a hand in training and who have gone on and done great things; there is a lot to be said educationally for involving them and training them within the city centre. For instance, we have had a lot of pupils for a long period from James Griffett, the well-known singing teacher, along with a goodly spread of Oxford and Cambridge choral scholars of both genders in very recent years.

I think it will continue in this vein, and although we’re never going to have lots of money, we have raised quite a bit over the last ten years to try to put the music on a good footing. We’ve got the oldest sector-interest support group of anyone; we started in 1951 with the Friends of the Music of Leeds Parish Church. They ran the Choral Foundation Appeal, and they still underpin a lot of what we do, day after day and week after week.

The congregations are still very encouraging for the bigger services. Good Friday Matins can average between eighty and one hundred and fifty; at Midnight Mass recently we had one hundred and eighty, of whom I only knew about twenty – and I’ve been here a long time!

JSW Is there any collaboration with other churches in the city?

SL We have a very good relationship with the Catholic cathedral, on which we have worked hard over many years. Their singers normally come once a year to Vespers at the Minster, or we go to them. Today’s

usual RC practice is to sing the psalms to one of these very contemporary English translations; these are not necessarily particularly beautiful, and contain tones and antiphons that are frankly decidedly un-beautiful!

SL Oh! It’s just… well … remarkable! But when they come they sing Latin plainchant, although the penalty is, we’ve found in recent years, that the Catholic boys couldn’t join in with it because they didn’t know it. However, as the years have gone on they’ve picked up the responses, and things like singing Pater noster to chant. I think that when Ben Saunders, the trail-blazing diocesan director of music for the Catholic diocese, first came here he was a bit surprised to find that when they came to us the psalms were in Latin!

JSW I’d like to move on to your work outside the Minster, because it is really very extensive. You took on the post of City Organist at the Town Hall a year after arriving in Leeds, and not too long afterwards this was combined with the role of Senior Assistant Music Officer for the city council, which entailed an enormous amount of administrative work. How on earth did you manage to fit it all in?

SL I actually had twelve years in the School of Education as Senior Lecturer at what was then the polytechnic, but is now Beckett University. The advert for the post of administrative officer came along at just the right moment since I was really over-committed by 1987, with four children at home. At the interview it emerged clearly that one of the things they would like to do, since by that time I had been doing recitals for them for about twelve years, would be to have recitals every week.

JSW

JSW The Town Hall recitals have a long history, though. Presumably they began as soon as the hall was completed, around 1860?

SL That’s right. During some periods there were evening recitals, but like the evening recitals at the parish church, they suffered dreadfully on account of the activities of the Yorkshire Ripper [during the late 1970s]. Understandably, such goings-on made people reluctant to go out at night.

The really sad thing about the Town Hall, and I do regret it, is that when we started our recitals they were always on a Tuesday. Huddersfield’s recitals were on a Monday and Birmingham’s were on Wednesday, so every now and then it was possible to get a world-class player booked by each of the three authorities.

We used to have Daniel Roth very regularly, for instance, and a player I admire almost more than anyone else, Christophe Mantoux (from Strasbourg). The first time we had him here no one had any idea who he was. He started with the Bach ‘Great’ Fantasia and fugue in G Minor, with no music in front of him at all, and he played the Fantasia very dramatically in a way that reminded me of Allan Wicks or Sidney Campbell. As soon as he’d finished, and before the fugue, the audience applauded. I was very struck by this at the time. Then he played the Duruflé Suite and I’d never heard playing of such emotion, emotion that avoided being riddled with sentiment. It was immensely powerful; he was applauded after every movement.

Now we have all had to move the recitals to Mondays to make the most of opportunities for rental income for the building the rest of the week. You see, none of us pays for the hall. If we had to pay for the hall the recitals would be unviable.

JSW There is an educational element also, since you offer a platform to some of our up-and-coming younger organists. There was, I believe, a very good improvisation recital by a recent Huddersfield University student,

Daniel Justin, who has recently become Organist of Leeds Cathedral.

SL Yes we do, but without making a song and dance about it. I go to a lot of concerts by youngsters without necessarily saying, ‘Well, I’d like to have that at the Town Hall’ but perhaps six months later I may be looking at a list and I wonder about what I’ve heard them do. In Daniel Justin’s case I heard him play the Karg-Elert piece for violin, organ and upper voices, the Canzona, which has the Credo in it. I said to him that I really would like to have that piece at the Town Hall, and when he did it was a truly rewarding experience for everyone.

JSW Given that the standard of organ playing has risen over the past 30 or 40 years and that there seems to be as much interest in playing the organ as ever, is there, do you think, a paradox in that there are an increasing number of organists of greater ability, and yet fewer posts for them to fill?

SL This is true, although I wonder how many of them are as interested as they once were in church work; and very few of them seem to be interested in orchestral playing. The routes for our gifted younger organists may well perhaps be more in academic study and teaching. The role of the Borough Organist, City Organist or public organist has changed and, yes, it is now certainly incumbent upon us to try to educate as well as to entertain. We also have a duty to put on things that other promoters couldn’t put on because they wouldn’t be financially viable.

JSW Your website reveals a glittering series of appointments outside the Minster. You have been chorus-master at the Leeds Philharmonic Society and the Halifax Choral Society, and are currently with Sheffield Bach Choir, Doncaster Choral Society and other Yorkshire choirs, including the famous St Peter Singers, founded in 1977.

SL Working with the St Peter’s Singers is invariably especially fulfilling and exciting. The recent One Equal Music project this year has been a wholly absorbing challenge

and the results are now, very happily, available on a CD. It’s been astonishing recording and performing music within the magical surroundings of the Victoria Quarter in the heart of the city.

JSW Have you ever considered pursuing your freelance work uniquely?

SL The 150th anniversary of the parish church in 1991, and the Leeds city centenary of 1993, were both points at which I might have done that. Then, at my 60th birthday in 2008, I was quite certain it would be suggested that I should move on or retire, but nothing happened then either.

However, I had already got a plan to do more conducting. One thing I’ve done here that I’ve really enjoyed for almost 40 years is the series of concerts with the St Peter’s Singers that have involved orchestral accompaniment, and I’ve done a lot of such concerts, sometimes with professional orchestras, but nearly always with amateur or semi-professional bands. The great thing about the Sheffield and Doncaster choirs is that they invariably employ professional orchestras. Therefore, by the time I was 60, thinking I would perhaps be on my way out of the parish church, I thought I would take these jobs on if I were to be successful in my applications. So I was never meant to be quite as busy as this all at once!

JSW Would you be able to continue in the Town Hall post if you retired from the Minster?

SL I am booked on an annual contract that is being renewing next year, so that will ensure I am at the Hall until 2016, maybe a little longer.±

JSW May I ask you about your children? I recall your son Nicolas singing very beautifully as a treble soloist, for instance. Have any of them pursued a musical career?

SL Nicolas has sung in a rock band in the States, but in an amateur capacity. My daughter Rebecca now sings and also acts. She has just got her Equity card. Dominic and Benedict, the other boys, have limited musical skills, but are actually passionate about music. I particularly remember the first time we did Gerontius at one of our Good Friday concerts with Dom and Ben there to help with putting the platform away afterwards. I couldn’t find Dominic anywhere after that. I wondered where on earth he’d gone, but found him in the gallery sitting there by himself very quietly, obviously completely overcome by the music. I found it somehow fascinating that the two who have never been motivated to acquire great skill in a musical sense seem the two who have been most moved by it. Dominic married a horn player, Hazel Milton, whom he met at university in York. My family is completed by three grand-daughters, two of them American citizens.

JSW Simon, thank you. Your recent honours, including two university doctorates and a number of fellowships, the election to Liveryman status of The Worshipful Company of Musicians and the Freedom of the City of London, speak for themselves. May I wish you a

very happy retirement when it eventually arrives, but I suspect, in order for it to be so, it will need to be as dynamic and brilliant as your career itself has been.

1 The real name of Marie Brema, 1856-1925, was Mary Agnes Fehrmann. According to Sir Henry Wood, she was the first English soloist to sing at Bayreuth.

2 Demolished in 1976.

3 Director of Music at Magdalen School from 1959-1971. He became Director of Studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

4 Douglas Coates, 1898-1972, was also Secretary of The Guild of Church Musicians.

Kirkgate and Leeds Minster by night

PROFILE PAUL PROVOST

Were you a chorister, and if so, where?

Not really. The closest I came was deputising for choristers in my brother’s choir!

What or who made you take up the organ?

My main motivation for becoming an organist was choral music. I always enjoyed choirs, and it seemed to me that church music was the best way to get involved with this, organ being the obvious route. The choral side of my work remains a top priority for me, and always will.

What is the Guildford organ like?

The Guildford organ is a fairly typical cathedral instrument, but is situated in entirely the wrong place! With the main instrument in the north transept, the choir singing in the quire (with a few stops for support), and the congregation mainly in the nave, the right balance is almost impossible to achieve. However, we are hopeful that over the next few years we will be able to address the situation with a more comprehensive accompanimental selection in the quire, giving better support and balance. We are also looking at ways of bringing the choir’s sound out into the nave more: they produce a fair volume, but the building does not carry it well.

Did you think, when you went to Chetham’s, that you might end up as an organist?

Honestly, no. I was a cellist and pianist, and the cello remained my first study jointly with organ right up until the end of school. I began learning the organ when I was fourteen, at the time when I started to do something about my love of church music. Prior to that, I saw myself as a chamber musician or conductor, and that still holds true, particularly conducting.

How much teaching do you do, and whom do you teach?

Education details:

Chetham’s School of Music (1996-2003)

Organ Student, St John’s College, Cambridge (2004-2007);

Career details to date (and dates): Organ Scholar, Manchester Cathedral (1999-2003);

Assistant Director of Chapel Music, Winchester College (20072009); Sub Organist, Guildford Cathedral (2009-present); Musical Director, North Downs Consort (2010-2014)

Do you come from a musical family?

My parents both sing, although not professionally. In fact, they were mainly interested in musicals, and used to be heavily involved with a local amateur company. My brother is an organist too, and was certainly a large part of the inspiration for my musical beginnings. Mum and Dad sang in the church choir (remarkable that there still is one in the local Roman Catholic church!), and I would always come along to choir practice and Mass.

I rarely teach – time is tight and I find it hard to offer regular times to pupils. Furthermore, despite some excellent organ tuition, my technique remains fairly idiosyncratic, and I wouldn’t wish to pass on too much of that! I love teaching people, but have never quite connected that with the organ somehow.

As well as playing for the chapel choir, what were the other aspects of your job at Winchester College?

My role at Winchester was enormously varied – from organ playing and teaching to music theory tuition, classroom teaching, keyboard skills coaching, conducting, and boarding house duties. I did enjoy the variety of this, and learned a great deal from each aspect. I had never seen myself in a classroom, so that was a little bit of a culture shock, but it was enjoyable and a great experience. Seeing the boys ‘up to house’ as they call it, was also a real privilege: it offered an opportunity to engage with them on a different basis, and to learn more about them.

What stands out about your tour to the USA with Winchester College chapel choir?

The USA tour was remarkable, and included some very memorable experiences. I had to sing the tenor solo in Britten Rejoice in the Lamb owing to the ill health of the intended soloist (this was whilst another organist took over for that section), and to battle with the slightly ill, though tremendous, organ in St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, NYC. However, the most memorable occasion came after having performed at an awards ceremony on Ellis Island. We went over to Liberty Island for an excursion, but then needed to return to Ellis Island to pick up our coach and drive to the airport. We missed the last boat back to Ellis Island, which would have been OK had we not had our coach driver with us! With boats only going to the mainland, we persuaded the officials through a mixture of humour and singing that they would like to help us out. They did: we had a boat chartered just for us, and I will never forget the moment we left the pier singing God bless America. Brilliant!

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

I try always to have something new on the boil, especially with so many voluntaries to play. At the moment I am looking at the Liszt Ad nos fantasia. I love to play ‘orchestral’ organ music, and this piece has recently captured my imagination.

What was the last CD you bought?

In truth, I think it was either Hits of the 90s, or an Ace of Bass album for the car. Though in more serious territory, the last one was probably a newish recording of Verdi’s Requiem with Jonas Kaufmann as the tenor. He really is astounding.

What was the last recording you were working on?

The last recording I took part in was a disc of Christmas music from Guildford, called All Bells in Paradise, with the men and boys: we recorded it in early 2013, for release later that year (reviewed in CM 2/14). It was enormous fun, not least because of the number of ‘non-standard’ items we did.)

What is your

a) favourite organ to play?

Hard to say – they’re all so different!

b) favourite building?

Ecclesiastically, I love the London Oratory. However, Guildford Cathedral is rather good too...

c) favourite anthem?

I find favourites quite difficult. I do, however, always enjoy when we get to perform Byrd O Lord, save thy servant Elizabeth.

d) favourite set of canticles?

I do love accompanying Howells’ settings, particularly the St John’s Service (though I would say that!). Otherwise it might be a toss-up between Gray in F minor or Gibbons Second Service

e) favourite psalm and accompanying chants?

Psalm 55 has always spoken to me. There is a particularly good ‘Edwards’ chant in F sharp minor which we used to use at Manchester. I do love accompanying the psalms, both Anglican chant and plainsong.

f) favourite organ piece?

That Healey Willan Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in E flat minor is always quite satisfying to play, though a little long for a voluntary!

g) favourite composer?

I don’t really have just one. I mean, Victoria, Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Mahler... I could go on!

Which pieces are you including in your next organ recital? Do you have time to give many recitals?

My next recital is at Guildford, and is to be both music and readings for Passiontide. There will be some chorale preludes and likely Dupré’s wonderful Crucifixion from the SymphoniePassion. Finding time to give recitals is tricky, and I don’t really seek them out. I am much more a liturgical organist than recitalist.

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

There have been many great moments for me – I really have been quite lucky. I will always remember the Advent carol services at St John’s, not least because they were my first broadcast services, but also because of the wonderful atmosphere in the packed-to-bursting chapel.

How do you cope with nerves?

For me, it is a combination of preparation, mental confidence, focus, and experience. Someone once told me it might be useful to try to achieve some adrenaline during practice, and that was extremely helpful. Just thinking about the impending microphones, or whatever it might be, will usually do the trick...

What are your hobbies?

Whenever we have the time, my wife Ruth and I love to go walking in the Lake District. It’s a fair trek from Guildford, but well worth the journey. I do enjoy fine dining, although the budget won’t allow for too much of that, and cooking. Myself and a group of friends regularly have a go at a local pub quiz, sometimes even winning!

Do you still play the cello?

Sadly, the cello stays in its case for most of the time. Just occasionally it might come out, and it has become something of an annual tradition for Katherine Dienes-Williams and I to begin the Maundy Thursday Eucharist with the first Louange from Messiaen’s Quatuor pour le fin du temps

Would you recommend life as an organist?

Life as any sort of musician is incredibly hard work, yet extremely rewarding. I don’t see myself specifically as ‘an organist’: it is one of the things I do at the moment. The most important thing is to maintain a broad musicianship and artistry, and to welcome all opportunities. Music is a wonderful thing, and it’s a privilege to be a part of that life.

What are the drawbacks?

All jobs have their negative points – daily frustrations which can sometimes be disheartening. All musicians have to work odd (and long!) hours, at times when others might be at home; we have often to justify our existence as professionals; we are easily misunderstood. But I would find it hard to pick any creative field where most practitioners would not have similar issues. The important thing for me is that at 5.30pm each day, and indeed at every performance, I am able to remind myself of why we do what we do.

300 YEARS OF THE THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL Clare Stevens

Readers of CM’s long-running series featuring the hostelries frequented by cathedral musicians will not be surprised to learn that the seeds of the Three Choirs Festival were sown in the pubs of Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester, where organists and singers gathered for post-service refreshment and sing-alongs of repertoire unsuited to the choir stalls. Records for the early 18th century are scanty, but it seems that the three cathedral choirs may have united in a more formal setting for services in celebration of the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, which ended years of hostility between Britain, France and other European powers. From these liturgical collaborations grew a tradition of annual music meetings at the end of August or early September, initially lasting just two or three days, and featuring cathedral services in the morning and performances of secular music in other city venues in the evening.

Thomas Bisse, Chancellor of Hereford Cathedral, preached a sermon published under the title of ‘A Rationale on Cathedral Worship or Choir Service’ at the ‘Anniversary Meeting of the Choirs of Worcester, Gloster and Hereford, Sept. 7, 1720’; and it was Bisse who suggested a few years later that the music meetings would be enhanced by charity collections for the assistance of clergy widows and orphans, along the lines of the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy held at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Once established, the music meetings took place uninterrupted until 1914, when the festival that had been planned for September had to be abandoned due to the outbreak of the First World War. It was not until 1920 that festivals were able to resume, thanks largely to the efforts of Ivor Atkins, Organist of Worcester Cathedral, who personally wrote 1000 letters requesting donations to guarantee financial security. He also decided to renumber the meetings, which had previously been counted from the first charitable festival, by going back to the musical origins and counting from 1715. World War II brought another six-year hiatus, with the 1939 festival again having to be abandoned at the very last minute, when tickets

and programme books had already been printed. The Three Choirs Festival Association office has recently received a copy of the programme book given by Percy Hull, Organist of Hereford Cathedral, to the Hereford Chorus Superintendent of the time, Percy Arrowsmith; it is poignantly inscribed: ‘With gratitude for much trial and hard labour, 1939. Alas!’

This complicated history means that in 2015 we will be celebrating our 300th anniversary at the 288th meeting of the Three Choirs Festival. As for the name, the event was first designated as a ‘festival’ in the programme book for 1838, the year following Queen Victoria’s accession.

An advertisement in the Worcester Postman for the 1721 meeting in Gloucester states that ‘Mr Purcel’s and Dr Croft’s Te Deums will be performed, to which all Subscribers and other Lovers of Musick are hereby invited’. Thereafter, very few records of what was sung have survived until 1752, when ‘Purcel’s Te Deum and Jubilate, an anthem by Dr Boyce, and Mr Handel’s celebrated Coronation Anthem’ are advertised for the first cathedral service, followed by ‘at the Town-Hall in the Evening, a concert of Vocal and Instrumental Musick’. The next day Handel’s Te Deum and Jubilate, ‘a New Anthem by Dr Boyce, and the same Coronation Anthem’ were performed in the cathedral service,

Geraint Bowen of Hereford

Adrian Partington of Gloucester

Peter Nardone of Worcester

Photo: Ash Mills

Clare Stevens

Photo: Dominic Jewel

and ‘The Oratorio of Samson’ in the evening. Handel’s Messiah was given its first cathedral performance in Hereford in 1759, the year of its composer’s death, and remained at the core of Three Choirs programming for almost 200 years, sung in whole or in part at almost every subsequent meeting until 1954.

