Cathedral Music: Autumn 2013

CATHEDRAL MUSIC

CATHEDRAL MUSIC

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CATHEDRAL MUSIC

CATHEDRAL

ISSN 1363-6960 NOVEMBER 2013

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

Deputy Editor Roger Tucker

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CATHEDRAL MUSIC contents

The Magazine of the Friends of Cathedral Music

Those members of FCM stalwart enough to make the long journey to Truro in March of this year were rewarded with a National Gathering which was first class not only in terms of the excellence of the music sung for us by the choirs of the cathedral, but also by the remarkable organisation (courtesy of Peter and Gina Smith) which goes into making the Gatherings such a success. Looking ahead to the next one, in March 2014 we shall be visiting Glasgow and Paisley, the first time FCM has held a gathering in southwest Scotland. You can read about Paisley Abbey, its music, its choirs and its long-serving Organist and Master of the Choristers on p18; George McPhee this year has reached his 50th year at the Abbey.

Widening the scope a little, Dr June Nixon, the doyenne of cathedral music in Australia, is not retiring but ‘changing her priorities’. Once based at St Paul’s Melbourne, the only cathedral in Australia to have a daily choral evensong, she has moved on to concentrate more on composition, but not before training her replacements: two of her pupils are the current sub-organist and assistant organist. The sound of Dr Nixon lives on...

In 2013 The Queen celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of her coronation at Westminster Abbey. This was the fourth coronation

to take place in half a century, a record, surely, in modern times? Tim Storey writes on the music played and sung at each one, and reflects on the disruption such events caused to all the musicians involved -- lay clerks, organists, choristers and others. For instance, for George VI’s coronation in 1937, the boys from York Minster left home on 20th April and did not return until 13th May! And so many people were involved -- over 200 singers took part in 1953.

Continuing on a theme of anniversaries, Philip Moore reaches a milestone birthday this year. He gives CM readers his thoughts on composition: what best to do when faced with a blank piece of (manuscript) paper, his musical development from schoolboy to leading composer, and his regret at the disappearance of writing out orchestral scores by hand.

And there is much else besides: an article from Paul Spicer, on the Benjamin Britten centenary; David Bednall talking about the writing of his Christmas cantata, Welcome All Wonders, Stile Antico’s new disc, The Phoenix Rising, and some reflections on the music at St John’s Hong Kong, recipient of recent FCM funds.

Enjoy the magazine.

Sooty Asquith

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This cathedral style console was commissioned by a private

The

FORTY GOLDEN YEARS

The doyenne of Australia’s cathedral organists, Dr June Nixon, AM, D.Mus (Cantuar), B.Mus (org), Dip.Mus (piano), FRCO (CHM), ARCM, ARSCM, Organist Emerita of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, has stepped down after forty years in post. At her farewell service, the Woods Service setting, anthems, gradual hymn and the organ voluntaries were all her own compositions.

June at the organ

Photo: Van der Toorren

June directs her choir, St Paul’s Melbourne

Photo: Murray Stapleton

Born in Boort, Victoria, June’s grandmother and aunt were followed by her sister as organist of the local church: “There had been a family bottom on the organ bench for almost 100 years,” June wryly explains, “but I was the only one to receive a tertiary education.” Having started piano lessons, June went off by herself to Bendigo High School and matriculated at 16. Feeling that she wasn’t ready for university, she signed herself over to the education department and to teachers’ college, agreeing to teach in primary schools for three years. It was in Bendigo that June first saw someone playing the organ with their feet, realised that this was what she wanted to do, and promptly joined the cathedral choir. She was fortunately awarded an extension of the course which enabled her to study piano (and later organ) at Melbourne University, although she still had to teach for three years, travelling to as many as ten schools each fortnight to take primary music classes.

It was in Melbourne that June’s eyes were really opened. Having grown up in a small country town, where her parents ran a grocery shop seven days a week, being immersed in the cultural activities of the state capital was something completely different. On hearing a choir of men and boys for the first time, she was transfixed by this unique sound, and when told that the qualification to gain as an organist was FRCO (even though she didn’t really know what this involved) she approached a local organist for lessons. “When he asked why I wanted to learn the organ and I replied, ‘So I can gain FRCO,’ he almost fell off the organ bench!” she says.

In 1968 June won a national organ competition, and was awarded postgraduate scholarships for overseas study. She

and her husband Neville decided to go to England. “Neville left his job and we rented a bedsit in London. I exhausted us both by going round each cathedral, listening to their choirs -sometimes three cathedral choirs in a day! -- and often attending rehearsals. I came to realise that each choir is very much an extension of the personality of the choirmaster. Sometimes you listen to a choir and think, ‘I really MUST meet that man!’ and that was the case with hearing Stanley Vann’s choir for the first time. It was so very musical: there was a wonderful combination of technique and emotion, so much so that it was almost spiritual. He and I became very good friends. Another great privilege was sitting up in the organ loft every Sunday at the Temple Church with George Thalben-Ball, an extraordinary experience. What an accompanist he was! It was there that I fell in love with the psalms. GTB did everything by himself back then -- he had no assistant and rarely ventured down to conduct the choir. I also used to observe him rehearsing -- he was so kind and courteous to the choristers, as one should be.”

It was after their return from the UK that the position at St Paul’s Melbourne came up, and June was appointed on Boxing Day 1972, though her formal induction was not until Easter 1973.

June made the decision early on that her priority lay with the choir, and this consumed her energies for the next forty years. Almost from the beginning June taught some of the boys to play the organ in order to have some help in that department. One of her first pupils, Siegfried Franke, is the current Sub Organist at St Paul’s; he and Lachlan Redd, another former pupil and current Assistant Organist, both played brilliantly at June’s last service at St Paul’s on 3rd February 2013.

June surrounded by her choristers

Photo: National Photography

Some of the experiences that stand out for her in the past forty years are obvious: meeting the Pope is one that she first mentions. Another occasion which provokes still strong emotion in her is when the cathedral tower was opened up, an 18-month-process. During that time the organ (a Lewis) was doubly encased in plastic sheeting, while the choir was moved to the side aisle and a large canvas awning divided the chancel area. “It was so horrible during those 18 months – the choir couldn’t hear the organ and it sounded so distant wrapped up in all that stuff. But when the time came for the tower to be opened up, they did it so theatrically. The workmen abseiled down very slowly with the protective curtain, and the lights all came on. The beauty of the building and the RELIEF! I still get emotional about it even now!”

Dean Thomas had not wanted to have an organ appeal, so the great instrument’s condition grew very perilous. Before an ordination, with a 2000-strong congregation, June was playing the heroic first movement of Elgar’s Organ Sonata when there was a vivid flash and the organ came to a halt. The Dean approached and told June that there had been an electrical fault, which might result in fire if the organ continued to be played. So the vast congregation was then accompanied by a

June and the Dean, Andreas Loewe, process out at June’s final service Photo: Murray Stapleton

I squeezed in lessons with Marie-Claire Alain and Lionel Rogg during the year, and won a prize for the CHM diploma. We spent the prize money on a steak for our Christmas dinner!

Presentation to June by Head Chorister Cameron at her farewell party

Photo: Murray Stapleton

somewhat ‘honky-tonk’ piano; as a consequence of this an organ appeal was swiftly launched by the next Dean!

The restoration of the organ in 1990 was, and still is, considered a triumph of sensible conservatism. June was adamant that the work should be entrusted to Harrison & Harrison of Durham. During the organist A. E. Floyd’s time -- he retired in 1947 -- an effort had been made to sort out the pitch of the instrument, as it was nowhere near concert pitch. However, the various bits of felt and foam rubber had not done much for the tone of the organ and Harrisons felt that the pipes all needed to speak at the pitch for which they were voiced, as well as ‘putting the devil back into the reeds’. Instantly the organ became more virile and musical, as well as more powerful, although June acknowledges it is impossible to use in combination with other instruments. However, listening to her talk about her Lewis, it is as if she is talking about someone she knows and loves deeply. She confesses that she “loves the way the sound is so matched to the building – it seems to ooze out of the stonework”.

Likewise, June says that the building, created by the distinguished English architect William Butterfield, affected the sound she wanted to get from the choir, above all a very musical sound. The boys sing in a very controlled and classically developed ‘head voice’, very suited to the core of the cathedral repertoire. It is similar to the sound of King’s under Willcocks and it is also easy to detect more than hints of Stanley Vann’s glorious Peterborough choir, which comes as no surprise. But it is uniquely a sound of St Paul’s Melbourne under June Nixon and has her musical fingerprints on it. ‘Never louder than lovely’ is one of her bon mots, and the ‘St Paul’s sound’ is without the slightest hint of unrefinement or oversinging, supremely controlled, and extremely sensitive to text and liturgy.

Motivating a disparate bunch of boys and men, all tired after a full day of work and travelling, is no easy task. Developing, teaching and maintaining such a sound from them is very hard indeed. June admits that not one day has passed without her thinking about how she could improve the music of the cathedral. The daily round of Choral Evensongs – unique in Australian cathedrals – has proved an all-consuming passion in her life, and she admits that her mood varies tremendously on how well or otherwise her choir is singing.

June acknowledges the debt she owes to her husband, Neville. He is the longest-serving choir member, and the cathedral chapter has acknowledged his contribution by awarding him the title ‘Lay Clerk Emeritus’.

In retirement June plans to do more practice, and expects to have much more time to devote to composing, something she began at the introduction of the Australian prayer book in 1978, when instructed by the then Dean to write music for the new texts. Composing for her own choir she found very rewarding -- she could highlight strengths, play down any weaknesses, consult 40 proof-readers at choir practice, and try out ideas. One of June’s carols, a setting of The Holly and the Ivy, was performed at the Nine Lessons from King’s in 2010, a high point for June. Another one was the Lambeth Doctorate in 1999. “But the most rewarding times come when hearing how our music has touched or even completely changed people’s lives, or when the choir has been a refuge for choristers who were experiencing difficulties in their daily

St Paul’s Melbourne

Photo: Brian Hatfield

lives. Also, to have had the privilege of nurturing musical boys over a number of years, and to be with them as they grow into young adults. To watch them discover a whole new world of music open up before them and see them become totally passionate about it.”

June is happy to hand on to her successors the carefully nurtured, thriving musical ministry of St Paul’s, concluding her farewell speech with words from Herbert Howells: ‘If we consider what music we should want to hear on entering a great cathedral, we should surely, in describing our ideal, say first of all that it must be something different from what is heard elsewhere; that it should be a sacred music devoted to its purpose, a music whose peace should still passion; whose dignity should strengthen our faith; whose unquestioned beauty should find a home in our hearts to cheer us in life and death. What a powerful good such music would have.’

Copies of the DVD made of June’s remarkable time at St Paul’s can be obtained by emailing June herself (june@junenixon.com).

Nave arches and clerestory, St Paul’s Melbourne Photo: Murray Stapleton

Organ pipes at St Paul’s Photo: Murray Stapleton

CM thanks Ross Cobb, Director of Music at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, on whose article the above is based.

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IN HONOUR OF OUR LADY

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BLESSED HOPE!

HAVPCD385. Catholic Meditations with Music. For the season of Advent from the Oxford Oratory.

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THE DAY THOU GAVEST

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Organist: Timothy Ravalde

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MISSA IN ILLO TEMPORE

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MY LORD HAS COME

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Benjamin Britten, 1949 courtesy of Britten100.org

‘AN AGNOSTIC WITH A GREAT LOVE FOR JESUS CHRIST...’ Benjamin

Britten and his Church Music

Britten was a complex and controversial figure. Virtually every aspect of his life has been subjected to forensic scrutiny and the more ‘off-centre’ areas have almost grown to define him in the public consciousness. But in many ways Britten was a conventional man brought up in a relatively commonplace middle-class family and educated at a middle-ofthe-road boarding school and the Royal College of Music. He went to church with his family and he absorbed the Anglican traditions as practised at Gresham’s School. It was here that his first tiny masterpiece, A Hymn to the Virgin at the age of sixteen, demonstrating a feeling for voices and a potential for drama which became such a hallmark of his creative output. At Gresham’s he heard plainsong for the first time, a fundamental discovery for him and one which was to have real significance as his career developed.

It is difficult to pinpoint the degree of Britten’s personal faith. Soon after his institutional obligations were discharged and he could exercise choice, he stopped going to church -- but that does not imply that he lost a sense of spirituality. Peter Pears made the point that ‘he was religious in the general sense of acknowledging a power above greater than ourselves, but he wasn’t a regular church-goer. In his moral attitudes he was Low Church, and therefore inclined to be puritanical.’1 On another occasion Pears remarked that Britten was an agnostic with a great love for Jesus Christ.2 Whatever the truth of the matter, there is no doubt that Christianity played an important part in Britten’s life. Not only does this manifest itself overtly through his liturgical music but it also appears like a leitmotif through his other works and in areas where it might be least expected – think of Peter Grimes. In Graham Elliott’s book Benjamin Britten and the Spiritual Dimension, Elliott quotes a letter which Britten wrote to Imogen Holst in which he remarked, ‘The manner in which you approach the Christian idea delighted me. I used to think that the day when

one could shock people was over – but now I’ve discovered that being simple and considering things of spiritual importance produces violent reactions!’ 3

An important connection was made early in his student days in London when he attended services at St Mark’s, North Audley Street, for the choir of which he was soon to write his C major Te Deum and E flat Jubilate (both written in 1934), and where his extended Wedding Anthem (1949) was also premiered. While there was then a lull in both his church attendance and his liturgical music, 1937 and ’38 saw the composition of music for two large-scale BBC radio features, The Company of Heaven (1937), marking Michaelmas Day, and The World of the Spirit (1938), both using speakers, soloists, choir and orchestra. These two are compelling religious works in their very different ways and are ripe for rediscovery. The World of the Spirit, especially, whilst being completely outside our

Paul Spicer

‘normal’ experience of Britten’s music, is an example of a work which would be highly appealing to any audience given the opportunity of hearing it.

A close friendship grew out of Walter Hussey’s commission of a work for the fiftieth anniversary of St Matthew’s Church, Northampton. The result was Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb (1943), one of his most enduringly and deservedly popular works. Hussey also tried to persuade him to write a Mass setting and Britten considered composing one involving the congregation. This reflected not only his Low Church instincts but also his passion for involving amateurs in music-making. That work never materialized, but in 1959 Britten wrote his iconic Missa Brevis for the boys of Westminster Cathedral on the retirement of George Malcolm. This continued the success of several works for boys’ voices, most notable amongst which was A Ceremony of Carols (1942/3) in which we see not only Britten’s originality, sense of colour, drama and, perhaps most interesting of all, his wide-ranging choice of texts, but also his use of the plainsong which had impressed him so much at school.

It will be clear even from this brief summary that Britten was not a traditional composer dedicated to enriching the Anglican liturgy. Although he did compose settings of familiar texts like the Te Deum and Jubilate (two of each), he was more inspired when responding to less well-trodden literary paths. His enquiring mind led him to team up with some of the most interesting poets and writers of his day, perhaps most notably W. H. Auden, with whom he had been at school. It was Auden who wrote the text for another of Britten’s seminal choral

works, the Hymn to St Cecilia (1942). It was a nice coincidence that Britten was born on St Cecilia’s Day (22 November). This work has a remarkable helter-skelter scherzo-like movement at the words ‘I cannot grow, I have no shadow to run away from’. This is also a feature of the very different but equally dramatic Hymn to St Peter (1955) written for St Peter Mancroft in Norwich and using words from the Gradual of the Feast of St Peter and St Paul. Britten’s four ‘Hymns’ can make an excellent concert group when A Hymn of St Columba is added to those for the Virgin, Cecilia and Peter. The Hymn of St Columba is one of Britten’s most unusual choral works and its premiere was bizarrely given outdoors (via a recording) at Churchill, Co. Donegal, where St Columba is supposed to have preached; it was apparently inaudible because of the strength of the wind! The dark text is reminiscent of the Dies Irae but actually reflects Columba’s missionary zeal, and Britten’s music pulsates with fiery energy.

Two almost unknown pieces of Britten’s liturgical music should be re-examined. The Venite exultemus Domino (1961) is a strangely effective piece. The chant-like phrases sung by the choir are joined up by the organ, which then modulates, taking the choir to new places, the whole thing being completed by a gentle Gloria. In Deus in adjutorium meum, a setting of Psalm 70, extracted from another dramatic work This way to the Tomb (1944/5), Britten writes a passionate anthem which ought to be regularly performed; it is within the reach of any reasonable choir.

Another rarely-performed work which shows the breadth of Britten’s originality is the Antiphon written in 1956 for the

St Matthew’s Church, Northampton

Photo: Rich Lewis (2008)

centenary of St Michael’s College, Tenbury. Britten chose an exuberant text by George Herbert and takes his creative cue from Herbert’s imagery of mankind below and angels above: ‘Praised be the God of Love,/Here below/And here above’. The division is graphically illustrated by the use of lower voices for the earthbound and three solo treble voices for the angels above. The solo trebles sing in a kind of suspended animation – a slower tempo, and phrases which rise and fall like angels’ wings. Having moved backwards and forwards between these two characters the choir eventually re-animates the piece with an exciting fugato which builds up a terrific head of steam with the organ part growing into crashing alternate hand chords and the pedals taking wing from the bottom to the top (literally) of the pedal board. A brief silence, and a choralelike unison line subsides into a magically quiet ending where the three soloists sing first inversion tonic (F major) triads to the word ‘one’ whilst the chorus responds with a variety of lower chords on the word ‘two’. The whole thing resolves onto a widely-spaced chord of F major and everyone singing the word ‘one’. Some have felt this final page to be a touch sentimental. Not a bit of it. It is a wonderfully colourful and effective resolution of the two elements played out throughout the anthem.

Britten’s centenary this year gives us the opportunity to reexamine his compositional output in all its variety. Like a number of other composers who wrote a great deal of choral music, Britten is bedevilled by the popularity of a few works which completely overshadow his other music. A comprehensive guide to his compositions can be had from the Boosey & Hawkes website. This also shows the general level of difficulty of each work and describes both the genesis and nature of each piece together with the kind of challenges a choir might face. There are works for all levels of difficulty from A Boy was Born to the beautiful simplicity of King Herod and the Cock, The Shepherd’s Carol or The Oxen (for upper voices and piano), and of course there is a wealth of music for upper voices including a version of Rejoice in the Lamb for SSAA and organ. For the really curious there are movements which could be extracted from A.M.D.G (1939) such as the mesmerizing Rosa Mystica and Heaven-Haven and from Christ’s Nativity (1931) – another little-known work written just a year before he wrote the remarkable and virtuosic A Boy was Born.

Britten is not often thought of as a composer central to the Anglican choral tradition, but whatever the nature of his faith he was a creative artist for whom the Christian ethic, and its powerful and emotive storylines, was of fundamental importance. Remarkable as it sounds, his music needs rediscovering for a new generation.

Paul Spicer’s practical guide to Britten’s choral works can be found as a download and also on a sampler disc from www.boosey.com/downloads/brittenchoralenglish.pdf

This article first appeared in the RSCM’s Church Music Quarterly

1 Alan Blyth, Remembering Britten, London, 1981, 22

2 Graham Elliott, Benjamin Britten and the Spiritual Dimension, Oxford, 2006, 4

3 ibid

Benjamin Britten 1941 with Auden in New York courtesy Britten100.org

Benjamin Britten 1925 in South Lodge cap and blazer courtesy of Britten100.org

PROFILE CHARLES HARRISON

cathedral tradition encompasses some wonderful music; I think that those who perform it regularly find that it somehow seeps into their mental bedrock. Another great benefit that choristers enjoy is the early exposure to beautiful and powerful language – I knew I loved Coverdale’s psalter before I knew that it was his work, and before I could articulate my reasons! With its vivid emotional intensity and very direct and economical style, it can do much to inform our use and appreciation of language.

What or who made you take up the organ?

From my first service as a probationer in the Minster choir, I was hooked on the organ’s tonal palette and its dynamic range, especially at the loud end of the spectrum. My constant nagging to be allowed to begin lessons must have been quite insufferable! Kenneth Beard gave in when I was 12, even though I was really still too small to cope with the physical demands of the instrument. When Kenneth retired, Paul Hale took over and introduced me to questions of performance practice and style that were very fresh and exciting. David Sanger taught me in Cambridge, and for several years afterwards. His encyclopaedic knowledge of the repertoire and his sheer technical and musical control would have been quite forbidding, but for his equally thorough care and encouragement of his students, and his great kindness.

What stands out about your time at Southwell Minster?

The two indelible memories are of singing at the Royal Maundy service in 1984 and, as a 17-year-old organ scholar, playing the voluntary at the end of a broadcast of choral evensong. Paul Hale must have been taking something of a risk by asking me to do that! I am still very grateful to him for giving me such an opportunity. The early experience of performing under pressure has been invaluable.

Education details:

The Minster School, Southwell Jesus College, Cambridge

Career details to date:

Assistant Organist, Carlisle Cathedral 1995-2000

Director of Music, St George’s Church Belfast and Tutor at Queen’s University, Belfast 2000-2003

Assistant Director of Music and Sub-Organist, Lincoln Cathedral, 2003-present

Were you a chorister, and if so, where? Did you enjoy the experience?

