Cathedral Music: Autumn 2019

CATHEDRAL MUSIC

Your key to great playing

Music for organ

Not only do we supply the best in digital organs from four leading organ builders, but we now publish our own organ music and carry the largest stock of sheet organ music with over 1,500 volumes on our shelves from a catalogue of over 10,000 titles. Why not visit us in Shaw (OL2 7DE) where you can park for free, browse, have a coffee, play and purchase sheet organ music or use our online shop at www.sheetorganmusic.co.uk.

ChurchOrganWorld … the one stop shop for organists

CATHEDRAL MUSIC

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

ISSN 1363-6960 NOVEMBER 2019

Editor

Mrs Sooty Asquith, 8 Colinette Road, London SW15 6QQ editor@fcm.org.uk

Editorial Advisers

David Flood & Matthew Owens

Production Manager Graham Hermon pm@fcm.org.uk

FCM Email info@fcm.org.uk

Website www.fcm.org.uk

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

All communications regarding advertising should be addressed to:

DT Design, 4 Bedern Bank, Ripon HG4 1PE 07828 851458

d.trewhitt@sky.com

All communications regarding membership should be addressed to:

FCM Membership, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX

Tel: 020 3637 2172

International: +44 20 3637 2172 info@fcm.org.uk

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

Designed and produced by:

DT Design, 4 Bedern Bank, Ripon HG4 1PE 07828 851458

d.trewhitt@sky.com Cover

Receive your first year membership of the Royal College of Organists FREE, with your home practice organ purchase

Enjoy at home the same magnificent sound quality as chosen by our landmark places of worship

The Sonus Range of Home Practice Instruments

Sonus instruments, based on the very successful ‘Physis’ physical modelling sound platform, additionally incorporate an enhanced internal audio system to generate an exciting moving sound field for increased enjoyment in a home environment. Speakers above the keyboards and to the organ sides create a truly sensational and immersive sound field.

Starting at £11,700 inc VAT for a 34 stop 2 manual, the instrument pictured here is the Sonus 60 with 50 stops at £16,900 inc VAT. Neither words nor recordings can do justice to the sound of these instruments; you just have to experience it in the flesh.

Multiple speaker locations create a uniquely authentic sound

To play one of our instruments call us to book a visit to our showroom, or contact one of our regional retailers listed below.

Soundtec Irvine

Rimmers Music Edinburgh

Promenade Music Morecambe

Pianos Cymru Porthmadog

Henderson Music Londonderry

Keynote Organs Belfast

Cookes Pianos Norwich

Jeffers Music Bandon

Cotswold Organ Company Worcester

Viscount Organs Wales Swansea

Wensleigh Palmer Crediton

South Coast Organs Portsmouth

Viscount Classical Organs Ltd

Tel: 01869 247 333

E: enquiries@viscountorgans.net

www.viscountorgans.net

Sonus 60

From the EDITOR

There are two Royal Peculiars celebrated in this magazine. One, St Stephen’s Chapel, once situated in the Palace of Westminster, is no longer extant, but the other, St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London, is a busy and much used amenity (its evocative name, St Peter in Chains, refers to the saint’s imprisonment under Herod Agrippa in Jerusalem). As well as catering to many City bodies and livery companies, St Peter’s is a regular parish church, with Sunday Matins and Eucharists, concerts, carol services and other special services. Colm Carey, whose group Odyssean Ensemble has recently released its first CD, has been associated with this chapel –and, indeed, with the second chapel based at the Tower, the Chapel of St John – for almost 25 years. He, and Elizabeth Biggs, who writes wonderfully knowledgeably on St Stephen’s (the full title of which chapel is ‘St Stephen the Protomartyr within the Palace of Westminster...’), bring a much loved part of the cathedral music world to vivid life.

All those who have read CD reviews in Cathedral Music over the last few years will be acquainted with Roger Judd’s incisive and informed comments on choral and organ performances. In this issue he recalls his time spent at St Michael’s Tenbury, the school set up by Frederick Ouseley in 1856, and contemplates the legacy left by Ouseley, not simply financially but, of course, musically. The school was deliberately sited in a remote location so as to insulate it from ‘the influence of London’... and was founded in reaction to the decline of Anglican church music in the Victorian period. How much Ouseley would have had in common with FCM’s

own founder! Roger’s piece, originally a talk presented to the Association of Assistant Cathedral Organists, has sadly had to be shortened due to space constraints, but there is plenty left that will undoubtedly be of great interest to readers.