For the first century and more of their existence, the charitable purposes of the meetings took precedence over the music: programming was repetitive and conservative in order to appeal to a wide audience and ensure that large sums were raised. The social calendar became increasingly important, with balls, dinners, ‘public breakfasts’ and race meetings taking place alongside the concerts and cathedral services.

Significant steps towards the development of the modern festival included S S Wesley’s decision during his brief tenure of the organ loft at Hereford to move cathedral performances into the nave, rather than the quire, for the 1834 meeting. Wesley was the first of the Three Choirs cathedral organists to have had experience of professional music-making in London, and his influence was felt again when he took the helm at Gloucester in 1865, introducing the first Three Choirs performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in 1871. The

music of Mendelssohn made its first appearance with Hymn of Praise in 1841 and Elijah six years later, and this era also saw performances of Mozart’s Requiem and works by Spohr, Rossini and Beethoven. Brahms’s German Requiem joined the repertoire in 1877, just four years after its first London performance, and this was followed over the next 20 years by several works by Gounod, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and Requiem and Verdi’s Requiem

From the beginning the secular concerts had featured instrumentalists and vocal soloists from London or Oxford as well as local musicians, and with the expansion of the cathedral repertoire into oratorio it became necessary to augment the treble line of the choir to achieve the correct balance. At this stage, no suitably qualified sopranos existed in the Three Choirs cities, so in 1772 ‘Miss Radcliffe and others of the celebrated female chorus singers’ from the north of England, where choral singing had already taken root among the industrial communities, were engaged to assist the boy choristers. Not until the middle of the 19th century were choral societies established in Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester, and it took until 1892 in Gloucester, 1897 in Hereford and 1902 in Worcester for the entire Three Choirs Festival Chorus to be recruited locally.

in the shadow of Worcester Cathedral, and resident in the Three Choirs counties for most of his life, he made his festival debut as a violinist in the orchestra, and first featured as a composer in 1890 when his overture Froissart was performed in the Shire Hall, Worcester. As a Roman Catholic who lacked both formal musical education and financial security, Elgar was initially something of an outsider, but at the beginning of the century his music was championed by the trio of relatively young organists of the three cathedrals: George Robertson Sinclair (Hereford), Herbert Brewer (Gloucester) and Ivor Atkins (Worcester). His relationship with the festival was not always easy – premieres of his greatest oratorios went to promoters who could afford to pay more for them, and the text of The Dream of Gerontius had to be altered to remove some of its Roman Catholic references before its first Three Choirs performance. But − in the words of the late Michael Kennedy by 1924, when he was appointed Master of the King’s Musick, Elgar was ‘the uncrowned monarch’ of the Three Choirs Festival.

composers of every era, from Thomas Tallis to Bob Chilcott, who will be writing a new Three Choirs Festival evening service to be performed by the Three Cathedral Choirs.

Association with Elgar and with the likes of Parry, Vaughan Williams, Finzi and Howells, all of whom had strong roots in and around the Three Choirs counties, has given the festival its quintessentially English reputation, and this will certainly be reflected in this year’s celebratory programme: Gerontius features on the opening night, and the First World War commemorations begun in Worcester last year continue with a rare performance of Morning Heroes by Arthur Bliss, a moving setting of an eclectic collection of texts by writers including Homer, Wilfred Owen and Walt Whitman, written in memory of the composer’s brother who was killed in the trenches in 1916. Recitals and cathedral services include works by English

However, the 2015 festival will also have a strong international flavour. Artistic Director Geraint Bowen, who has been Organist and Director of Music at Hereford Cathedral since 2001, has chosen works by Wagner (the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde), Sibelius (Symphony No 5), Beethoven (Missa Solemnis), Bach (St Matthew Passion, sung by the three cathedral choirs in the festival’s first ever collaboration with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment), Nielsen (Hymnus Amoris) and Verdi (Requiem) for the main evening cathedral concerts, together with the first ever performance at Three Choirs of Messiaen’s mammoth Turangalîla-symphonie and the revival of a festival commission from 1982, Lux Aeterna by the Welsh composer William Mathias.

Presenting a work on the scale of Turangalîla is made possible by the current residency at the Three Choirs Festival of the Philharmonia Orchestra, a mutually beneficial relationship now in its fourth year. The piano soloist will be Steven Osborne, who also gives a solo recital, as do organist John Scott and singers Roderick Williams and Sarah Connolly. John Scott’s recital will include the premiere of a new work by Anthony Powers, a contribution to the international Orgelbüchlein project, which aims to fill the 118 gaps in Bach’s ‘Little Organ Book’: the titles of the proposed pieces were listed but the music was never written. Roderick Williams will premiere A swift radiant morning by Rhian Samuel, a setting of texts by C. H. Sorley, who was killed in action in 1915; and a new song cycle for Sarah Connolly, setting words by the Welsh Second World War poet Alun Lewis (1915-1944), will conclude a sequence of Three Choirs commissions by German composer Torsten Rasch. Hereford Cathedral Voluntary Choir, directed by Peter Dyke and accompanied by the cathedral’s current organ scholar William Fox, will include the winning introit from its choral composition competition in its service of Choral Evensong on 26 July.

For the musicians of the Three Choirs cathedrals the festival is an enormous undertaking, now lasting more than a week and encompassing a huge amount of repertoire in both the concerts and the daily choral liturgies. Guest conductors are engaged for some of the concerts – this year Sir Andrew Davis will conduct Morning Heroes and Jac van Steen Turangalîla – but the burden of rehearsal and performance falls upon the local directors of music, assistant organists, and singers, particularly

The seeds of the Three Choirs Festival were sown in the pubs of Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester, where organists and singers gathered for postservice refreshment and singalongs of repertoire unsuited to the choir stalls.

the ‘home team’ of the host cathedral. A significant change in recent years has been the advent of girl choristers in Worcester, where they provide an alternative top line, and Gloucester, where they sing as part of the cathedral’s youth choir. The festival has also established its own youth choir, which this year will be performing Bernstein’s Chilcott’s Requiem, conducted by Peter Nardone, Director of Music at Worcester.

There is a community chorus project too Wave − which will premiere a short cantata by Pete Churchill as part of its concert on the final evening of the festival; and a packed ‘fringe’ programme of talks, workshops, exhibitions, dance and performances by young musicians which runs alongside the main festival under the banner of Three Choirs Plus. As Geraint Bowen says, “There are unlikely to be many minutes in the day when visitors are going to have time on their hands.” Little did Thomas Bisse know how much would grow from that ‘fortuitous and friendly proposal, between a few Lovers of harmony and brethren of the correspondent Choirs, to commence an anniversary visit, to be kept in turn’, which he endorsed so warmly nearly 300 years ago.

Hereford Three Choirs Festival 2015 takes place 25 July to 1 August. General booking opens on 13 April. Ticket Office 0845 652 1823 www.3choirs.org

Clare Stevens is Media and Marketing Manager for the Three Choirs Festival Association.

Three Cathedral Choirs Evensong conducted by Adrian Partington

Photo: Ash Mills

‘HOW SHALL WE SING

Photo: Peter Langdown

THE LORD’S SONG IN A STRANGE LAND . . . ?’ David Price writes on music at Portsmouth Cathedral in 2015

cathedral music is – strange in the sense of being unusual, odd and unfamiliar to most people going about their daily lives in this country (and abroad) – even to those who worship in a church or cathedral week by week. You, of course, as members of FCM, do not find it strange, and through your support of cathedral choirs you know a great deal about how these choirs are constituted and a good deal of how they function. But despite the numerous television programmes about singing, choirs and musicians, and with the many and varied singing outreach schemes in local schools, even now few people really know what cathedral music is all about and how it works.

Think for a moment: very, very few people now experience live music. Yes, many people have a huge collection of CDs and lots of tracks on iPods and on iTunes, and many even dip into YouTube frequently or infrequently. But attendance at live music events is probably more rare now than ever before – even as a listener, let alone as a performer. One of the only regular live outside broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 these days is

Choral Evensong

And of course the situation is even more extreme in many parts of Europe, where the participation of young people in cathedral choirs has all but disappeared save for a handful of places.

Some of the Portsmouth choir sang at a concert in the French Alps last year, and went on to sing Langlais’s Messe Solennelle in Chambery Cathedral. Consider this – firstly the resident organist had never heard the piece before! and secondly, the boys’ choir there had ceased to function around 1968 and nothing had replaced it. Before we sang the mass, the

organist remarked to the boys that the building – a stunning Romanesque cathedral – had not been filled with the sound of those top Cs at the end of the Sanctus for 50 years! I only have to step into a continental cathedral to remind myself of how easily all that we do in the UK could be lost in a couple of generations.

We are lucky in this country. The good old Church of England has nurtured cathedral music for 500 years. We don’t say thank you for the Church of England often enough – and for numerous good, holy and generous bishops, deans and canons who have and continue to support cathedrals and their musicians. My much missed and fondly remembered fatherin-law was Bishop of Portsmouth for 15 years. He was one of the brightest theologians of his generation, the only bishop on the bench with two doctorates in theology. Music sustained him. He revelled in the music of the Church and always concerned himself with the choice of hymns tunes, settings of the mass for the choir and even the organ voluntaries for diocesan services.

Much has happened in the development and consolidation of music at Portsmouth Cathedral since my article on the choral scholarship scheme in CM 2/07. Tours, recordings, broadcasts and concerts, of course, but what is much more important is that we now sing evensong every day of the week. In addition to our cathedral choir of 24 boys and 12 men we now have a youth choir (20 girls and 10 young men) and a consort (mixed), as well as visiting choirs who cover many Wednesdays. This is the wellspring from which other creativity, cultural endeavour and musical outreach can and does pour.

For most of my time in Portsmouth, we have had to get used to doing things on a shoestring. The men of the choir took a pay cut in 2009 in order to make sure we didn’t stop singing mid-week evensongs – and we tuned the organ less often, did not purchase any new music for two years etc, etc… But then, in 2012, a generous member of the congregation, William Groves, left the cathedral £4,000,000! William was a fierce supporter of the music here, and so the Chapter quickly agreed to set aside a third of income from his legacy towards music. We have therefore been able to address choir pay, weekly singing lessons for all the choristers, a bigger music budget and a myriad of small projects – like the creation of a regular orchestra to play for cathedral services. It has also enabled us to plan regular commissions ourselves. Our first work was a set of evening canticles, The Portsmouth Service from Jonathan Dove – a superb addition to the cathedral repertoire. This year we look forward to Will Todd’s new Portsmouth Jazz Mass and an Epiphany carol from Philip Stopford.

I believe that the relatively recent tradition of touring our cathedral choirs abroad is an important piece of work – both for the choir itself in terms of development and camaraderie but also in fellowship with European churches. The Portsmouth boys and men travelled to the wonderful city of Berlin in 2013. We spent six days enjoying the sights and sounds of Berlin and sang in some beautiful churches. It was an incredible honour to sing for their Sunday Eucharist the words of the Agnus Dei in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church that had seen the

Portsmouth Cathedral at Christmas

Photo: Peter Langdown

Portsmouth Choir singing at St Paul’s Church in Antwerp

Photo: Dirk Smits

Portsmouth Choir on tour in Belgium

Photo: Dirk Smits

ravages of war in such extreme circumstances in both the Second World War and also in the Cold War.

and music folders from RSCM.com have just been purchased! We returned in time for Christmas to Portsmouth where, alongside the usual carol services and concerts, we sang BBC Radio 4’s Christmas Day service.

Being Organist of Portsmouth Cathedral means that I am often part of the planning process for special Remembrance events. This year alone we are involved in a memorial service for the boy sailors (ie those under the age of 16) who were lost in WWII; a service for the 30th anniversary of the Falklands conflict; our annual service for the DDay Fellowship in June; a Remembrance service for those lost in the sinking of HMS Glamorgan; a reunion of members serving on HMS Worcester; the annual Remembrance service for the Royal Marines Band Service and then the Remembrance weekend itself in November.

The cathedral choir toured Belgium in December 2014, singing at St Paul’s in Antwerp, and in Ypres for the Menin Gate Last Post ceremony – a truly memorable occasion made all the more poignant as at the time we were recalling the cataclysmic events of WWI at its 100th anniversary. And then we sang the Sunday services at the stunning Antwerp Cathedral – where a monthly choral Evensong is about to be instituted. Robes from Watts & Co, choir stalls from Salisbury

In 2014 we found ourselves marking the 70th anniversary of DDay (staying in Portsmouth this time) for a Drumhead Service on Southsea Common in front of the Princess Royal along with 20,000 troops and members of the public, culminating in a display by the Red Arrows. The next day we broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Choral Evensong and on the Sunday for Morning Worship. These services and events always take the form of prayers for those lost in battle, for their families left behind and for peace in the world. They are a powerful ministry for the Church and, in using music so extensively, in particular for Portsmouth Cathedral.

I believe that the relatively recent tradition of touring our cathedral choirs abroad is an important piece of work – both for the choir itself in terms of development and camaraderie but also in fellowship with European churches.

The West Organ, Portsmouth Cathedral

Photo: Peter Langdown

The Choral Scholarship Scheme at Portsmouth

The Portsmouth Cathedral gap year scheme has now been running for almost 25 years. During that time, nearly 90 scholars have been part of the choir for their gap year, and we are indebted to Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS) for its wholehearted investment as full partners in this project. Not only does it assist in sustaining the choral tradition at Portsmouth for the here and now, it also makes an immense contribution to the future careers of many young musicians. We are proud to see a number of our former scholars singing in choirs such as those at Winchester Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, The Monteverdi Choir and Polyphony.

The September 2015 intake will be a bumper one of seven choral scholars. It has been good to note a steady increase in those coming forward for audition – indeed, this year we have had three applicants for every place available. And we have had some excellent feedback. One 2014 choral scholar, Alex Hume, writes about his experience halfway through his year with us:

‘Portsmouth Cathedral has treated us exceptionally well. The pace at which new music for each service is learnt, rehearsed and perfected is quite astonishing, and for us this was both challenging and extremely rewarding. As a bunch of young singers aspiring to greater musical ventures, our first few months at the cathedral were extremely useful in a number of ways: primarily, our voices now already have increased stamina due to having to sing at least six services a week; secondly, our knowledge of choral repertoire has greatly widened in a short period of time, and finally, our experience of singing in the back row of a cathedral choir alongside esteemed

professionals has given us an invaluable insight into what the life of a professional musician might be.’

Another, Christopher Head (now studying at the Guildhall in London), wrote:

‘As this was my first experience of cathedral life, it took me a while to get used to things: how to process, learning the Creed off by heart, and even the general structure of a standard service. However, once I got into the routine I had an amazing year. The opportunities came thick and fast, and the friends I’ve made and the experiences I’ve had are unforgettable. Who would have thought that joining in with ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine’ on a Sunday morning as a child at my family church in Dorset would have led to my singing Schubert’s Mass in G on a Sunday morning in Portsmouth Cathedral?’

One of our first scholars, Adrian Green, has set up the very successful Convivium Records company. He says:

“Being a choral scholar and then a lay clerk at the cathedral presented me with many different opportunities to develop as a professional musician. Alongside the financial stability of singing in the choir and choral outreach work, I was strongly encouraged to pursue my own musical aspirations, one of which included recording. The first commercial recording under the Convivium Records label is a collaboration between the three choirs at that time singing in the cathedral. It is one of many recordings we have since produced in Portsmouth Cathedral, with various well-known musicians.

In seven years, Convivium Records has developed from an idea into a commercial label with worldwide distribution. Our openness and willingness to explore and help artists to share their own ideas is, no doubt, influenced by the support and encouragement I received myself.”

Portsmouth Choral Scholars

Photo: Peter Langdown

I’d like return to some words of Bishop Kenneth in his Chichester sermon to conclude…

‘Like music, Christianity is more than a mental activity, rightly engaging the intellect. Nor is it a purely historical exercise, which you can dabble in by reading about. It is profoundly geographical, because it lives and grows here and now in geographical space: a space where we often appear an unpleasant community, wrapped up in ourselves, insufficiently penitent about our glaring weaknesses. More time and energy could be spent on celebrating God, showing that He really is believable, and in a public space, which the speech of Christianity – though thankfully not the music –seems to have passed by, and from which many a secularist would like to banish us altogether. Anglicanism is no mere heritage industry. It is a bold, precious and vulnerable running experiment in the difficult but divinely driven task of holding together Scripture, Tradition, and Reason – a real gift, like music itself, of the breath of God.’

And so, I would pray and hope that we continue to breathe the breath of God through music and musicians for the coming generations as we continue to ‘sing the Lord’s song in a strange land…’

David Price was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Portsmouth Cathedral in 1996. Before this, he was Assistant Organist of Ely Cathedral, having previously held the organ scholarship at Rochester Cathedral.

Oxford Hymn Settings for Organists

Edited by Rebecca Groom te Velde and David Blackwell

� New accessible settings for organ of all the major hymn tunes for the season

� Fresh, imaginative pieces, written by a range of experienced organ composers based in the US and the UK, and displaying a great variety of styles and approaches

� Practical, concise settings for all parts of the church service—preludes, postludes, fanfares, communion settings

� Suitable for busy church musicians at intermediate level working in all major denominations

� Registration suggestions that can readily be adapted to suit most instruments with pedals

STEPHEN CLEOBURY ORGAN

LISZT REUBKE MENDELSSOHN ORGAN WORKS

The first ever surround sound recordings of the great Harrison & Harrison organ in the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge Performed by Stephen Cleobury

1SACD KGS0010

Available in May 2015 from all good music stores

Liszt Fantastie und Fuge über den choral “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam” Reubke Organ Sonata on the 94th Psalm Mendelssohn Organ Sonata No 6

Having been chosen as the next head (boy) chorister just before the summer break last year, I began to look forward to new experiences, and to all the new pieces we would be singing. At our next afternoon rehearsal Mr Owens walked into the practice room with some exciting news: we had just been invited to sing with one of the most prestigious orchestras in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, at the BBC Proms in London. The conductor was to be the famous Sir

Simon Rattle, and we would be singing in Bach’s St

, alongside the

and the

All the

cheered with pleasure and excitement. We couldn’t wait to tell our families!