I joined the choir of Southwell Minster in 1982, and managed a seven-year stint as a treble. Kenneth Beard, the then Rector Chori, was tremendously kind and encouraging, and commanded great respect from the boys and men. I loved being part of the rhythm of regular sung services (in those days we never had a day off during term-time), and enjoyed the sense of teamwork and professionalism that the chorister life instils. The English

You won several prizes, when taking your FRCO and also at the St Albans and Odense competitions. Do you think these make a difference in an organist’s career?

I was quite young then, and perhaps a little inclined to the romantic notion that such successes would place me on the lofty staircase to global recognition and a glittering career! They certainly have been helpful – they are evidence of a high standard reached at a particular time, validated by some of the finest musicians in their field – but continuing to be worthy of them demands hard work, musical curiosity and a constant questioning of your ideas. They are best regarded as a waypoint rather than a destination. The perseverance involved in preparing for competitions serves as a useful experience and lesson, and the opportunity of hearing lots of talented musicians with very different approaches is extremely valuable. Also, some of my fellow competitors have become good friends.

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

The French Classical repertoire has, to my surprise, become quite an enthusiasm. While planning my concert programmes at the start of this year, I was considering what to play for my four concerts

in Holland. Organs in the Low Countries were the prototypes of the great French instruments of the 17th and 18th centuries, so they tend to share quite similar tonal palettes. Early French organ music had never excited me much, something about which David Sanger was always disappointed. The repertoire and the instruments are utterly inter-dependent, and the music suddenly made sense when I heard it played with the appropriate gutsy colour of historic instruments. Much of it is essentially dance music: an understanding of that and French manners of the time is a central requirement of anyone seeking to interpret this repertoire. I am also learning some contemporary English works. Frederick Stocken and Joanna Marsh compose music that is witty, taut, fun and accessible without clichés or empty gestures. Some of it works extremely well on historic organs, so can provide welcome variety and sparkle in a programme.

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

As a means of informing interpretation, recordings can be useful, but there is a risk of their serving as a short cut, discouraging performers from doing their own research, from trying out ideas, and from really living with the music for weeks, months or even years. My preference is to refrain from listening to recordings until I am convinced by my own approach. At that point, I open up my ideas to influences from other performers. The contemporary repertoire I mentioned has not yet been recorded, and it is surprising how few recordings of the old French repertoire are readily available. I very much enjoy listening to Anne Elise Smoot playing this music, but aim for a slightly different flavour myself. To complete my already long answer to the question, I encourage my students to listen ‘around’ a piece, with a view to understanding the wider musical milieu of its time. Many years ago, I played one of Franck’s Chorales to Colin Walsh, whose advice included listening to Richard Strauss’s tone poems. Trevor Pinnock’s discs of French harpsichord music have been very helpful in developing my thoughts about organ music by Clérambault, Corrette and Dandrieu.

What was the last CD you bought?

Sibelius Symphonies 6 & 7, Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä.

What is the next recording you will be working on?

We will soon begin work on Lincoln’s second psalms disc in Priory’s new series. Playing the psalms is, for me, one of the most enjoyable parts of an organist’s job. There is great freedom to explore colours and textures, as there is with continuo playing. I prefer to do it quite spontaneously, with just a few markers thought out in advance. The recording will demand a much more carefully planned approach: the slightest discrepancy between one take and another can make the editor’s job impossible.

What is your

a) favourite organ to play?

Hexham Abbey’s organ has an action so responsive that it almost seems to know your musical intentions. It has been many years since I last played it, but I would love to go back there with some trio sonatas!

b) favourite building?

Lincoln Cathedral – it made a deep impression on me long before I went to work there.

c) favourite anthem

Viri Galilaei by Palestrina

d) favourite set of canticles

Stanford in G

e) favourite psalm and accompanying chants?

Psalm 37 to chants by Goss and Stainer

f) favourite organ piece

Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in B minor (or on some days the A minor!)

g) favourite composer

J S Bach

When was your most recent organ recital? Which pieces did you include?

My most recent recital was at the St Nicolai Kirche in Lüneburg, the town where Bach went to school. Dating from 1899, the organ has recently had a very faithful restoration. The organist at the church is a great enthusiast of English music, so there was some Ireland, Howells and Whitlock along with Mozart, Bach and Saint-Saëns.

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

I have vivid memories of the final round of the St Albans competition: the nerves, the anticipation, the vast audience, and the feeling that it was the most important thing I had done at that point in my musical life.

What were your thoughts when you played the organ at the Royal Albert Hall at the Proms? What piece did you play?

I was expecting to feel quite edgy – the audience in the Hall numbered several thousand, and the radio audience probably several hundred thousand. However, the Albert Hall has a very friendly atmosphere: sitting at the organ behind the bust of Sir Henry Wood, I felt almost that the building was embracing the performers in a way that was quite at odds with its vast size. The audience, too, seemed welcoming and enthusiastic. The piece was London Pageant, an orchestral work by Bax, which has the organ crashing in for the last few minutes.

How do you cope with nerves?

In a word, preparation. I endeavour to do at least half an hour of piano exercises every day, even if there is no time for repertoire or accompaniments, and I have got better over the years at planning ahead and allowing plenty of time to feel at home with the music I am playing. Nerves are unpredictable, and I can never be sure in advance how I will feel during a performance. On a good day, the nerves serve a positive purpose, and lend some extra energy and sharpness to the experience of performing.

What are your hobbies?

Exploring remote corners of Scotland, walking, reading, wine, cooking.

Do you play any other instruments?

I enjoy continuo playing on the harpsichord and piano accompaniment. At school I was a reluctant cellist.

Would you recommend life as an organist?

Certainly! It offers a great deal of variety and professional satisfaction to those with the skills, drive and versatility to take it on. For church and cathedral musicians, it offers daily contact with one of the great cultural traditions of this country.

What are the drawbacks?

Perhaps ‘challenges’ is a better word. To do the job well requires hard work and, sometimes, long hours. I think that many of my colleagues would agree that the administrative burden becomes weightier with each passing year, allowing less time for practice, listening and just thinking about music. With the right priorities and discipline, these problems need not be insurmountable, but we need to be aware of them.

“A CONSTANTLY EXCITING

George McPhee, Organist and Master

Paisley Abbey since 1963, talks to Sooty

Paisley Abbey

All photos by Stewart McDougall

CHALLENGE ...” of the Choristers at Asquith

Ididn’t come from a particularly musical family. My father had played piano in a dance band before making the unlikely switch to amateur organist, and my mother was virtually tone deaf. Playing the organ came about really by default, as although I had previously dabbled on the organ in the church where my father played, my main studies at the RSAMD were piano, violin and singing. I still have a great affinity with strings but, since my violin playing was at that stage going nowhere, it was decided in my final year that I should move to the organ. My teacher was Herrick Bunney, then organist of St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, and a giant of the Scottish scene. He both inspired me and opened doors to a fascinating new repertoire, and when a vacancy occurred for an assistant organist at St Giles’ I was fortunate enough to be appointed. At the same time I was accepted for the B.Mus course at Edinburgh University. Later, with a Cross Trust Grant, I was able to study in Siena, Italy, with Fernando Germani, whose playing I had greatly admired, mainly through listening to his recordings of big romantic works.

Paisley Abbey has always had a strong musical presence, and when the post of Organist and Master of the Choristers came up in my final year at Edinburgh, I duly applied and got the job. At the same time, I joined the staff at the RSAMD. My immediate predecessor was J. D. McRae, a Scot who had previously emigrated to Canada. He had the advantage of also teaching in a local secondary school and thus was able to provide the school with good young singers. Before him was Pearce Hosken, an eccentric from all accounts, who hailed from Cornwall.

Our boys can be difficult to recruit. Historically, since the Reformation, they have come from Paisley Grammar School, but now that the Primary Department there has closed down, our choristers are nearly always recruited from

George McPhee

other local schools. Access to schools is, of course, more difficult nowadays for a variety of reasons, not least the recent Child Protection Act. Thankfully, some of the schools are still helpful and even encouraging. In 2000, girls joined the boys on the treble line. Good as they are, I think it’s prudent to keep a healthy ratio of boys to girls. Ideally, in my view, this would be two-thirds boys and one-third girls although, in fact, it’s the other way round here at the moment. In addition to a more or less constant core of adult singers, many of whom are members of the church, there are six choral scholars, who tend to be singing students at the RCS (what was the RSAMD), and funding for these comes from ‘outside’ sources. We were fortunate last year to be given a grant of £15,000 for this purpose from the FCM.

I have served under four ministers. All of these have brought different and, often, refreshing perspectives to worship, whether placing an accent on liturgy or preaching. I have

been lucky in that all have been supportive and encouraging of the music. As with most churches at the present time, congregational attendance has fallen although, on the whole, the support for musical endeavours is apparent. The Paisley Abbey Music Society, comprised of church members, exists to assist in the promotion of musical events and concerts.

In addition to service music, the choir regularly gives concerts, both recorded and broadcast. A very pleasing feature of our services at Christmas and Easter nowadays is the addition of a group of local instrumentalists who accompany the choir and congregation. This year, as part of the 850th celebrations, the Easter Morning Communion was broadcast live on BBC 1.

In the 1960s there began a long association with the great Scottish tenor Kenneth McKellar, and with Decca Records. This in turn led to the EMI and Abbey labels making many recordings of the choir.

In the 1980s we collaborated with the tenor Peter Pears on a number of occasions in, for example, Bach’s St John Passion. Since then we have continued the tradition of annual concerts, mainly of German Baroque music but moving to performances with period instruments. Recently, to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the Abbey, the choir performed Bach’s B minor Mass with Dame Emma Kirkby as one of the soloists -- a great thrill!

Various events at the Abbey have particularly stood out over the years. Known as the ‘Cradle of the Stewart Dynasty’, the Abbey has had several visits from members of the Royal family in the time that I have been here. Then the 1990s saw two international organ festivals. I was Artistic Director of the week-long events, and found it a privilege to be part of their success. I would love to see a revival of these despite the huge funding problems that existed.

Over thirty years, Paisley Abbey has seen quite a few Assistant Organists. All of them have made their mark, and it has been a delight to follow their subsequent careers. All splendid players, they are involved in a variety of musical pursuits. Joseph Cullen became Assistant Director of Music in Westminster Cathedral and Chorus Master of the LSO and Huddersfield Choral Society. He still plays for us occasionally. Peter Nardone has become Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral and Stephen Harris, Alastair Lilley and Oliver Rundell are now involved

In the 1970s we were excited to be asked to contribute to BBC Choral Evensong, the first Presbyterian choir to participate in the series.

looks in occasionally. Our most recent assistant (and local representative of the FCM), Steven McIntyre, has become Organ Scholar at Peterborough Cathedral.

I have somehow combined my teaching and work at the Abbey with recitals, visiting North America at carefully selected times so that my other duties do not get ignored. This is a constant juggling act! While they existed, I was a regular contributor to the Radio 3 series of organ recitals. Otherwise, recitals have been fitted in at home and abroad whenever possible. When I left my full-time position at the RSAMD in the early 1990s, I became Visiting Professor of Organ at St Andrews University. The position has involved recital work on the 1993 Hradetzky instrument as well as teaching in the university’s Music Centre.

Having almost spent a lifetime in teaching, especially at the RSAMD, I try to avoid private work now. In recent years I have been very happy to be associated with the Music Centre at St Andrews, and with the summer school there. Occasionally I will help out if, for instance, a player is seeking advice on an ad hoc basis, and I’m happy to do so. I am also delighted to

and this is a worrying feature for those of us who attempt to maintain standards. If the work is more challenging than ever, an increased determination to succeed spurs me on to ensure that the Abbey’s music will outlast all of us.

The Abbey is one of the very few places of worship affiliated to the Church of Scotland where high liturgical standards form the framework for wide, varied repertoire possibilities. The constantly exciting challenge to maintain this tradition along with an enthusiastic choir has always made it difficult for me to contemplate a move. Although of course it is extremely frustrating at times, hardly a day passes when I don’t feel privileged to be part of this scene. The possibility of making music of the highest quality is a constant thrill.

FCM’s National Gathering in March 2014 is in Glasgow.

Know a child who loves singing?

Salisbury Cathedral Choir offers a wonderful opportunity in a spectacular setting

Voice Trials

School Years 3 and 4

Sat 18 Jan 2014 (boys)

Sat 1 Feb 2014 (girls)

Informal Pre-auditions any time by arrangement

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OUT OF THE ASHES

Sooty Asquith writes on Stile Antico’s new CD, sponsored by the Carnegie UK Trust

Have you heard of the Carnegie UK Trust? Those who answer in the affirmative will often be unable to say what it is or what it does. The website does not help:

ASHES

Carnegie

UK Trust seeks to improve the lives and the wellbeing of people throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland through influencing public policy and demonstrating innovative practice.

In Tony Blair-speak it goes on:

Thinking linked to practice - bring policy and practice closer. Self-critical and reflective. Committed but

challenging.

All that’s missing here is Forward, not back...

Although it’s easy to mock, the Trust has been a power for good for 100 years. In the past, the Trust was involved in supporting communities and voluntary action; now they look further ahead, and to a wider public, with a fouryear Strategic Plan which seeks effective ways of building partnerships and ‘addressing changing issues’.

One of the ways that the Trust is celebrating its centenary this year is by the issue of a CD of Tudor church music, The Phoenix Rising, performed by the remarkable vocal group Stile Antico. In the 1920s, the publication of ten volumes

of this music by the Trust had a considerable impact: for the first time a significant body of the greatest Tudor compositions became accessible to scholars, performers and listeners instead of languishing in cathedrals, museums and colleges. It also inspired a further generation of English composers after its resurrection: Howells, Britten and Vaughan Williams, to name only a few. Fifty of the pieces were published separately, and these are still the most performed: Byrd’s Ave verum corpus, for instance. They form the basis of The Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems, which is still much used in churches and cathedrals around the country. The works on the CD range chronologically from Taverner to Gibbons, taking in Byrd, Tallis, Morley and White along the way. Kate Ashby, soprano with the group, says, “We wanted to choose as wide a variety of music as possible: different scorings and moods, a mixture of English and Latin texts, and at least one piece from all the ‘major’ composers represented.” The result is a sublime mixture, and the winner of three awards.

Stile Antico was founded in 2001 when most of the members were choral scholars at Oxford or Cambridge, a well-trodden path for early music groups. They met in the holidays and put on concerts in Oxford for fun. The set-up of the group has remained the same: twelve singers (three on each voice part) working without a conductor and as a democratic group, each contributing artistically to the musical result. This is unique for a group of their size. Awards include the 2009 Gramophone Award for Early Music for their CD Song of Songs, which also

reached the top of the US Classical Chart. (See p54 for CM’s review of The Phoenix Rising.)

To publicise the CD -- and the work of the Trust -- members of Stile Antico are touring to Cardiff, Dublin and London (Cadogan Hall) and have already been to Scotland and Northern Ireland. The concert in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh was, says Kate Ashby, “Fantastic. It was an ideal acoustic and a lovely audience; a great way to start off the project!” The group will also be running workshops focusing on the repertoire, and have already run a course at Dartington Summer School, where they are regular tutors.

Generally Stile Antico take part in about 40 concerts a year, in the UK, around Europe and in the US. They enjoy touring to the States, which they visit at least once a year, and occasionally get further afield: to Mexico and even to Lebanon.

Plans for the group in 2014 include something new: a foray into twenty-first century music: a programme of Byrd alongside music by James MacMillan. This is being premiered at the Wigmore Hall in March and will be “an interesting challenge”, Kate says. “I’m looking forward to exploring the contrasts in the music by these two great Catholic composers.”

www.stileantico.co.uk

WhtithIAO dhtditd?

What is the IAO and what does it do?

David Bednall compares the writing of his recent Christmas cantata to that of his Requiem

WELCOME ALL WONDERS

Welcome All Wonders was commissioned by Owen Rees, Director of Music at The Queen’s College Oxford in 2011, through the generous sponsorship of Berman Guedes Stretton (architects and designers). It was premiered in the chapel there in the November of that year. It’s a large-scale work for choir, organ and trumpet which spans 15 movements -- I had long wanted to write something sizeable for Queen’s, which was my old college. It celebrates the Christmas story through -- as the CD cover says -- ‘An imaginative selection and juxtaposition of poetry and liturgical texts, and provides a multi-faceted telling of the familiar narrative. The celebratory aspects of Christmas are tainted by darker themes that are inherent to the story but are easily overlooked, culminating in an enlightened and engaging work that explores the Christmas story in a profound manner.’

Christmas is a difficult area in the choice of texts, not least because the possibilities are so great –- it’s like being given the keys to a sweet shop! -- but I was helped hugely by a number of people, in particular the Revd Simon Reynolds (at that time Succentor at St Paul’s). Owen and I decided to follow a traditional route, because the idea was to produce a work which could be performed either as a whole or in separate movements for use as anthems and carols. I sat down one day to make a list of all the important things to feature in the Christmas story – and quickly filled two pages! So I looked at the order of the traditional Nine Lessons and Carols and also at Vaughan Williams’s Hodie to focus the direction of the work, and the movements I wanted began to take shape.

David Bednall

I made the decision early on not to set Biblical texts, with the sole exception of ‘In the beginning’, which appears as the final movement. This was partly because so many of them have matchless settings by Handel, Finzi, Vaughan Williams and others, and also because I decided that the story was so well known that it didn’t require a narrative element; each movement is more in the manner of a meditation or scene. I also wanted to include some of the darker elements of Christmas, both to add perspective, and to help in the writing process, because being permanently joyful is very tiring not just to listen to but also to write! The texts range across wonderful poetry by Pope, Milton, Rossetti and Watts, to more modern poems, Latin texts, and the akathist of the Annunciation; this final text proved particularly difficult to find, and it was Philip Duffy who suggested it in the end.

The sense of drama throughout the piece was important, and a lot of work and planning went into achieving a coherent arc – I’m very pleased with how it came out in this sense, and the texts help to give a less familiar, yet very traditional angle on the story.

The forces (choir, organ and trumpet) were decided as part of the commission, and the use of these for each movement was made because of practicality (to provide a change of texture, or to give to a particular group a moment of respite),

and because of the inherent feel of the texts. In particular, I was keen to include a set of motets for unaccompanied choir which could be performed separately, whilst also being integrated into the whole. The solo trumpet was a request from one of the architects who commissioned it, himself a trumpeter. Musically though, trumpet and also organ are one of the most natural and wonderful combinations; they perfectly complement each other and don’t present too many balance problems either. The trumpet’s triumphant tone and associations fit very well with the Christmas spirit, yet it is also capable of the most beautifully lyrical contributions when required. I also played the trumpet myself many years ago, so it wasn’t a totally strange world either.

Achieving variety and coherence across a considerable timespan (78 minutes) was one of the biggest challenges of all. In a piece like this, there needs to be a constant sense of forward movement and inevitability, although some moments of rest are also necessary so that even a top choir isn’t constantly being taxed. As a whole, Welcome is quite demanding in terms of stamina, but I was keen too that the levels of difficulty across the work should vary, so as to enable choirs of different abilities to perform individual movements. I think one of the great challenges is to write ‘doable’ music which is not trite or dumbed down, and I hope I’ve achieved this; of course, one or two other moments are fairly heaven-storming as well!

Comparing the writing of Welcome to my Requiem, the main difference in terms of the planning stage was the text –- the Requiem text (at least traditionally) is fixed, although you can of course choose movements from this, and indeed add your own. I used the same texts as Duruflé does: his work remains a huge inspiration. Requiem was written for different forces (upper voices and viola) to Welcome, and for an excellent school choir (St Mary’s Calne under Edward Whiting) so the writing in it is therefore somewhat easier to sing (although there are certainly moments of challenge). It was written in 2008 and Welcome in 2011, and I think my language has definitely developed even across those years; the style is slightly more concentrated and the writing more taut, but probably the essential elements remain the same. I try to focus on luminescence and colour, and on a use of extended tonality; I’m also a great believer in the idea that sometimes only a chord of C major will do: we haven’t exhausted its possibilities by any means. For me, writing seems to get harder as time goes on – quality control is higher, and the cupboard of unused ideas is emptier -- but perhaps as a result the writing is often better.

Looking at Requiem and Welcome together, the same problem of achieving variety across a large-scale work arises. Clearly this is easier to solve with SATB, so with just upper voices (as in Requiem) I mixed unison, part writing, occasional solos and semi-chorus. There are the usual balance problems, but these are actually much less an issue than you might think – no more so really than in a full choir.

Both Welcome and Requiem feature a solo orchestral instrument, trumpet for Welcome, viola for Requiem. The viola part came about through a discussion Edward and I had, and I then approached my friend Philip Dukes (whom I knew from his time at Wells Cathedral School), who is one of today’s leading viola players. He was keen to be involved, on the condition that there was a lot for him to do! I have always adored the viola, and a particular favourite piece of mine is Vaughan Williams’s Flos Campi: the combination of voices and viola there works so beautifully. The viola has the wonderful advantage of being able to straddle the girls’ voices – its range allows it to play both above and below them. It also has the most beautiful, mournful tone and, particularly in the hands of Philip (who played for both the premiere and the recording), it gives the work a glowing and deeply moving sound-world of its own.

I could really do with a few more hours on occasion! I do enjoy being busy though, and variety is one of the great things about a musician’s job; I tend to find that more gets done when I am busiest than when there is a great empty space. That said, there are times when a quiet week with just a piano to hand to help with composition is very attractive!