A confession next. I occasionally say to people when things go wrong, ‘I am my own secretary, and often not a good one...’, and any mistakes which occur in this magazine are generally my own. So, in the article about the Cathedral Organists’ Association (COA) which appeared in the last magazine, I inadvertently published the first draft of Michael Nicholas’s article instead of his later, corrected, one, which was unfortunate because some of the facts in that draft were subsequently changed. Thus the article should have said that Elizabeth Stratford at Arundel was the first woman to be appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at a UK cathedral, and that Katherine Dienes-Williams was the first woman to join the COA upon her appointment to the post of Director of Music at St Mary’s Collegiate Church in Warwick in 2001. Heartfelt apologies to both of them, and also to Sarah MacDonald, whose name I spelt incorrectly. I am pleased to say that you can read about Sarah’s activities with the Ely Girls’ Choir, and her thoughts about changing the age range of the choir, later on in these pages.

Those who came to the Cathedral Choristers of Great Britain extravaganza in Liverpool in June will know how successful it was, and will have enjoyed the glorious sound the expanded group of choristers produced in front of a fine collection of people, including HRH The Duchess of Gloucester, patron of the Diamond Fund for Choristers, our president Stephen Cleobury, and John Rutter, who gave a brilliant speech in support of the DFC. The Anglican cathedral was a fantastic backdrop for the occasion, and it is hoped that the event may be repeated in a year or two’s time.

Sooty Asquith

JOINING FRIENDS OF CATHEDRAL MUSIC

How to join Friends of Cathedral Music

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

Member benefits include:

• welcome pack

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

Opportunities to:

• attend gatherings in magnificent cathedrals

• meet others with a shared interest in cathedral music

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

Subscription

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

FCM’s purpose is to safeguard our priceless heritage of cathedral music and support this living tradition. We strive to

increase public awareness and appreciation of cathedral music, and encourage high standards in choral and organ music. Money is raised by subscriptions, donations and legacies for choirs in need.

Since 1956 we have given over£4 million to Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedral, church and collegiate chapel choirs in the UK and overseas; endowed many choristerships; ensured the continued existence of a choir school, and worked to maintain the cathedral tradition. Please join now and help us to keep up this excellent work.

A SOUTHWARK REGENERATION Peter Toyne

London’s Tate Modern gallery has recently become the most visited tourist attraction in the UK. Together with several iconic new buildings and facilities, such as Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the Millennium Bridge, Cutty Sark, Borough Market and the Shard, it is one of the many developments in recent decades that have transformed the previously rundown South Bank of the Thames in Southwark into a bustling, vibrant and popular commercial and cultural area much frequented by tourists.

During his 30 years as Organist and Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral (the former St Saviour’s church dating back to monastic times that became a cathedral when the diocese was created in 1905), Peter Wright has witnessed this amazing regeneration, whether from his sitting room window on Bankside overlooking the Thames and St Paul’s Cathedral or on his daily walk to the cathedral. “It’s all quite remarkable,” he says. “When I first came here the only place to dine out was Garfunkel’s at London Bridge station, but now it’s almost a gastronome’s heaven with so many good places to choose from.”

During this period of impressive local regeneration, music at the cathedral has grown and developed equally impressively under Peter’s skilful direction. Building on the sure

foundations laid by his predecessor (Harry Bramma, who went on to be Director of the RSCM and Director of Music at All Saints Margaret Street), as well as nurturing both the long-established boys’ choir and the Thursday Singers (a voluntary choir drawn from the local community, which sings at weekday Festival eucharists and occasionally at Choral Evensong), he has overseen the development of two new choirs: the Merbecke Choir, founded in 2003 as a youth choir for the cathedral’s former choristers, which now attracts 2530 young singers from various backgrounds; and the girls’ choir, founded in 2000, which he entrusted to his Assistant Organist Stephen Disley, and which now has 27 choristers singing regularly at weekday evensongs and once a term at Sunday services.