When we went to London, we stayed in a hotel called the Lancaster Gate, and spent a day rehearsing at the Royal College of Music where I met Sir Simon Rattle for first time. He was so kind and encouraging, and easily made us feel confident to perform with his conducting.

On one evening we had a lovely supper together at the Rainforest Café. We also had the opportunity to go on the

Matthew Passion

choristers of Winchester Cathedral

Berlin Radio Choir.

choristers

Greg Wills

Photo: Jacinth Latta

Wells boy and girl choristers on the London Eye, escorted by Matthew Owens

London Eye, experience our first 4D cinema, and visit the Science Museum, which everyone enjoyed.

On the day of the performance our rehearsal was in the Royal Albert Hall. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the hall was the giant organ: it was as tall as a house! Then I looked up at the ceiling, with its floating ‘balloons’, perfectly made to balance the acoustic. The whole room was red and gold, and we were amazed by the number of seats and boxes which filled the space. I was so excited, but nervous at having to perform in front of such a large audience.

We walked onto the stage with bright lights shining on our faces and thousands of people watching us. The first person I

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY... A change of scene for the Wells choristers

noticed in the whole sea of people was my dad! He gave me a massive smile and I knew it would all be fine.

The music was beautiful and I felt like I was part of something incredible. I loved every moment of the performance and, before we knew it, it was time to leave.

I am very grateful for having been given this wonderful opportunity at only thirteen years old. I have memories, as a chorister, that I’ll never forget, and I’ve met people who have inspired me to become the best musician I can be. I’m looking forward to more adventures to come.

Gregory Wills, Head Boy Chorister

Another fantastic opportunity came our way on Monday 6th October when we were invited to perform with The Script at the Pride of Britain Awards 2014. The Script is a very popular band and quite well known with the ‘youngsters’. ( who haven’t heard of them, the band, whose debut album was released in 2008, have sold 20 million records... Ed.) When we were told about this invitation, it went down very well, especially with the girls! We had to sing one of their latest songs, quite different to what we sing on a daily basis in the cathedral!

After rehearsals with Mr Owens, we finally made our way to London by coach. We had a running commentary through London from our driver, and we soon arrived at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane where the awards were taking place. It was a really grand hotel surrounded by very expensive shops. I think I can safely say that we felt like royalty! We checked in and were led through what seemed like a maze to get to our ‘green room’. We were all eager to meet The Script but we had to wait for a while before our scheduled slot for rehearsal.

Eventually, the time came. We were escorted to a large and beautiful ballroom with a stage, and at that point we all felt like pop stars. Meeting The Script for the first time was incredible. They were so friendly! They made us feel at home, they couldn’t do enough for us, and best of all, they wanted our autographs! It was like a dream. After our crazy rehearsal, with all the TV cameras and producers, we had supper back in our room and then we had to prepare for the big performance. Everyone was running cues through their head, thinking about where to look, when to come on, and when to go off. Time dragged by, making us more nervous by the minute.

Finally we were called to the stage. We looked over the balcony and saw countless celebrities, including Sir Bruce Forsyth and Prime Minister David Cameron! That was when the nerves really kicked in. But I think I can safely say that everyone performed well (judging by the playback on TV), and I can definitely say we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was amazing to know that five million people would be watching the awards on prime-time television the next night.

Madeleine Perring, Head Girl Chorister

Maddie Perring

Wells boy choristers at the Pride of Britain Awards

Photo: Matthew Owens

Wells girl and boy choristers performing with The Script Photo: Pride of Britain Awards/Daily Mirror

Wells girl choristers at the Pride of Britain Awards

Photo: Matthew Owens

CHANGE AND DECAY . . . ?

Leonie Saint looks at the musical repertoire at Canterbury Cathedral since 1919

It is to be expected that cathedral music repertoire would change significantly over this hundred-year period but the pace of change since 1914 has been sporadic. This is due partly to interruptions caused by two world wars, and also to reductions in the frequency of some of the services which affected not only the number and the types of services, but also the settings and anthems involved. Originally the plan was study the music chosen by several cathedrals, but since this was hardly practical, the focus has been entirely on Canterbury.

Prior to 1900, the Precentor was responsible for choosing the service settings and anthems; increasingly, after this time, the cathedral organist began to be involved, leading to a time when the latter was allowed to select the music himself, subject to approval from various members of Chapter. There was not always a smooth relationship in this area, but from 1967 it was agreed that the organist should choose all the music in consultation with the assistant organists.

One of the chief factors in a study of musical progress over this period is the occurrence of different types of service. Evensong has almost always been part of the daily routine – even in wartime it was sung whenever possible, albeit often in the crypt for safety. However, the celebration of Matins has declined from being sung daily, apart from Fridays, until 1919; from that time onwards until 1963 it was only timetabled three times each week and then by boys only on Thursday mornings until the late 1960s. Since 1977 it has only been a sung service at Easter, Pentecost and Christmas.

Change in the celebration of Communion makes for the greatest interest. During the 19th century the AnteCommunion service was the norm, but was sung only for Christmas and Easter, increasing to one Sunday a month plus festivals until 1911. These services used only the Commandments and the Creed, with the remainder of the Communion service being said after the departure of those not wishing to receive Communion. Sung Communion, still in the abbreviated form, became less frequent until 1924, when a full 1662 BCP Communion service was sung on festival days and on the last Sunday of each month. Since 1977 full sung (ASB) Communion has been used every Sunday, and on festival days, and this was maintained after the introduction of

Common Worship in 2000. Clearly this reduction in services has affected the quantity and historical range of anthems and service settings.

Plainsong was added to the Evensong repertoire from the end of 1936 by the Organist, , and plainsong settings of the Communion service began in 1947.

The significant change to Communion services occurred from the 1960s, when the alternative services came into effect. The Kyrie, as in the Edward VI First Prayer Book and excluded thereafter, was reinstated as a legal option for Rites A and B, as were the Benedictus and Agnus Dei. Records show that full settings of the Communion service including both these pieces were written by Victorian church composers such as Calkin, Stainer, Garrett, Martin, Bridge, Lloyd, Harwood, Palmer and Nicholson from 1892 onwards. They were not liturgically legal compositions, but their appearance indicated

that what was excluded from Edward VI’s Second Prayer Book of 1552 and Book of Common Prayer in 1662 would, in years to come, be welcomed again. (John Stainer is recorded as saying that having composed full service settings he was sad to know he would never hear them performed in their entirety at St Paul’s Cathedral.) Some of these service parts were used as anthems in Canterbury Cathedral until legally permitted in Communion services in the 1960s, the 1928 Alternative Prayer Book having failed to be approved by the Houses of Parliament. Additional settings by Palestrina, Byrd (the 4part mass), Causton and Victoria were added at Canterbury from 1939. It is noticeable that from 1946 onwards full service settings which included the Benedictus and Agnus Dei were sung in the cathedral as part of, say, an ordination when the archbishops were present.

From the 1960s onwards Communion services by an increasing number of composers were regularly chosen, including, in time, those with original Latin text. Composers setting the full Communion liturgy in 1980 were Palestrina, Victoria, Byrd (the 3, 4 and 5-part masses), Haydn, Stanford in C and F, Vaughan Williams, Ireland, Rubbra, Walton, Berkeley, Langlais, Wicks, Hurford, Rutter and Piccolo using the original language, whether English or Latin. Settings not incorporating the full text were gradually discarded.

Anthems most regularly sung in 1914 came from a history still concerned about the Reformation and the Civil War, and were restricted technically by both the skills of the singers and, as time passed, by those of the ageing organist, Clement Charlton Palmer, especially during the First World War years when deputies had frequently to be employed. Christopher Tye and Thomas Tallis were the earliest composers listed initially, with the majority of composers being from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Once Gerald Knight was appointed Organist, in 1936, early unattributed anthems were taken from such collections as the Piae Cantiones, Trier Gesangbuch,

Geistliche Lieder and Genevan Psalter, in English translation, such as ‘Bread of the world in mercy broken’ to the tune Rendez à Dieu. These were ideal for use during the WWII years. The anthem repertoire was continually being enlarged, and included earlier music as time went on; Exsurge by Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) was first listed in 1956. From 1964 onwards more pre-16th century composers were added: Ockeghem (c1430-c1495), then Josquin (c1440-1521) both in 1966, followed by Dufay (c1400-1474); and John Dunstable (c1385-1453), with his innovative use of thirds and sixths to add variety to perfect fourths and fifths, entered the lists in 1967. The earliest, Lionel Power (c1375/80-1445), was sung in 1978, with Beata progenies and, in 1987, Ave Regina coelorum. New compositions by contemporary composers were constantly added, some by composers who were still members of the musical scene at Canterbury, such as lay clerk Anthony Piccolo, who has continued to provide anthems, service settings and responses from his USA homeland, and Gabriel Jackson, a former Canterbury chorister (b 1962). By 1988, anthem repertoire was drawn from over seven centuries of composition, plus plainsong.

repertoire. Here, the organ is used in an orchestral fashion, with different instrumental effects, while the singers are heard as individuals. The words also are notable, in that they are an example of a translation by the Tractarian John Keble of Phos Hilaron, a text by St Basil the Great (d 379) Early texts, independence between singers and accompaniment, and polyphony were to lead the music onwards to greater heights. Michael Tippett’s motet Plebs Angelica, composed during World War II, is unaccompanied eight-part polyphonic music with great rhythmical flexibility, in Latin, although the English text was provided for the congregation. It was first sung in 1944, but came into its own during the time of Allan Wicks, from 1963. This motet is an excellent example of increasing compositional attention to word-setting: it challenged the Victorian approach which concentrated on the rhythmical flow of the text at the expense of the music.

While anthems were sung in English up to 1912, from that date Tye’s Laudate nomen Domini and Novello’s In manus tuas were listed in Latin. From 1913-36 three more anthems were added to make four or five sung in Latin each year (Pearsall: In dulci jubilo, which, being macaronic, can be guaranteed to have been sung in both languages, plus Byrd: Justorum animae and Haydn: Insanae et vanae curae). There were relatively few during the war years, but from 1946 numbers increased to 100 anthems in a year sung in Latin, mainly Tudor (plus Stanford from 1946). This was despite the ruling, in 1955, that no Latin anthems should be sung without previous reference to Chapter. In 1982 Gabrieli’s Exultet jam angelica was sung to celebrate the visit of Pope John Paul II. Other languages were included year by year: Russian, to celebrate the visit of Eastern Orthodox dignitaries in 1968, and from 1978 German motets by Schütz and Bach joined the lists. In 1970 there were 59

anthems in Latin, seven in German, two in Italian and one in Spanish; French was added in 1981.

Versicles and responses, similarly, have increased in number and variety. It is likely that only ferial responses were in use until 1954, when those by Byrd, Morley, Tomkins and Smith were added. From 1956 Sarum and Canterbury Use settings were sung; these are very early in date. Sarum is pre-Reformation in style, with no known composer; Canterbury Use is later, collected by John Jebb (1775-1833). The Tallis responses were added in 1957. The Preces and Responses had, in time, been copied into Volume II of the William Boyce Collection of Cathedral Music, published in 1768; Canterbury Cathedral had been a subscriber to all three volumes. By 1983 there were 42 different settings in use.

As was common elsewhere in the early years covered by this article, in Canterbury the organist played the organ and there was no conductor for accompanied singing; the assistant organist sang as a lay clerk, except on the organist’s day off. In 1959 there was criticism from some members of Chapter at the ‘becks and nods’ of choristers, who relayed the beat across the quire. Allan Wicks was not prepared to accept this situation and there was, with reluctance from Chapter, a change in 1965. The assistant organist or organ scholar was to play the organ, and the Organist and Master of the Choristers stood in the quire and conducted; eventually everyone accepted this practice as the norm.

Two World Wars, financial difficulties and changing attitudes towards choral music have not hindered progress in Canterbury Cathedral in its continuance as a place of worship. The reintroduction of early music, the maintenance of the central heart of Anglican music and the regular commissioning of contemporary compositions has been pursued courageously. The worship in Canterbury Cathedral has been regenerated, preserved and sustained by the daily offerings of words and music to God.

Leonie Saint qualified at Trinity College of Music. She was a member of the New Philharmonia semichorus in London, and sang under the baton of Giulini, Britten, a very young Barenboim and many other international conductors. She spent 35 years combining music with special education, visual impairment in particular. She performed as a solo singer in the UK and France and was a member of the Corydon Singers under Matthew Best; Canterbury Singers (Timothy Noon); and two chamber choirs under the late David Leeke. She became a church organist and choir director, and completed a Masters’ Degree in Singing and a PhD in Music at Canterbury Christ Church university. Now in semi-retirement she plays the organ regularly in four different churches near Canterbury and, as required, in another six churches; she teaches privately, gives presentations about cathedral music, and continues to sing.

RSCM Pipeline Organ Scholarships

Do you know a young keyboard player who would like to learn to play the organ to accompany worship?

Pipeline Organ Scholarships train and support teenage pianists in learning the organ, nurturing the next generation of church organists.

The Royal School of Church Music supplies tuition and a proportion of the costs, and collaborates with the church and family on the scholar’s all-round development.

Contact us for more information, or visit www.rscm.com/pipeline 01722 424844 education@rscm.com

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL CHOIR

SINGING THE FINEST MUSIC OF THE LAST MILLENNIUM ON A DAILY BASIS

Recruiting boys aged 6 & 7 to sing in this world-renowned Roman Catholic choir

To make an appointment with Martin Baker please call: 020 7798 9081 or email: lauger@choirschool.com

The Choral Pilgrimage 2015

Journey back to 16th-century Seville with an evening of music by two masters of the Spanish Renaissance • Francisco Guerrero • Alonso Lobo. For a full list of tour dates and venues visit www.thesixteen.com

PROFILE SIMON HOGAN

Education details:

St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, Bristol, 2000-2007

Royal College of Music, 2008-2012

Career details to date:

Organ Student, St Mary Redcliffe, 2004-2007; Organ Scholar, Bristol Cathedral, 2006-2007; Organ Scholar, Salisbury Cathedral, 2007-2008; Organist of the Abbey Choir, Ealing Abbey, 2008-2011; Organ Scholar, St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, 2008-2009; Organ Scholar, King’s College, London, 2009-2011; Organ Scholar, St Paul’s Cathedral, 2011-2012; Assistant Director of Music, Southwell Minster, 2012-present

Were you a chorister, and if so, where?

When I was eight I became a chorister at St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, under the inspiring leadership of Anthony Pinel. I loved being a chorister, not only because I loved learning the repertoire and being stretched as a musician, but also the opportunities which came with it, from touring the USA, broadcasting and recording, to making lasting friendships.

What or who made you take up the organ?

Before becoming a chorister I used to watch my dad play at his church week by week, so I was always intrigued by the instrument. As a chorister I was more interested in the noises coming from the organ than anything I was supposed to be doing, so – having reached grade 5 piano – I was allowed to begin lessons, and I’ve never looked back!

What was most valuable about your year at Salisbury Cathedral?

My gap year at Salisbury was valuable for a number of reasons, but the most significant was that it was the first time I had worked with children, having managed to remain hidden in the organ loft until this point. Both members of staff (David Halls and Daniel Cook) had a very natural way with training the choristers, keeping the atmosphere very relaxed but professional, and I learnt a great deal from this.

Would you recommend attending music college as part of a cathedral musician’s training?

Hard to say. I feel that focused study on the organ repertory has helped a huge amount when it comes to voluntaries, and technique in playing harder accompaniments, but it is important to accompany the music college route with a job involving regular liturgical work. I found that what I learnt in Room 90 (the organ room at the RCM – sadly now renamed!) with David Graham I was able to apply in my various posts which ran alongside.

Two of your teachers have been Sophie-Véronique CaucheferChoplin and Robert Quinney. Have you found their techniques and approach significantly different?

Absolutely. Sophie was able to pass on a lot of wisdom and technique from the French organ tradition, making me consider how the French would perform their compositions on those particular organs. She also taught me some great tricks for planning a successful and structured improvisation.

Photo: Chris Knapton

Robert was particularly good at making me think for myself, whilst informing me of a great many options which all work well. I would often leave a lesson with renewed energy, wanting to try out the possibilities and form an interpretation.

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

I’ve just put down the whole of Eben’s Sunday Music (Musica Dominicalis) for a recital in the summer. I play the famous movement (Moto ostinato) and have often glanced through the rest of the copy and been interested by the three other movements, so decided to put it down in its entirety.

Have you been listening to recordings of them and if so is it just one interpretation or many and which players? Not yet. I normally like to get the notes learnt and form some of my own opinions before seeing what others do.

What led you to start your own chamber choir, The Hogan Ensemble?

When I was eighteen I was asked by my godparents to put a group together for a one-off charity concert in their local church. About twelve of us came up with a nice programme of mostly unaccompanied classics, and following a very successful and fun day, we decided to make it more permanent. One of the members suggested its current name as a joke and, with the lack of any better ideas, it seems to have stuck!

How often does the choir perform, and does the membership change frequently?

In its early days we would meet about five times a year, sometimes for a couple of days’ worth of services/concerts, and sometimes just for a single concert. Nowadays it’s slightly less than that due to the increasing busyness of all its members. The pool of singers on the books now numbers about fifty, from which about twenty are normally available per event.

What was the last CD you bought?

Byrd’s Three Masses from Westminster Cathedral – well-known repertoire, but it seems to have a new lease of life when in the hands of Westminster Cathedral!

What was the last recording you were working on?

I’ve just finished recording a disc in Southwell for Priory, which will be my first solo disc. It’s an eclectic mix of music, from former Southwellians Robert Ashfield and G. T. Francis, via Eric Thiman and Arthur Wills to a new piece composed for me by Robert Busiakiewicz, and a set of four pieces by Neil Cox.