It has been a particularly busy time recently – as well as conducting a recording with the Bristol University Singers, I wrote a large violin and organ piece for the Gough Duo (which they premiered in La Madeleine in Paris), and future projects include a work for the Barnes Festival of Music in 2014. I’m also very honoured to be writing a carol to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of John Sanders (Organist of Gloucester Cathedral) which will be premiered there by Adrian Partington and the cathedral choir on 23rd December 2013 – that building always feels like my spiritual homeland (particularly with its associations with Howells and so many other composers), so it is a rather lovely thing to be doing. And then there are my day jobs...

David Bednall was Organ Scholar at Gloucester Cathedral (2000-2002), and then Assistant Organist at Wells (till 2007) before taking up his present posts. So he is steeped in the English Cathedral tradition, as can be felt in his music. His distinguished organ teachers have included David Briggs and Naji Hakim.

I was asked recently how I find time for composition, given my other commitments as Sub-Organist at Bristol Cathedral and Organist at Bristol University, which is a difficult one to answer.

for boys aged 7 & 8 at any time

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The Royal School of Church Music

The RSCM is committed to achieving the best use of good music in worship. Through training programmes, courses, publications, advice and encouragement, we support church music today and invest in the future.

THE FEAR OF LOOKING AT

Philip Moore, for 25 years Organist and Master of the Music at York Minster, reflects on composition, and the techniques involved.

A BLANK PIECE OF PAPER

Although I have spent the whole of my so-called working life conducting and playing in four choral establishments, composing has always been a part of my musical activity. As a child I wrote hymn tunes and psalm chants as well as a few songs and organ pieces. These early efforts were distinctly mediocre and somewhat crude, but I began to develop ideas about what music I liked and disliked. First lessons in Bach, for the piano, had much appeal. On the other hand, O Lord, how manifold are thy works, by Joseph Barnby, which I once heard at my grandparents’ church, seemed to me, even at the age of ten, to be truly frightful.

During those impressionable years, music began and ended with Bach. As well as playing his music on the piano and the organ, I also took part in a performance at school of the St Matthew Passion, which absolutely bowled me over. Bach seemed to transcend everyone else and still does.

“Brahms and water, me bhoy, and more water than Brahms,” was Stanford’s constant complaint to his pupils. My early efforts at composing were imitations of Bach with much water, a situation that could not continue. I subsequently discovered Vaughan Williams, Howells and Ireland -- his Piano Concerto, and his instrumental works, rather than his church music, which speaks a rather less interesting language. Then

Philip Moore

came Hindemith, in particular his Symphony Mathis der Maler (Matthias the Painter), prompting an elderly aunt, who saw my record of the work, to say: “I didn’t know you liked Mahler.” Tippett’s Concerto for Double String Orchestra and A Child of our Time were other works that demanded total imitation. Britten, too, flew into my orbit, with his Missa Brevis, his Sinfonia da Requiem and more especially the first performance of his War Requiem. In my early and late teens I began writing slavish imitations of these composers and probably still do so. Since those days many other composers, too many to mention, have become gods.

Before leaving school I composed a variety of canticles, anthems, carols and a few organ pieces, along with some chamber and orchestral music. On entering the Royal College of Music I was assigned Alan Ridout as my composition professor, despite having asked for Herbert Howells. Whilst this caused me initial disappointment, Alan was a blessing in disguise, since he was adept at pinpointing areas where my plagiarism was rife. He encouraged careful consideration of form and texture and immediately saw my habit of pale imitation, giving me much help in trying to eradicate it. He also steered me towards writing in a less dense manner, pointing out that music in one, two or three parts can be as effective as music that contains fistfuls of thick chords.

Composing can be a daunting prospect, although there are ways of overcoming the fear of looking at a blank piece of manuscript paper. Some idea of form is vital, whether writing for instruments alone or for voices. Unless you have been asked to set a particular text, choosing the words is the first task, often a time-consuming one. I never write words myself. Some composers have been bold enough to do so, but I am rarely convinced by the results. In many cases the words simply do not do justice to the music. England may at one time have been described as a land without music, but we have never been a land without words. The choice of texts is endless. With the advent of the internet, composers do not need a library of poetry to find words to set.

I try to live with the words for some time before writing, to decide on matters of form, to work out the peak moments and even to decide what the dynamic scheme is likely to be. Word emphasis, too, is vital. Tennyson once complained to Stanford that “so many composers made the notes go up when he wanted them to go down, and down when he wanted them to go up”. He gave as an example Balfe’s setting of Come into the

garden, Maud, and was indignant that the natural lines of the poetry were completely destroyed.

The placing of vowels needs care. Howells, for example, always made sure that high notes did not contain vowels that would have to be modified to make them sound unforced. Much as I admire Leighton’s music, I often wonder why, in the Lord’s Prayer from his Preces and Responses, the trebles have to sing ‘lead’ on a top G, pianissimo.

When setting prose as opposed to poetry, I look for texts that are not too long and that preferably fall into sections. Odd-numbered sections are easier to cope with than evennumbered ones, for you have, thereby, a middle section. When I was Assistant Organist at Canterbury Cathedral, the inspiring Organist, Dr Allan Wicks, was in the forefront of those who took cathedral music into uncharted waters. His postbag would often be full of new works for his consideration. He once took a look at a new anthem, I forget which, and said, “Too many words and not enough notes!” It was a comment I took to heart.

I try to keep in mind the choir for which I am writing, if possible listening to them before composing. This gives a clear insight into what is needed, and can make the difference between success and failure. I was recently asked to write some evening canticles for St John’s College Oxford. I had read about their new, piston-less, almost totally unenclosed Aubertin organ, and was concerned about its abilities as an accompanying instrument. Having attended Evensong, I stumbled upon the idea (I hope successful) of writing canticles accompanied by

the chamber organ, with a separate part for the main organ – on the lines of masses by Vierne, Langlais and Widor.

relation to what has been written subsequently. The only way around this is to use a metronome, and to check it frequently. When writing in a conventional style – for example a song, or even a hymn tune -- a clear melody backed by a strong bass line is worth its weight in gold. Pupils of Brahms would sometimes find their efforts tested by the simple expedient of covering up all but the bass and treble lines.

In the confines of a music room, or on a train, it is easy to write over-abrupt endings. A rallentando can be written into a work, rather than asking for a sudden application of brakes. The closing bars of Stanford’s Magnificat in A, and the end of the Nunc Dimittis from the same work, are perfect examples of written-out rallentandi

The more details that can be fixed on paper, the quicker will be the inputting process. A sad by-product of Sibelius is that fair copies are no longer handwritten. Although some manuscripts are notoriously scruffy, others are works of art. I wonder if there would be quite so many composers if we all still had to write with pen and ink? It was labour-intensive. Even looking at the full score of my Organ Concerto, the last large-scale work I wrote before acquiring Sibelius, makes me feel exhausted.

I sometimes write away from the piano, especially with music that is fairly straightforward, and while on long train or aeroplane journeys. Initial ideas can sometimes be more easily sorted out without a keyboard, but I use a piano more often than not. When Vaughan Williams went to Ravel in order to acquire ‘a little French polish’, Ravel was distressed to learn that there was no piano in the hotel where Vaughan Williams was staying. “How can you invent new harmonies?” he asked.

The question of dynamics is another area that needs care. Do composers who write pppp really mean what they ask for? Sometimes volume can be written into a piece by the tessitura of the voices. I recently conducted Byrd’s Mass for four voices I did not have to tell the choir to sing the last section of Kyrie more loudly. By placing the voices higher, the music dictated its own volume and intensity.

It is sensible to decide whether to write in two, three, four or five or more parts. Occasional divisi are effective but can easily be overdone. Economy is a useful watchword. Sometimes the greater the forces, the thinner the overall harmony can be. Much of the climax of ‘Praise to the holiest’ from Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius is only in three real parts, even though there are doublings in both the large orchestra and the choirs. ‘And the glory of the Lord’ from Handel’s Messiah is another fine example of economy in word-setting, where singers have plenty of rests and each part is, at various times, allowed to shine on its own.

As a composition progresses, the speed often increases imperceptibly, so that the opening tempo can bear little

many composers had individual voices and wrote music that was instantly recognisable. Recently, however, Morten Lauridsen (of O magnum mysterium fame) has spawned a whole clutch of composers who write music that often eschews counterpoint and relies on clusters of tones and semitones, with individual vocal lines that divide, ad lib, into two, three or even four parts. This is all very well if you have a large number of expert singers, but you are sunk if your choir has only two voices per part, or if your choir is one of only modest ability. The sounds produced by this sort of music are sometimes very beautiful and there can

Although I use Sibelius software for the finished product, I always start with paper, pencil and, most importantly, an eraser. I never write straight into the computer.

Nothing can beat hearing aloud what you are writing. There is a parallel here with poetry, for it comes alive when declaimed rather than being read silently.

be no doubt that Lauridsen and his devotees have begun to raise the status of choral music onto a level almost akin to that of pop music, but I do wonder if some of this music is empty of ideas.

The style is one that is quite easy to imitate. Tempi are usually slow, which speeds up the process of composing, for the simple reason that slow music does not take so long to write. There is often much repetition – not difficult with the copy and paste technique – while rests are sometimes noticeably absent, with no obvious places for taking breaths. Such music is often described as mystical, numinous, or perhaps even spiritual. But does this style really add up to any of these things? I cannot help feeling that there may be some truth in the words of Geoff Brown, a music critic writing in The Times, who recently described one such composer as ‘using vowels for his own delectation, while writing music that has the substance of an empty paper bag – albeit a very colourful one’.

Composers should not be afraid to write counterpoint, or memorable four - part harmony. Does Mr Laurisden’s composition kit really produce results that are in the same league as, for example, Poulenc’s spine-chilling setting of O magnum mysterium? Or Messiaen’s incense-laden O sacrum convivium? Or Walton’s heart-rending Drop, drop, slow tears? I think not, although I know there are those who will disagree.

None of the works mentioned above is in more than four parts, but the harmony has such individuality and distinction that divisi are simply not necessary. If you are going to write in multiple parts, why can they not be real parts and not just juicy effects? Tallis’s Spem in alium is in forty parts – eight five-part choirs -- but they are real parts, and not just a string of chords. Vaughan Williams, in the first of his Three Shakespeare Songs, Ding dong bell, uses clusters to great effect, but not simply for their own sake.

I hope these reflections may be of some interest. For those intrigued to know what is on the drawing board at the moment, a quartet for flute, violin, viola and cello, based on folk tunes, is slowly taking shape. It is a welcome change from the pressures of writing choral music.

The Choir of Westminster Abbey

The only specialist Choir School in the UK

James O’Donnell Organist and Master of the Choristers

Jonathan Milton Headmaster

All boys receive a substantial Choral Scholarship

Why not come for an informal audition?

(Boys aged 7 or 8)

Details from: Westminster Abbey Choir School Dean’s Yard, London SW1P 3NY

Telephone: 020 7222 6151

Email: headmaster@westminster-abbey.org

www.westminster-abbey.org

enquiries@howellstrust.org.uk

PROFILE BENJAMIN CHEWTER

Were you a chorister, and if so, where? Did you enjoy the experience?

Although not a cathedral chorister, I was a chorister at school, under Mark Wardell and Peter Allwood. It was a great experience to get to know the standard Anglican repertoire within a relatively short space of time, and Howells’ Collegium Regale Te Deum was always a particular favourite!

What did you enjoy most about being Organ Scholar at Westminster Abbey?

It is very difficult to single out any particular aspect of that year; suffice it to say that it was a tremendous privilege to accompany (and occasionally direct) the Abbey choir, to work with James O’Donnell, Robert Quinney, Ashley Grote and Jamie McVinnie, and to become accustomed to performing regularly in such a high-profile setting.

What or who made you take up the organ?

I approached the organ in a rather unusual way. My father played the organ in the Baptist church we attended in Eastbourne, Sussex (which essentially inspired me to start learning the organ) and we had a small electronic organ at home. From the age of about 6, I was self-taught. The good thing about this was that I had immense enthusiasm; the bad thing was that I had no technique! It was only when I went to secondary school at 11 (under the exacting and inspiring tuition of Mark Wardell, Joanna Marsh and Adrian Bawtree) that I learnt the basis of a good manual and pedal technique; I also started piano lessons at the same time.

You frequently give recitals abroad. Do you have any favourite venues?

Although no one particular venue stands out, I always love playing in Germany. Audiences are generally very large, attentive and enthusiastic (particularly about English music!) and most recitals are reviewed in the local press. The German church tax (Kirchensteuer) helps to ensure that the organs and churches are in very good condition, too.

Which pieces of contemporary music have impressed you?

Education details:

Christ’s Hospital School, Horsham, Sussex

Emmanuel College, Cambridge (Music)

Career details to date:

Organ Scholar, Canterbury Cathedral (2002-3)

Organ Scholar, Emmanuel College, Cambridge (2003-7)

Organ Scholar, Westminster Abbey (2007-8)

Assistant Organist, Lincoln Cathedral (2008-11)

Assistant Director of Music, Chester Cathedral (2011- )

It’s not exactly contemporary (although it still sounds like it!), but Messiaen’s Messe de la Pentecôte is a piece that I have played regularly over the last few years and -- as with all great music -- constantly discover new things every time I play it. Nothing beats the beautifully-wrought birdsong sections, or the dazzling cadenza at the end of the Sortie ! I always enjoy the music of James MacMillan (the nave choir here at Chester recently sang his Mass setting in Munich), Gabriel Jackson, Philip Moore, Howard Skempton, Matthew Martin and Francis Pott, whose Chester Service we premiered last year.

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

I have just finished learning Mozart’s Fantasia in F minor K608, in Martin Haselbock’s transcription. It’s a piece that I have

known for many years from Simon Preston’s Westminster Abbey recording, and I have wanted to learn it for some time. It’s not the easiest piece in the repertoire, but what astonishing music! I have also just finished learning Franck’s Fantasie in C and Reger’s Introduction and Passacaglia in D minor

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

I tend to learn repertoire first and then listen to recordings, just to see how other performers approach the music. It’s a little more complicated with the Mozart, as the transcriptions vary rather dramatically, but I have found Gillian Weir’s Hexham Abbey recording particularly instructive. With any interpretation, one has to makes one’s own decisions. It wouldn’t really work if I was thinking ‘How would Olivier Latry play this?’ or ‘How would Hans Fagius phrase this?’ -- one has to start with the score, make the necessary decisions about stylistic or registrational issues, decide what is successful on the particular organ (and acoustic) that one is using, and build up an interpretation from there. It’s then interesting to listen to several different recordings to see what other people have done! With the Franck, for example, it was particularly revealing to compare the Langlais recording with Vincent Dubois’s live recording -- both very different.

Who are or were your teachers?

My current teachers are David Briggs for improvisation and Stephen Farr for repertoire; I had additional tuition at Cambridge from David Sanger and at Lincoln with Colin Walsh (particularly in French repertoire) and Charles Harrison.

What was the last CD you bought?

Knussen conducts Knussen, which is a collection of Oliver Knussen’s smaller orchestral works played by the London Sinfonietta under the direction of the composer. His music is fascinating -- exceptionally well-crafted, colourful and precise -- rather like twenty-first century Ravel.

What was the last recording you were working on?

The organ here at Chester is in need of renovation; the last rebuild took place in 1970! The sound is as glorious as ever, but the action, console and electronic parts are now very worn after forty-three years’ constant use. In order to help raise money for the forthcoming rebuild, with Philip (Rushforth)’s encouragement I recorded a disc of popular organ music (Widor Toccata, Mendelssohn War March of the Priests etc) with slightly less well-known but accessible repertoire (Reger Weihnachten, Dupré Prelude and Fugue in B major), which was launched last February.

What is your

a) favourite organ to play?

Although I love the grandeur of the Chester organ, the Lincoln organ has to be the best that I have played in the UK. Outside the UK, the stunning 1739 Cacheux-Fremat organ in St Walburga in Bruges and the Cavaillé-Coll at St-Sernin, Toulouse both stand out as favourites.

b) favourite building?

It would have to be a blend of Westminster Abbey, Canterbury, Lincoln and Gloucester Cathedrals!

c) favourite anthem?

Anything by Purcell or Gibbons

d) favourite set of canticles?

Leighton Second Service

e) favourite psalm and accompanying chants?

I don’t have a favourite psalm (all of them are equally spiritually rich) but always find Psalm 22 particularly moving, especially when sung on Maundy Thursday. It is a completely accurate prophecy

of Jesus’s crucifixion and it’s extraordinary to think that it was regularly sung in the temple 500 years before crucifixion was even invented by the Romans. Roger Fisher’s beautiful chant to Psalm 23 is always a musical high point of the month at Chester. f) favourite organ piece?

Sicilienne from Duruflé’s Suite Op. 5 or the Bach ‘St Anne’ Fugue. g) favourite composer?

J S Bach. Someone once said that ‘You can bring to Bach’s music nothing except your respect’ and I know exactly what they mean!

What pieces did you include at your most recent organ recording?

I played a recital at St Paul’s Cathedral in August, which included Contrapunctus I from Bach’s Art of Fugue, Franck’s Fantasie in C, Le jardin suspendu by Alain and Reger’s Introduction and Passacaglia in D minor

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

Playing at Riga Cathedral last Easter for a concert with Collegium Vocale (Munich) was a particularly memorable experience, not least because it was recorded for Latvian radio. The organ is a huge 1883 Walcker -- it is in need of mechanical restoration, but the sound is marvellous. Another highlight was playing Francis Pott’s Chester Service (which has an extremely challenging and rapid organ part) with Chester Cathedral Choir live on the radio last year.

Has any particular recording inspired you?

There are many, but Olivier Latry’s recording of the complete Duruflé organ works from St-Etienne-du-Mont is one that stands out.

How do you cope with nerves?

Practice! For me, this preparation starts in the earliest stages of learning a piece. I find that it’s important to start learning the notes slowly but fluently before building up the tempo, so that the brain can absorb all that is needed. Then the performance will feel more relaxed as one is completely on top of the notes and therefore able to concentrate on the music (and listen to the organ and acoustic).

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy walking, photography (though as a photographer, my L-plates are still firmly in place!), reading and listening to any of the Sibelius symphonies.

Do you play any other instruments?

I played the cello and piano at school and still enjoy playing chamber music and accompanying singers on the piano.

Would you recommend life as an organist?

Certainly. It’s a very focused (and specialised) job, but is immensely rewarding. It’s also very musically healthy to do so much choral conducting too. I am very fortunate to work with Philip Rushforth and Geoffrey Woollatt, and to direct the cathedral choir and nave choir so frequently in addition to playing the organ. As a Christian, I’m very grateful to be working in an environment in which professional skill and spiritual benefit are combined.

What are the drawbacks?

I think it’s vital for organists to listen to other forms of music, particularly chamber music, orchestral music and opera. It is all too easy to become musically insular as an organist, and there is so much more out there!

St John’s Cathedral

All photos courtesy of ‘Echo’, Hong Kong

WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?

Debbie McGowan from St John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong talks about a far-flung recipient of FCM funds

The Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist is one of the most interesting landmarks in Hong Kong, and its origins go back to soon after Queen Victoria’s naval officers landed on this ‘barren island’ on 25 January 1841. It is thought to be East Asia’s oldest Anglican church (now declared a monument), having opened on 11 March 1849, a few years after the famous Happy Valley horseracing course was established (what does that tell us about colonial priorities!). It has had a fascinating history, led by a dedicated group of clergy and residents. During the latter part of WWII, the cathedral was used as a clubhouse by the Japanese but on Christmas Day morning 1941, the Revd Alaric P. Rose presided over the morning service (with around 100 congregants), whilst the shelling continued.

The Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong (its formal name since the British handover to China on 30 June 1997) comprises three distinct ‘areas’ – Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and The New Territories. St John’s is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Hong Kong Island and the focus of the Province of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui. It also houses the seat of the Archbishop of Hong Kong. It is deeply rooted in the traditions of Anglicanism, and stands in the heart of the city’s financial district. Architecturally, it provides a wonderful contrast between old and new, traditional and modern, tranquil and frenetic. There are three daughter churches – in Stanley in the south west of HK Island, Emmanuel (Pokfulam) on the north west of the Island, and in Discovery Bay, a family-orientated community based on Lantau (the largest of Hong Kong’s 250 islands). St John’s Cathedral also serves the wider community through a variety of outreach ministries such as an HIV Education Centre and ‘Helpers for Domestic Helpers’.

According to one of the choir’s basses, Li Tsz Ha, who is also our recording technician and archivist, there is evidence to suggest that the first choir was established in the 1850s and it is likely that ladies were included right from the start. It is certainly known that the first organist and choirmaster, Mr C F A Sangster, was appointed in 1860, and around the same time, a pipe organ was erected (built by Bryceson & Son), with three manuals and 30 stops. The organ has been altered frequently since then, replaced in 1887 with one built by J W Walker & Sons, a complete rebuild in 1911, reconstruction in 1927, overhaul in 1936 and finally dismantlement in 1949 when an

electronic organ was put in place. The current four-manual electronic organ was installed in 2001. Whether this will ever be replaced with a real pipe organ again is debatable, given the challenges of the Hong Kong climate, though there continue to be significant developments in building organs for tropical climes.