Passionate about the cathedral’s famous 1897 T C Lewis organ, Peter organised its comprehensive restoration by Harrison & Harrison in 1991 and oversaw the installation of a new console in 2018. Regular Monday lunchtime organ recitals, given by visiting organists as well as the ‘home team’, continue to attract increasingly sizeable audiences.

Organ scholarships were established in 2000, since when a succession of outstanding scholars have been appointed, all of whom have gone on to major posts in cathedral music –

Southwark Choir boys and girls

Photo: Southwark Cathedral

Daniel Cook (now Director of Music at Durham Cathedral), Ian Keatley (until recently at Christ Church Cathedral Dublin), Martin Ford at The Guards’ Chapel, David Pipe at Leeds Cathedral, Timothy Wakerell at New College Oxford, Tom Little at Croydon Minster, Jonathan Hope at Gloucester Cathedral, Martyn Noble at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace, Edward Hewes at St Dominic’s Priory in North London and Alexander Binns, who is now Director of Music at Derby Cathedral. The roll-call bears glowing testimony to the tremendous success of Peter’s initiative as well as to his outstanding talent in teaching and nurturing his scholars, and Peter is especially pleased that Ian Keatley has been appointed as his successor at Southwark.

By any standards, it is a remarkable transformation. With characteristic modesty, preparing for his retirement at the end of August, Peter says, “Throughout my time here, I’ve been wonderfully supported by lay clerks, assistants and clergy, and this has enabled us to achieve high standards and to convey the Christian message through the incomparable language of music. It has been a delight and a privilege, and I’m very pleased with everything we’ve been able to do – though I do wish I could have evangelised more about our wonderful organ and put it more firmly on the map!”

Peter was born in Hertfordshire and brought up mainly in Finchley. His first musical inspiration, when he was only four years old, was Russ Conway, the then very popular and muchloved pianist with a missing finger, who regularly appeared on The Billy Cotton Band Show in the early days of television He experimented on the family piano and started lessons three years later with Dorothy Fryer who, he says, was, “Just fantastic – a true saint who started me off and with whom I stayed until I was 17 when I went up to the Royal College of Music (RCM), having done my A Levels and gained my ARCO. I owe her such a lot.”

There were, however, plenty of other experiences en route from Russ Conway to the RCM. While still at his prep school

(Holmewood, North London) he sang in the chorus for their annual Gilbert & Sullivan productions and, in his final year, played the piano accompaniment for The Mikado, with his twin brother Nigel singing the part of Pitti-Sing.

After that he went to Highgate School where not only was his love of choral music fostered (inter alia, by singing the War Requiem under Britten and Willcocks), but his passion for the organ was sparked as he followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps by taking lessons, and then playing for services in the school chapel. At 13 he was appointed Assistant Organist of the United Reformed Church in Finchley, becoming Organist two years later. Then at 17 he became Organist at St Michael’s Church, Highgate where, he says, “I was responsible for the boys’ choir and started to learn my craft as a choir trainer – largely through trial and error – but throughout my formative teenage years I always had a great love of the organ, and knew the way I wanted to go.”

He then spent two years as Organ Exhibitioner at the RCM, studying with Richard Popplewell (Organ) and Angus Morrison (Piano) and gaining various prizes and diplomas, including his FRCO. It was just before his first term there that he went to Truro for an RSCM cathedral course led by Gerald Knight, with Roy Massey playing the organ. He was so ‘wowed’ by it all that he realised then that he really wanted to be a cathedral organist – even though he’d never been a cathedral chorister, as was the normal expectation at that time.

In 1973, he went up to Emmanuel College Cambridge as Organ Scholar where he continued his organ studies with Dame Gillian Weir, as well as with Flor Peeters in Belgium. While at Cambridge, George Guest, then Organist at St John’s College, took him under his wing and, with John Scott also there as Organ Scholar, it was, he says, “the most wonderful opportunity. Occasionally they were both away, so I had to do the lot! Also, having my own choir at Emmanuel meant I had the best of all possible worlds.”