What is your

a) favourite organ to play?

St Paul’s Cathedral

b) favourite building?

Salisbury Cathedral

c) favourite anthem

Depends on my mood, but Parry Lord, let me know mine end never fails to work its magic

d) favourite set of canticles

Again, this varies from day to day, but probably Howells St Paul’s Service

e) favourite psalm and accompanying chants?

Psalm 91 to the E major chant by Alcock

f) favourite organ piece

J S Bach Fantasia & Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 g) favourite composer Duruflé

Which pieces are you including in your next organ recital?

I’m heading back to Bristol shortly to give a recital at the cathedral, and I’ll be playing the Reubke Sonata on the 94th Psalm, along with some other suitably Lenten music.

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

I feel very proud to have been involved with the Diamond Jubilee Service at St Paul’s, even if only playing before the service. Big services at St Paul’s were always very exciting, and yet everyone there remained incredibly calm in the run-up to them!

How did you get involved with JAM, the John Armitage Memorial fund? What does working with them involve?

I depped occasionally for Daniel Cook when he was their chief organist, and after he decided to stop, they asked me if I would take over. JAM is an innovative organisation which commissions leading composers to write large-scale works for organ, brass and choir (occasionally with other instruments), and performs them in a series of concerts throughout the year. My involvement is merely to learn the notes (!) and turn up on the day for an afternoon rehearsal and evening concert. In addition to its London venues (St Bride’s etc), it also travels to small (often remote!) towns where it provides quite an event for the local community.

How do you cope with nerves?

Not sure I have a strategy as such, and, in any case, nerves aren’t always a bad thing as they help to focus the mind. I find the desire to deliver the music to the audience often distracts me from potential nerves, as the focus then stops being on me – the performer – and more on the composer.

What are your hobbies?

I suppose certain aspects of my job are my main hobbies, and I’m very lucky to get paid for them! Aside from that, I like going on country walks, visiting new places, and always enjoy relaxing with a pint in one of Southwell’s wonderful pubs.

Do you play any other instruments?

I tried out the bassoon when I was younger, and had some lessons on the viola when I was a bit older, but they were never meant to be. I do enjoy singing from time to time...

Would you recommend life as an organist?

Yes. We’re very lucky that we can work doing things we enjoy (even if there are drawbacks – see below!), and work in an environment which is never static. It’s also a privilege to be a part of training the next generation of musicians.

What are the drawbacks?

In addition to the solitary practice and anti-social hours, I find being a musician is a never-ending job – it’s very hard to switch off at the end of the day and be ‘off duty’. It takes a good couple of days’ worth of holiday before I can truly relax and stop thinking of work matters, by which time half term’s over, and it’s time to go back to work!

NEITHER SHY NOR RETIRING

SIXT Y YEARS OF EDINGTON

Peter McGeary

Ten years ago the Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy celebrated 50 years of its existence, and the then Festival Director, Julian Thomas, wrote a splendid article for this journal to mark the occasion. An already busy schedule was further complicated by the presence of a BBC film crew, which was making a documentary of the festival as one of series of programmes about the contemporary Church of England. Worries that it might be yet another chance for the media to poke fun at the Church were quickly set aside – the resulting programme seemed to catch the flavour of the festival

Part of this flavour is the distinctive chemistry between music and worship that exists at Edington. (Although for the sake of convenience the week’s events are generally called the ‘Edington Music Festival’, they are very definitely a celebration of music within the liturgy, the liturgical context being vital.) Each year, a theme, selected well in advance, is discussed in great detail by the director, the clergy involved (who generally have considerable musical ability), and organists of liturgical intelligence. Yes, the Edington Festival is a time when one can do that 20-minute-long votive antiphon as the anthem at Evensong and nobody will mind, but the music must also be liturgically appropriate to the day or the theme.

A typical festival day begins at 9 am with the short Office of Matins, sung to plainchant in Latin and English by the Schola Cantorum (twelve men, currently under the direction of Peter Stevens). As the office ends, so the other choirs assemble for rehearsal. The Nave Choir, consisting of boys and men from various cathedral and collegiate foundations, rehearses in church under Matthew Martin’s direction. Up the hill in the village hall, Jeremy Summerly directs the Consort, a mixed-voice group of present and former choral scholars. Meanwhile, visiting clergy and local young people are put through their paces in the sanctuary to ensure that the ceremonial side goes smoothly.

At 11.30 am there is a solemn celebration of the Eucharist, and Solemn Evensong at 8 pm. All three choirs participate in these services in their different ways: the Consort specialises in a cappella works, especially those from the Renaissance and the 20th century; the Nave Choir sings a wide range of cathedral repertoire, and the Schola offers chants, office hymns and antiphons (and also a setting of the Ordinary of the Mass).

Slight variations occur: Evensong on Wednesdays is much earlier, in order to be broadcast live on Radio 3. On Fridays

A very important part of the festival’s work is its legacy, not just in inspiring men and women to sing, but also in encouraging new music in the Church.

Edington Church

Photo: Peter Roberts

the Eucharist is transferred to the evening, and BCP Matins is sung at 11.30 am, thus allowing performance of music that can all too rarely see the light of day. The Friday Eucharist is often a requiem, further broadening the repertoire performed. On Thursday evenings there is a musical sequence of readings and music that attempts to crystallise the theme of the festival week.

At 9.30 pm the day ends as it has begun, with plainchant, as the Schola leads the Office of Compline in a dark but candlelit church. In many ways, the chant is the ‘glue’ which binds the whole day together and gives it shape. It is wonderful to see how it affects not just members of the congregations, but the singers also.

All this is made possible by the generosity of so many people: the large number of local people who provide hospitality for festival participants is remarkable; the singers themselves, many of whom pursue professional careers, pay to be there; the parish priest and his congregations allow themselves to be invaded by hundreds of strangers. From this have sprung many friendships.

A very important part of the festival’s work is its legacy, not just in inspiring men and women to sing, but also in encouraging new music in the Church. Every year a composer is commissioned to write a new piece for the festival – a list of the last ten years’ worth of commissions is in the box to the right. Last year saw the commissioning of two short organ pieces to mark the inauguration of the splendid new Harrison & Harrison organ at the Priory.

Ten years ago I described the Edington Festival week to a BBC reporter as being for me like a rather noisy retreat – albeit one with very nice noises! I was not being facetious. As one of the chaplaincy team I am sure that I am not alone in having had extraordinary conversations with all sorts of people – visitors, singers, villagers – for whom the festival has an importance way beyond the aesthetically pleasing.

As I said some years ago from the pulpit of Edington Priory:

“Maybe for some of us this festival of music within the liturgy is a shot in the arm to keep us going, on an otherwise rather arid spiritual journey. Maybe the music helps, or the building, or even the preaching… We live in a world, and (God help us) a Church, where the banal and the plain stupid are given far too much air time, where philistinism is exalted as a virtue in the name of inclusiveness or comprehensibility, and where any challenge to this state of affairs is seen as elitist. I reject this dangerous nonsense; I always will, and I hope you do too.”

As the Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy reaches her pensionable age, let no one imagine that she is either shy, or retiring.

These are the Festival themes and commissions for the past ten years. Fuller details, including downloads of all previous festival booklets, are now available online at www.edingtonfestival.org

2006: The ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus

Anthony Pitts: Before Abraham was, I am

2007: The Parables of Jesus

Grayston Ives: Come, Holy Ghost

2008: The Lord’s Prayer

Nico Muhly: Pater noster

2009: The Te Deum

Francis Jackson: Most glorious Lord of Lyfe

2010: The seven last words from the Cross

Graham Ross: Ut tecum lugeam

2011: Edington Saints

John Harper: Preces and Responses

2012: For everything there is a season

Ed Rex: Beneath the Cross

2013: Appear and inspire: female saints

Neil Cox: The fruit of silence is prayer

2014: George Herbert and the seven sacraments

Alec Roth: Et organo

2014 also saw the inauguration of the new Harrison & Harrison organ at Edington Priory. Before Evensong each day there was a short organ recital to demonstrate the instrument, and the following commissions were among the pieces performed. They are intended to be part of the ‘Orgelbuchlein Project’, which aims to complete the work left unfinished by Bach:

Joseph Phibbs: Nun freut euch (sponsored by the Edington Festival Association)

Peter McGeary is the Vicar of St Mary’s Cable St in the East End of London, and a Priest Vicar at Westminster Abbey. He is one of the chaplains to the Festival, and chairman of the Festival Association.

Ben Nicholas, current festival director

Edington Priory nave

Photo: Philip Pankhurst

SING UNTO THE LORD A NEW SONG

From 9 - 17 May, around 30 London churches will take part in the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. Rebecca Lea explains.

The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music (LFCCM) began in 2002 when Christopher Batchelor, the Director of Music at St Pancras parish church, decided to mark the church’s patronal festival (12th May) with a week-long series of events celebrating new church music. The first festival consisted of seven concerts or services, all taking place in the church and mainly using the resident choir. By contrast, in 2015 there will be over 50 events across 30 churches, encompassing recitals, concerts, masterclasses, talks and an education project, as well as the main staple of choral services sung in all participating churches. The music performed will include new commissions, existing compositions and works from the highly successful ‘Call for Scores’ campaign, which has attracted record interest this year, with more than 100 scores submitted. With such an innovative and successful format, it is no surprise that patrons of the festival include James MacMillan, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and the Bishops of London and Edmonton.

Whilst the scale of the festival has grown exponentially, it is still based around core activities at St Pancras Church, where

there will be seven choral services during the week, including the BBC broadcast of Choral Evensong on Wednesday 14 May, which will feature world premières of works by Kerry Andrew, Toby Young, Paul Burke and Francis Grier. The choir of St Pancras will also be taking contemporary church music to an unusual setting, performing a promenade concert in the National Gallery on 16 May. With the gallery’s fabulous painting Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio as a starting point, the programme will intersperse movements from contemporary mass settings with Renaissance favourites. The singers will lead the audience from painting to painting, with each work providing visual context for the music, creating a unique and spiritually moving experience for the gallery public.

There are two concerts at St Pancras Church during the festival. On Saturday 9 May emerging ensemble the Epiphoni Consort perform at the opening concert, offering a programme based on the Song of Songs texts, with music by Grier, Muhly, Jackson and Skempton. The Gala Concert on 17 May is this year given by members of the internationally renowned Marian Consort, featuring a new piece, In paradisum, commissioned by them from rising composer Emily Levy for the consort, a second SATB choir and children’s chorus (in this case, the Oxford Youth Choir). This piece juxtaposes portions of the Latin requiem rite with poetry by William Wordsworth. The programme also includes the Lennox Berkeley Mass for 5 voices and music by Cecilia McDowall, Andrzej Panufnik, Matthew Martin and Gabriel Jackson.

Epiphoni Consort

Photo: Marc Gascoigne

The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music (LFCCM) began in 2002 when Christopher Batchelor, the Director of Music at St Pancras parish church, decided to mark the church’s patronal festival (12th May) with a week-long series of events celebrating new church music.

The festival organisers are particularly pleased that the Marian Consort will be performing with a youth choir, and this year also hope to engage young people in choral music with a plan to initiate a programme called ‘Sing Live’ in partnership with local primary schools. This would be a series of workshops taking choral music out into diverse school communities, introducing children to music which would be new to them and encouraging the joys of group singing.

Another new initiative for the 2015 festival is a hymnody workshop. Festival Artistic Director Christopher Bachelor has often written new hymn tunes for the festival and explains why he is keen to promote the form: “Good hymn tunes underline and strengthen text, can help unpack complicated theological concepts, and have the power to move people in a way that text alone rarely does.” To this end, the workshop will examine the art of hymn-writing and focus on how to write a successful hymn for a modern congregation. Assembled participants and the St Pancras Choir will sing and discuss classic hymn tunes and texts and try out new ones. Attendees at this event should come prepared to flex their vocal cords!

Marian Consort

One of the great successes of the festival over the years has been the number of cathedrals and churches that have taken part. In 2006 St Paul’s Cathedral made their Monday Evensong part of the festival; a year later Westminster Abbey followed, and since then Westminster and Southwark Cathedrals have both been involved, as well as many other major London churches, taking the total number up to thirty. Different churches have differing approaches to their involvement in the festival – some feature recently composed music already established in the repertoire, some use music from the ‘Call for Scores’ programme, and some now regularly commission a piece by a member of their music staff to be premiered at the service. All the churches involved benefit from extensive LFCCM advertising, including in brochures of which 7000 are distributed. Whilst the bigger establishments may not need this sort of publicity, it is of huge value to those smaller churches with ambitious music-making to be set alongside the major cathedrals of London.

Prebendary Paul Hawkins, who was vicar of St Pancras Church at the time of the first LFCCM, included the following in his 2003 Festival address: “‘Sing unto the Lord a new song,’ says the psalmist. Our hope is that the Festival of Contemporary Church Music will make a contribution to ensuring that there are new songs that can be sung…” It can safely be said that this has been borne out in full by the LFCCM, with the promise of many more exciting offerings in the future.

This year’s LFCCM runs from 9 - 17 May. Visit www. lfccm for the full programme of events, and to subscribe to the mailing list, receive the brochure or donate to help secure the future of the festival.

Gwyl Eglwys Gadeiriol Tyddewi St Davids Cathedral Festival

22 May – 31 May 2015

The King’s Singers���James Bowman���Bella Tromba

British Sinfonietta���Nicholas Cleobury and Mid Wales Opera

Lutes & Ukes���Scott Brothers Duo���David Rees-Williams Trio

Live Music Now���St Davids Cathedral Choir���Vox Angelica Festival Chorus and Orchestra���Young Musician of Dyfed

Choral Evensong broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 on Wednesday 27th May

07506 117901

stdavidsfestival@gmail.com

���www.stdavidscathedralfestival.co.uk

Brochure available 1st March. Tickets from 14th March

‘HIS LOVE OF MUSIC UPLIFTED OTHERS...’ An obituary

He was born in Tavistock, Devon, the son of Michael, who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, and Betty, a librarian. After moving to Norwich, he enrolled at the age of seven in the cathedral choir. His 1978 recording of Mendelssohn’s O showed a wonderful purity of tone and musicality in his interpretation. He could have focused on singing after leaving school (he won a choral scholarship to King’s College Cambridge) but accepted an organ scholarship to Exeter College Oxford, which allowed him also to run the

On graduation David worked at Winchester College as Assistant Organist. For four summers from 1987 he directed the Edington Festival. In 1989 he returned to Oxford as Organist of the University Church, with lecturing posts at three colleges until his 1992 appointment to King’s London. In 1996 he added the job of choirmaster at St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield to his teaching routine, switching to St

acclaimed recordings of Alonso Lobo and Sebastián de Vivanco from scores that he had edited. His love of the English Renaissance led to discs of William Byrd and John Taverner, which were praised for the passion and discipline of the choir. His approach was exemplified by the recording O Sapientia (2008), of Advent works by Renaissance and contemporary composers, on which learning, art and faith stood equal. He did not make a point of announcing his discoveries and singers might realise only at the last minute that the work they were to perform had not been sung for 500 years. His friend since student days, the conductor Paul Brough, said: “It was the fusion of his scholarship and his recordings which was so potent.”

Success attracted the best singers to the 28 available choral scholarships at King’s. The choir, mixed by gender as well as faculty, became recognised as one of the best in the country, and joined forces with the choir of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge to record liturgical music by the 20th-century Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin and 19th-century Austro-Germans from Schubert to Richard Strauss. David was fascinated by recording and became a respected producer who brought calmness and a fine ear to the studio.

he had served since boyhood and which gave his scholarship a practicality beyond performance. His music lists for services were models of coherence, planning and historical authenticity. He wrote them of necessity on a despised laptop which, with the scores he was editing, he carried in an old leather briefcase.

David loved visiting Paris, spoke fluent French and was insulted to be handed a menu in English. In London, he enjoyed entertaining friends, to whom he was known as Trixie, at the Athenaeum Club.

From 2001 he travelled annually to the US, lecturing at the William Byrd festival in Portland, Oregon, and guestconducting Chorus Angelorum in Houston, Texas. He toured with his students frequently to France and Italy, and in 2013 to Hong Kong. He was generous with praise, delighted in their triumphs, but was stern with shirkers.

The last piece of music he prepared was Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Mass for the Dead. For the performance, which came in the week following his own death, the choir was doubled by former choristers.

This obituary is reproduced courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd.

One of my first ambitions as the new rector of Saint Bartholomew the Great in September 1995 was to establish a choir that would deliver a consistently high standard of music every Sunday of the year. Father Michael Thompson gave me great assistance in those early months and it was he who suggested David Trendell as the new director of music. I sought the advice of John Scott at St Paul’s, asking whether I would be wise to advertise the appointment. He asked me if I had anyone in mind; I said, “Yes, David Trendell”. He said, “Don’t advertise. Just appoint him.” I did, and then watched him build his choir, producing a crisp, clear sound that perfectly matched the acoustic of the Priory Church, and develop a repertoire to match the liturgy. It is strange to think that in those early days we still had Matins on a number of Sundays each month, and though David was sacramental in his spirituality he also loved the great Te Deums of the English musical tradition. At the Solemn Eucharist, which gradually replaced Matins on all but a couple of Sundays in the year, David introduced me to a broad repertoire of Latin masses and we had an interesting process of matching music and liturgy. My own knowledge of the repertoire was small and so it was an educational process in which I came to appreciate not only the full breadth of Palestrina and Victoria, with Mozart or Haydn on high days, but all the music that you might find in the Spanish chapel of a Habsburg archduke. Evensong, too, was rich and varied. A series of beautiful, sombre English penitential anthems

one Lent gave me plenty of sermon material. With David’s full support I introduced the Marian anthems at the end of Evensong, and in their performance one came close to David’s own spirituality. There could hardly be anything more moving than to kneel at the altar as his choir sang the Salve Regina on a late November evening.