Robing for the choir in those days was particularly formal and it wasn’t until the late 1930s that lady choir members were allowed to dispense with wearing hats! Consider how uncomfortable that was in temperatures over 30°C, with humidity approaching 100% and the only respite being from the manually operated punkas (fans). There are photographs to suggest that boy trebles sang with the choir at various times, though this practice seems to have been discontinued in the 1980s/90s.

There have been nine choirmasters/mistresses throughout the history of the cathedral, but only two in the last six decades! Mrs Cecilia Kwok became the eighth person to take up the role in 1954 and throughout her early years, the choir expanded to more than 80 members. Under her leadership the choir and music at St John’s thrived, many of her protégés going on to become outstanding musicians. Mrs Kwok remained as organist until 1991 when she was succeeded by Peter Yue, one of her pupils and a St Paul’s College alumnus.

In 1979, Raymond Fu (also one of Mrs Kwok’s pupils) became choirmaster and remains so to this day. Mr Fu is head of the Music Department at St Paul’s College and this ensures a steady supply of talented male singers. In 2012, the choir stalls were restored to their original decani and cantoris setting, after four decades directly facing the nave. Simultaneously, appropriate lighting was added to the stalls, together with air conditioning in the chancel, which has enhanced the conditions for clergy, servers, choir members and organist considerably!

The choir now comprises a diverse voluntary group of 40strong musicians who sing at the weekly 9am Eucharist and monthly choral Matins as well as weddings, funerals, memorials and additional special services (the most recent was to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee). In future, it may be a natural development to expand this to Choral Evensong, perhaps even during the week. The choir adheres mainly to the standard Anglican cathedral repertoire, from renaissance

music to pieces commissioned from, and written specially for us by, contemporary composers: for example an Evensong setting by the Hong Kong composer Daniel Law; A Garland of Carols by Anthony Bolton and a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Christopher Gower, who has been a regular and welcome visitor. During festivals, it always heightens the experience for the congregation when the cathedral brass joins us and there is at least one orchestral mass annually.

Some choir members, reflecting the transitory nature of parts of Hong Kong’s community, stay for little more than a few years. Others remain longer and we have 20-30 year veterans amongst us. Given the demands of life in Hong Kong, for both business and travel and for education overseas, the choir rarely exceeds 30 members so the planning of music schedules remains one of the biggest challenges for the choirmaster.

The choir is a happy mix of young and old and has a wide range of nationalities – about 50% Hong Kong Chinese, with the rest made up of British and North Americans, plus currently a Japanese, a Singaporean and a Finn. Recently, there have been French, German and mainland China members, but inexplicably never an Australian. Throughout the year we benefit from the presence of visiting ABRSM examiners, who sing with us and often direct.

Whilst we mainly sing in English, German, Latin and (occasionally) Russian, sometimes Chinese is preferred (both Cantonese and English are the official languages of Hong Kong). The reader can perhaps imagine the challenge this presents in psalm singing! A ‘Chinglish’ version of the psalm is provided, though our gweilos (local slang for westerners, literally translated meaning white ghosts or foreign devils) usually have little idea what is being sung or which words to stress.

There is healthy progress in the development of the choir and the cathedral music department is expanding. The appointment of Felix Yeung as Sub-Organist (recently returned from The Royal Academy of Music and being the Pettman Organ Scholar at the London Oratory) is but one example. The standard of singing steadily improves and our repertoire is being broadened. We are gaining support and sponsorship from generous organisations such as FCM; these help to provide the resources to continue to enhance our standards through, for example, paid part-leaders who could provide the added dimension of greater consistency, both in vocal quality and attendance levels.

Occasionally, the choir sings at other venues. Recent examples include a series of three prayer concerts consisting of excerpts from Messiah at the Roman Catholic cathedral and The Church of Christ in China, in conjunction with their choirs. Last year we visited Macau, which is also a Special Administrative Region of China, about 40km west of Hong Kong (it was handed back by the Portuguese in 1999). We gave a concert in the Roman Catholic cathedral and sang at services in the Morrison Chapel and St Mark’s. The choir also took part in workshops to assist local Anglican choirs with a new communion setting. Exploratory discussions have begun for the choir to visit mainland China – first Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and then perhaps Shanghai.

In the 1950s, the choir used to sing at the annual carol service at Government House on the invitation of the Governor. At the final such occasion in 1996, Chris Patten thanked the choir

for their service over many years and commented that choirs always seem to outlast governments! As a complete contrast, we also sing carols at Stanley Prison. This is a meaningful occasion for members and is part of the diocese’s outreach work that we participate in.

The cathedral clergy have been very supportive over the years and it is particularly fortuitous when, as in recent times, we are blessed with a musical dean. The choir is an integral part of cathedral life and over the past twenty years at least four members have been ordained; they now minister in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, California and at St John’s itself (Revd Hugh Phillipson, who is choir chaplain).

The cathedral has a seating capacity of around 620 (including choir stalls and chancel) and regularly the services are ‘standing room only’. At Christmas the recently installed video screens are linked to the adjacent Li Hall and gardens. The local radio station, RTHK, broadcasts services, and we are currently investigating how to enhance our own recordings to reach a wider congregation, with the aspiration of having more than just sermons online.

The congregation is as diverse as the choir in terms of nationalities, which is why we offer 8 services in 4 languages

(English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Filipino) over the weekend with an average Sunday attendance of 1,500 people. In the late 1980s a Mandarin choir was set up along with the establishment of a Mandarin service. At first there were four members – two Hong Kong Chinese, a Canadian and an Englishman (all Mandarin speakers and known perhaps inevitably as ‘The Gang of Four’). No one, however, can remember them ever singing in Mandarin – Welsh, Latin, German and English, yes - but never Mandarin! The Mandarin Choir of today, under the direction of Assistant Choir Master, Alan Tsang, is a far cry from those modest origins and consists of about 25 accomplished singers.

There is also a Filipina choir which sings at the Sunday service conducted in Tagalog. A Sunday Evensong choir, which sings once a month, comprises some main choir members and other aspiring musicians who may not be able to commit to the demands of being in the main choir.

St John’s Cathedral has a thriving Sunday School and, unsurprisingly, this has generated real enthusiasm for the children to express themselves through singing. Since May 2006, there has been a children’s choir (led by Shirley Fu, wife of the choirmaster) which provides choral support for the monthly Family All-Age Service. The choir has grown from one

class to three, and encourages children aged 4-11 years old to participate. The focus is on choral techniques, rhythm patterns, sight-reading and vocal/aural training, and the children learn songs based on scripture stories. Most of the children are local Chinese but they sing nearly all their music in English. Some children can speak and sing Cantonese, Mandarin and English before they reach secondary age – their linguistic skills put many of us to shame!

The children’s choir joins the cathedral choir occasionally for services. It is significant that both choirs are commissioned together by the Dean at a dedicated service every September, which is a good opportunity to re-state individual and collective commitment to the highest musical standards of which we are capable, to be regular in attendance and to lead worship with reverence and care.

We are always very pleased to greet visitors to St John’s. If any readers find themselves in Hong Kong, please do join us on Sunday mornings – you will find a very welcoming atmosphere. And for those who might be prompted to learn more about St John’s, more information can be found on the website www.stjohnscathedral.org.hk or in Stuart Wolfendale’s new book Imperial to International: A History of St John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong.

A man with a vision (1931-2013) MILES AMHERST by

Roy Massey

iles Amherst, on his first sight of Tewkesbury Abbey on a glorious April day in 1952, was much moved by its magnificence and atmosphere of holiness. He also recognised that it had the most splendid acoustic for choral music, and at once was taken with the idea that he should start a choir school to provide a choir of men and boys to sing daily Evensong in that lovely place.

Miles was the son of a chartered accountant who played the organ and directed the local church choir of men and boys as a hobby. His mother had trained as a concert pianist at the Royal Academy. Miles attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford (though not as a chorister), progressed to Blundells School in Devon and from thence to Selwyn, where he read for a general science degree. He went into teaching, and coupled his school posts with singing alto in several firstclass choirs. He taught for years at The King’s School, Ely, and had ambitions to open his own prep school.

In 1973 the premises of the former Tewkesbury High School for Girls came onto the market and as this was just opposite the Abbey, it was ideally placed for the realisation of Miles’s original dream. Michael Peterson, the Abbey organist, quietly shouldered the responsibility for training the choristers as he was already in charge of the Abbey choir of men and boys. The newly formed Abbey School Choir sang their first Evensong in 1974 and the school quickly grew to its target size of 70 boys. Staff were recruited to sing the lower parts, and thus the fledgling choral foundation got under way.

Amherst was a thoroughly old-school, larger-than-life character with enormous passion, single-mindedness and drive. The atmosphere in the school was lively, encouraging and enthusiastic, and academic results were excellent. He also recruited like-minded talented teachers and gave them considerable scope to develop their own style. Consequently, the staff as well as the children loved him, even though he occasionally drove them all mad when he had yet another bright idea.

He was a well-known figure in the town, becoming an enthusiastic Rotarian and, later, resurrecting the Tewkesbury Town band, which had lain dormant for 35 years. He supplied many of the instruments and conducted it himself until a better-qualified bandmaster could be appointed. Miles carried all before him with his boundless generosity, enthusiasm and vigorous ‘can do’ attitude, and the choir under Peterson and successive choirmasters thrived, with regular broadcasts, recordings, concerts and tours to places as far afield as the USA, Venice, Belgium, Germany and Russia. Its recordings

Miles Amherst, Jill Amherst, Ian Matheson and A N Other

Michael Peterson, Miles Amherst and Robin Otter

also received acclaim from the critics, who compared it very favourably with cathedral and collegiate foundations.

Miles retired as Headmaster at Christmas in 1990, but remained as chairman of the governors and of the choral scholarship trustees. His chairmanship was much appreciated, as he never allowed meetings to last longer than an hour, and more than adequate refreshments were always provided at the close of business. Succeeding headmasters continued his work very successfully, but sadly the school succumbed to falling rolls and a national decline in the available number of primaryaged children. It closed in 2006. However, thanks to the intervention of a sympathetic Cheltenham headmaster, the strong support of a new Tewkesbury vicar and a determined

director of the choir, the choristers were transferred to Dean Close Preparatory School in Cheltenham and, sporting their new title of Schola Cantorum of Tewkesbury Abbey and Dean Close School, continue to sing four Choral Evensongs a week in the Abbey.

So Miles Amherst’s musical vision lives on in all its splendour, as the choir he founded still sings weekday services in the wonderful building which was at once his inspiration and one of the great loves of his life. He also never lost his affection for his old Cambridge college, where the chapel services have been enriched in recent times by his gift of a beautiful continuo organ built by Kenneth Tickell.

FCM grants were made to Tewkesbury in 1986: £8000, 1998: £10,000, 2006/7: £30,000 (a part of the rescue package) and lastly this year: £20,000; a total of £68,000 over the years.

Schola Cantorum choristers today

FOUR CORONATIONS IN HALF A CENTURY by Timothy Storey

Since the seventeenth century the Coronation Service has been a choral celebration of the Holy Communion (strictly according to the Book of Common Prayer, so without the Benedictus and Agnus Dei), preceded and interrupted by the various ceremonies to do with the new monarch. There were four coronations between 1902 and 1953, a record without parallel in recent centuries, and there is a distinct family likeness between all four, not least in the musical arrangements. The coronations of George IV (1821), William IV (1831), and Victoria (1838) had been rather meagre affairs; something better seemed to be required for Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902. During Victoria’s long reign there had been a great revival in the religious life of the nation, not least in the Established Church; and the ‘English Musical Renaissance’ was well under way, closely identified with the composers Parry and Stanford and their pupils at the Royal College of Music, of which the new king was an active and well-informed patron. His rather raffish and debauched image tends to obscure the more serious and cultured side of his personality.

It might be assumed that the Master of the King’s Music would be in charge, but that official’s historic function was to direct the sovereign’s private band. It was no more than

a useful coincidence that in 1902 the post was held by one of the country’s most eminent church musicians, Sir Walter Parratt, the Organist of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. At many coronations the music had been directed (and on some occasions also composed) by the Organist of H M Chapels Royal, who by another set of useful coincidences had sometimes been also the Organist of Westminster Abbey.1 The Abbey’s organist2 had not been allowed to play at Queen Victoria’s coronation because the Organist of the Chapel Royal, Sir George Smart,3 claimed that privilege.4 In 1902 a new organist of the Chapel Royal had just been appointed, Walter Alcock5, who was also assistant at the Abbey; he played the organ at no fewer than three coronations (1902, 1911 and 1937) but it was hardly to be expected that the assistant would be selected to take charge in preference to the organist. In 1902 the organist of Westminster Abbey, Sir Frederick Bridge, was chosen; as he explained:

“It was not at all a foregone conclusion that I should be selected as ‘chief musician’. For the purposes of a coronation the Abbey is taken over and administered by a coronation committee, of which the Earl-Marshal is hereditary head; and this committee can recommend whom they please to direct the music. So far as I can learn, no organist of the Abbey since

Purcell’s time had directed the music of a coronation until it fell to my lot to do so.”6

Sir Edward Bairstow described Bridge as ‘a man who, after he had embarked on an undertaking, never left a stone unturned to bring it to a successful conclusion’.7 His most successful and lasting innovations were the assembly of a much larger body of singers than had been usual, and the selection of a varied musical programme ‘which would embrace a period of five centuries of English Church music’;8 it had been usual for music to be composed specially by a single composer e.g. Handel in 1727 (George II) and Boyce in 1761 (George III). The singers had traditionally been the combined choirs of the Abbey, St George’s, Windsor, the Chapel Royal and St Paul’s, a somewhat meagre force which had sometimes had to be stiffened by sopranos. Bridge assembled a large orchestra and a super-sized cathedral choir composed solely of boys and men; the choirs of the Abbey, St George’s, Windsor, the Chapel Royal and St Paul’s were included, all far more efficient and in many cases much enlarged after Victorian reforms, together with the complete choir of Rochester Cathedral, where Bridge had been a chorister, and a few representatives from cathedral and collegiate churches throughout the country, and from London’s most important churches. The all-male church choir was a Victorian ideal which continued to be upheld well after the Second World War, and the choirs assembled for the coronations of 1911, 1937 and 1953 conformed to the pattern established by Bridge. They sang from temporary galleries above the north and south choir aisles, and the orchestra was comfortably accommodated on the choir-screen, the large area of which had been cleared by the rebuilding of the organ in the 1880s and its placing in the twin cases which still adorn the Abbey.

His ‘varied musical programme’ also provided the pattern for subsequent coronations. Bridge was a senior Professor at the Royal College, as was Parratt, and perhaps inevitably Parry and Stanford made important contributions. There was rather an impression of ‘keeping it in the family’, as the Royal College of Music seemed to have taken over the Chapel Royal’s historic rôle as a sort of club to which the country’s most prominent musicians belonged; one could be forgiven for concluding that all the twentieth-century coronations were run by the Royal College of Music!

For the 1902 coronation, Bridge selected Wesley in E (Creed), and Stainer in A (Sanctus and Gloria). A famous innovation was Parry’s setting of I was glad (Psalm 122), a text traditionally9 sung at the monarch’s entrance, during which the King’s Scholars of Westminster School had the ‘time-honoured privilege and duty … to acclaim the King and Queen with their Vivats 10 … I could see no better way than to arrange that these shouts should come in at the moment that their majesties passed under the screen into the choir. Sir Hubert Parry most cleverly fitted in the Vivats to a sort of folk-song with an orchestral symphony between the first and second parts of the anthem, before the verse beginning O pray for the peace of Jerusalem.’ …’11

After this the Communion Service began, with an introit, for which Bridge arranged ‘O hearken thou’ to music from Sullivan’s The Light of the World. The Creed was followed by the anointing of the monarch. Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,

which had always been sung (Bridge restored the ‘ancient plainsong’), was followed by Zadok the Priest. There could be no thought of replacing Handel’s famous music, sung at every coronation since 1727. Next came the Crowning, traditionally accompanied by the Confortare, ‘Be strong, and play the man’, for which Parratt provided a brief setting, repeated in 1911. Then came the Homage of the Peers of the Realm, for which Bridge composed an anthem; the Communion Service was then resumed with the Offertory, Let my prayer come up, adapted by Bridge to the central section of Purcell’s Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes. This reappeared in 1911 as the introit.

A coronation was usually concluded with the Te Deum. Rather at the last minute Stanford orchestrated his 1879 setting in B flat, adding the eight-bar introduction with which we are all familiar. He had been in the midst one of his periodic fallings-out with his colleagues and had neither offered nor been asked to write anything (except perhaps some fanfares); no less a person than the King pointed out that Stanford’s knighthood was about to be announced and his omission would appear somewhat tactless; so honour was satisfied. The final rehearsal was dramatically interrupted by the news that the King had been taken ill with appendicitis and that the coronation would have to be postponed; but all was well in the end.

The next coronation (George V and Queen Mary, 1911) was again directed by Bridge; he had created the precedent for the entrusting of the task to the Abbey’s organist. His ‘varied musical programme’ revived several items from 1902, not least I was glad with a new and more triumphal introduction, the one familiar to us today. Parry also wrote a new Te Deum, which sadly was not well performed; he did apologize to Bridge12 for making it so difficult. In the Communion Service the Creed was sung to Merbecke’s familiar setting, in which the congregation could join: Walter Alcock13 wrote a Sanctus, and Stanford contributed a quite magnificent ‘Festal’ Gloria in B flat for choir and orchestra which was sung again at the 1937 and 1953 coronations. Though not a member of the Royal College ‘club’, Elgar could not now be ignored, and duly obliged with O hearken thou, an exquisite miniature which was sung at the Offertory. Bridge again provided the Homage Anthem.

A quarter of a century later the plans for Edward VIII’s coronation were taken over for George VI with the necessary alterations to encompass the crowning of Queen Elizabeth as well. Again the Abbey’s organist was in charge; Bridge’s successor-but-one, Ernest Bullock, directed the usual large choir and orchestra. The need for brevity was stressed, as the 1911 service had lasted five hours. I was glad was now as indispensable as Zadok; both made their customary appearance, as did Come, Holy Ghost in Bullock’s new setting of the plainsong. Other composers represented were his old mentor Sir Edward Bairstow, William Harris (St George’s,

Windsor) and Walford Davies, the Master of the King’s Music. Vaughan Williams wrote a Festival Te Deum in F which is, I would venture to say, a much better piece than most people seem to think. It is based on English folk songs, most obviously his favourite Dives and Lazarus, whose appearance at ‘Thou sittest at the right hand of God’ is surprisingly moving. The traditional Homage Anthem was replaced by a group of short anthems, some of which could be omitted if necessary; the composers represented were Tye, Gibbons, Purcell, Boyce, S S Wesley and Dyson. In the Communion Service Stanford’s 1911 Gloria retained its place; William Byrd was represented by the Creed from the Short Service and the Sanctus from the Mass for Five Voices (adapted for the English text). The notion of a ‘varied musical programme’ was thus faithfully upheld.

The music of our present Queen’s coronation, whose diamond jubilee we have joyfully celebrated this year, was directed by Bullock’s successor William McKie, an Australian who had studied at the Royal College of Music. This link with the Commonwealth seemed highly appropriate, and was reinforced by the presence of ‘colonial opera singers’ in the choir, and by the selection of a Canadian musician (albeit one born in this country) to compose one of the Homage Anthems; Healey Willan’s setting of O Lord our governour, a fine piece which should be better known, was flanked by familiar works of Redford (or Anon.), Byrd, Gibbons and S S Wesley.

I was glad and Zadok made their customary appearance, along with the Confortare, in Sir George Dyson’s new setting, in which

Martin How with RSCM choristers 1957

the Queen was bidden to ‘be strong and of a good courage’ rather than to ‘play the man’. The Creed and Sanctus were sung to Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G minor, adapted to the English of the Prayer Book. Stanford’s Festal Gloria was again included. Vaughan Williams was represented also by two new works which have earned great and continuing popularity, the short motet O taste and see and his arrangement of the Old 100th for choir, congregation and orchestra; the singing of a hymn at the Offertory was his innovative proposal, reluctantly accepted but in the event highly successful. Some people thought that there was rather a lot of Vaughan Williams, but he was the ‘grand old man’ of English music, and the living embodiment of the Parry and Stanford tradition, which was also represented by Let my prayer come up (William Harris) and Behold, O God our defender (Herbert Howells). A new and lavish Te Deum was composed by William Walton, an ‘outsider’ who could not be overlooked, and the Master of the Queen’s Music was not totally ignored; Arnold Bax provided a Coronation March.

To be a member of the orchestra or choir at a coronation was a memorable experience, and an especially great adventure for those boys who represented far-away cathedrals such as Belfast or Edinburgh. In 1937 they were boarded at the School of English Church Music’s College of St Nicholas at Chislehurst, Kent. One of the two boys from York Minster kept a diary; they left York on 20 April and did not return until 13 May, the day after the Coronation. There were rehearsals most days, either at Westminster, or at Chislehurst where there was ‘a moderate amount of spare time, most of which was taken in the spacious grounds;’14 a sightseeing tour of London was especially enjoyed. The boys were well fed, though plaice, chips and cauliflower for lunch seem a little bizarre, as does

a breakfast of cornflakes, bran, polony and marmalade. Coronation Day began with cornflakes and chicken at 5.00am before they set off to London (with their packed lunches) on the 6.15 from Chislehurst. They were in the Abbey from 7.30am until 2.00pm.