Four years later, at the age of 23, he was appointed SubOrganist at Guildford Cathedral, under Philip Moore and, subsequently, Andrew Millington. Within three years of starting there, he made his first recording, since when he has been much in demand as an organ recitalist, playing regularly with the country’s leading orchestras, and performing widely in Europe, Japan, South Africa, USA, Bermuda, Australia and New Zealand.

It was in 1989 that he was appointed Organist at Southwark, where, he reflects, “I arrived ‘home’ as a London boy by birth, full of inspiration and determined to build further on Harry Bramma’s remarkable achievements. It had not been the easiest of times for Harry, but he ‘got it’ at every level, bringing about a minor miracle in achieving high musical standards, despite having very limited rehearsal time and no choir school (the school from which most of the boys had previously come moved from the area in 1968). Many often said, ‘It shouldn’t work!’ (the title of a talk I give about the choir…), but it did, thanks to Harry’s determination and dedication.”

Thirty years later, Southwark is still without a choir school and still has very limited rehearsal time, but Peter has had the same missionary zeal as his predecessor in extending and transforming the musical life of the cathedral. “The thing I’m most proud of is that we’ve maintained a standard that holds its own against places with a lot more on their side. While maintaining and developing further the Opus Dei, we’ve performed at the Proms, made several recordings (including the theme tune, Ecce homo qui est fava for the TV series Mr Bean!), done many broadcasts of Choral Evensong for the BBC, made three tours to the USA and several to Europe, and

Peter Wright and the choir in the quire

Photo: Southwark Cathedral

The nave triforium and ceiling

Photo: Southwark Cathedral

put on many special national services including one in the aftermath of the London Bridge attack last year, and those for the national launch of Choirbook for the Queen in 2011 (the year of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee) and the celebration of FCM’s Diamond Jubilee in 2016.

Musicians (FGCM) in 2000, and awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music (FRSCM) in 2011. In order to mark his 25 years of service at Southwark, he was made an honorary lay canon of the cathedral five years ago.

As he now heads off into ‘retirement’, staying in London but well away from the noise of the Bankside buskers and tourists which has at times been the bane of his life, Peter is looking forward to having more time to pursue his other interests, which include opera (his favourite is Tosca which gave him the opera bug when he was 16), jazz, theatre-going, poetry, long walks in the countryside (but only in the knowledge that he’ll be returning home to London!), and fine dining, as well as great French wines. He will, however, be doing all he can to avoid his pet dislikes – Muzak, and anything by his most disliked composer, Berlioz, for whom he says he has a total blind spot!

...

“It’s been a wonderful experience, though it’s got harder over the last five years or so. Almost all cathedrals now find chorister recruitment and retention more challenging, choristers tend to be less self-reliant and possibly less able to commit than once they were – not least because the demands made on them for a wide range of activities in order to get into schools of their choice have increased hugely. Finances are increasingly tight, fund-raising is tougher, and some of the fun has gone out of it all, BUT I still get a kick out of enabling our choristers to make music to standards that might not have been thought possible.

“Of course, there’s a huge pastoral responsibility in all this, and it’s especially rewarding when choristers ‘go the extra mile’ in displaying their commitment to the choir. Shortly after I came to Southwark, there was a Tube and train strike. I wasn’t surprised when one boy was absent for rehearsal and evensong, because he lived in Highgate (six miles away), but with only five minutes to go before the service he turned up breathless, having walked all the way! ‘They’re my family,’ he said, ‘I couldn’t let them down!’ It’s that kind of dedication that makes the job so totally rewarding, and why I’ve always been there for them.”

Also ‘totally rewarding’ for any cathedral organist must surely be being able to perform works by your favourite composers. For Peter, Philip Moore is top of the list of living cathedral music composers – his music features regularly on Southwark’s music lists (as he says, “his music is original, well-constructed and practical”); of earlier composers, Bach is his real passion, closely followed by Byrd, especially his anthem Civitas sancti tui, while his favourite setting of the evening canticles is the Howells St Paul’s Service which he chose for his last service at Southwark on 14 July 2018.