But it was not all glorious Sunday and festival music. David would head over from King’s to play the Bridal March from Lohengrin and the Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream for one of our curious blessings of devout Japanese couples, and produce a surprisingly good sound from the failing pipe organ. And wedding couples told me of the delight of going to King’s, climbing up to David’s room and having him illustrate possible choices of music on the piano. He charmed them and no one left disappointed. It was an essential part of planning a wedding and the wedding music was always marvellous (though I did hear Zadok the Priest more times than I ever thought possible). He worked with a variety of organists, beginning with Simon Nieminski, who deputised for Brian Brockless at the end of 1995 and took us through to David’s arrival at Epiphany 1996. The ‘dream team’ was Trendell and Brough, a fabulously vibrant exciting combination. Such was the delight of singing with David that the membership of the choir hardly changed, some coming from King’s to St Bartholomew’s in order to stay with him.

Many people would have been surprised that David and I worked so completely harmoniously together for thirteen

From the Rector at St Bartholomew the Great, Dr Martin Dudley

There could hardly be anything more moving than to kneel at the altar as his choir sang the Salve Regina on a late November evening.

David Trendell conducting at King’s College

Photo: King’s College London

years. He respected my professionalism with regard to liturgy and preaching, and I completely trusted his musical knowledge and expertise. He welcomed my occasionally esoteric requests, based on something I had heard in Venice or Vienna or Cologne. My suggestions gave rise to Cavalli’s lovely Alma redemptoris mater and a beautiful setting of The Litany of Loreto being added to our Marian repertoire, and perhaps in consequence he felt that I wouldn’t turn down the idea of singing something that he had discovered that differed somewhat from the norm, and I never did.

After twelve years it was clear that David was trying to do too much, for St Bartholomew’s has two choral services a Sunday, many weddings, livery and hospital services, and a demanding

programme at Christmas and during Holy Week. Even the summer is interrupted by the patronal festival. I was sad when he told me that he would move to St Mary’s, Bourne Street, but was glad to see him regularly at King’s and at the Atheneum, where I last saw him a week before his death.

He does not leave some great tome of musical erudition; rather, there remains for everyone who worked with him or sang with him or arranged a wedding or special service with him the memory of a man whose love of music inspired and uplifted others. That love, and all his skill, was also placed at the service of the Church and the liturgy, and countless people in numerous churches have been brought closer to God through his music.

King’s College chapel and choir

Photo: King’s College London

Martha McLorinan, Singer in the Great St Bart’s choir, writes:

I first met Trixie in the summer of 2008 when I applied for a position in the choir at St Bart’s, having just completed my undergraduate studies in Cardiff. I wasn’t really expecting to be called to audition; I had no church singing on my CV, I had never seen psalm pointing in my life and had no knowledge whatsoever of what it was or how to read it, and as I lived in a different country I was completely unknown on the church depping scene. So it came as quite a surprise to me when Trixie offered me the job! To this day, I am extremely grateful to him for taking a chance on me. It gave me the confidence to make the big move to London to pursue a career as a singer.

On joining the choir, I found myself surrounded by people who had the greatest respect for him as a musician, but who were also hugely fond of him on a personal level. He had created a familylike feel in the choir. People were inspired by his musicianship, and would frequently enjoy spending time together outside church sharing good food and wine with him. His passion for Early Music was infectious, and he was at his best and most excitable on a Sunday morning when we had near illegible hand-written copies of obscure masses by early composers I had never heard of. We would often sing things that I would have been quick to discard for being too difficult to read or full of strange ficta, but he educated me, and introduced me to some real choral gems. I am extremely lucky to have been introduced to polyphony by such a great scholar.

His death is a huge loss, and has come far too soon. He has inspired hundreds of musicians, and will be missed by them all.

17 July–1 August 2015

Beautif ul m usic i n histori c venues

Beethoven Mis sa Solem nis

Sir Willard White & Patricia Bardon

Skampa, Wihan, Doric, and Allegri String Quartets

Deutsche Philharmonie Merck Orchestra

Zenobia Scholars

For a free brochure: 01223 894161 or info@cambridgesummermusic.com www.cambridgesummermusic.com

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

www.georgesixsmithandsonltd.co.uk

enquiries@howellstrust.org.uk

Music in Portsmouth Cathedral

Portsmouth Cathedral Choir and The Portsmouth Grammar School offer unique opportunities for young counter-tenors, tenors, organ scholar for the academic year 16/17.

Opportunities exist for gap year students (pre or post University) to spend a year working with Portsmouth Cathedral Choirs , whilst working as departmental assistants at one of the country’s leading coThe Portsmouth Grammar School. The year involves daily choral worship in the Cathedral, major concerts and BBC broadcasts, choir tours (Estonia, Belgium & Italy 2014/15) and recordings. Recent Portsmouth scholars have gone on to Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, King’s College London, Canterbury and Hereford Cathedrals as well as Guildhall, Royal Scottish and Birmingham Conservatoires.

Regular vocal/organ tuition provided. Accommodation available.

Remuneration circa £8,500 per annum.

Closing date for applications - 2nd October 2015

Interviews - w/c 12th October 2015

Further Details from Dr David Price

music@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk

023 9282 3300

portsmouthcathedral.org.uk/music/ pgs.org.uk

SUPPORTING A LIVING HERITAGE

It’s a common myth that only the rich and famous leave money to charity when they die. The reality is that without gifts left in wills by people ‘like you and me’, many of the charities we know and support today wouldn’t be able to exist. Thankfully, 74% of the UK population support charities, and a good number say they’d happily leave a gift in their will once family and friends have been provided for.

The problem is that ‘the way to hell is paved with good intentions’, and most people do not leave any money to charity in their wills. Are you one of these? And if so, did you know that a reduced rate of inheritance tax (IHT), 36% instead of 40%, is applied to estates leaving 10% or more of their total to charity? This means, in essence, that on an estate worth, for example, £500,000, instead of paying IHT of £70,000, the tax would be £56,700. 10% of the estate – once the nil band of tax is removed – would be £17,500, which you could leave to the charity or charities of your choice, and the reduction in funds payable to family and friends would be only £4200.

Without a charitable bequest

If you consider that most charities would not survive without legacies, that a reduced rate of IHT will apply to your estate if you give 10% of it to charity, and that you are ensuring the vital work of your chosen charity can continue, it makes very good sense to donate 10% to charity in your will. The icing on the cake is that the taxman gets a lot less of your hard-earned cash than would be the case if you were to leave a smaller percentage.

If you have already made a will, as many if not most of us have, it’s still quite easy to change or add to it by writing a codicil. Sometimes it’s simpler to make a new will, and you’d do well to speak to a solicitor, but the benefits to whatever charity you choose to support (which clearly we hope will be FCM) will be worth the extra effort this requires.

With a 10% charitable bequest

including nil rate band

SUGGESTED WORDING FOR YOUR WILL

A Pecuniary Gift

I give the sum of £ _____________ (in figures and words) to the Friends of Cathedral Music (FCM) (registered charity No. 285121). I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer of FCM shall be a sufficient discharge to my executors.

A Residuary Gift

I give the whole (or a _____% share) of the residue of my estate to the Friends of Cathedral Music (registered charity No. 285121). I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer of FCM shall be a sufficient discharge to my executors.

Please remember Friends of Cathedral Music in your will and help us to secure our priceless heritage for future generations

Example:

BOOK REVIEWS

HEREFORD CHORAL SOCIETY – an Unfinished History

Timothy Day, published by Hereford Choral Society (Amazon £10.80pp)

Produced in 2013 to mark the 175th anniversary of the society, this book is written by Timothy Day, former organ scholar of St John’s College Cambridge and now an academic musician, who has more recently been working on a study of performing styles in English cathedrals.

It was news to me that it was not until the 1890s that the chorus at the Three Choirs Festivals was exclusively made up of local singers, previous festivals including large representations from other parts of the country – an interesting line of investigation in its own right. However, it is important to recognise at once that the HCS did much more than provide singers for the annual festival, and the book contains interesting reproductions of concert programmes, some of them with unusual lists of contents reflecting on current tastes.

It is noteworthy that in the days before broadcasting, singing in choral societies was an important social and cultural activity, even if, as now, rehearsals sometimes had to compete with sport for the time and punctuality of members, though the author tells us that in the 19th century, ‘Gentlemen did not sing’. Day provides some interesting comments from Sir Frederick Ouseley, sometime precentor of Hereford as well as founder of St Michael’s College Tenbury, on standards of behaviour in the cathedrals of those days (after the 1840 Cathedrals Act which raided their funds (ostensibly in the name of mission)).

There is an earnest, scholarly air to Day’s style of writing, and in the quoted words of Sir Roy Strong the society is fortunate to have him as its historian. The narrative is painstaking and thorough and gives an idea of musical life in the formative days of the society. Quotations from the local press are illuminating.

The ethos of the Three Choirs Festival (it is hard not to be drawn back to that) was very much based on sacred music (oratorios from The Creation to The Last Judgement) and the influence of societies like Hereford’s, had an enormous impact around the country, paving the way for flashier gigs like Edinburgh and Aldeburgh, but also establishing careers for soloists who, one feels, would have been lost without this source of work and income. There is a particularly interesting chapter on repertoire in the (early) 20th century, with comparative information on the size of choral forces.

The importance of the amateur forces of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester cannot be underestimated, both musically and in terms of contribution to local life. Most of the more recent imitators are more dependent on the choral establishments of the participating cathedrals, with consequently smaller forces but perhaps musically sharper performances.

There are some wry comments on the practicalities of it all: problems with choristers’ availability for Thursday afternoon rehearsals and the vergers’ lack of enthusiasm for Saturday night concerts, especially at a time when there might have been less tolerance for cathedrals not being fully back in order for Sunday morning.

The book is sub-titled ‘An Unfinished History’. One hopes that this is so. The good done by Hereford Choral Society, musically, socially and in the sheer giving of pleasure – to say nothing of employment – cannot be underestimated, and one wishes the Hereford Choral Society many more notable anniversaries.

Richard Osmond

CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL SCHOOL

Independent School for boys aged 3 to 13 (co-ed Nursery) 3 Brewer Street, Oxford OX1 1QW

To request a prospectus or arrange a visit to our school, please contact:

Mrs Clare James: 01865 242561 registrar@cccs.org.uk

HEREFORD CHORAL SOCIETY

An Unfinished History

MEMORIAL WINDOWS TO IVOR GURNEY

Richard Cann

(Email r.cann039@btinternet.com for copies. Price £2.50+p+p)

Ivor Gurney was a chorister of Gloucester Cathedral, a war poet, and a prolific composer. He attended the Royal College of Music (where his teacher was C V Stanford) but his studies were interrupted by the First World War. Fragile mentally, his experiences as a soldier in France coloured his poetry and eventually saw him condemned to mental institutions until his death from tuberculosis in 1937. Many of his poems and compositions were written during this time, his poems being published in several volumes, of which Severn and Somme is the most notable, though he had been writing and composing from an early age. The greater part of his compositions remains unpublished and unperformed, but he is commemorated on a slate stone in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner (along with 16 other Great War poets) and also by a memorial near Ypres.

HEAVENLY HARMONY Organs and Organists of Exeter Cathedral

Malcolm Walker and David Davies (Impress Books £25. Order through any good bookshop or centralbooks.com)

The title of this survey comes from the journal of a military visitor to Exeter Cathedral in the 1630s, and his impressions of the organ, which he evidently heard playing. The extract is one of many charming touches in a book which will be a joy to the denizens of Exeter and to the diaspora of Exonians. It is full of shafts of insight into the troubled history of Exeter, particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries. The joint authors, one a guide and academic (MW), the other the assistant director of music at the cathedral (DD), are steeped in their respective fields of knowledge, and although it is not made clear who wrote which bits, overall the style is consistent, clear and immensely readable.

One might remark that there is a somewhat homespun air about some of the sub-headings (A defective organ, a Defective organist), but these serve to tickle the imagination and add to the charm of the overall presentation. Do not be deceived by them, however; this is well-researched, serious history supplied with comprehensive notes and a serviceable index. Given its major purpose, the narrative is not always as systematically cross-referenced to the ecclesiastical and social history background as might be wished by the general reader; nevertheless, there is more than adequate coverage of the Civil War and its effects on the building and music, for example.

Inevitably, readers will have their own wants and interests; for my own part, I would have liked more on S S Wesley and his fishing, but a balance has to be struck and maintained. Interestingly, the last 100 years or so gets nearly a quarter of the narrative; it might have added to the breadth of the book to have had more of the 14th-century Bishop Grandisson and his office. Exeter’s divine, Richard Hooker, does not find an obvious place, though William of Orange gets a look-in,

Tom Denny’s largest and most spectacular work perhaps is in Durham Cathedral, though fine windows can also be seen in Tewkesbury, Malvern, Cambridge, and in various abbeys, parish churches and tiny chapels. Commissioned in 2014 to produce several windows in the north chantry chapel of the Lady Chapel in Gloucester Cathedral, he later wrote:

‘It is difficult to think of another poet or musician more fundamentally belonging to a place. Gurney’s work is brimming over with his fervent love of Gloucestershire, an intense feeling of his Gloucestershire identity, even in his poems from the trenches. It is right that he should be honoured in the cathedral.’

Richard Cann, once a chorister at Gloucester under Herbert Sumsion and now a trained guide at the cathedral, has photographed these evocative windows and produced an A5 booklet containing the images alongside the poems of Gurney’s which inspired them. Now in its fourth printing, copies can be obtained from Mr Cann (see above) and all proceeds go to Armed Forces charities.

Exeter being one of his first ports of call during his journey from landing at Torbay to his coronation in London.

The text teems with unusual snippets of information (at the beginning of the 16th century, nearly a ton of tin was purchased for the organ (built in 1513), it being calculated that some of the pipes would be almost 20 feet long). Post-war problems, such as the impact of purchase tax and the availability, or not, of materials for a blower – even if secondhand – are also a revelation.

I imagine that one of the reasons for so much emphasis on the more recent history is that many of the people involved in it are still alive or are still in the active memory. Of minor note is that one cathedral organist commented on how comfortable the 1965 console was (a view I presume to share, though Exeter is the only cathedral organ I have been privileged to try). I had not realised that the opening recital by Fernando Germani was a close-run thing (some remedial work had to be re-done after the event).

It should not be a surprise that personality clashes were as much a feature of the past as of the present (though nothing major seems to have surfaced in the last 50 years). And many well-known names from the recent past and present will be spotted in the acknowledgements section, adding to the comfortable feeling of the book.

There are some handsome illustrations (including Andrew Millington looking de-mob happy: the book’s publication coincides with the announcement of his retirement this summer); along with specifications of the more recent instruments.

I suspect this book will appeal most to those with local affiliations. More widely, it serves as an example of how cathedrals and their music have been, and still are, a vital strand in the cultural life of county towns and indeed their counties. The late Lionel Dakers used to say that a cathedral organist should be like a bishop in his responsibility to the diocese. He was clearly not alone in taking this view in Exeter.

Richard Osmond

Sooty Asquith

CD REVIEWS

ORGAN CDs

OLIVIER MESSIAEN

Les Corps Glorieux and other works for organ

Kevin Bowyer plays the organ of Glasgow University Memorial Chapel Les Corps Glorieux (7 movements); Offrande au Saint-Sacrement; Prélude; Monodie; Verset pour la fête de la Dédicace. PRIORY PRCD1142

The University of Glasgow has every reason to be proud of its organist, who here displays his great gifts of technique and interpretation in a programme which makes considerable demands on both player and listener. It also demands much from the organ and from the building in which it stands, and sadly one has to admit that neither is ideally suited to the challenge. The Glasgow organ is a 3-manual which began life in 1927 as a typical, and not especially distinguished, product of Henry Willis III; Harrisons brightened it up in 2005, though the Swell remains unaltered and the Choir still retains much of the nature of a Solo division. With a fair measure of success Mr Bowyer conjures up a wide variety of colourful and exotic effects in response to the composer’s precise demands, not least in the chief work here recorded, Les Corps Glorieux, seven meditations on the mystery of the earthly and spiritual body. The work’s dramatic central movement, Combat de la mort et de la vie, is well served by a variety of forte and fortissimo registrations; but the over-frequent appearance elsewhere of a honking ‘Clarinet’ (actually the Corno di Bassetto, I surmise) prompted the rather flippant conclusion that Messiaen was influenced not, as we are usually told, by birdsong, but by the call of various species of wildfowl. In addition, the close recording in a rather dry acoustic does the music no favours at all. Sadly, one has to conclude that this disc falls short of the ideal; but I am sure it will be treasured by admirers of Mr Bowyer and by friends of the university, to whose authorities is owed the greatest credit for underwriting the production of this CD.

Timothy Storey

CAPRICCIO

Contemporary Music for Organ

Margaret Phillips/

Marlborough College Chapel

Rogg Hommage à Franz Liszt; Partita sopra

‘Nun freut euch’; Fredrik Sixten P&F

‘In Memoriam Maurice Duruflé’; Sebastian Forbes Haec dies; Capriccio; Wammes Miroir; Brian Chapple Six Bagatelles; Toon Hagen Shalom.

REGENT REGCD 419 TT 76:21

There is a history going back more than a century of large pipe organs being built in the chapels of public schools, which at Marlborough College began in 1853 when Holdich provided an instrument for the then chapel. The current chapel was

completed in 1886 and the (by then) enlarged organ was moved into it. Further work was undertaken in 1911, 1955, 1977 and 1988, but in 2006 a new organ was installed, built by Beckrath of Hamburg. The chapel building was designed by George Bodley and Thomas Garner and is large enough to accommodate all 860 pupils.

The programme for this recording consists entirely of works composed in the last 50 years, many of which will not be well known to all readers. This should not put off readers from buying the disc. Whilst a couple of the works are very ‘modern’, they do allow the listener to hear the wide tonal spread of the organ. Margaret Phillips played in the UK première of Hommage à Franz Liszt in St Paul’s Cathedral in 2012 and gave the first performance of both Capriccio and Six Bagatelles. I particularly enjoyed the Prelude and Fugue by Fredrik Sixten, Shalom by Toon Hagen and Lionel Rogg’s Partita, a set of six variations on a well-known Advent chorale The organ sounds well on the recording, with possibly more foundation tone than one might expect of a builder so influenced by the organ reform movement, and certainly offers more warmth of tone than it might have done were it to have been built 50 years ago. Margaret Phillips’ playing is as splendid as ever, making the disc a compelling purchase.