In 1953, choirs in or near London supplied 144 of the 172 boys in the Coronation Choir; choristers from elsewhere were housed in the Royal School of Church Music’s new home at Addington Palace, Croydon. There were 201 adult singers: 12 sopranos, 7 contraltos, 37 (male) altos, 62 tenors and 85 basses. Not all were members of choirs; such famous names as the tenors Heddle Nash and Sir Steuart Wilson, the basses Norman Allin, Owen Brannigan, Roy Henderson and Dennis Noble and the pianist Gerald Moore appear as ‘additional singers’. The sopranos and contraltos, together with seven of the tenors and seven of the basses, were ‘Dominions’ Representatives’ from the Commonwealth.

Westminster Abbey Photo: Graham Hermon

There was a ‘diplomatic incident’ at the first rehearsal ‘as some of the colonial opera singers arrived late, found themselves locked out and were told that their services were no longer required. Diplomatic pressure ensured that these singers were reinstated, but a point had been made. No one was late again!’15 100% attendance was demanded; the famous counter-tenor Alfred Deller, a vicar-choral at St Paul’s, was unable to meet this requirement and so was not allowed to sing. One may be forgiven for wondering what the boys from parish churches and far-flung cathedrals (to say nothing of their adult colleagues) made of some of the music they had to learn. Some very hard work must have been necessary.

The more prestigious establishments started with something of an advantage, of course. Some of the Homage Anthems, the Vaughan Williams Mass and the Stanford Gloria were already known to the St Paul’s choristers, and the Walton Te Deum did not cause them much trouble, but they sang hardly any Howells and even they found Behold, O God our defender difficult.16 One cannot imagine that many of their fellowsingers fared any better.

Once again it was a very long day for the musicians. For example, the choir of St George’s Chapel left Windsor at 5.30am, arrived at Westminster at 6.30am and did not leave the Abbey until 2.30pm. ‘When it got to about 10 o’clock one or two men were getting restless, and a certain lay clerk who had a bladder weakness decided he could not wait any longer, and off he went. … Soon there was an unofficial procession of men going downstairs. … One small boy was passed back like a parcel.’17 Instructions had been issued regarding refreshments to be eaten before or after but not during the service: ‘Sandwiches made with fresh vegetables as well as meat or eggs are recommended, also stoned raisins, and perhaps a small bottle of milk. It is advised that no tea or coffee be taken on the morning of the Coronation.’18 The St Paul’s boys were issued with peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches! Tiring and uncomfortable it may have been for the participants, but there was plenty to hold their attention in the ceremony and in the programme of English music performed beforehand by the country’s finest orchestral players under the direction of Sir Adrian Boult.

Anyone with access to a television set would have had an even better view. In the spring of this year a Channel 4 programme, entitled The Queen’s Coronation: Behind Palace Doors, claimed to tell the true story of how the forces of modernisation, Prince Philip and the BBC, the heroes of this story, succeeded in having the ceremony televised despite the opposition of various forces of tradition, most notably the Queen Mother. The 1937 coronation of course had been broadcast on radio and recorded on film and newsreel, so a television broadcast in 1953 was not much of an innovation; the opposition was partly on principle (people might be watching in public houses) and partly on practical grounds, because the lights, bulky cameras and so on might disrupt the service. Channel 4’s tiresome programme came to the somewhat unconvincing conclusion that televising the service had been a bad thing because it led to a ‘de-mystifying’ of royalty. It can surely have done nothing but good to bring the highest standards of church music before a wider public by televising these national and royal occasions from our cathedrals and great churches.

Vaughan Williams 1952 reproduced courtesy of Allan Chappelow and the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust

Charles Villiers Stanford

Footnotes

1 e. g. John Blow, Henry Purcell, William Croft

2 James Turle

3 1776-1867, the composer of the hymn-tune Wiltshire, usually sung to ‘Through all the changing scenes of life’.

4 There was quite a furore about this. See Matthias Range Music and Ceremonial at British Coronations (Cambridge 2012) 210f.

5 Sir Walter Alcock MVO 1861-1947, Chapel Royal 1902-16, Salisbury Cathedral 1916-47

6 Sir Frederick Bridge, A Westminster Pilgrim (London, 1918), 177, 180

7 Francis Jackson Blessed City, the life and works of Edward C. Bairstow (York, 1996), 28

8 Bridge op. cit. 182

9 Attwood’s setting had become ‘traditional’ having been sung at the three previous coronations (see above) and there was some grumbling at its replacement by Parry’s

10 ‘Vivat regina Alexandra, vivat rex Eduardus’ in 1902, ‘vivat regina Maria, vivat rex Georgius’ in 1911, ‘vivat regina Elizabetha, vivat rex Georgius’ in 1937, vivat regina Elizabetha’ in 1953

11 Bridge op. cit. 180

12 Bridge op. cit. 235

13 see note 3

14 John Roden, The Minster School, York, (York, 2005), 277f.

15 David Gedge, A Country Cathedral Organist Looks Back, (Darlington, 2005) 44f.

16 Information provided by John Butterfield.

17 Frederic Hodgson Memories of Choir and Cloisters (2nd ed. London 1995), 74f.

18 Hodgson loc. cit.

Chapel Royal choristers (Martin Neary and Peter Lough) who sang at the Coronation in

DVD REVIEWS

SACRED MUSIC: A CHRISTMAS HISTORY

Documentary presented by Simon Russell Beale

Concert from St Augustine’s, Kilburn, London

The Sixteen with Harry Christophers

CORO COR16094

Recorded in 16:9 PAL colour and 5.1 surround sound

Anon Make we joy

Palestrina Hodie Christus natus est

Victoria O magnum mysterium

Anon/Bach In dulci jubilo

Anon There is no rose

Walton Make we joy now in this fest

Mendelssohn Hark! The herald angels sing

Howells A spotless rose

Holst In the bleak midwinter

Davies O magnum mysterium

Gruber/Mohr Stille Nacht

This splendid concert in the resonant acoustic of St Augustine’s is preceded by A Christmas History, a documentary in which Simon Russell Beale takes a journey through Italy, Britain, Germany and Austria to explore the evolution of Christmas music over two millennia. The carols and motets are all superbly sung by The Sixteen under Harry Christophers in a bewildering sequence of locations, all taken from BBC programme archives. So we have to accept that the choir changes location without seeing any travelling, and that this is not a real time story. There is some bizarre editing which shows Simon walking towards us one moment, then away from us the next, without a shot in which he turns round. The documentary style is instantly violated! Does it matter? Having taken the trouble to avoid jump-cuts and been careful to respect the niceties of continuity as a television programme maker for thirty years, I think it does. However, it does not detract from the musical enjoyment of listening to this wonderfully versatile choir, whose members also contribute to the story with the same speaking assurance as they sing. The source of all this calm, poise and musical good taste is clearly Maestro Christophers, whose batonless directing hands make his musical intentions so crystal clear. It all contributes to making The Sixteen one of the finest a cappella choirs in the world.

The ‘Bonus Features’ are just a token nod towards the conventions of a modern DVD: the ‘Artist biographies’ consist of pages of on-screen textual biographical notes which would have been better presented and easier to read in a printed leaflet and are devoid of stills, let alone cutaway material. I found this very disappointing and not worthy of a DVD by The Sixteen.

Can CORO not present material from their Christmas pilgrimage?

THE GRAND ORGAN OF LIVERPOOL METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL

Richard Lea

PRIORY PRDVD10 (includes Blu-ray & standard format discs) + stereo CD

Recorded in 16:9 widescreen PAL colour, with 5.1 surround sound

Susato & Purcell Mohrentanz and Rigaudon

Fjellestad Toccata

G. Ronald Mason A Song of Sunshine

Stephen Adams

The Holy City

J S Bach Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier BWV731

Joseph Bonnet

In Memoriam – Titanic

arr Noel Rawsthorne Prelude on ‘Londonderry Air’

George Martin Theme One

Paul McCartney

Save the Child

Franz Liszt Fantasia & Fugue on ‘Ad nos ad salutarem undam’

The tenth in Priory’s series of cathedral grand organs features the newest instrument so far, the 1967 4-manual 88-stop Walker in Liverpool’s Roman Catholic cathedral. This unique building of highly unusual design has an instantly recognisable acoustic, with 8-9 secs reverberation. This derives from its vast circular, pillarless interior, vaulted by a cone-shaped roof, in the middle of which sits a huge, circular coloured-glass lantern. There is therefore a focused clarity to the high frequency sound, such that it is possible almost to hear a pin drop. Priory have chosen this venue to launch the higher definition picture standard possible with Blu-ray technology. This has definition equivalent to 1080 lines, non-interlaced, roughly five times better than 625-line PAL. The improvement in quality is sensational: you can read the notation on the printed music, and the names on the stop-knobs, with all information in shot in perfect focus. With the addition of surround sound, you feel part of the action. This all ties in, because the producers have given us more than in any previous DVD. The programme of music has been chosen to take full advantage of the Merseyside setting for cutaways. The only work not in line, the Liszt Ad nos Fantasia, is used as an opportunity to show us the model and plans for the Lutyens design for this cathedral. Not only would this have been huge, it would also have dwarfed the Anglican cathedral, but it was not built due to the high cost and the outbreak of WWII. The Liszt is a personal favourite of Richard Lea’s, who gives us a very fine performance of it. Although as he himself says this is a classical, not a romantic organ, it works because of careful registration and the very spacious acoustic. In the booklet there is a list of over twenty helpful notes about this piece.

I would have preferred to hear more Baroque works here. There is one piece of Bach only, although in the programme notes there are excerpts from quite a few, all very clearly captioned. The ‘organ tour’ is the best of its kind and very instructive, helped by the lucidity of Richard Lea’s commentary and many well-shot cutaways.

A HANDEL CELEBRATION

The Sixteen’s 2009 Prom, as part of the celebrations on the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death

CORO COR16083

Recorded in 16:9 PAL colour and 5.1 surround sound

The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Solomon)

Coronation Anthem Let thy hand be strengthened

Excerpts from Semele

Interval, with commentary and interviews, also Suzy Klein talks to Harry Christophers

Coronation Anthem The King shall rejoice

Organ Concerto in F minor Op 4 No 4

Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest

Coronation Anthem My heart is inditing Salve Regina with Carolyn Sampson (sop.) and Alastair Ross (organ)

The second DVD from The Sixteen also draws on BBC archives and features a Handel Prom from the 2009 season, which I attended, presented by Martha Kearney, with comments from two ‘experts’ in the box beside her. The choir (augmented to thirty) gave one of their famously polished and inspired performances in the spacious acoustic of the Royal Albert Hall. All sung in English, of course, except for the Latin motet, with the very clear diction for which this choir is famous. Notice Harry mouthing the words with an exemplary mouthshape, great for lip-readers. A delightful contrast is provided by the original version of the well-known organ concerto, with the solo part played by The Sixteen’s continuo player, Alastair Ross, not on the RAH leviathan but on a colourfully decorated five-stop Mander chamber organ. I enjoyed the embellishments inserted at the points where the composer would have dazzled his theatre audiences. Carolyn Sampson’s coloratura arias were another delight, which you can now listen to via this CORO release.

If you buy a Blu-ray player to view the PRIORY Liverpool DVD, you will need to buy the HDMI connecting cable separately, because it is not included with the player by the makers.

BOOK REVIEW

MUSIC FOR A LONG WHILE

The Autobiography of Francis Jackson

Available from York Publishing Services

www.yps-publishing.co.uk (01904 431213)

£17.95 + £2.75 p&p and via Amazon

Well-known though Dr Jackson may be to many of us, in part through his own writings, he has waited until now to tell us a great deal more about himself. This book is what it claims to be, the story of the author’s life, not a history of York Minster’s choir, organ, musicians or clergy, though along the way all of these are given their due attention. He explains how the Widor Toccata came to be chosen for the Duke and Duchess of Kent’s wedding, a choice for which many organists doubtless bless him!

Born in 1917 in Malton, a market town and railway junction some fifteen miles from York, with obvious affection he describes a secure and happy upbringing in which his musical gifts were noticed and to a sensible extent encouraged. From the beginning of 1929 he travelled daily to York Minster as a chorister and then as an articled pupil of Sir Edward Bairstow, though Malton reclaimed some of his energies after 1933 as the youthful organist of the parish church. These were carefree days, untroubled by overmuch in the way of formal education, though he still succeeded in obtaining the diplomas of the Royal College of Organists and the degree of Bachelor of Music of Durham University before he was twenty.

During wartime service in North Africa and Italy he seemed likely to develop a career as a dance-band leader (‘Jive with Jackson’). He appeared on the same bill as Harry Secombe, and once enjoyed a dance with Marlene Dietrich. Then in March 1946 came the call to York Minster to aid Sir Edward Bairstow in what proved to be his final illness. Bairstow died on 1 May, and thus did Dr Jackson’s life’s work begin, an increasingly busy schedule of composition, organ recitals at home and abroad, the direction of choirs and orchestras, and underlying it all, his unceasing daily responsibilities as Master of the Music at the Minster from his formal appointment in October 1946 until thirty-six memorable years later, when he embarked on a retirement almost as busy.

Dr Jackson proves himself a candid and delightful companion as he takes us with him on this long and fascinating journey with its successes and difficulties; with a gentle and self-deprecatory humour he shares with us his musical likes (notably Bach and Ravel) and dislikes, his delight in his family, his regard for his colleagues and his pleasure in the success of his former choristers.

I hope that I have whetted your appetite for this handsome and generously illustrated book, which would make an ideal present for your friends, and not just for Friends of Cathedral Music.

Timothy Storey

CD REVIEWS

CHORAL CDs

ASCRIBE UNTO THE LORD

Sacred Choral Works by S S Wesley Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge

Dir: Andrew Nethsingha

Organ: John Challenger

Ascribe unto the Lord; Wash me throughly; O give thanks unto the Lord; Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace; M&N in E; Larghetto; The Wilderness; O Thou who camest from above; Blessed be the God and Father.

CHANDOS CHAN 10751 TT 77:10

The Wesley bicentenary in 2010 did not (as far as I am aware) see any major commemorative CD issues, so it is good to get this collection from St John’s now.

The choir has a welcome freshness of tone so the disc faithfully presents what the listener would hope to get from one of our best choirs, the overall youthfulness of the lower parts giving added bite and enthusiasm. John Challenger is now assistant at Salisbury and was Organ Scholar at St John’s. His accompaniments are all that one would expect: he deals superbly with The Wilderness, for example, and his organ solo (Larghetto in F sharp minor) is a joy.

I am less clear why a psalm by Wesley’s father has been intercollated, however, as one might have welcomed some of the SSW we are not offered. Programme choices are always invidious and I’m not sure I would have included O give thanks unto the Lord, though ‘who can express the noble acts of the Lord’ is seductively sung by the treble soloist Peter Hicks, who also performs the similar solo in Blessed be the God.

Whether Chandos’s practice of giving the liner notes in French and German will do much for the sales of this disc I don’t know but it is an added bonus, I suppose. The notes also reveal that there is a third generation of musical Nethsinghas, embryonic in the treble line. A disc to enjoy again and again.

Richard Osmond

THE PHOENIX RISING

Stile Antico

Byrd Mass for five voices, Ave verum corpus; Tallis Salvator mundi (I), In ieiunio et fletu; Morley Nolo mortem peccatoris; Gibbons O clap your hands, Almighty and everlasting God; White Portio mea, Christe qui lux es et dies (IV); Taverner O splendor gloriae.

HARMONIA MUNDI HMU 807572 TT: 74.34

You know when you pick up a Stile Antico CD that you have a classy piece of merchandise in your hand. The packaging is first-class, and sends out all the right signals to prepare you for what is inside. Aside from the CD itself, Matthew O’Donovan’s notes are always well researched, informative and well written. The title of this CD is cleverly used, because the disc is partfunded by the Carnegie Trust which, in the early years of the

twentieth century did so much to make the church music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries available to choirs. They did this in ten volumes of Tudor Church Music, published between 1922-1929. It seems extraordinary to us today that this music was largely unknown, and certainly not available in print at that time. As O’Donovan says in his essay, ‘... the impact of TCM was huge’. It really was a Phoenix Rising.

Stile Antico’s programme draws on that ten-volume collection, and uses Byrd’s Mass for five voices as the centrepiece. The performances are all superb, there is a very real sense that this music is being newly minted, and the recording team have (once again) done a great job in producing a natural-sounding disc. My own very small, and personal, regret is that the repertoire is so familiar; perhaps Stile will have the opportunity to pursue a less well-trodden path in a sequel or two. Meanwhile, do please add this CD to your collection – it will not disappoint in any way.

Roger Judd

MUSIC FOR SEAFARERS

Choir of Portsmouth Cathedral and Convivium Singers

Ives They that go down to the sea in ships; Dove Vast ocean of light; Schutt arr Archer Here I am, Lord; Cooman Windswept Skies; Archer Anthem for Seafarers; Wood Never weather-beaten sail; Trad Sailing; Ireland Sea Fever; Trad The water is wide; Trad Blow the wind southerly; Parry There is an old belief; Crossing the Bar; Mason arr Archer Nearer, my God, to Thee.

CONVIVIUM CR010

There is something to please all tastes in this ingeniouslycompiled disc which presents the cathedral choir and an excellent young chamber choir both separately and in combination. The net has been widely cast and even if you wish that the likes of Sailing and Nearer, my God, to Thee had been thrown overboard you will surely find that the attractive freshness of the singing never fails to float your boat.

This CD is well worth the attention of the ‘serious’ collector for the anthems by Grayston Ives, Jonathan Dove and Charles Wood, and I must declare an interest in Malcolm Archer’s effective and ingenious Anthem for Seafarers which rather movingly introduces the familiar melody of Eternal Father, strong to save. I had the pleasure of directing a performance of this last year at a service for the Baltic Exchange, by which it was commissioned. The liner-notes tell us that ‘situated in the heart of the City of London, the Baltic Exchange is the world’s leading commercial maritime organisation’. As I have indicated, this is a very good disc, worth buying for its own merits, but doubly so for its support for such good causes (copies of the recording have been provided to seafaring charities to enable them to raise funds).

Timothy Storey

CANTIONES SACRAE OCTONIS VOCIBUS

Peter Philips

The Choir of Royal Holloway

Dir: Rupert Gough; English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble

HYPERION CDA 67945 TT 71:59

Peter Philips’s music is not nearly well enough known in his native country. Born and bred a Roman Catholic, he was obliged to seek his fortune abroad, settled in the Low Countries and from 1597 worked at the Archducal court in Brussels, a centre of the Counter-Reformation.

This CD presents a selection from the eight-voice Cantiones Sacrae which Philips published in 1613, interspersed with two instrumental versions of Veni Sancte Spiritus. Taking inspiration from pictorial illustrations of church musicians of Philips’s time, the motets here are arranged using an effective variety of combinations of voices and instruments. For example, in Benedictus Dominus, the soprano part is played by the cornett and in Panis sancta, panis vive, the eight-part texture is conveyed by two solo voices and six instruments.

The choral singing is immaculate, the soloists are well integrated and the instrumental accompaniments are sensitively balanced. The subtleties of Philips’s somewhat restrained and dignified style with its understated word-painting and rhythmic control are well realised. Rupert Gough directs with a sure hand and also contributes some stylish organ playing.

Hyperion have again done the musical world a great service by making this wonderful music available and, as with so many of their productions, one is left longing for more.

Alan Spedding

AWAKE MY SOUL

The Girl Choristers and Lay Clerks of Southwark Cathedral Choir

Dir: Stephen Disley

Organ: Jonathan Hope & Peter Wright

Parry I was glad; Farrant Hide not thou thy face; Bussey Done is a battle; Terry O little one sweet; Vaughan Williams Let all the world; Byrd Miserere mei; Huw Morgan The Quality of Pity; Dove Seek him that maketh; Chilcott Be thou my vision; Tallis Salvator mundi; Bingham Missa Brevis Awake my Soul; The Shepherd; Leighton The Lord is my Shepherd; Parry arr Sellar Lang Blest Pair of Sirens

REGENT REGCD 387 TT 64:30

The girl choristers and lay clerks of Southwark Cathedral present a most attractive and interesting programme on this CD, mixing the familiar with the new. Done is a battle by Martin Bussey is a terrific piece, and one must hope that it’ll be taken up by other choirs. Judith Bingham’s Missa Brevis is similarly distinguished and imaginative, and the little anthem that follows the Mass, The Shepherd, is a gem. The pieces by David Terry and Huw Morgan were commissioned by Stephen Disley for the Southwark girls and lay clerks.

Juxtaposed with the new are three anthems by Farrant, Tallis and Byrd which all receive sympathetic performances, and familiar ones by Vaughan Williams (Let all the world) and Parry (I was glad and Blest pair...). If I have one regret, it is that Blest pair is sung in a reduced arrangement by C S Lang -- the original is rather better. The VW and the Parry showcase the fine Lewis organ to great effect. The bulk of the playing is in the hands of Jonathan Hope, the organ scholar, and he is a fine accompanist. It is good to hear Peter Wright at the keys too in a couple of the tracks.