After serving on FCM Council from 2001 to 2004, Peter became President of the Royal College of Organists from 2005 to 2008, and is now one of its vice-presidents. For his outstanding service to cathedral and church music nationally, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Church

Southwark will not be the same without Peter Wright. It’s the end of an era, throughout which he has done so much, so successfully, to develop and transform the musical heritage of the cathedral, at a time when the neglected area to which he came in 1989 has been similarly transformed. He will be much missed, though he knows he leaves the cathedral in very capable and inspiring hands.

Also ‘totally rewarding’ for any cathedral organist must surely be being able to perform works by your favourite composers. For Peter, Philip Moore is top of the list of living cathedral music composers –his music features regularly on Southwark’s music lists

Peter Wright at Glyndebourne

A SONG ON THE END OF THE WORLD

Phillip Cooke

Francis Pott

Photo: Rumen Mitchiniov Photography

Francis Pott (b. 1957) is one of this country’s most distinctive and original composers, with a distinguished corpus of works which represents an individual artistic voice, honed over 35 years through a lifetime of performance and the study of music. Pott’s compositional style is multilayered: on the one hand instantly recognisable, with a distinctive thumbprint to each work which shows the hand of both a master technician and a craftsman; on the other, his work can often be elusive and ephemeral, with beautifully wrought choral miniatures vying with grand oratorios which interrogate the very nature of human existence. His music asks important questions of the contemporary world and doesn’t shy away from tackling difficult issues, but conversely it is through the synthesis and assimilation of previous models, styles and philosophies that Pott seeks to engage with modern society. His music may be viewed as traditional, conservative or perhaps even reactionary when considered alongside that of some of his contemporaries, but there is an eclecticism and a ‘re-encountering’ of tradition that make his work anything but regressive, and these showcase a composer very much in the zeitgeist of contemporary British music.

Pott’s musical upbringing is steeped in the tradition in which his work now sits: a chorister at New College Oxford in the 1960s, he was then a scholar at Winchester College and followed this with a degree at Magdalene College Cambridge. Although this background could have been stifling for some composers, it is not true of Pott, who found the experience of being a chorister ‘the cornerstone of my development as a composer, having first awakened my awareness both of composers in general and of composition as a pursuit’. It was whilst at New College that Pott was initiated into the mix of ancient and modern that characterises his later aesthetic, both through the regular services the choir undertook (with the repertoire from Byrd to Leighton and everything in between) and through the artworks present in the chapel and antechapel. Here, El Greco’s St James the Greater rubs shoulders with Jacob Epstein’s Lazarus (1947-48), which has a contorted angularity but this, with its conventional form, was an obvious influence to the nascent composer. However, the regular performance of English Renaissance masters such as Tallis and Byrd had the greatest effect on Pott; they engendered the beginnings of the complex modal polyphony that characterises his mature output.

The early 1980s saw Pott’s first tangible successes on a national stage. There were two competition wins by two different works for organ (the instrument has been a prominent part of the composer’s oeuvre throughout his career): Mosaici di Ravenna won the 1981 Gerald Finzi Trust National Composition Award and Empyrean won the 1982 Lloyd’s Bank National Composition Award. Both these works are still part of Pott’s recognised output, with the composer acknowledging them as ‘beginning to develop something approaching a personal idiom’. The 1980s also found Pott embarking on his first commissioned work, Nunc natus est altissimus (‘Now the most high is born’), a four-movement sequence for soprano voices and harp that was premiered by the choristers of Christ Church Oxford at St John’s Smith Square in 1983. The work was commissioned as a companion piece to Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols and, despite some striking deviations from the earlier piece, Britten’s offering is never far away and looms over the newer work like a benevolent ghost. However, Nunc natus est altissimus had a lasting impact on Pott’s later work

in two ways: first, that the text of the second movement (an anonymous 14th-century offering) was re-acquisitioned and re-used to great effect in the much more substantial A Song on the End of the World from 1999, and secondly, that it was the first instance of the composer collating, combining and interpolating different texts for dramatic and narrative effect, something that characterises his later, mature output.