Tim Rogerson

GREAT EUROPEAN ORGANS No. 88

Michal Novenko plays the organ of the Mosteiro de Arouca, Portugal Frey Josep Torelhas Batalha de 6.tom; Bertolemeu de Olague Tento de registo alto de 4.tom; Rodrigues Coelho Primeiro tento do primeiro tom; Versos de Kyrie do primeiro tom; Diego da Conceição Tento de meio registo alto de 2.tom; Correa Braga Batalha de 6.tom; Carlos Seixas Toccata in D min; Toccata in C min; Toccata in C; José da Madre de Deus Fuga in D min; Pedro de Araújo Meio registo de dois tiples; Anon Galharda; Batalha.

PRIORY PRCD 1092 TT 76:33

The instrument presented here is considered the greatest of Portugal’s historic organs. Though large by Portuguese standards, the instrument has but one manual, with the midcompass division of some registers providing for solo-cumaccompaniment effects. There is an impressive battery of reed stops including a majestic Tromba real whose horizontal resonators are a striking feature of the casework. This splendid disc offers a fascinating introduction to a musical tradition which stands apart from the European mainstream, and to a group of composers of which hardly anything seems to be known. Apart from the Versos de Kyrie by Rodrigues Coelho, the works on this disc have no obvious liturgical function, though the Batalha or ‘Battle’ might be regarded as specific genre of sacred music, intended to express in suitably martial strains the battle between Death and Life, or between Good and Evil. In the Batalha with which the programme opens, various

Tromba stops, in an admirable state of tuning and regulation, are displayed with stunning effect; other works exploit the delightfully fresh and unforced qualities of the fluework. All credit is owed to Michal Novenko and Priory Records for this excellent anthology, which I warmly recommend.

Timothy Storey

SIGFRID KARG-ELERT

Complete Organ Works Vol 11

Stefan Engels plays the organ at St Anton, Zürich

Chorale Improvisations op 65 vols 5 & 6

PRIORY PRCD 1087 TT 79:59

Ever since I was caught by my first teacher, Alwyn Surplice, halfway through a clandestine play-through of Karg-Elert’s Nun danket in Winchester Cathedral, when I should have been practising some ‘boring’ exercises in Walter Alcock’s organ tutor, I’ve been fascinated by Karg-Elert’s 66 Chorale Improvisations. In time I inherited Alwyn’s volume of all 66, given to him by William Harris in 1936, when he was Harris’s assistant at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

What can I say of Stefan Engels’ performance of the last two books? Almost one word will suffice – extraordinary! What a labour of love it must have been learning all these pieces, which range from the very simple to the frankly almost impossible – I am full of admiration. Just listen to No. 48 as an example – extreme virtuosity is required, and Engels has what is necessary to make the music wonderfully clear, and sound simple at the same time – a formidable talent indeed. He shapes the music well – phrases breathe easily and naturally.

He is recorded on a fine 1914 Kuhn instrument in Zürich, which is used with great imagination, and remarkable faithfulness to the composer’s markings. Neil Collier has done his customarily fine job with the recording, capturing the organ in its space perfectly. I haven’t heard any of the previous Karg-Elert recordings that Stefan Engels has made – on the evidence of this disc, I should.

Roger Judd

CHARLES-MARIE WIDOR

Organ Symphonies Vol 4

Joseph Nolan plays the organ of La Madeleine, Paris

Organ Symphonies Nos 7 in A major and 8 in B major.

SIGNUM SIGCD 337 TT 98:03 2 CDs

English organist of Australian cathedral (Perth, WA) plays French music in Paris on the kind of instrument for which it was composed – a singular concatenation of circumstances, and a triumphantly successful one! The seventh and eighth of Widor’s ten symphonies for organ are in every sense mighty works, each taking more than three-quarters of an hour in performance; both have no fewer than six movements, and both make considerable demands on the listener’s attention and on the player’s technical and interpretative abilities. Mr Nolan is clearly more than equal to these demands and to the challenge of managing the stop-controls of the French ‘symphonic organ’, of which the Cavaillé-Coll instrument in La Madeleine is such a fine and colourful example. The first movement (Moderato) of Symphony No. 7 gets the first CD off to a robust and exciting start, with Cavaillé-Coll’s snarling and angry reed chorus much in evidence; the Finale of Symphony No. 8 is a splendidly exhilarating conclusion to the second

disc. Elsewhere also there are countless moments to savour, as a wide palette of delightful colours is revealed. It is hard to imagine better or more authentic performances of this music.

Timothy Storey

GREAT EUROPEAN ORGANS No. 90

Gerard Brooks plays the organ of Methodist Central Hall, Westminster Hollins Concert Overture in C min; Ireland Elegiac Romance; Parry Chorale Prelude on ‘St Ann’; Stanford Fantasia & Toccata; Coleridge-Taylor Three Impromptus; J Arthur Meale Fountain Melody; Vesper Song; W Lloyd Webber Dedication March; Six Interludes on Christmas Carols. PRIORY PRCD 1099 TT 79:59

This splendid Priory series of Great European Organs notches up its 90th victim, the newly restored organ in Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. Harrison & Harrison were responsible for bringing this instrument to a better and more musical state than perhaps it has ever had. The Hall’s Director of Music, Gerard Brooks, presents a colourful and wide-ranging programme of English organ music ideally suited to the instrument.

Some of the repertoire will be familiar; Hollins, Ireland, Parry and Stanford are well-trodden ground; I was particularly pleased to make the acquaintance of Arthur Meale, completely unknown to me, and Coleridge-Taylor, known only for the Song of Hiawatha. The latter’s three Impromptus are full of interesting invention and a fair degree of passion. Meale was the first organist of the Central Hall, and his two pieces are more impressionistic, especially the Fountain Melody. Vesper Song has a melody which seems to have more than a little hint of Elgar about it. William Lloyd Webber was also Organist here, from 1958 to 1982, and is represented by a fine March, and Six Interludes on Christmas carols

Brooks’s programme allows him plenty of scope to use the instrument’s rich palette of colours; in the second of Meale’s pieces I think I even heard the Solo French Horn! The recital is excellently performed (one strange lapse in the first few bars of the Hollins excepted!), and the sound of the instrument in a friendly acoustic is well caught by Neil Collier.

Roger Judd

WHITLOCK ORGAN SONATA

Greg Morris plays the organ of the Temple Church

Whitlock Sonata in C; Alain Litanies; Dupré Cortège et Litanie; Franck Choral No. 3.

SIGNUM SIGCD 379 TT 72:53

This splendid CD is the first to be issued of the newly renovated organ of the Temple Church in London. Harrison & Harrison originally built the 4-manual organ for the ballroom of Lord Glentanar’s home in Scotland. As it was seldom used, Lord Glentanar gave the organ to the Temple Church in 1954 when George Thalben-Ball was Organist. Greg Morris, the present Associate Organist, demonstrates the excellence of this large romantic organ by choosing the wonderful Sonata in C minor of Percy Whitlock as the main item of the CD.

Published in 1937, Whitlock dedicated the sonata to Dorothy L. Sayers, the author. A Greek inscription, which translates as ‘On Hearing the Second Rachmaninow (sic)

in Spring’, pays tribute both to Delius and Rachmaninov, the latter’s Second Symphony inspiring the outer movements. The influence of Elgar is also very prominent in the opening movement. The spacious sonata is full of delights and varying moods. A highlight is the Scherzetto which could not have been written by anyone but Whitlock. The playfulness and charm of this movement is partly due to the constantly varying rhythms and it’s no surprise that it doesn’t have a time signature. Greg Morris gives the Sonata a most convincing performance and one can clearly sense the joy with which he plays the work.

Marcel Dupré played at the opening concert when the organ was installed in the Scottish ballroom in 1927, so it is fitting to hear his well-loved Cortège et Litanie which steadily grows from its serene opening to a stunning toccata. It is given an uplifting performance, as is César Franck’s Choral No. 3, which ends this lovely CD.

Paul Morgan

SIR CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD

Complete Organ Works Vol 2

Daniel Cook plays the organ of Durham Cathedral

Fantasia and Fugue in D min; 6 Preludes and Postludes Set 1; Sonata No. 3 in D min; In modo dorico op 132; Prelude on ‘Jesu, dulcis memoria’; Te Deum Laudamus Fantasia.

PRIORY PRCD 1106 TT 71:37

This is a splendid three-way partnership; the music of Stanford, the Willis/Harrison organ in Durham Cathedral, and Daniel Cook’s totally sympathetic playing – not far short of ideal.

Some of the music is familiar; the first book of Preludes and Postludes will be known to many, and the little miniatures are played with the love they need. The less-familiar repertoire is most interesting, especially the ‘other’ big D minor Fantasia (op. 103) with its Fugue, unlike op. 57 with its Toccata, but both dedicated to Walter Parratt. Op. 103 is largely neglected; unjustly, I would say. The third Sonata, also in D minor, is a large-scale work, and is also dedicated to Parratt. The music, completed in 1917, seems to be clouded by the events of the First World War. The outer movements are based on hymn tunes, while the middle, slow, movement is a lament, built around the rhythm of the word ‘Benedictus’.

The CD booklet is greatly enhanced by having Professor Jeremy Dibble write about Stanford and the repertoire heard on the CD. Of course I should have called it a fourway partnership, because Neil Collier’s recording of the organ and the space around it is as good as it gets. Warmly recommended.

Roger Judd

GREAT EUROPEAN ORGANS No. 91

Daniel Cook plays the organ of St Davids Cathedral

Mendelssohn Overture to ‘St Paul’; Tomkins

A Sad Pavan; Harris Fantasy Prelude; Fantasy on ‘Easter Hymn’; Walford Davies Interlude in C; Jenkins Fantasia on an old Welsh hymn tune; Mathias Canzonetta op 78 No. 2; Bainton Fantasy on ‘Vexilla Regis’; Arnold Cooke Prelude, Intermezzo and Finale; Tomlinson Quiet Prelude; Paean; Litaize Variations sur un Noël angevin; Villette Elévation; Grunenwald Hymne aux mémoires héroïques.

PRIORY PRCD 1102 TT 76:35

Daniel Cook was Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Davids Cathedral when this CD was recorded in 2013, but

he has since moved on to be Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey. He has produced an interesting programme, many of the pieces being unfamiliar (at least to me). Tomkins, Harris and Walford Davies had close connections with St Davids and the Welsh theme continues with pieces by Jenkins and Mathias. These are all short works and well worth hearing. They display many of the instrument’s delightful individual stops (especially the flutes), most of which date back to the Willis organ of 1883. The Pavan by Tomkins (surely the most notable composer to be born in St Davids) is exquisite and the lightness of style in the Interlude in C composed for George Thalben-Ball by Walford Davies comes as a pleasant surprise. We move on to pieces by three English composers without any particular Welsh connections. The works by Bainton and Tomlinson have much romantic charm. There is a more modern style to Arnold Cooke’s Prelude, Intermezzo and Finale which owes much to his teacher, Paul Hindemith.

The opening transcription of the Overture to Mendelssohn’s oratorio St Paul displays the fine technique of Daniel Cook, though I wonder whether the registration might have been more subtle in places. But the full organ certainly suits the French style – as we hear in virtuoso performances of music by the Parisian organists Litaize and Grunenwald. These two exciting pieces together with the serene and colourful Elévation by Villette conclude this highly recommended CD.

Paul Morgan

THE ENGLISH CATHEDRAL VOL 28

Christopher Allsop plays the organ of Worcester Cathedral

Tournemire Improvisation sur le Te Deum; Debussy Deuxième Arabesque; Alain Deux Fantaisies; Somervell Air in C; Bonnet

In memoriam -- Titanic; Mathias Toccata

Giocosa; Vierne Feux Follets; Bridge Minuet; Shostakovich Passacaglia; Festive Overture op 96; Distler Four Spielstücke op 18; Donald Hunt Tomkins’ Trifle.

REGENT REGCD 449 TT 70:49

The story of the organ in Worcester Cathedral is possibly one of the most dispiriting of any English cathedral. Between 1874 and 1894 the cathedral housed two organs by William Hill, one on the north side of the quire and one in the south transept. These instruments were then combined in an unfortunate rebuild by Robert Hope-Jones, described by one commentator as a ‘telephone engineer who strayed into organ building’, who removed a significant amount of Hill pipework and replaced it with his own which was more suited to the cinema than the cathedral. He also added a third organ case on the south side of the choir. Although the organ was not large (in terms of the number of stops), it was extremely loud. In 1925 Harrison & Harrison rebuilt the organ on more conventional lines, but still with much of the Hope-Jones pipework remaining, and further changes were then made to this instrument in 1937, 1948, 1965, 1972, 1978, even after which it was still very loud in the quire. Early in the 21st century it was decided that a new instrument was needed and this was commissioned from Kenneth Tickell, who completed it in 2008 (and sadly died in 2014). It has 54 speaking stops and is placed in the north and south triforia of the quire.

Christopher Allsop, who has been on the staff at Worcester since 2004, has chosen an eclectic programme of mostly 20th-century music, which enables him to demonstrate the wide tonal spread of the organ. The sound of the full organ is refreshingly bright but with sufficient bass to balance

the brilliance of the upper work. Of the programme, I’d particularly like to highlight the performer’s own transcription of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, in which he manages to keep a sense of urgency throughout the piece, and also Bonnet’s In Memoriam Titanic, which is based on the hymn ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’. Donald Hunt’s Tomkins’ Trifle is a short work written by one former organist of Worcester in memory of another. Overall an interesting and significant disc.

Tim Rogerson

SAINT-SAËNS

Organ works Vol 4

Gerard Brooks plays the organ of St Hippolyte de Poligny Procession in C; Prélude in F; Assai moderato in B flat; Interlude fugué in G min; Andante lento in E; Maestoso in C; Communion in E flat; untitled in C min; Bénédiction nuptiale; Offertoire in D; Prélude in A; Élévation ou Communion op 13; Praeludium (et fuga) in C min; Offertoire in E min; untitled in E min; untitled in F; Offertoire in F; Marche-cortège in E flat; Marche religieuse in F; Cyprès op 156.

PRIORY PRCD1107 TT 78:56

To complete his survey of the works of Saint-Saëns, Gerard Brooks has travelled to Poligny in Eastern France, to an organ built by Cavaillé-Coll in 1859 which remains in largely original condition. As most of the famous and larger scale works by Saint-Saëns have been included on previous discs in the series, it might be thought that this recording would consist of works which are in some way inferior to what has gone before, but whilst it is true that only two of the pieces last for more than 7 minutes, the music manages to speak for itself in a charming and delightful way. Gerard Brooks’s musical playing and the superb voicing of the organ undoubtedly combine to the overall success of the recording.

Tim Rogerson

IN AN OLD ABBEY

British Organ Music

Paul Walton plays the organ of Bristol Cathedral Alcock Toccata; Harwood In an Old Abbey; Elgar arr Cull Severn Suite; Sumsion Intermezzo; Vaughan Williams Two HymnTune Preludes; John Cook Five Studies in form of a Sonata; Steele Arioso; Walton arr Palmer & Gower Prologue from ‘A Wartime Sketchbook’.

REGENT REGCD TT 75:27

The wonderful organ of Bristol Cathedral remains virtually unchanged tonally since a major rebuild by Walker & Sons in 1907. It is now a fairly rare example of an English romantic organ at its best. The cathedral has a generous acoustic which still allows plenty of clarity to be heard in the musical detail.

Paul Walton, who has been Assistant Organist at Bristol Cathedral since 2001, has unearthed a most imaginative programme of 20th century English organ music, most of which has been very rarely played. His performances show both his impressive technique and his enthusiasm for the music.

Only three of the pieces started life as organ music. The Toccata by Sir Walter Alcock, which opens the programme, deserves to be better known. Basically in the Parry tradition, the use of the whole-tone scale shows Alcock’s appreciation of the French style. Douglas Steele’s charming Arioso displays

the beautiful soft stops of the organ to good effect. The most substantial organ work is the Sonata by John Cook, some of which is reminiscent of the music of Hindemith. The Scherzo and Finale are the most appealing movements at a first hearing and display Paul Walton’s fine command of the organ.

The works by Harwood and Sumsion apparently started life as cello pieces, and Harwood’s In an Old Abbey is particularly colourful. Elgar’s excellent Severn Suite was originally composed for brass band and this recent arrangement by Jeremy Cull follows the original score much more closely than the earlier version by Sir Ivor Atkins. The brief Preludes by Vaughan Williams were originally composed for orchestra, as was the stirring Walton Prologue, which was transcribed from patriotic film music written for the British War Department during World War II. There’s much to be enjoyed on this welcome CD.

Paul Morgan

CHORAL CDs

A YEAR AT ELY

Choir of Ely Cathedral

Dir: Paul Trepte

Organ: Edmund Aldhouse Rodney Bennett Out of your sleep; Kirkpatrick Away in a manger; Wesley Ascribe unto the Lord; Wood Nunc dimittis in B flat; Parry Prayer; Tomkins When David heard; Hadley My beloved spake; Mendelssohn Laudate pueri; Stanford Coelos ascendit hodie; Beati quorum via; Cedric Thorpe Davie Come, Holy Ghost, the maker; Matthew Martin A Hymn to St Etheldreda; Grier Death be not proud; Rutter O clap your hands.

REGENT REGCD 441 TT 75:00

What should this CD’s title lead us to expect? It is indeed a programme of liturgical music matched to the seasons of the Church’s year, but it could equally well be entitled A Year at Nowhere in Particular, so little of Ely does it contain apart from the anthems recently commissioned from Francis Grier and Ben Parry. Matthew Martin’s A Hymn to St Etheldreda certainly passes muster, written as it was for the church of that name in Ely Place, Holborn, the London palace of the medieval bishops of Ely. I almost forgot to mention another ‘Ely special’, an ingenious but regrettable arrangement of Away in a manger, which has no place in a programme designed for adults, and whose mawkishness is compounded by a local pastor’s fauxnaïf additions to the original text.

What an opportunity has been missed! Ely Cathedral has employed an unparalleled succession of composers from Christopher Tye and Robert White in the 16th century and John Amner in the 17th to Basil Harwood and Thomas Tertius Noble in the 19th; the 20th century can offer Archibald Wilson, Noel Ponsonby, Hubert Middleton and Marmaduke Conway en route to Sidney Campbell and, last but far from least, the legendary Arthur Wills who served Ely for over forty years. His very fine The Praises of the Trinity would have remedied an omission both seasonal and musical. Did we need yet another recording of Stanford’s three Latin motets? Ascribe unto the Lord could have been foregone to make way for something less hackneyed.