It is well known that Stephen Disley is an exceptionally fine organist; on the evidence of this CD he is also a fine choir director. The girl choristers, a group he founded, respond to him with singing of the highest quality, and the ensemble with the lay clerks is most attractive. Warmly recommended.

Roger Judd

MEMBRA JESU NOSTRI

Dietrich Buxtehude

Ealing Abbey Choir & Consort

Dir: Christopher Eastwood

The cantata cycle Membra Jesu nostri (BuxWV75)

HERALD HAVPCD 382 TT 59:26

Buxtehude is less well known for his choral writing, so it is interesting to have this disc of Lutheran devotional music available. Membra Jesu nostri is a suite of seven cantatas in which Buxtehude sets texts from Salve Mundi Salutare, a medieval hymn, and verses from the Bible. Each of the cantatas refers to a different part of the body of Christ at his crucifixion, and each follows the same musical format, comprising an instrumental opening followed by a chorus and a series of arias, before closing with a repeat of the opening chorus.

This recording is quite an ambitious undertaking, and the choir is to be commended on tackling the challenges, though there are issues of vocal balance and a number of problems with intonation. The singers are ably supported by the Ealing Abbey Consort playing on period instruments.

Jeffrey Williams

CHOIRS OF ANGELS

Music from The Eton Choirbook

Vol II

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

Stephen Darlington

Browne O Maria salvatoris mater; Cornysh Ave Maria, mater Dei; Davy Salve Jesu mater vera à 5; Lambe O Maria plena gracia à 6; Wylkynson Salve regina à 9. AVIE AV2184 TT 74:05

The Eton Choirbook, one of the great musical treasures of the realm, is a collection of the music used in the devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary which were such a feature of the worship in Henry VI’s great chapel at Eton College and were indeed the foundation’s very raison d’être, dedicated as it was to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. We are deep in Early Music here, for Browne and Wylkynson, the latest composers represented, were born around 1480, and the others, 145065 or thereabouts. It is very good to have this distinctive and wonderful heritage, totally pre-Reformation in style and purpose, rescued from the domain of specialist mixed-voice concert ensembles, good as they are, and performed by a firstrate cathedral choir of men and boys; this superb CD perhaps brings us as near as is likely to be possible to the original sound of The Eton Choirbook’s varied and inventive music, which is of course a whole generation earlier than anything we can usually expect to hear in a cathedral service, and may require and reward some effort on the listener’s part. The Christ Church choir seems totally at home with this repertory, and it is with great enthusiasm that I recommend this beautifully sung and most persuasive anthology.

Timothy Storey

THE HEART’S VOICE

RSCM Millennium Youth Choir

Dir: David Ogden; Organ: Daniel Moult Campbell Sing we merrily; Ogden Teach us, good Lord; Spedding Hail, gladdening light; Park Let thine heart keep my commandments; Moore It is a thing most wonderful; Whitbourn Canticles of Mary & Simeon; Rutter O Lord, thou has searched me out; Totney The Mystery of Christ; Hewitt Jones My beloved spake; Farrington Live Wire; Wilby Vox Christi; Clausen Peace, I leave with you; Archer Sing we merrily. Available from the RSCM TT 62:06

There is some very fine singing here, proof of these young singers’ talent and training. I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the musical content which, we are told in the linernotes, is ‘music with words that come from the individual, from the heart’. We are also informed that ‘once a text is chosen a composer will spend time working out how to express it through music’. Indeed! Sidney Campbell’s 1962 setting of Sing we merrily comes up bright, fresh and lively, and Philip Moore’s lyrical It is a thing most wonderful is another well-crafted piece by an established composer, but it is handicapped here by a painfully slow and leaden performance. There is indeed a uniform slowness about much of this programme, a perhaps inevitable consequence of most of the chosen texts; one is left longing for rhythmic variety and musical development. On a more positive note, I was impressed with Thomas HewittJones’s lively and effective wedding anthem My beloved spake and Let thine heart keep my commandments by Owain Park, a member of the choir. The most substantial work is James Whitbourn’s House of Horrors settings of Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, which sets out to express Mary and Simeon’s ‘strange combination of ecstasy and introspection as each realises the extent to which their life will change’ but merely succeeds in sounding grim, with the dubious assistance of a viola obbligato plus some very nasty noises from the organ. Exciting though Iain Farrington’s Live Wire may be, I can see no reason for including an organ solo in what purports to be a choral programme; without it this CD would not have lasted even an hour, so I suppose that is the excuse. You may have deduced that I am less than enthusiastic about this one!

Timothy Storey

JUDITH BINGHAM CHORAL MUSIC

Wells Cathedral Choir

Dir: Matthew Owens

Organ: Jonathan Vaughn Wells Service; Harvest; Missa Brevis ‘Awake my soul’; The Shepherd; Ave verum corpus; Jesum quaeritis Nazarenum; Corpus Christi Carol; Christmas Past; Epiphany; Edington Service; God be in my head; Our faith is a light.

HYPERION CDA 67909 TT 73:00

Judith Bingham’s reputation has grown rapidly in recent years and her music is now to be heard in many of our cathedrals. Most of the music on this disc has been commissioned by choirs in the UK or the USA.

The settings of the alternative canticles for Evensong (Cantate Domino and Deus Misereatur, a Wells commission, with which the programme begins), make a refreshing change from the more usual Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis pairing. Great care is taken in expressing the meanings inherent in both texts, a characteristic which is evident throughout the CD from the point of view of both composer and performers. Although aware of tradition, Bingham gets to the heart of her chosen texts while considering the forces and places for which she writes. Thus she responds to the situation of Bromley Parish Church with its turbulent

history following wartime bombing and subsequent rebuilding with the thoughtful Missa Brevis (to the Common Worship text). The Corpus Christi Carol, commissioned for The Choir Book for the Queen, creates an intense atmosphere of sadness compared with the solo motet Jesum quaeritis Nazarenum (sung most affectingly by Finn Lacey), with its message of hope. The one organ piece (originally for piano) in the programme, Christmas Past, evokes the composer’s childhood experience of hope, joy, expectation and disappointment at Christmastime.

Matthew Owens, always at home with contemporary music, directs with his usual flair and perception, ably supported by Jonathan Vaughn’s sympathetic organ accompaniment.

Alan Spedding

PALESTRINA VOL III

The Sixteen dir Harry Christophers

Stabat Mater; Ad caenam agni providi; Song of Songs Nos 4-6; Regina caeli; Three Offertories for the Easter period; Missa Regina caeli. CORO COR 16106 TT 70:30

This CD is characterised by The Sixteen’s now familiar style. If you are in tune with that, then nothing I can say will stop you from acquiring this disc. All is beautiful; immaculate tuning; ensemble as neat as can be. I can’t help but wonder: is it all too perfect? A part of me loves it, and another part is yearning for something to go wrong! Probably heretical thoughts. In the booklet, Christophers writes ‘... Palestrina’s perfect craftsmanship can sometimes make his music sound all too perfect ...’. Perhaps that thought is lived out in these performances. The music is sublime -- it doesn’t get much better than Palestrina’s Stabat Mater -- and The Sixteen are on radiant form, bathed in a warm acoustic and finely recorded. Warmly recommended, despite / because of what I wrote earlier.

Roger Judd

A SONG OF FAREWELL

Music of mourning and consolation

Gabrieli Consort & Players

Dir: Paul McCreesh

Gibbons Drop, drop, slow tears; Walton

A Litany; White Christe, qui lux es et dies; MacMillan A Child’s Prayer; Sheppard In manus tuas; Dove Into Thy hands; Morley Funeral Sentences; Elgar They are at rest; Howells Requiem; Parry Lord, let me know mine end.

SIGNUM SIGCD 281 TT 75:56

This is one of the very finest such programmes I have had the pleasure of reviewing. It is imaginatively chosen and immaculately performed; I find the Gabrieli Consort’s singing distinctly more free and expressive than that of some other similar ensembles. Listening to this CD is rather like enjoying, in the comfort of one’s own fireside, a first-rate concert, at the heart of which is a searing, passionate account of the Howells Requiem; one might also single out the works by Jonathan Dove and James MacMillan, but every track is a winner, and the Morley Funeral Sentences are a welcome discovery. It only remains for me to emphasise that despite its title this programme is far from gloomy, as Paul McCreesh is at pains to emphasise in his notably full and informative liner-notes, in which he also expounds the principles he follows in securing such fine results from his singers. It all seems to make very good sense! I say again, this is among the finest, if not the finest, of the CDs to have come my way recently. Make sure you buy this one.

Timothy Storey

PENITENCE AND REDEMPTION Works

for Lent and Passiontide

Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir

Dir: Sarah MacDonald

Organ: Oliver Hancock

Sumsion There is a green hill far away; Lole

The Father’s love; Moore It is a thing most wonderful; Hilton A Hymne to God the Father; Byrd Adoramus te, Christe; Ireland Ex ore innocentium; Penny arr MacDonald Andrew’s Song; Gibbons Drop, drop, slow tears; Parry Long since in Egypt’s plenteous land; MacDonald Miserere mei, Deus; Pergolesi Stabat Mater.

REGENT REGCD 397 TT 70:32

Founded in 2006, the Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir is a relative newcomer to the scene, though the choir does have two previous recordings under its belt. As the title suggests, the music on this disc is devotional and penitential. Half of the material is comprised of shorter pieces in a range of styles, including contemporary composers, which provide plenty of useful service material for directors of uppervoice choirs to tap into. The remainder of the disc is taken up by a complete performance of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, for which the choristers are joined by a string quartet from the University of Cambridge Baroque Ensemble, playing on period instruments, and organ continuo. The forces combine to deliver a stylistically appropriate account of this perennial favourite.

The age range of the Ely girls is from 14 to 18 and, under Sarah MacDonald’s direction, they sing beautifully, demonstrating purity of tone and warmth of vocal colour. Solo passages are shared liberally among members of the choir, which is very good to see. Oliver Hancock’s organ accompaniment is sensitive throughout.

This is a recommended and most enjoyable recording.

Jeffrey Williams

THE FEAST OF ST DAVID Music for Mattins, Eucharist and Evensong

Choir of St Davids Cathedral

Dir: Daniel Cook; Organ: Simon Pearce

Hymns: Lord, who in thy perfect wisdom; King of Glory, King of Peace; Tydi a wnaeth y wyrth; Psalms: 15 (Hurford); 16 (Crotch); Responses Tomkins; Matthias Festival Te Deum; Briggs Jubilate Deo; Mason A Prayer of St David; Harris King of Glory, King of Peace; Britten Missa Brevis; Wynn Jones O Ddewi Sanctaidd; Cox Canticles (St Davids Service); Martin I saw the Lord.

PRIORY PRCD 1191 TT 72:05

The music at St Davids Cathedral is one of the little miracles that make up the Anglican choral tradition, and we should rejoice at it. This CD is, as the Dean says in his apposite introduction, ‘a glimpse of that excellent standard of worship which is offered by our cathedral choir’. The programme falls into three sections, each of which may be listened to separately, and contains music written for St Davids by David Briggs, Alex Mason, Meirion Wynn Jones, Neil Cox, and Matthew Martin.

The fact that so much of the music is freshly minted is, to my mind at least, a major selling point. Here is a fine ensemble giving life to new music, all of it sung and played with total commitment, and to an enviably high standard. Daniel Cook, in his brief time at the cathedral, is to be congratulated on this high quality recording. Organist Simon Pearce has been a constant on the St Davids musical scene since 1998 and

his accompaniments are supportive, sensitive and colourful throughout, and the Willis/Harrison organ is well balanced with the singers.

Roger Judd

CHOIRBOOK FOR THE QUEEN

BBC Singers

Dir: Stephen Cleobury

Organist: Stephen Disley

Bedford May God shield you on every step; Bingham Corpus Christi Carol; Burrell

O Joyful Light; Maxwell Davies Advent Calendar; Finnissy Sincerity; Goehr Cities and Thrones and Powers; Grier Prayer; Osborne A Prayer and two blessings; Panufnik Joy at the sound; Philips Church Music; Sawer Wonder; Tavener Take Him, Earth; Rutter I my best-beloved’s am. PRIORY PRCD 1097 TT 66:32

Compiled to mark the Diamond Jubilee of The Queen in 2012, the Book consists of forty anthems, including eleven commissions, all of which are included on this disc. It aspires to the qualities of The Eton Choirbook, one of the great musical collections of the Renaissance.

The composers were selected from a broad group of established musicians, not necessarily writers of church music. A variety of texts is set and the composers explain the reasons for their choices in the CD booklet. The texts range from a Gaelic blessing and ancient hymns to poems by Rowan Williams, Christopher Smart, Rudyard Kipling, George Herbert and others. Among the modern poems is Joy at the Sound by Roger McGough, in which each line starts with the word ‘joy’ – a clever literary device which clearly resonates with the composer, Roxanna Panufnik. About half the anthems call for organ accompaniment, provided here by the excellent Stephen Disley.

May God shield you on every step by David Bedford opens the programme – a cheerful setting of a Gaelic prayer with a lively organ accompaniment and a final benediction which takes the soprano line up into the stratosphere. Another highlight is Judith Bingham’s Corpus Christi Carol, an atmospheric setting of this mysterious text.

The CD is not for easy listening but the BBC Singers under Stephen Cleobury make light of the difficulties in performances, which bear repetition. A timely recording of an enterprising project.

Alan Spedding

MACMILLAN TENEBRAE RESPONSORIES

Westminster Cathedral Choir

Dir: Martin Baker; Organ: Peter Stevens

Tu es Petrus; Dignus est Agnus; Tenebrae Responsories; Summae Trinitati; Benedictus Deus; Ave maris stella; Tota pulchra es; After virtue; Serenity; The Edinburgh Te Deum; Ecce sacerdos magnus; Processional on ‘Tu es Petrus’.

HYPERION CDA 67970 TT 72:58

All but one of the pieces on this disc were written in the last six years. The earliest work dates from 1978, while James MacMillan was studying music at Edinburgh, but it was not performed for the first time until over 30 years later.

From its dramatic and arresting opening piece, Tu es Petra, written for the visit of Pope Benedict to Westminster Cathedral in 2010, this disc is full of surprises. It makes for challenging listening at times, but the rewards are many. As a devout Catholic himself, MacMillan makes much use of plainsong combined with his own idiomatic style, which often features

unusual effects and vocal devices that serve to heighten the drama. The longest work on the disc is the Tenebrae Responsories, powerfully dramatic and full of emotional intensity. One of the shortest is Ave maris stella, written for Truro Cathedral in 2011. It is also the simplest in terms of musical demands, totally homophonic in texture, and exquisitely beautiful. A number of the works are ceremonial in nature, and there can be few better places for the recording of such music than Westminster Cathedral, where the combination of acoustic, choir, organ and brass produce electrifying and stunning results.

Jeffrey Williams

ANTHEMS FROM THE 17th and 18th CENTURIES

Salisbury Cathedral Choir

Dir: Christopher Dearnley

Organ: Richard Lloyd

Purcell Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei; Blow My God, my God, look upon me; O pray for the peace of Jerusalem; Wise The ways of Zion do mourn; Boyce O where shall wisdom be found; Greene Lord, let me know mine end; Battishill O Lord, look down from heaven; Croft God is gone up.

PRIORY PRCD 937 TT 46:06

The arrival of this CD for review stirred up all sorts of distant memories. I recall buying the original Argo LP when an undergraduate in Cambridge in the 1960s. The repertoire of English anthems from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has long been an interest of mine, and it is a matter of regret that so little is sung or published.

Christopher Dearnley was organist at Salisbury Cathedral from 1957 to 1968 and for all but two years his assistant was Richard Lloyd until, in 1966, the latter moved to Hereford. On the evidence of this recording the two formed an excellent partnership. The organ used is not the famous Willis, but a charming-sounding 1783 chamber organ by Snetzler, which suits this music perfectly.

The choir in 1961 was clearly on fine form and this programme shows off the excellent ensemble, displaying some characterful soloists, both men and boys. One thing that the present-day listener may take a while to become accustomed to is the pronunciation of some words. These may at first appear rather mannered to our twenty-first century ears, but is an evocative reminder of how things once were.

The musicality of all the performances is exemplary; Dearnley was an acknowledged expert in this repertoire, and his singers and organist are at one with him. The old Argo recording is beautifully balanced, and Priory are to be congratulated on bringing this 52-year-old LP back to life.

Roger Judd

THE COMPLETE PSALMS OF DAVID VOL 4

Series 2

Choir of Peterborough Cathedral

Dir: Andrew Reid

Organ: David Humphreys

Psalms 50-67

PRIORY PRCD 1082 TT 75:41

When this series began I wondered which lucky choir would be saddled with Psalm 119, but I think psalms 50-67, days 10-12 of the Prayer Book’s monthly cycle, have set Peterborough’s boys

and lay clerks an even stiffer challenge which they have met most capably, for days 10 and 11 are pretty much unbroken misery, and even if the evening psalms are still sung each month the morning psalms do not feature much in the various Sunday lectionaries, so will have had to be learnt specially for this recording. This may account for some rather wooden singing, but everything is clear and (usually) tuneful, and there is refreshingly little in the way of such gimmicks as ‘boys only’ verses. The organ accompaniment features some subtle and delightful word-painting, (e.g. Psalm 55 v. 6, ‘O that I had wings like a dove’) which does much to maintain our interest despite some rather dull chants, several by Peterborough organists of various eras, including the famous Stanley Vann, organist 1953-77, whose quest for perfection in psalm-singing led him to compose a number of chants suited to the particular character of a specific psalm. Sadly the examples on this disc do not seem to be his finest.

The Dean of Peterborough has supplied a witty and erudite preface to the liner-notes, and altogether this is a worthy contribution to Priory’s Complete Psalms series.

Timothy Storey

SELVA MORALE E SPIRITUALE

Claudio Monteverdi Vol III

The Sixteen dir Harry Christophers

Laudate Dominum; Iste confessor; Magnificat; Credidi propter quod locutus sum; Pianto della Madonna ‘Iam moriar, mi fili’; Beatus vir; È questa vita un lamp; Confitebor tibi Domine; Memento, Domine, David; Laudate pueri; Salve Regina; Magnificat.

CORO COR 16109 TT 76:11

This CD is the third and final volume of The Sixteen’s recording of Selva morale e spirituale, the last great collection of sacred music Monteverdi published. Monteverdi’s tenure as Choirmaster at St Mark’s, Venice was a time of great significance for church music and St Mark’s was at the forefront of the CounterReformation movement. As the private chapel of the Doge, however, it was able to exercise a certain amount of autonomy in liturgical matters. Thus some of the psalm settings, such as Credidi propter quod locutus sum and Memento, Domine, David are in sixteenth-century a capella style while the large-scale Magnificat (primo) is thoroughly seventeenth-century in expression.

Most of the programme is of psalm settings, hymns and canticles from the collection but also included are the exquisite Pianto della Madonna, a reworking, to a Latin text, by Monteverdi of his famous operatic Lamento dell’ Arianna, (movingly sung by Grace Davidson), and the delightful spiritual madrigal È questa vita un lampo.

This CD is full of delights. The Sixteen and Harry Christophers are in fine form. Their love and understanding of Monteverdi’s music is evident throughout and will give great pleasure to their extensive following.

Alan Spedding

AT THE ROUND EARTH’S IMAGINED CORNERS

Malcolm Archer

RSCM/Convivium Singers

At the round earth’s imagined corners; Carol of the stable; Suo Gân; An Irish blessing; In war, resolution; Missa Montis Regalis; Prayer of St Richard of Chichester; A Harvest Anthem; Sing of a stable by an inn; Anthem for Seafarers; Good Christians all, rejoice and sing; Nearer, my God, to Thee; All creatures of our God and King. CONVIVIUM CR014

It is good to have a complete disc of the works of Malcolm Archer, presented here in association with the RSCM. The music featured spans a number of years from the composer’s output, and provides items that are suitable for a range of ecclesiastical occasions, ranging from arrangements of traditional texts (including one in Welsh) and melodies, to carols and a colourful and exciting setting of the Mass (minus the Credo) written for the Montreal Boys’ Choir.

The recording was made in the warm acoustic of Portsmouth Cathedral, where the organ is heard in fine form in the hands of David Price. The diverse choral forces brought together for the recording, directed by the composer, combine to make a solid and well-blended ensemble that is sensitive to the many moods of the various musical styles.

Any choir director looking for something new and refreshing and, if so desired, rather more challenging than some of the repertoire generally available, will find plenty of material here. All the pieces on the recording are available through the RSCM.

Jeffrey Williams

BRITTEN: THE CHORAL EDITION

The Finzi Singers

Lichfield Cathedral Choristers

Dir: Paul Spicer

Organ: Andrew Lumsden

4 Hymns; Rejoice in the Lamb; Choral Dances from ‘Gloriana’; AMDG; Jubilate Deo in E flat; Te Deum; Antiphon; Missa Brevis; A Wedding Anthem; Sweet was the song the virgin sang; A Ceremony of Carols; Festival Te Deum; Jubilate Deo in C; Five Flower Songs; Advance Democracy; Sacred and Profane; A Boy was Born.