Another facet of Francis Pott’s musical development was encountered in the late 1980s when he became a lay clerk in the choir of the Temple Church, London, a position he held from 1987-1991. Unlike many composers of his generation, Pott has been a prominent performer throughout his career, either as a choral singer (he followed his spell at the Temple with a decade in the Winchester Cathedral choir) or as a pianist, and this has had an impact on his artistic life both practically and philosophically. Today, he is most well known for his choral music, honed by his years of singing, and this has given him access to some of the country’s leading choirs and organists, including performers with whom he has regularly collaborated from his earliest works to current commissions. Like his experiences as a chorister, Pott’s years as a lay clerk have had a strong bearing on the direction and development of his work – what he refers to as ‘a long process of osmosis and critical reaction’ – refining his compositional aesthetic and his technical prowess with every subsequent piece. Alongside his work as a performer, Pott has juggled academic commitments with his compositional career (like many contemporary composers), first as the John Bennett Lecturer in Music at St Hilda’s College Oxford (a position he held from 1992-2001) then as Lecturer and later Professor of Music at London College of Music (a position he holds to this day).

Pott’s music is characterised primarily by its polyphonic and contrapuntal textures, not merely as surface-level decoration to a simpler underlying progression but as the very fabric of each composition: a thorough, almost compulsive procedure that moves beyond the ambitious to a tour de force of compositional technique. The effects are often bewildering in both their technical complexity and their artistic beauty, with works from the briefest motet to the grandest statement all exhibiting the same expertise and attention to detail. Pott is aware of how important the polyphonic aspect of his work is to his music in general and how it distinguishes him from his contemporaries: ‘Counterpoint is important, but it is partly a matter of looking around and thinking, “This is an area where I can be me because there aren’t too many other people jostling for space.”’ Certainly, with the current

vogue for contemporary choral music to be slow, static and homophonic, Pott’s music feels of another age: not necessarily of a distant era of complex polyphony, but of a time when the horizontal aspect of a work was as important as the vertical, and composers gave credence to the technical rigour underpinning even the shortest piece. Like many aspects of his compositional voice, Pott’s love and mastery of counterpoint sprang from his earliest musical experiences, filtered again though his career as a performer: from the singing of Byrd’s Laudibus in sanctis to the playing of Bach’s Orchestral Suites at the piano and the early introduction to the adroit polyphony of Kenneth Leighton, all these pointing in the direction of a renewed, contrapuntal musical language.

The 1990s found Pott writing more and more intricate and expressive works for the Anglican Church, many as commissions from some of the leading cathedral choirs and choral foundations. Two of the most impressive were substantial anthems for double choir and organ: Turn our captivity, O Lord (1993) and Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening (1995). These two works (and a host of other motets, carols and anthems from the period) could easily paint the picture of Francis Pott as a parochial Anglican composer, found mostly in the choir stalls or the organ loft, but this wouldn’t do justice to the aesthetic and philosophical journey that the composer was beginning to undertake in the late 1990s. This journey reached its culmination in one of his most significant works, the oratorio The Cloud of Unknowing from 2005.

The late 1990s saw the composition of arguably Pott’s most high-profile commission to date, the oratorio A Song on the End of the World that was the Elgar Commission for the 1999 Three Choirs Festival in Worcester. This hugely ambitious work, scored for large choir, orchestra, and soprano, mezzosoprano and baritone soloists, traverses seven substantial

movements in its 70-minute span. Although the piece is greatly indebted to the English oratorio tradition (including Elgar’s own contributions), it is a work that is focused in a much more contemporary way than an august commission from a venerable festival might suggest: it is a sacred piece at its heart, but one that asks difficult yet pertinent questions about faith, suffering and redemption. It is one of many pieces in the composer’s oeuvre in which carefully chosen texts are combined to create a powerful narrative that underpins a composition, a theme that has carried on in Pott’s work to the present.