Despite its faults and omissions, this is still a very worthwhile anthology, notably well sung and accompanied; the Ely boys’ bright, strong and forward tone is admirably captured in a vivid and atmospheric recording.

Timothy Storey

ST PETER’S DAY AT YORK MINSTER

Choir of York Minster

Dir: Robert Sharpe Organ: David Pipe Briggs Missa Brevis; Duruflé Tu es Petrus; Psalms 71, 138, 150; Shephard Preces & Responses; And when the builders; Stanford Te Deum; Moore Jubilate; O quam gloriosum; Harris Holy is the true light; Howells ‘New College’ Evening Canticles; Walton arr Preston/Blatchly Coronation Te Deum.

REGENT REGCD439 TT 79:28

This disc presents the music that might be sung in York Minster at the Eucharist, Matins and Evensong on the occasion of St Peter’s Day’s falling upon a Sunday. A number of the pieces have a York connection: Richard Shephard has been associated with the Minster (as Headmaster, Chamberlain and most recently as Development Director) since 1985; Francis Jackson and Philip Moore were successive Masters of the Music; whilst David Briggs’ Missa Brevis was commissioned by Robert Sharpe and the Friends of the Minster in 2012 and receives its first recording here. It is very much in the style of French 20th-century organist/composers with echoes of Vierne, Duruflé and Langlais (with whom Briggs studied) clearly audible, and is beautifully atmospheric. The choir adapts well to the different styles of music on the disc. The Moore Jubilate, Walton Te Deum and Shephard anthem are lively works, whilst the Stanford Te Deum and the pieces by Harris and Howells give the choir the opportunity to sing in an altogether smoother and more refined style. Special mention must be made of the accompaniments provided by David Pipe, Assistant Director of Music at the Minster, which are thrilling and exciting but never so loud that they drown out the choir. An excellent compilation.

Tim Rogerson

ONE EQUAL MUSIC

St Peter’s

Singers

Director: Simon Lindley.

Harris Bring us, O Lord God; Bairstow Let all mortal flesh keep silence; Whitacre Alleluia; Harris Faire is the heaven; Pärt Magnificat; Rachmaninov Bogoroditse dyevo; Beamish In the stillness; Lauridsen O magnum mysterium; MacMillan O Radiant Dawn; Moore Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Jackson Evening Hymn; Parry My soul, there is a country; Harris Holy is the True Light www.stpeters-singers.org.uk

Is this the first CD to have been recorded in a shopping mall? The Victoria Quarter has been splendidly restored and enhanced in recent years, and this CD is memento of the significant contribution which the St Peter’s Singers made to the general rejoicings. According to the preface to the liner notes this is a programme of ‘spiritual’ music, a term which seems to mean ‘slow and not very cheerful’. In a passage worthy of Private Eye’s ‘Pseuds’ Corner’ we are also told that in that fine prayer Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening (the first track of this disc, in the classic setting by Sir William Harris) John Donne’s ‘One equal music’ means ‘equal opportunity’, ‘equal access’ or presumably equality in general! Such nonsense apart, it is certainly good to have three of Harris’s anthems in this anthology, and I was especially pleased by the inclusion of Philip Moore’s powerful Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, complemented by Francis Jackson’s Evening Hymn, a characteristically effective sacred part-song by Moore’s distinguished forerunner at York Minster. I was less pleased

to find the tedious trio of Lauridsen, Pärt and Whitacre. That aside, I am happy to commend the high standard of the singing, and to congratulate all concerned on their mastery of the considerable difficulties of some of the music.

Timothy Storey

MUSIC FOR EVENSONG

Choir of Gloucester Cathedral

Dir: Adrian Partington

Organ: Jonathan Hope

Gurney Chorale prelude on ‘Longford’; Since I believe in God the Father; Sanders A Prayer; Preces & Responses; Psalms 22 & 23; Cox

‘Gloucester Service’ Evening Canticles; Naylor Responses; Goss O Saviour of the world; Parry Toccata and Fugue ‘The Wanderer’.

PRIORY PRCD 1128 TT 77:53

The CD booklet places this recording in an historical context: ‘Commemorating the start of “the war to end all wars” on August 4th 1914’. Adrian Partington has devised a beautifully reflective Evensong around this theme, and the cathedral choir is on fine form realising his vision. Local figures feature strongly; Ivor Gurney, who was cruelly affected by the conflict, contributes a fine opening voluntary, the chant to Psalm 23 and the anthem; a friend of his, F W (‘Will’) Harvey, is the author of the text set by John Sanders in his introit; Hubert Parry, whose family home, Highnam Court, is a few miles outside Gloucester, contributes the concluding voluntary, his mighty ‘Wanderer’ Fantasia and Fugue. Neil Cox wrote his ‘Gloucester’ Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in 2010 at Partington’s request; these are a fine addition to the repertoire.

The CD is a model of how these things should be done – it conveys the feeling that the listener is sitting in the quire during the evening office. This feeling is aided by the distinct absence of ‘showing off’ – the choir is heard doing what it does (really well) every day. The singers are excellently supported by Jonathan Hope, who produces myriad sounds from the characterful organ; the Parry voluntary is splendidly done. Altogether a rather special offering.

Roger Judd

THE MARIAN COLLECTION

Choir of Merton College, Oxford

Dir: Peter Phillips/Benjamin Nicholas

Organ: Charles Warren

Weir Ave Regina caelorum; Palestrina Alma redemptoris mater; Tavener Mother of God, here I stand; Andrew Salve Regina; Nesbett Magnificat; Kendall Regina caeli; Byrd Salve Regina; Stravinsky Ave Maria; Tabakova Alma redemptoris mater; G Jackson I say that we are wound with mercy; Parsons Ave Maria; Tavener Two Hymns to the Mother of God; M Martin Salve sedes sapientiae; Bruckner Ave Maria.

DELPHIAN DCD34144 TT 67:42

The choir at Merton College is one of the UK’s newest choral foundations, having been established in 2008. For this recording it numbered 35 singers, which also makes it larger than a typical college choir. As the title of this disc suggests, the works presented take as their theme the Blessed Virgin Mary to whom the college chapel is jointly dedicated. As well as a number of established works, the recording features four pieces by British female composers which receive their first recording and were commissioned by the college as part of the ‘Merton Choirbook’, a collection of new works

commemorating the 750th anniversary of the founding of the college. Other recently composed works include Salve sedes sapientiae, which was commissioned by the college chaplain for the dedication of a sculpture by Peter Eugene Ball, and works by Sir John Tavener and Gabriel Jackson. The four early works (Palestrina, Nesbett, Byrd and Parsons) are conducted by Peter Phillips, who continues to work with the choir. Bruckner’s ever-popular Ave Maria bridges the gap between the early 17th century and the late 20th century. The sound of the choir is refreshingly bright and full, and the recording engineers have managed to capture with great clarity the wide dynamic range of the singers whilst still maintaining a sense of atmosphere. Of the music, the Nesbett Magnificat and Kerry Andrew’s Salve Regina were particular highlights for the reviewer. A fascinating and delightful recording.

Tim Rogerson

STANFORD

Winchester College Chapel Choir

Director: Malcolm Archer

Organ: Jamal Sutton

Benedictus in C; Beati quorum via; Watts’ Cradle Song; Te Deum in C; Justorum animae; A Song of Wisdom; O for a closer walk with God; When, in our music, God is glorified; For lo, I raise up; Coelos ascendit hodie; Come, ye thankful people, come; If ye then be risen with Christ; The Lord is my Shepherd; Psalm 150.

CONVIVIUM TT 71:00 (order from: conviviumrecords.co.uk)

Most readers are surely aware that Winchester College’s is no ordinary school choir. The treble line is supplied by the quiristers, boys who are educated at The Pilgrims’ School along with the Winchester Cathedral choristers, and the alto, tenor and bass parts are provided by senior pupils of Winchester College (and a few members of staff); the result is highly professional and a credit to all concerned. This programme is a judicious mixture of old favourites and some less familiar works whose acquaintance the listener will enjoy making. I was especially glad to find the Matins canticles from the C major Service, and that very fine anthem If ye then be risen with Christ, praised by Fellowes but sadly neglected. A highlight is the Song of Wisdom, sung in unison by the trebles, who rise with the utmost aplomb to a perfectly controlled high B flat; the Song is followed as Stanford intended by O for a closer walk with God, the Hymn after a Song of Wisdom, a title which has baffled more than one chorister. My only regret is that we are given Stanford’s fine hymn-tune Engelberg with Fred Pratt Green’s somewhat contrived text When, in our music, God is glorified rather than For all the saints, the words for which it was intended. This scarcely detracts from a very fine CD which I have greatly enjoyed and which I warmly recommend.

Timothy Storey

PALESTRINA Vol 5

The Sixteen

Dir: Harry Christophers

Dum complerentur; Loquebantur variis

linguis; Veni Creator Spiritus; Iam Christus astra ascenderat; Missa Iam Christus astra ascenderat; Song of Songs Nos. 13, 14 & 15; Magnificat quarti toni.

CORO COR16124 TT 63:52

This is The Sixteen’s fifth volume of music by Palestrina, the 16th-century Italian composer who wrote over 100 mass settings as well as many other liturgical works for performance in Rome,

where he spent his life in the service of the church. This recording includes one mass setting based on the plainsong hymn Iam Christus astra ascenderat, which is also sung on the disc. There are then four works associated with Whitsunday, a setting of the Magnificat and finally three settings of words from the Song of Songs, including the same text as Patrick Hadley set around 350 years later in My beloved spake Despite the generous acoustic of St Alban’s Holborn (which substitutes very well for St Peter’s Rome) the pure sound of singers who make up The Sixteen is clearly recorded, with slight prominence given to the sopranos. The reviewer hesitates before concluding with the words “easy listening”, but in doing so intends it only to be complimentary.

Tim Rogerson

MUSIC FOR MEN’S VOICES

The Gentlemen of Liverpool Cathedral

Dir: David Poulter Organ: Martyn Noble Tallis Lamentations I & II; If ye love me; Locke Let God arise; Dunstable Sancta Maria; Tomkins O how amiable; Biebl Ave Maria; Fletcher Hark, what a sound; Grier Now the Son of Man has been glorified; Duruflé Ubi caritas; Messe Cum Jubilo; Wood Great Lord of Lords; Harris Holy is the true light.

A generation ago the weekly ‘men-only’ Evensong in many cathedrals was something to be shunned by the sensitive worshipper; this very fine CD is an apt illustration of how much better things have become, and Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral is blessed in the quality of the fifteen gentlemen who sing this ingeniously chosen programme so well. A problem for the compiler of this sort of anthology is that there is so little really great music for men’s voices, and inevitably Tallis’s two sets of Lamentations overshadow everything else included here. The Lamentations are given a notably well-judged and well-paced performance which surely reflects the singers’ love and knowledge of this marvellous music. Indeed, all the singing is of a commendably high standard, inevitably constrained by the somewhat variable merit of the works being performed; Francis Grier’s Now the Son of Man has been glorified impressed me as distinctly better than the average, and one was struck afresh by the energy and mature craftsmanship of Charles Wood’s anthem for ATB double choir, a work worthy to stand alongside Hail, gladdening light and his other great unaccompanied anthems. As for the Duruflé Mass for unison tenors and basses (altos definitely not required!), again I must commend the singers for their mastery of a considerable technical and vocal challenge, but signs of strain are apparent as they attempt to keep up with the mighty Willis organ. With the reservations I have expressed, I commend this as a worthwhile and generally enjoyable CD.

Timothy Storey

A YEAR IN SAINT LOUIS

St Peter’s Church Choir, Saint Louis

Dir: William Aitken

Rorem All glorious God; Johnson Manning A wonder of angels; Evening Canticles in D min; Sowerby Eternal light; arr Hogan Wade in the water; Widor Tu es Petrus; Surrexit a mortuis; Aitken Here, O my Lord; Te lucis ante terminum; Stanford Beati quorum via; White St Teresa’s bookmark; Weelkes Hosanna to the son of David; Leighton Drop, drop slow tears; Victoria Vere languores nostros; arr Aitken This joyful Eastertide; Goodman Laudate Dominum; Baynon When rooks fly homeward.

REGENT REGCD 415 TT 60:31

It is always interesting and informative to listen to choirs from the States, especially when they present composers whose work may be unfamiliar to UK listeners. So it is with this CD in a programme which takes one through the church’s year. The two pieces by Sasha Johnson Manning were commissioned by the church; A wonder of angels is a most engaging Christmas piece to a text by the composer. Her setting of the Evening Canticles showcases her melodic gifts and colourful harmonic sense. The composers Ned Rorem and Leo Sowerby will be familiar names; their two short prayers would make attractive introits. The choir’s long-serving Director of Music, William Aiken, contributes three pieces, one of which is an imaginative arrangement of This joyful Eastertide. His anthem Te lucis ante terminum is a gently flowing setting of the Evening Hymn with the old chant acting as a thread through the piece. Joseph Goodman, a pupil of Hindemith, contributes a setting of Psalm 117, very much in the style of his mentor. The African–American composer Moses Hogan’s arrangements of Wade in the water is typical of the genre. Arthur Baynon’s When rooks fly homeward is a beautiful miniature, immaculately crafted. The remaining pieces by European composers are decently done. This CD gave me much pleasure; the choir of St Peter’s is an excellent ensemble, and Gary Coles’ recording does them full justice. The only thing to add is that the splendid Mander Grand Organ is heard to powerful effect in the two pieces by Widor. Altogether a most attractive programme, delivered with great assurance and musicality.

Roger Judd

SUNDAY AT NORWICH CATHEDRAL

Choir of Norwich Cathedral

Dir: Ashley Grote Organ: David Dunnett

Ives Missa Brevis; Peter Aston Author of life divine; Ledger I will lift up mine eyes; Grote Preces & Responses; Psalm 96; Allain Evening Canticles ‘The Norwich Service’; Elgar Give unto the Lord; Naylor Final responses; Howells Te Deum ‘Collegium Regale’; Psalm prelude Set 2 No 3. PRIORY PRCD 1121 TT 66:30

I particularly like the choice of music for this CD which features items that might well be heard on a Sunday at Norwich Cathedral. Some of the works were composed by people connected with Norwich such as Peter Aston and Philip Ledger, who were successive professors of music at the University of East Anglia. Both their fine short anthems are beautifully sung. The imaginative evening canticles – The Norwich Service by Richard Allain (Director of Music at Norwich School) – receive an excellent performance, as do Ashley Grote’s tasteful Responses

Moving further afield from Norwich, the Missa Brevis of Grayston Ives is a delightful setting with which the Norwich Cathedral Choir seem to be very much at home. Elgar’s stirring anthem Give unto the Lord is certainly sung with passion, and I am delighted that the well-loved Collegium Regale Te Deum by Herbert Howells is included. It will be very familiar to Ashley Grote, as he was first a chorister and later organ scholar at King’s. The choir clearly responds very well to his direction, although here and there a little more finesse is needed in the choral blend.

Throughout the recording, the accompaniment of David Dunnett is outstanding. He produces the most wonderful sounds from the vast Norwich organ and gives really excellent support to the choir. The CD concludes with a fine performance of the last of the Psalm Preludes by Herbert Howells. It is a particularly energetic piece inspired by words from Psalm 33: ‘Sing unto Him a new song: play skilfully with

a loud noise.’ David Dunnett certainly obeys this command with distinction.

Paul Morgan

VESPERS OF 1610

Claudio Monteverdi

The Sixteen

Harry Christophers CORO COR 16126 (2 CDs) TT 66.15; 39:51

Of course, there are numerous recordings of this masterpiece, but as one has come to expect from The Sixteen, the standard of both singing and playing on this disc is exceptionally high. Overall, the performance has a lack of fussiness; the ornamentation is generally discreet and in some sections the continuo keeps to held chords rather than adding extra movement. Although the dance quality of the music is captured with real energy, there is a refined quality about it rather than earthy passion. Even so, some sections are taken at really fast and exciting tempi, balanced by others which are slow and serene. The recording quality is wonderful and the instrumental playing exquisite. I particularly enjoyed the ethereal singing of the sopranos; beautifully in tune, light in tone and free of vibrato. The cornetti players as well as the tenor soloists, Jeremy Budd and Mark Dobell, deserve special mention for their virtuoso performances.

An unusual aspect of this recording is that both Lauda Jerusalem and the Magnificat are given two performances, one at high pitch and one at a pitch a fourth lower. Apparently the clefs in the manuscript of these two movements suggest they might have been performed at the lower pitch. Listeners can therefore choose their preferred version.

I can understand that some listeners would prefer a grander and more operatic approach with extra colour and fire. Such recordings exist and some homework is needed to see what suits your taste. It is a pity that this recording has only 39 minutes of playing time on the second CD but there is so much to admire in general that it is highly recommended.

Paul Morgan

GEISTLICHE LIEDER

German Romantic Choral Music

Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge

Dir: David Rowland

Organ: Mark Roberts/Jonathan Ellse

Rheinberger Mass in A; Drei geistliche Gesänge (Morgenlied, Hymne, Abendlied); Confitebor tibi; Wolf Sechs geistliche Lieder nach

Gedichten von Eichendorff; Liszt Ave maris stella; Ave verum corpus; O salutaris hostia I; O salutaris hostia II; Brahms Drei geistliche Chöre (O bone Jesu; Adoramus; Regina coeli); Geistliches Lied.

REGENT REGCD 417 TT 69:52

Rheinberger’s Abendlied and the very fine Geistliches Lied of Brahms have become well known of late, no doubt owing to their inclusion in OUP’s European Sacred Music collection. We must be grateful to David Rowland and his excellent choir for introducing us to more of these two composers’ (and others’) sacred music, much of it for female voices only. I have to confess that only when presented with this CD did I become aware of (and surprised by) the existence of the very fine Sechs geistliche Lieder of Hugo Wolf, justly celebrated though he is for his solo songs. Liszt’s patronage of the Cecilian movement, which aimed to restore standards of purity in church music, is well known, and the works herein included show him putting

the Cecilians’ ideals into practice, though it cannot be claimed that the results are especially compelling. Indeed, one has to admit that not all this programme is of equal interest, despite or even, dare I suggest, because of the exceptional blend and balance of the singing, whose slightly self-conscious beauty and restraint have perhaps been achieved at the expense of energy and vitality. For me, the best things are Rheinberger’s Mass in A for female voices and the aforementioned Geistliches Lied in which the full choir is given free rein, with thrilling effect. A fine CD nonetheless, and a good introduction to some attractive music.