CHANDOS CHAN 10771(3)X TT 67:10, 72:04, 61:42

This set of 3 CDs was recorded over three years between 1995 and 1997 in the Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead (CDs 1 & 2), and St Augustine’s Kilburn (CD 3). Chandos have cannily repackaged them for the Britten centenary year. Paul Spicer’s Finzi Singers are a first-rate ensemble, alive to all the nuances in Britten’s music, and Spicer’s own evident love of this repertoire makes these discs a real listening delight. Added to this are Andrew Lumsden’s excellent organ accompaniments, virtuoso and tender by turns, and the harpist Susan Drake in A Ceremony of Carols. The choristers of Lichfield Cathedral join the Finzis in A Boy was Born

The decision on whether to buy Britten: The Choral Edition may well hinge on how many recordings of these works already sit on the CD rack. For me, this package is a great opportunity to have all this music readily to hand. I would just draw attention to a sample few recordings that alone make this collection a must for me -- the Hymn to St Cecilia, Rejoice in the Lamb, the Gloriana Choral Dances, the Ceremony, and Sacred and Profane. On every level these CDs can be warmly recommended.

Roger Judd

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

The Sacred Choral Music

Choir of New College, Oxford

Dir: Edward Higginbottom

Organ: Steven Grahl; Lawrence Thain; Ben Bloor.

Harp: Emma Granger

4 Hymns; A Wedding Anthem; Whoso dwelleth; Te Deum in C; Jubilate Deo in E flat; A Ceremony of Carols; Rejoice in the Lamb; Festival Te Deum; Venite; Jubilate Deo in C; Missa Brevis Prayer I & II Antiphon

NOVUM NCR 1386 TT 62.42 and 57:43

According to the CD booklet, ‘This anthology presents all the music of Benjamin Britten which might reasonably be sung within the liturgy of the Christian Church’. Britten never entirely shook off the influence of his low-church upbringing but in later life confessed to being a believer who could not accept church doctrine. Thus he approaches religious texts in his own way, unhindered by conventional practices.

The three most significant works, A Ceremony of Carols, Rejoice in the Lamb and Missa Brevis, are given sparkling and often moving interpretations under Edward Higginbottom’s experienced guidance. One would go far in search of more sensitive performances of Ceremony (with Emma Granger’s stylish harp accompaniment) or the Missa Brevis

The superb New College Choir rises to the demands of the music and we are able to chart Britten’s development as a choral composer from the earliest item A Hymn to the Virgin (1930), a miraculous achievement for a boy of seventeen, to the Hymn of St Columba (1962), via the lesser-known Jubilate in E flat (later withdrawn by Britten) and the Venite (unpublished in the composer’s lifetime).

The two CDs, recorded in 2011 and 2012 respectively, display a remarkable consistency in choral sound, notwithstanding some changes in personnel, inevitable in an academic establishment. The CD booklet is packed with relevant information together with a personal reflection by James Bowman. A most significant contribution to Britten’s centenary year.

Alan Spedding

IN DUBLIN’S FAIR CITY

St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin Dir: Stuart Nicholson

Organ: David Leigh Parry Dear Lord and Father of mankind; He delivered the poor; Burgon Nunc Dimittis; Warlock Bethlehem Down; S S Wesley With my whole heart; Britten Corpus Christi Carol; There is no rose; Interlude; arr John Dexter How far is it to Bethlehem?; Handel How beautiful are the feet; Vivaldi Largo (from Concerto in D major RV93; Dines Jubilate Deo (from St Patrick’s Service);

Vaughan Williams A Song of the Tree of Life; The Call; Robert Prescott Stewart Concert-Fantasia in D Minor; John Ireland Ex ore innocentium; Mary Plumstead A grateful heart;

Rutter A Gaelic blessing; arr Britten The Salley Gardens; arr Stuart Nicholson Cockles and Mussels

REGENT REGCD396 TT 71:13

How many readers of Cathedral Music know that 1432 saw the foundation of a choir school for St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin? I certainly didn’t, and this CD has come as a considerable and very pleasant surprise. It is sung by the boy choristers of the choir, accompanied, variously, by organ, guitar and harp, in a programme that is wide-ranging and most attractive. The performances are of a very high quality, with the boys sounding splendidly assured -- this is music that clearly appeals to them. I would have loved to hear them in a complete performance of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, rather than an excerpt, but that is about the only quibble I have. The fine cathedral organ has a few outings of its own, and David Leigh’s accompaniments are just as they should be.

Do support St Patrick’s Cathedral and their music by buying this CD, another of Gary Cole’s (Regent Records) excellent productions. The CD ends with Cockles and Mussels ... how could it be otherwise?

Roger Judd

DO NOT BE AFRAID Choral Music of Philip Stopford

Truro Cathedral Choir

Dir: Christopher Gray

Organ: Luke Bond

Episcopal Jubilate; Collect for the Queen; Lord’s Prayer; Truro Evening Canticles; Teach me, O Lord; The Spirit of the Lord; Ave Regina Coelorum; Do not be afraid; Hope; Drop, drop, slow tears; For the beauty of the earth; Renaissance Jubilate; Born in a stable; Once in royal David’s city; Sans Day carol; I wonder as I wander; Lully, lulla, lullay; A Christmas Blessing.

REGENT REGCD400 TT 74:12

Philip Stopford began his professional career as Organ Scholar at Truro before studies in Oxford and cathedral posts at Canterbury, Chester and Belfast, so it is fitting that from Truro should come the first recording of his music by a cathedral choir, his chamber choir in Belfast having been responsible for a disc of his music from Priory Records. The Truro musicians have given us a fine CD, excellently recorded, of the high quality we have come to expect from them. The singing is of exceptional beauty; the cathedral’s famous Father Willis organ provides a colourful (and, where necessary, robust) accompaniment which enhances but never overwhelms the voices. Such a single-composer programme would be a severe test of composers more gifted, dare one say, than Mr Stopford, and the prevailing mood of Rutter-ish sweetness may not be to all tastes; but the more lean and muscular writing he employs in the Truro Canticles struck me as an encouraging and notably successful development of his style. His version of the Cornish Sans (i. e. Saint) Day Carol is also worth a closer look. There is much to enjoy here.

Timothy Storey

MY BELOVED SPAKE

Anthems by Henry Purcell & Pelham Humfrey

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge

Dir: Andrew Nethsingha; St John’s Sinfonia Purcell Remember not, Lord, our offences; Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei; O sing unto the Lord; Behold, now praise the Lord; My beloved spake; Hear my prayer, O Lord; Rejoice in the Lord alway; Humfrey O Lord my God; Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis.

CHACONNE DIGITAL CHAN 0790 TT 69:41

A well-planned programme gives the opportunity to compare Henry Purcell with his older contemporary and mentor, Pelham Humfrey, himself a pupil of Lully. Both died young; indeed Humfrey, dying at twenty-seven, hardly had time to develop his prodigious early promise. Humfrey’s music reveals a certain artificiality in expression, that of a young man out to impress, while Purcell’s shows mature control, even in his teenage compositions.

These fine performances by the musicians of St John’s put the music in historical context. There is a touch of Marenzio and Monteverdi in the teenage Purcell’s Jehovah, quam multi sunt while his sumptuous string-writing in the accompanied verse anthems look forward to Handel’s great sets of Concerti Grossi. We know from chance remarks that Handel knew and admired Purcell, after all.

In Andrew Nethsingha’s interpretations, choir, soloists and instrumentalists reveal a range of moods from the confidence of O Sing unto the Lord to the profundity of the glorious eight-

voice Hear my Prayer, in which Purcell’s inbuilt crescendo unfolds to full effect. How fortunate was Purcell to live, even for such a lamentably short span, at a time when music of quality was appreciated and valued by the highest in the land.

A short review cannot do justice either to the richness of the music or the musicianship of the performers. This is a superb CD reflecting great credit on Andrew Nethsingha and all his team.

Alan Spedding

I WAS GLAD

Choir of the King’s Consort/ The King’s Consort

Robert King/Carolyn Sampson/ David Wilson-Johnson

Stanford Magnificat & Nunc dimittis in A, G, B flat and C; Parry I was glad; ‘Coronation’ Te deum; Blest pair of Sirens; (orch. Elgar) Jerusalem.

VIVAT 101 TT 67:52

For many lovers of cathedral music the chief attraction of this programme will be the orchestral versions of Stanford’s familiar settings of the evening canticles. Sir John Stainer advocated the use of the orchestra in choral services; in 1873, only a year after his appointment to St Paul’s Cathedral, he began a tradition (which lasted there without interruption until the Second World War) of having Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis and the anthem sung with orchestra at the Patronal Festival on 25 January, and at the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy in May. Stanford in A (which Stainer commissioned for St Paul’s in 1880) was conceived right from the start with accompaniment for orchestra, not organ, but Stanford orchestrated the canticles in B flat, C and G some years after their composition; the famous spinning-wheel motif in the G major Magnificat is given to the harp, with utterly delightful effect.

Nor should we ignore Parry’s share of this disc, which, in addition to the ever-welcome Blest pair of Sirens, somewhat briskly performed, gives us I was glad in its 1911 version with ‘vivat Regina Maria’ and ‘vivat Rex Georgius’ and, also from the 1911 Coronation, the Te Deum in D, which suffered a disastrous first performance from an inadequately rehearsed choir and band exhausted by the long ceremony. There are no such problems with this CD! All the performances are first-rate, notable for the use of historic instruments; one is struck by the beauty and mellowness of the orchestral tone. Nor should one neglect to praise the choir and soloists! I just regret the inclusion of Elgar’s Glorious Technicolour orchestration of Jerusalem, rather than Parry’s own version; but that is a very minor blemish on a most enjoyable programme of quite exceptional interest and quality, which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Timothy Storey

MORE DIVINE THAN HUMAN Music from The Eton Choirbook

Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

Stephen Darlington

AVIE AV2167 TT 78:55

This disc was issued in 2009 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s coronation in June 1509. The music is all taken from The Eton Choirbook and bears testament to the rich heritage

Fawkyner Gaude rosa sine spina; Cornysh Salve regina; Lambe Magnificat; Davy In honore summe matris; Browne Stabat Mater.

of sacred music that existed at the time. Most of the composers’ names are less familiar, but the music has a freshness and gloriously timeless quality. There is much word-painting and idiomatic harmonic language to be found in the florid Tudor polyphony that engages the ear.

The choir of Christ Church Cathedral manages the virtuosic challenges of the writing with seeming ease. Their vocal sound is open, with a degree of edge that serves to bring the music alive. Long, flowing lines of counterpoint unfold effortlessly, even in the lengthy one-to-a-part semi-chorus passages. Merton College Chapel was the venue, and the closeness of the recording produces a feeling of intimacy that is ideally suited to the music, and results in clarity of texture.

Do buy this disc to appreciate anew the music of a largely neglected heritage.

Jeffrey Williams

DEEP RIVER

Winchester College Choir

Tippett Steal away; Nobody knows; Go down, Moses; O, by and by; Deep River; Lotti Crucifixus à 8; Byrd Civitas sancti

tui; Greene Lord, let me know mine end; Purcell Remember not, Lord, our offences; Hear my prayer; Ireland Ex ore innocentium; Bach Chorale Prelude BWV 622; Sanders The Reproaches; Duruflé Ubi caritas; Bruckner Christus factus est; Hymns: When I survey the wondrous cross; My song is love unknown

REGENT REGCD 405 TT 66:02

The subtitle of this disc is Music for Lent, Passiontide and Holy Week and so I suppose that I should declare an interest here: if I had to live (at least musically) in only one season of the church’s year it would be Lent, so this disc gets off to a good start as far as this reviewer is concerned.

The choir of Winchester College for this recording comprised sixteen trebles (known as quiristers), five altos, one contralto, seven tenors and no fewer than ten basses. The quiristers are educated (as are the choristers from Winchester Cathedral) at The Pilgrims’ School, whilst the other parts are provided by senior pupils and staff of the College. Malcolm Archer has been responsible for the chapel choir since 2007.

The choir’s performances of the pieces which make up this delightful programme do not disappoint. The balance between both the individual parts within the choir and the choir and organ is excellent and the recording captures the warmth of the acoustic of the chapel as well as the wide dynamic range with which the choir sings. The lower voices do not exhibit any of the roughness which can characterise recently changed voices, whilst the tone of the boys is pleasant and warm. A most enjoyable disc.

Tim Rogerson

ORGAN CDs

BACH ORGAN WORKS VOL II

Robert Quinney plays the organ of Trinity College, Cambridge

Toccata & Fugue in D Min BWV 565; Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern BWV 739; Passacaglia in C min BWV 582; Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C BWV 564; Allein Gott in der Höh BWV 662 & 663; Trio super Allein Gott BWV 664; Toccata & Fugue in F BWV 540. CORO COR 16112 TT 75:11

The disc presents a winning combination of fine music together with considered and stylish performances which are played on this fabulous instrument. The music is thought to date from the first half of Bach’s life whilst the organ was built in 1975 by Metzler of Zürich at the behest of the late Richard Marlow and includes some pipework from an earlier instrument by ‘Father’ Smith dating back to 1694. Robert Quinney is a former organ scholar of King’s College Cambridge who subsequently held posts at Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey before moving to Peterborough Cathedral earlier this year. The inclusion of ‘Volume II’ in the title of this disc, which follows an earlier recording of the Bach Trio Sonatas at Queen’s College Oxford, suggests that are more recordings to come – hopefully soon!

Tim Rogerson

MASTERS OF THE MONARCHS’ MUSIC

Tom Bell plays the organ of Durham Cathedral

Bliss Overture; March; Ballet for Children; Intermezzo; Fanfare for the Lord Mayor of London; Bridal Ceremony; Seven Waves Away; The Rout Trot; Elgar Andantino, Poco lento, Moderato from Vesper Voluntaries; The Tame Bear; Williamson Symphony for Organ.

REGENT REGCD 409 TT 74:33

The music presented here by three Masters of the King’s/ Queen’s Music; Elgar (George V), Bliss and Williamson (Elizabeth II) has no immediate royal connections. Elgar’s early, miniature Vesper Voluntaries are given gentle, sympathetic performances, contrasting with the variety of opportunities for virtuosic display elsewhere in the programme which are relished by the excellent Tom Bell.

Bliss wrote no organ music and all his pieces here are performed in Robert Gower’s masterly and imaginative transcriptions of movements mostly from the composer’s film scores. The Rout Trot of 1927 reminds us of the composer’s early enfant terrible reputation, rather difficult to reconcile with his later image as the establishment figure some of us remember.

The most substantial work here, Symphony for Organ (1961), is by Williamson, who had rather less impact in the royal appointment than either Elgar or Bliss. The Symphony, informed by the composer’s love of the music of Messaien, is among the finest achievements in his rather uneven output. Tom Bell uses the full resources of the Durham Harrison in a magnificent performance of a complex and diverse work which sounds very much of its time.

Alan Spedding

VARIATION AMRYWIAD

John Hosking plays the organ of St Asaph Cathedral

Bonnet Variations de Concert; Stocks Variations on ‘The Golden Harp’; Jacobs Theme & variations on ‘Victimae Paschali’; Reger Variations & Fugue on ‘God Save the King’; Bach Partitas on ‘Sei gegrüsset’ BWV 768; Briggs Variations on ‘Greensleeves’; Cochereau Toccata Marche des Rois; Hosking Improvisation: Variations on ‘Suo Gân’ REGENT REGCD 402 TT 76:56

I had not previously heard the organ in St Asaph Cathedral, and on the showing of this recording it comes across as colourful and versatile instrument. Much of it is by William Hill with

significant additions by Wood of Huddersfield in 1998. The organ has to work quite hard in the less than helpful cathedral acoustic.

John Hosking, the cathedral Assistant Organist, presents a programme of variations (with the exception of the Cochereau Toccata, which if I’m honest I could have done without!), some familiar, some freshly minted. A repertoire such as this is, of course, perfect for exploring the instrument in depth, and Hosking grasps that opportunity with both hands and feet -- his playing is equal to all the challenges the music sets him.

I suspect, and hope, that this CD will help to raise the profile of St Asaph cathedral’s music, and John Hosking and Regent Records are to be commended for this enterprise.

Roger Judd

WAGNER AT THE ORGAN

The transcriptions of Edwin Lemare

Jonathan Vaughn

Overture to Die Meistersinger; Pilgrims’ Chorus from Tannhäuser; Prelude & 4 Liebestod from Tristan; Prelude to Act I, Prelude to Act II and Bridal Music from Lohengrin; Funeral March from Götterdämmerung; Magic Fire Music and The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre. REGENT REGCD 394 TT 74:43

Edwin Lemare was one of the most famous organists of his generation whose programmes usually included a significant number of transcriptions, the best known of which were pieces by Wagner. A contemporary newspaper review of one of his recitals commented that ‘his choice of register brought out the most beautiful tones of the instrument ... and he obtained splendid effects in expression by his perfect control of the swell and crescendo pedals’.

The same could be said of Jonathan Vaughn’s performance of a selection of Lemare’s Wagner transcriptions on this disc. The playing provides all of the ingredients needed to show Wagner’s music at its best, exciting when loud, but with the necessary intensity to bring out the emotion of the softer and more slowly moving sections, nowhere more so than in the famous Bridal March from Lohengrin, which is heard in context.

The organ on which he has chosen to record these works is the splendid and recently restored 1912 Harrison & Harrison instrument in the Church of St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol, which offers an incredibly wide tonal spread from the softest string stop through a variety of orchestral colours, flutes and diapasons to commanding reeds. Overall, a fascinating recording and very much recommended.

Tim Rogerson

CHRISTMAS CDs

ADVENT AT MERTON

Choir of Merton College, Oxford

Dirs: Peter Phillips/Ben Nicholas

Organ: Anna Steppler

Martin Ecce concipies; Trad. arr Blackwell

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming; Byrd

Rorate caeli desuper; Ecce Virgo concipiet; MacMillan Advent antiphon; O radiant dawn; Weir Drop down, ye heavens; Praetorius Alvus tumescit virginis; Seven advent antiphons; Heiller Es ist ein’ Ros’ entsprungen; Praetorius arr Sandström Es ist ein’ Ros’ entsprungen; Victoria Ave Maria.

DELPHIAN DCD34122 TT 56:21

It is good that Merton’s beautiful chapel, with its generous acoustic and fine organ, is now graced by a mixed choir of such high quality. The Merton choir was established in 2008 under the direction of Peter Phillips, and Benjamin Nicholas (then director of the Schola Cantorum, Tewkesbury), who now has full-time responsibility for Merton’s chapel music. Advent at Merton is a serious business, on the evidence of this somewhat severe programme, the challenges of which the singers meet triumphantly. The Phillips influence is obvious in the choir’s confident and expressive performance of the handful of Renaissance works on this disc; much of the rest is of recent date, and I was especially taken with Ecce concipies (Matthew Martin), O radiant dawn (MacMillan), the various arrangements of Es ist ein’ Ros’/Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming and Judith Weir’s delightful version of the Advent Prose. I was less convinced of the wisdom of placing at the centre of this programme a whole set of Advent antiphons by contemporary composers -- Howard Skempton, John Tavener, Rihards Dubra, Gabriel Jackson, Cecilia McDowall, Matthew Martin and Ěriks Eŝenvalds. The antiphons were commissioned by the college, so their inclusion was probably inevitable. Necessarily somewhat brief, they constitute a kind of mini-compendium of current fads in choral composition, but in terms of programme-building the effect is of a house not exactly built on sand but sadly on nothing more substantial than a heap of stones. One must acknowledge that this may not be a programme for all tastes, but there is no doubting the high quality of the choir’s performances. If you would like to discover and enjoy some new repertoire for Advent, give this CD very careful consideration.

Timothy Storey

THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM

The London Oratory School Schola

Dir: Lee Ward; Organ: Tom Little Wesley Lo, He comes with clouds descending; Manz E’en so, Lord Jesus; Trad O come, all ye faithful; O little town of Bethlehem; Hark! the herald angels; Martin Adam lay ybounden; Rutter What sweeter music; Head Little road to Bethlehem; Gardner Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; Terry A babe is born; Nicholson Ding dong! merrily on high; Short Away in a manger; Hadley I sing of a maiden; Leddington-Wright We three kings. www.london-oratory.org/schola

This recording gives the listener a snapshot of what the London Oratory School Schola was doing at a particular time. In this case it was May 2012, and at the time of publication, November 2013, it will be quite different, as the students move through and out of the choir. I suspect that the CD will have limited appeal outside the school community, but for anyone wanting to hear what is possible within an educational establishment such as the London Oratory, this is a fascinating document. Matthew Martin’s setting of Adam lay ybounden is a beautiful antidote to the familiar Boris Ord setting, and very well sung here. Rutter’s What sweeter music shows the good and the less-good side of the choir; the treble voices are excellent and make a beautifully blended sound, while the tenors and basses sound rather raw in comparison. Stuart Nicholson contributes an amusing version of Ding! dong! merrily ... and Nigel Short (he of Tenebrae) has arranged a bluesy version of Away in a manger which is rather appealing.

The London Oratory can be justly proud of its Schola which, on the showing of this recording, is doing impressive work.

Roger Judd

CHRISTMAS FROM BATH

The Choir of Bath Abbey

Dir: Peter King Organ: Marcus Sealy Leontovych Carol of the bells; Gauntlett

Once in royal; Trad arr Chilcott Sussex Carol; Trad arr Scott It came upon the midnight clear; Skempton Adam lay ybounden; There is no rose; Trad arr Blackwell Lo, how a rose e’er blooming; arr Willcocks Unto us is born a son; Ding dong! merrily on high; Shephard A stable lamp; Trad arr Sirett God rest you merry, gentlemen; Bullard Glory to the Christ Child; I saw a stable; arr Chilcott Good King Wenceslas; While shepherds watched; Away in a manger; Archer A little child there is yborn; arr Hill O little town; Gruber arr Chilcott Silent night; Ledger The Bell Carol; arr Ledger O come, all ye faithful; Jones What child is this? Jackson The Christ-child; Mendelssohn Hark! the herald angels sing.

REGENT REGCD390 TT 72:50

My interest in any disc of Christmas music is determined by the less familiar works included as well as any arrangements of ‘congregational’ carols which are new to me. A quick look at the playlist above will confirm that this disc from Bath Abbey offers much on both counts. Bath Abbey Choir (29 boys, 26 girls and 19 men) is on fine form throughout and is beautifully accompanied by Marcus Sealy (who includes the use of the Glockenspiel and Cymbelstern). Whilst I particularly enjoyed Richard Shepherd’s A stable lamp and Thomas Hewitt Jones’ What child is this, all of the carols in this carefully recorded disc are of interest and so I commend it to readers.

Tim Rogerson

JINGLE WELLS

Wells Cathedral Choir

Dir: Matthew Owens

Organ: Jonathan Vaughn Pierpont arr Allwood Jingle bells; Rutter Star Carol; Candlelight Carol; Ledger The voice of the angel Gabriel; Owens The holly and the ivy; Warlock Bethlehem Down; Trad arr Ledger Sussex Carol; Poston Jesus Christ, the apple tree; Leighton Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child; Basque arr Willcocks The infant king; Whitacre Lux aurumque; arr Mack Wilberg Ding dong! merrily on high; Roberts Improvisation on ‘God rest you merry, gentlemen’; Gritton Follow that star; Park Cradle Lullaby; Kirkpatrick arr Willcocks Away in a manger; Tormé & Wells The Christmas song; Gruber arr Owens Silent night.

REGENT REGCD399 TT 62:17

They had to give the CD that title, didn’t they? But don’t allow the cover to put you off, because there is a well-thoughtout programme performed with a high degree of polish and panache behind it. How good that Philip Ledger is celebrated on this CD with a carol he wrote for Wells shortly before his death -- it should become widely sung. Ledger’s arrangement of the Sussex Carol makes a welcome appearance too. Matthew Owens’ The Holly and the Ivy is a catchy number, and deserves to enliven many a carol service. The cathedral’s then organ scholar, Owain Park, contributes a Cradle Lullaby, which the choristers sing on their own -- it is a most affecting piece, beautifully sung. Wilberg’s naughty arrangement of Ding! dong! merrily is delivered with great gusto, and Ralph Allwood’s arrangement of the title track gets the CD off to a cracking start. Jonathan Vaughn, as well as providing accompaniments that buzz with rhythmic life and impeccable good taste, contributes a splendid solo track, an improvisation by Myron Roberts on God rest you merry, gentlemen There is much else to enjoy on this fairly ‘unbuttoned’ CD from Wells -- do sample it for yourself.

Roger Judd

AND COMES THE DAY

The Choir of Queens’ College

Cambridge

Dir: Silas Wollston The Queens’ Chapel

Players

Advent prose: Drop down, ye heavens; Chilcott Advent antiphons; Joubert There is no rose; Ord Adam lay ybounden; Palestrina arr Rutter I look from afar; Charpentier Noel; O clavis David; Anon There is no rose; Veni, veni, Emmanuel; Britten A Hymn to the Virgin; Walton All this time; Pärt Antiphon O Morgenstern; Praetorius Magnificat; In dulci jubilo; Howells A spotless rose; Wollston I saw a sweet and seemly sight; Warlock Bethlehem down; Benedicamus Domino. ORCHID CLASSICS ORC100027 TT 62:10

The choir of Queens’ College Cambridge present a programme of music for Advent which is as enterprising in its repertoire as it is accomplished in its execution. I was much taken with Bob Chilcott’s setting of the Advent Antiphons, written in 2004, and given an assured performance – it deserves to be widely sung at Advent. Among other less well-trodden paths of the repertoire I much enjoyed hearing a French take on the season by Charpentier, and here the singers are joined by the strings of the Queens’ Chapel Players. The same forces join together in an arrangement by H. Praetorius of In dulci jubilo, which follows that composer’s splendid eight-part setting of the Magnificat

On this showing the choir comes across as a disciplined, well-tuned and well-balanced ensemble, and I much enjoyed listening to their CD.

Roger Judd

MIDWINTER

The Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow Dir: Frikki Walker

Organ: Geoffrey Woollatt Chilcott Mid-winter; Gardner Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; Mendelssohn Hark! the herald angels; Frohlocket, ihr Völker auf Erden; Poston Jesus Christ, the apple tree; Wade arr Willcocks O come, all ye faithful; Lauridsen O magnum mysterium; Ireland The holy boy; Rutter Angels’ carol; Mack Wilberg Ding dong! merrily on high; Manz E’en so, Lord Jesus; Trad arr Elliott Ecce novum gaudium; Bach Chorale prelude ‘In dulci jubilo’; Gregson-Williams In the bleak mid-winter; Sweelinck Hodie Christus natus est; Sears It came upon the midnight clear; arr Walker Hail! happy morn; Cook Paean on Divinum Mysterium.

OX-RECS DIGITAL OXCD-111

The liner-notes describe this as ‘A mixture of traditional and contemporary carols reflecting the range of styles of music heard in St Mary’s Cathedral, not just at special times, but from week to week, and featuring the full choir of SATB adults plus mixed treble voices.’ As a fully paid-up pedant I feel compelled to point out that most of these so-called carols are no such thing, but motets or sacred part-songs. In other words, this CD is designed principally to be a souvenir of the musical life of Glasgow’s Episcopal cathedral, which is surely in a healthy state under Frikki Walker’s direction, on the evidence of his choir’s singing of this interesting and varied programme which is cleverly bookended by contemporary settings of In the bleak mid-winter. As for the programme’s appeal to a wider audience, I am not so sure. The familiar Christmas hymns (not carols) Hark! the heraldangels sing, It came upon the midnight clear and O come, all ye faithful belong rather to discs of Hackneyed Carols You Love to Hate. It was nice to have the Mendelssohn and Sweelinck motets, but the contemporary ‘carols’ were an all-too-predictable choice,

not least the rather over-rated examples by Lauridsen and Manz. Hail! happy morn seems to belong more to Thomas Hardy’s Wessex than to Scotland. We could have done without the organ solos, well though they are played, for the cathedral’s instrument, formerly a fine old Harrison, was rather nastily rebuilt in 1967 with some alien tonalities and a particularly uncouth 32’ reed. A more distinctively local repertoire would have made this a much more special programme with a wider appeal, and I was delighted at least to discover Ecce novum gaudium (words and music from a 17th Scottish manuscript – surely there is more where that came from?), and the delightful new and as yet unpublished In the bleak mid-winter by Harry Gregson-Williams, the composer of the sound-tracks for such films as Chicken Run and Shrek. The late Sir Philip Ledger’s Glaswegian connections could well have been acknowledged; if it seemed essential to have well-known hymns we could at least have been given them with his descants, and his lovely setting of Jesus Christ, the apple tree would have made a welcome change from Poston. All that aside, the cathedral’s musicians deserve the greatest credit for this enterprising project, which you would do well to buy (despite my misgivings) if its contents appeal to you, for the singing is very good.

Timothy Storey

CHRISTMAS FROM ROCHESTER

The Choir of Rochester Cathedral

Dirs: Scott Farrell & Samuel Rathbone

Gauntlett Once in royal; Cooman Adam lay ybounden; Trad arr Trepte People look east; Away in a manger; All hail to the days; Deck the hall; Joubert There is no rose; Trad arr Willcocks Of the Father’s heart begotten; God rest you merry, gentlemen; How far is it to Bethlehem; O come, all ye faithful; L Berkeley I sing of a maiden; Joubert Torches; Trad arr Vaughan Williams O little town of Bethlehem; Trad arr Lucas de Pearsall In dulci jubilo; Chilcott Mid-winter; The Night He was born; Where riches is everlastingly; Carter Make we merry; Cornelius arr Atkins The Three Kings; Rathbone Child of the stable’s secret birth; Mendelssohn Hark! the herald angels sing.

REGENT REGCD379 TT 78:52

This CD showcases the choirs of Rochester Cathedral, and we find them in excellent heart in an attractive programme of music for Christmas, a pleasant mix of the familiar and the less so. I’ll confine most of my remarks to the repertoire that may be new to those drawn to this disc. Carson Cooman’s take on Adam lay ybounden will come as a bit of a surprise to someone expecting something like Boris Ord’s peerless setting (incidentally, Cooman hails from Rochester, New York). Four arrangements by Paul Trepte (Ely Cathedral) are splendidly varied and clearly enjoyed by singers and organists alike. The choir’s assistant director, Sam Rathbone, also appears as composer of Child of the Stable’s Secret Birth -- written when he was 16, it shows an acute and assured harmonic ear and a flair for a good melody. Bob Chilcott, who features three times, has set some sixteenth-century words, When riches is everlastingly, which should get the toes tapping, aided by drums, shakers and claves, in an infectious rumba rhythm. His setting of Midwinter, better known as In the bleak Mid-winter, is a sensitive take on these much-loved words, and The Night He was born sets some thought-provoking verses by Helen Dunmore.

If I have a regret, it is that the diction of the choir is not always as clear as it could be, but the feeling of joy and passion for the music shines through all. Hats off to the three organists, two choir directors and all the singers, for conveying so much pleasure.

Roger Judd

CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

The Choristers of St George’s, Windsor Dir: Tim Byram-Wigfield Organ: Richard Pinel

Gauntlett Once in royal; Trad arr Sargent Zither Carol; Bairstow The Blessed Virgin’s Cradle Song; Daquin Noël Suisse; Britten

There is no rose; A New Year Carol; Trad arr Goodall In dulci jubilo; Trad arr Rutter Il est né, le divin enfant; Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; Hadley I sing of a maiden; Trad arr Willcocks Rocking; O little town of Bethlehem; Ding dong! merrily on high; Rutter Star Carol; Lemare Adeste fideles; Ballet arr Shaw Lute-Book Lullaby; Dubois Noël; Trad arr Holst Personent hodie; Stainer When Jesus was born; Bach Chorale prelude ‘In dulci jubilo’; Humperdinck Angel’s Prayer; Mendelssohn Hark! the herald angels sing.

REGENT REGCD374 TT 66:09

I found this thoroughly delightful. Those responsible deserve the greatest credit for their resourcefulness in searching out such an attractive and interesting programme, and Stainer’s When Jesus was born was a real ‘find’. It is a sizeable part of I desired wisdom, composed in 1876, an Epiphany anthem, which conveniently happens to end with O come, all ye faithful. I have to confess that initially I was not overjoyed to find the familiar Carols for Choirs versions of this and O little town elsewhere in the programme, but I was quite won over by the delightful effect of the tune being sung by trebles at a pitch not far below the descant, the result being in effect a duet for more-or-less equal voices. I should also mention the excerpts from two works for three-part trebles and harp, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and Rutter’s Dancing Day, which sound surprisingly convincing with organ accompaniment. It is good that we hear a full set of Windsor’s choristers on this disc (there have been shortages in recent years), and their singing, though a little less than perfect in places, is lively and expressive. I strongly recommend this very enjoyable CD, which is worthy of a better fate than to be merely background music to a Christmas party.

Timothy Storey

ADVENT PROCESSION

The Choir of Chichester Cathedral

Dir: Sarah Baldock

Organ: Timothy Ravalde

Plainsong Creator of the stars of night; O Antiphons (8); Gowers Ad te levavi; Gibbons O thou the central orb; Buxtehude Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland; Byrd Laetentur coeli; Stainer Come, thou long expected Jesus; Goldschmidt A tender shoot; Weelkes Hosanna to the Son of David; Ravenscroft Hark the glad sound; Naylor Vox dicentis; Britten Hymn to the Virgin; Bevan Magnificat octavi toni; Bach Fuga sopra il Magnificat; Wachet au, ruft uns die Stimme; Monk Hark, a herald voice is calling; Lloyd Drop down, ye heavens; Manz E’en so, Lord Jesus; Brahms Es ist ein’ Ros’ entsprungen; Joubert There is no rose; Willcocks O come, O come, Emmanuel.

HERALD HAVPCD379 TT 77:25

Chichester has put together a most attractive sequence of music for the Advent season, and it is sung and played with great commitment and skill. The musicians have been well served by Herald’s excellent recording, which has captured the sound of the singers and organ in the warm acoustic of the cathedral. The programme is knit together by plainsong, notably the Advent ‘Great O Antiphons’. There are many nice things to savour; the treble solo at the end of Vox dicentis, Byrd’s Laetentur coeli, Britten’s Hymn to the Virgin, Gibbons O thou the

central orb, Gowers Ad te levavi, Goldschmidt A tender shoot, Manz E’en so Lord Jesus, to name a few of them. I have very few regrets; the CD booklet is very short on information about the music; Vox dicentis seems, to my ears, to be a little rushed; Bevan’s Magnificat sounds a little robotic; and a little more shape to the plainsong would have been welcome. These are relatively minor niggles, and should not put off any intending purchase. Chichester is surely the smallest cathedral choir with just 12 boys and 6 men, but it has long been one of the best; Sarah Baldock and Timothy Ravalde are maintaining the tradition splendidly.

Roger Judd

AN EBOR EPIPHANY

The Choir of York Minster

Dir: Robert Sharpe Organ: David Pipe & Ben Horden

Eucharist: Widor Messe à deux choeurs et deux orgues; Briggs Infant holy; Matins: Walton All this time; Jubilate; Moore Preces & Responses Set III; Shephard Te Deum; R Strauss Die heiligen drei Könige aus Morgenland; Evensong: Moore Lord, when the wise men came; Dyson Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D; Dove The Three Kings; Howells Te Deum (Coll Reg).

REGENT REGCD 391 TT 79:55

It is good to hear York in such fine voice, though the programme notes do not make clear whether boys and girls sing full together throughout or not. (Those who think they can tell will have a field day; I am not of their number.) This is a rich and varied programme, with some composers (Moore and Shephard) having local connections (Shephard, indeed, moonlighting among the altos). The programme, by no means parochial, includes Widor (a thrilling performance of the Mass for double choir), R. Strauss, Howells and Dyson. Most of the music is from the last century. Of the possibly less well-known items I recommend Philip Moore’s Lord, when the wise men came from afar and Jonathan Dove’s haunting The three Kings. Like my other two reviews of Regent recordings, this is at a slightly lower volume level, but all three have excellent recorded sound and helpful notes.

Richard Osmond

THE BRIGHTNESS OF THIS DAY

Winchester Cathedral Girls’ Choir & Lay Clerks

Dir: Andrew Lumsden Organ: Simon Bell Finzi God is gone up; My lovely one; Let us now praise famous men; Welcome, sweet and sacred feast; Magnificat; The brightness of this day; All this night; Lo, the full, final sacrifice; Holst Nunc dimittis; This have I done for my true love; The evening-watch; Sing me the men.

REGENT

REGCD 395 TT 74:03

The title track of this CD, by Finzi, is an early work (published 1925) which has happily been restored to the publisher’s list. The remaining works are set around Finzi’s Magnificat and Holst’s Nunc Dimittis (themselves sometimes making a serviceable pairing at Evensong). The performances are controlled without being mannered and the disc makes a convincing recital which bears repeated hearing. SCF supporters will be reminded by the final item (Lo, the full final sacrifice by Finzi) of the 2011 girls’ evensong with Simon Bell’s memorable and magical playing, happily recreated here to provide a reminder of his time at Winchester. The notes remind us of the influence of Vaughan Williams, while the array of anthems displays the distinctiveness

of both composers. Is it, I wonder, perverse to feel that Finzi’s music benefits from teenage girls on the top line, to bring more emotion than their younger male counterparts? Definitely one of my discs of the year.

Richard Osmond

A CHORAL CHRISTMAS

The Rodolfus Choir

Dir: Ralph Allwood

Leighton Lully, lulla; Radcliffe The Oxen; Byrd Lullaby, my sweet little baby; Tavener

The Lamb; O, do not move; Today the Virgin; Chivers Ecce puer; Lauridsen O magnum mysterium; Vaughan Williams The truth sent from above; Whitacre Lux aurumque; Holst Lullay my liking; Poulenc O magnum mysterium; Palestrina Alma redemptoris mater; Parry Welcome, Yule! Ravenscroft Remember, O thou man; Poston Jesus Christ, the apple tree; Victoria Ave Maria; Tchaikovsky The Crown of Roses; Warlock Bethlehem Down

SIGNUM SIGCD 257 TT 65:29

This 2010 recording, made in St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead with Nigel Short as producer, is a superb example of Ralph Allwood’s way with singers. His Rodolfus Choir is a group of 36 young singers who, despite their youth, are accomplished musicians. It really is a very fine ensemble. Their repertoire on this CD could not be more attractive, and I do not propose to itemise it. Suffice it to say that this is a disc that you can play right the way through, or dip into, and you will not be disappointed with what you hear. Highly recommended.

Roger Judd

THE CRANMER LEGACY 1662-2012

Choir of St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford

Dir: Tom Hammond-Davies

Organ: Benjamin Bloor Vaughan Williams Service in D minor ‘Christ’s Hospital’ (Morning, Communion & Evening Service); Sanders The Firmament; Spicer Let not your heart be troubled; Walford Davies A Short Requiem.

REGENT REGCD389 TT 72:32

Most recitals from the Anglican liturgy would justify a title like this, but the distinction here is that this is the church from which Cranmer went to his execution and the disc was produced to mark the 350th anniversary of the Prayer Book. I feel the churchwarden (also chairman of the Prayer Book Society) rather does the choir a (doubtless unintended) disservice by claiming that this is somewhere to go in the university vacations, for the standard of singing is consistently high and I had wondered (but for the vacation advice) whether the youthful-sounding singers might be undergraduates. The music is mostly Vaughan Williams. Spicer’s Let not your heart, as the excellent programme notes explain, was commissioned in 2011 by John Harvey in honour of his parents. To my ear, the newer pieces are the more interesting, though the older pieces (the VW written for performance by the whole school and too long for modern parish use) will please fans of their composers, not being widely performed these days.

Richard Osmond

C CATHEDRAL MUSIC

Advertisers and Supporters

CHANTS INVITED FOR NEW PSALTER

In 2104 it is intended to publish a collection of psalms, revised in many ways but retaining Coverdale’s text as in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. This collection may lead to a new psalter which will contain a number of distinctive elements, including a classification of psalms for liturgical use and for private use, a revision of versemanagement (where there are obvious diversions from the Hebrew) and new pointing for a shorter chant-type and more natural speechrhythm performance.

This is an open invitation for new chant compositions (single or double) though to a strict format. Full details of the nature of the proposed psalter and of the chant specification are available from the general editor: philip.baxter@bnc.oxon.org

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CAMPAIGN FOR THE TRADITIONAL CATHEDRAL CHOIR

President: Dr Simon Lindley Vice-Presidents: Dr Roy Massey, Dr Alan Thurlow

‘WHO CARES?’

The English cathedral all-male choral tradition is probably the oldest musical tradition in the western world, yet its future survival is under increasing threat. Please join and help us do all we can to support the continuation of this unique sacred art form.

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REGENT New Releases

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

Thomas Hewitt Jones INCARNATION

The first recording of a major new work for Christmas by rapidly rising star composer Thomas Hewitt Jones and writer Paul Williamson REGCD429

ALL BELLS IN PARADISE:

Carols from Guildford Cathedral

he Choir of Guildford Cathedral directed by Katherine Dienes-Williams, Paul Provost (organ)

easonal music for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, including everal first recordings REGCD413

TRURO 125

Truro Cathedral Choir directed by Christopher Gray, Luke Bond (organ)

A fitting celebration of 125 years of music at Truro Cathedral, featuring an impressive collection of music, all written for or associated with Truro in recent years REGCD422

HOWELLS FROM SALISBURY

David Newsholme (organ)

Three rarely recorded works published after Howells’ death, together with the four magnificent Rhapsodies, and the large-scale Organ Sonata of 1932, played on the ‘Father’ Willis organ of Salisbury Cathedral REGCD407

MIGHT Y VOICE

Luke Bond plays the organ of Truro Cathedral

The debut solo recording from Truro’s gifted young assistant organist, playing what is regarded by many as ‘Father Willis s finest organ REGCD386

PIPING BLUES

Philip Scriven plays the organ of Lichfield Cathedral

A showcase for this immensely versatile instrument, with a programme of jazz and blues inspired music REGCD304

A PARRY COLLECTION: ORGAN WORKS

BY CHARLES HUBERT HASTINGS PARRY, 1848–1918

David Goode plays the Hill Organ of Eton College Chapel

The historic 19th-century William

REJOICE AND BE MERRY:

Organ music for Christmas

Paul Walton (organ)

A joyous selection of festive music played on the organ of Bristol Cathedral REGCD406

CHRISTMAS FROM DUBLIN

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral Choir directed by Stuart Nicholson, David Leigh (organ) REGCD418

Hill organ in the Chapel of Eton College – the school where Parry was educated as a boy –is the ideal vehicle for his organ works REGCD365