Timothy Storey

DIXIT DOMINUS

Choir of Queen’s College, Oxford

The Brook Street Band

Dir: Owen Rees

Scarlatti Dixit Dominus; Concerto No. 4 in G min; Handel Dixit Dominus AVIE AV2274 TT 62:28

As each lasts around thirty minutes, these two settings of Psalm 110 would, to some, be too long for an anthem at Matins or Evensong, which is a shame as both works are wonderfully uplifting. The suggestion in Owen Rees’s detailed and informative programme notes is that Handel might have been influenced by Scarlatti in deciding to compose a setting of this psalm, or might have been trying to outdo Scarlatti’s own composition. Handel’s setting is, of course, the more famous of the two.

For this recording, the choir is joined by a distinguished group of soloists: Elin Manahan Thomas, Sally Bruce-Payne, Esther Brazil, Guy Cutting and Matthew Brook, and the Brook Street Band, which comprises 12 players. The balance between the orchestra, choir and soloists is excellent and despite the apparent close placing of microphones there is a great deal of warmth in the performance. The short Concerto in G minor by Scarlatti is a delightful miniature and provides a contrast from the joyful choral works. Highly recommended.

Tim Rogerson

BLOW OUT, YE BUGLES

Music from the time of WWI

Choir of Truro Cathedral

Dir: Christopher Gray

Organ: Luke Bond

Stanford: For lo, I raise up; Gray 1914; Walford Davies A Short Requiem; Parry Songs of Farewell; Vaughan Williams Lord, thou hast been our refuge.

REGENT REG CD451 TT 77:11

This latest release by the choir of Truro Cathedral draws together an interesting collection of choral music dating from the time of the First World War. All the items reflect on war in one way or another. The six motets by Parry, known as the Songs of Farewell, form the centrepiece of the recording. Probably the best known of these short gems of the English choral repertoire is My soul, there is a country. Stanford’s dramatic and colourful anthem For lo, I raise up is followed by settings of Rupert Brooke’s war poems. These were composed by Alan Gray, Stanford’s successor as Organist of Trinity College Cambridge, who tragically lost two sons in the war. Both the pieces by Gray and the Short Requiem by Walford Davies will be unfamiliar to most people except, perhaps, for the beautiful chant settings of Psalms 121 and 130 in the

Requiem. The CD concludes with Lord, thou hast been our refuge by Vaughan Williams for chorus, semi-chorus, organ and trumpet. It uses both plainchant and the hymn tune St Anne in a rather original way.

The overall standard of singing is impressive and Christopher Gray deserves special praise for the way in which he guides the choir so skilfully into capturing the varying moods of the music with such sensitivity. The boy choristers are in top form – especially those singing the treble solos. The glorious sound of the Willis organ is at times slightly distant, but one is given a sense of the spacious acoustic of the cathedral. Altogether it is a most enjoyable CD.

Paul Morgan

IN PRAISE OF ST COLUMBA

The Sound World of the Celtic Church

Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge

Dir: Geoffrey Webber

Triplepipes/lyre: Barnaby Brown

Os mutorum, lux cecorum; Loquebar de testimoniis tuis; River Erne horn duet; Adiutor laborantium; Sanctorum piissime Columba, Lauda anima mea Dominum; Noli Pater; Carne solutus pater Columba; Amen dico vobis; Liberasti nos Domine; Cantemus in omni die; Altus prosator; Volens Ihesus linire; Laudate Dominum; The Desperate Battle of the Birds.

DELPHIAN DCD34137 TT 76:15

What an extraordinary recording – by turns fascinating, mesmerising and illuminating. This CD is so far from what might be thought of as the ‘normal’ run of church music discs that my powers of description are going to be stretched to the limit!

The first thing to say is that the listener is transported back to the sound-world of the early church. What is heard is, to a great extent, the result of extensive research by one of the performers, Barnaby Brown, who has vividly brought back to life the chants of the mid 10th century and texts that are even older, some going back to St Columba in the 6th century. The melodies hail from the Incholm Antiphoner, St Gallen and Lausanne in Switzerland, and Santiago di Compostela. Monody is sometimes relieved by various types of organum, and reconstructions of the triple-pipes, lyre and horn enliven the sound-scape.

The choir of Gonville & Caius College directed by Geoffrey Webber have so completely absorbed the style and feel for this music so that it is more than a museum piece brought to life. The listener is drawn into this (perhaps) unfamiliar genre by the persuasive performances, and the hope must be, dear reader, that you will be too.

Roger Judd

A WINCHESTER REMEMBRANCE

Choir of Winchester Cathedral

Dir: Andrew Lumsden

Organ: George Castle

(Jonathan Hope in the Holst)

Fine Arts Brass

Harris Faire is the Heaven; Bring us, O Lord God; Britten Agnus Dei; Guest For the fallen; Holst Turn back, O Man; Ireland Greater love; Elgar Nimrod from ‘Enigma’ Variations; Howells Take him, earth; Blatchly For the fallen; Vaughan Williams Lord, thou hast been our refuge; Łukaszewski Nunc dimittis; Moore At the round earth’s imagined corners.

REGENT REGCD 437 TT 70:17

This is, quite simply, an extraordinarily moving sequence of texts and music, performed with the panache, skill and sheer musicality that we’ve been used to the musicians at Winchester Cathedral delivering for so long.

There are two pieces new to me; the Nunc dimittis by the Polish composer Pawel Łukaszewski was written for Stephen Layton and the Trinity College Cambridge choir in 2007. It is written for double choir, and not infrequently divides into as many as 12 parts. The piece has an affecting stillness. Philip Moore was commissioned in 2011 by Andrew Lumsden to set John Donne’s text At the round earth’s imagined corners. A fine piece, using the space of the great cathedral to good effect, and written for brass, timpani, percussion and organ, and bringing this marvellous CD to a powerful end.

I am not going to itemise the rest of the programme – the music will be known to many. If for some it is unknown, put your faith in the musicians – the performances are just as they should be.

Lumsden uses both the girls and the boys in this recording, and they and the lay clerks are on top form, as is his direction. George Castle is their excellent accompanist, and the Willis/Harrison organ sounds as fine as ever. Once again Gary Cole has done a superlative job in this vast space, producing a recording of commendable clarity. Very warmly recommended.

Roger Judd

THE PSALMS OF DAVID Vol 7

Choir of Wakefield Cathedral

Dir: Thomas Moore Organ: Simon Earl Psalms 89-104

PRIORY PRCD1120 TT 75:53

Reviewing Peterborough Cathedral’s contribution to this series (CM 2/13), I commiserated with that cathedral’s musicians on their being allocated Psalms 50 to 67, a diet of pretty much unrelieved misery until they reached the 12th evening and could cheer themselves up with Psalms 65-67. Wakefield’s disc contains the psalms for the 17th evening and days 18-20, a notably cheerful selection; but unrelieved jollity can be as wearisome as unrelieved gloom. Wakefield Cathedral Choir’s singing is robust, confident and tuneful, but the persistent mood of rejoicing seems to have resulted in a heavy, four-square style of chanting; the very first psalm in this selection appears to have enjoyed the assistance of Dr Who’s daleks, whose influence is also apparent elsewhere, and the generally weighty and overloud organ accompaniment seems inimical to any subtlety of dynamics, pace or articulation. There is much to praise in the Wakefield choir’s performance, but the very nature of the project to record the entire psalter has militated against this disc’s success.

Timothy Storey

CHRISTMAS CDs

O MAGNUM MYSTERIUM

Choir of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Dir: Christopher McElroy

Organ: Richard Lea

arr Willcocks O come, all ye faithful; Ding, dong!; Hark! the herald angels; Gardner

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; Trad arr

Carter A maiden most gentle; Angelus ad virginem; Lauridsen O magnum mysterium; Walton All this time; Howells A spotless rose; Stopford In the bleak midwinter; arr Rutter Joy to the world; arr Claire The darkest midnight in December; MacMillan O radiant dawn; Britten A New Year Carol; arr Neaum Sweet little Jesus boy; Warlock Adam lay ybounden; Dandrieu Puer nobis nascitur; Flecha Riu riu chiu; arr Pickard/McElroy When a child is born; Bruckner Virga Jesse; arr Trepte People, look east.

HERALD HAVPCD 392 TT 77:37

In that idle moment do you wonder how many recordings of Christmas carols are made, and who buys them… and why favour this one, and not that one? This CD from Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral offers staple fare, with a few less familiar (to me) pieces in the mix. It is good to hear Philip Stopford’s In the bleak mid-winter – a most pleasant alternative to Harold Darke. Dr A H Claire’s setting of The darkest midnight in December is an affecting number from Ireland, complete with a solo flute and soprano. The inclusion of one of James Macmillan’s Strathclyde Motets O radiant dawn is welcome. When a child is born is deliciously ‘souped up’ by the choir’s director, and showcases the excellent treble line-up.

The choir is in fine voice on the evidence of this disc, and excellently accompanied by Richard Lea. The recording, by Herald, has tackled the extraordinary acoustic of the building with a considerable degree of success. The only casualty of the cavernous echo is clarity of the texts, which often are impenetrable. This shouldn’t detract too much from a pleasant seasonal offering.

Roger Judd

DORMI JESU

Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge

Dir: Geoffrey Webber

Organ: Annie Lydford, Nick Lee Praetorius Es ist ein’ Ros’ entsprungen; Rütti

A Patre unigenitus; Owens The holly and the ivy; Howells Here is the little door; Trad arr Higginbottom Rocking Carol; Hewitt Jones What child is this?; Trad arr Willcocks Sussex Carol; Gruber arr Webber Stille Nacht; Trad In dulci jubilo; Tranchell If ye would hear the angels sing; Villette Hymne à la Vierge; Mathias Wassail Carol; Parsons Ave Maria; Webern Dormi, Jesu; Poulenc Videntes stellam; Walton Make we joy now in this fest; Shaw arr Webber Hills of the North, rejoice; Gabrieli O magnum mysterium; Trad Of the Father’s heart begotten; Karg-Elert Resonet in laudibus.

DELPHIAN DCD 34152 TT 63:28

Christmas at Caius is clearly something out of the ordinary, to judge by this wide-ranging and very attractive anthology, for which Dr Webber and his musicians deserve the highest praise. The singing is free, open and expressive, and the sopranos actually sound like sopranos. There is something here for all to enjoy; organ enthusiasts will be glad to have as a bonus

the Karg-Elert miniature which concludes the proceedings. I was especially pleased by the inclusion of William Mathias’s Wassail Carol, a splendidly joyful work which, I fear, has been somewhat neglected of late. As one might expect, some of the music is arranged by Dr Webber or his friends and former colleagues; noteworthy and especially effective are the carols by his predecessor Peter Tranchell and by former organ scholar Thomas Hewitt Jones. If only Dr Webber had spared us Hills of the North, rejoice, a fine hymn to be sure but here sung in the New English Hymnal’s ghastly bowdlerisation of the original text. Anton Webern’s Dormi Jesu, a duet for soprano and clarinet, is something of a curiosity; the wideranging, angular melody hardly seems ideal for encouraging

the Holy Babe’s slumbers. Equally strange is Es ist ein’ Ros’ entsprungen, a ‘deconstruction’ or perhaps ‘destruction’ of that fine old chorale usually attributed to Praetorius. Snatches of the melody are wrapped in a kind of choral fog, from which they occasionally emerge, rather like some prehistoric beast trying to lift its head from the primordial swamp. A simpler and more approachable treatment such as those by Donald Cashmore or Antony Baldwin would have begun the programme to better effect. All of which merely proves that you cannot please everyone; do not let me put you off buying this CD, which I am sure will be widely enjoyed.

Timothy Storey

DVD REVIEW

A SHROPSHIRE IDYLL

The Organ of St Laurence’s Church, Ludlow

Thomas Trotter

(includes both DVD and stereo CD. The DVD contains audio tracks in Dolby Digital stereo and AC3 5.0 surround. Extra features are in Dolby Digital Stereo)

REGENT REGDVD002 TT 74:19 (DVD), 73:00 (CD)

George Frideric Handel, arr Thomas Trotter Concerto in B flat (op 4, No 2)

Anon Three dances

William Boyce Trumpet Voluntary in D, no 1

Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Edward Elgar

Michael Nyman

Holsworthy Church Bells

Sonata in G (op 28)

Fourths, Mostly

William Walton, arr Herbert Murrill Crown Imperial

The organ in Ludlow is regarded as one of the finest parish church instruments in the country. The 1764 instrument and case was ‘a present’ from the Earl of Powys and both were built by the Swiss organ builder, John Snetzler. A major reordering of the church took place in 1860. The organ was moved from the chancel rood screen to the north transept and rebuilt by Gray & Davison, who added new pipework. In 1900, pneumatic action with a detached console was installed by William Hill. The instrument was rebuilt in 1981 and modernised again in 1997 by Nicholson’s of Malvern.

The programme is designed to reflect the musical history of the church which spans virtually five centuries. Thomas Trotter’s flamboyant arrangement of the Handel concerto displays the diapasons and flutes, whilst the authentic dialogue between the trumpet stops in the Boyce Voluntary is captured most effectively. The carillon mechanism of the church bells in Ludlow makes S S Wesley’s Holsworthy Church Bells an excellent choice with an attractive melody and florid accompanimental figuration. Michael Nyman’s Fourths, Mostly, commissioned in 2001 by the Symphony Hall Birmingham, displays Trotter’s pedal virtuosity and dexterity. However, the Elgar Sonata is the most significant work on the disc and reveals the multitude of colours available on the Ludlow instrument.

The performance of the Sonata is impeccable, although some listeners might appreciate a more poised interpretation

overall, especially as the expression markings are specifically annotated in the score. On a first viewing, the management of the stops is dazzling but can tend to detract from the music. Ironically, simply listening to the CD is an equally if not more fulfilling experience.

This is one of Regent’s first ventures into the DVD market. The editing is acceptable, although some inserts of the church building and surrounding countryside appear rather random. In the ‘Extra features’ section, Trotter alludes to imagining Elgar pedalling his bicycle around the country lanes, but at that point in the music the visual content is one of a busy street with a conspicuous shot of a speed limit sign! However, the facility to view Housman’s poems from A Shropshire Lad on screen before each piece is a stroke of inspiration. Unfortunately, my DVD suffered from some shudder, and there are times when picture quality shows less favourably in comparison with similar DVDs.

Included is an informative booklet with notes by David Gammie and Jane Allsopp. Shaun Ward’s relatively brief and informative history of the organ within ‘Extra features’ is fascinating and moreover Thomas Trotter’s spoken contribution reveals his love not only of the organ but of the beautiful Shropshire countryside.

David Thorne

The world’s finest choral music

‘ the most superb recordings of choral and organ music from some of the world’s finest musical institutions ’ Sydney Organ Journal

ST PETER’S DAY AT YORK MINSTER

A musical celebration of the Patronal Festival

The Choir of York Minster directed by Robert Sharpe, David Pipe (organ)

A sumptuous celebration, with music by Shephard, Purcell, Briggs, Duruflé, Jackson, Stanford, Moore, Harris, Attwood, Howells and Walton

‘If you like to hear choral music performed in its native environment and to submerge you in glorious sound, this will do it ’ Classical Music Sentinel

A YEAR AT ELY

The Choir of Ely Cathedral directed by Paul Trepte, Edmund Aldhouse and Alex Berry (organ)

Includes first recordings of new works written for Ely Cathedral Choir: A jazz-inspired arrangement of ‘Away in a manger ’ by Pat Brandon; ‘Prayer’ by Ben Parry; and ‘Death be not proud’ by Francis Grier, given its first performance on Remembrance Sunday 2014

0845 652 1823

3 choirs.org

excellent recording quality and the unmistakable autumnal sound of the Anglican tradition Hi-Fi Plus

HYMNS FROM BATH ABBEY

The Choir of Bath Abbey directed by Peter King, Marcus Sealy (organ)

24 well-loved hymns sung by the boys, girls and men of Bath Abbey Choir, including some rarities which deserve wider recognition

Any listener who enjoys traditional choral hymn singing will appreciate this CD’ Cross Rhythms

ELGAR FROM SALISBURY

Transcriptions for organ of works by Sir Edward Elgar

John Challenger plays the organ of Salisbury Cathedral Prelude to The Kingdom: Jerusalem, arr Challenger; Idylle, arr Redhead; Imperial March, arr Martin; Meditation from The Light of Life, arr Challenger; Coronation March, arr Brewer; Larghetto from Serenade for Strings, arr Trevor; For the Fallen, arr Grace; Empire March, arr Winpenny; Prelude and Angel’s Farewell from The Dream of Gerontius, arr Brewer

The English Cathedral Series Vol. XIX

PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL

David Humphreys plays the William Hill organ

The first solo recording in many years of the historic William Hill/Harrison & Harrison organ in Peterborough Cathedral, and an invaluable record of the unique tonal qualities of this magnificent instrument at its original high pitch, before the pitch is lowered early in 2015

David Ireson Director Carleton Etherington Organ

Masses by Frank Martin, Darke, Langlais Victoria Requiem. New commission by Matthew Martin. Works by Bairstow, Britten, Finzi, Harvey, Howells and Parry

MONDAY 27 JULY – SUNDAY 2 AUGUST office@tewkesburyabbey.org.uk

01684 850959

A fine disc Sydney Organ Journal

SIR WILLIAM HARRIS

The Complete Works for Organ

Timothy Byram Wigfield plays the organ of St George’s Chapel, Windsor

Harris wrote nearly two and a half hours of solo organ music, ranging from sets of pastoral miniatures to large-scale virtuoso Fantasias Apart from the well-known Sonata and Flourish for an Occasion most of it is unplayed today This double CD set contains many unjustly neglected works being recorded for the first time