If one piece represents most fully Francis Pott’s work, philosophy and aesthetic it is his oratorio The Cloud of Unknowing, which was premiered by the Vasari Singers (tenor James Gilchrist, organist Jeremy Filsell), and conducted by Jeremy Backhouse at the 2006 London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. The piece draws together many of Pott’s experiments and discoveries from the previous 20 years in a dramatic and affecting form, asking deep questions of performers and audience alike in its 90-minute arch. Originally conceived as a more modest offering, it quickly swelled to something much more substantial and epic: by negotiated agreement it would end up four times the length of the original commission proposal! As in A Song on the End of the World, sacred texts form the framework of the narrative, but again these are augmented by judiciously chosen secular fragments and poems which shine a light on the darker recesses of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. It is a work of great significance in the composer’s output, and one that continues to speak to its audiences nearly 15 years after its premiere.

Pott’s stock has continued to rise in the years after The Cloud of Unknowing, with more performances, recordings, publications and commissions creating an impressive corpus of works.

Francis Pott is 2nd row from back, centre, with Winchester Cathedral choir at Fleury July 1984

Photo: John Crook

Though his reputation may seem to hang on his larger, weightier compositions, it may well be on his slighter works that his legacy depends. In recent years Pott’s expanding collection of Christmas carols has found a place in the repertoire of many choirs across the country, with multiple recordings of pieces paying testament to the lasting success of this. Perhaps the most successful has been Balulalow, probably best known in Britten’s setting from A Ceremony of Carols. Pott’s Balulalow was written in 2009 for long-term collaborators Judy Martin and the choir of Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral. Over the last ten years it has had countless performances, and seven commercial recordings from the likes of leading groups such as Voces8, the Gabrieli Consort and Commotio. Although short, the work acts as a microcosm of Pott’s style and compositional concerns, as The Gramophone remarked in 2016: ‘A minutely wrought harmonic structure combined with an ingenious use of compositional techniques … to construct a piece that stands up to rigorous technical scrutiny, while retaining a strong appeal to the human side of any listener thanks to the warm tonality of its melodies and their harmonisations.’

As Francis Pott enters his seventh decade, his creativity and ambition show no sign of abating. Semi-retirement from an academic post in September 2018 has given the composer more time for some large-scale projects that have been gestating for over a quarter of a century. In a musical climate where choral music is enjoying a renaissance and sacred texts are almost a work has an engaged audience and is an important voice to be heard. With ‘tradition’ no longer being a dirty word to

artists and ensembles, composers who look to embrace and assimilate traditional models, forms and ideas are increasingly in vogue and it is to be hoped that the work of Francis Pott will continue to resonate with contemporary audiences for a long time to come.

‘A NEW HEAVEN’ THE CHURCH MUSIC & CHORAL WORKS OF EDGAR BAINTON (1880-1956) Michael Jones

Today, Edgar Bainton is only known for his anthem And I saw a new Heaven. But he also completed three symphonies, three tone-poems and other orchestral works, two surviving operas, and 11 extant choral works. There are also three chamber-music works and over 100 songs, 114 part-songs and some piano music, including a fine ConcertoFantasia for piano and orchestra which won a Carnegie Prize in 1920. This prompts the question: why are so few of these works heard today? Particularly as the vast majority were published in the UK and many of his songs and part-songs were heard frequently in concerts, broadcasts and competitive festivals during the inter-war years. Could part of the reason be that, like several other prominent British musicians of his time such as Healey Willan (Canada), Thomas Tertius Noble (USA), Peter Racine Fricker (USA) and Erik Chisholm (South Africa), Edgar Bainton emigrated, in his case, to Australia in 1934 and remained there until his death in 1956? In the process he perhaps became more recognised as an Australian composer.

Edgar Leslie Bainton was born in Hackney in February 1880. His father, the Revd George Bainton, was a Congregational minister, and early in Edgar’s life the family moved to Coventry where George was appointed to West Orchard Congregational Chapel. Edgar made his first public appearance as a pianist at the age of nine, and at 16 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study piano with Franklin Taylor, and counterpoint and theory with Walford Davies. The choice of piano teacher was to be especially fortunate – Edgar had

developed an absorbing interest in the music of J S Bach very early and would play Bach on the piano every morning throughout his life. In her published memoir of her father, Helen Bainton claims that young Edgar knew all the 48 by heart by the age of 16; whatever the case, Franklin Taylor (1843-1919) was a renowned Bach scholar. Later on, Edgar gained the Wilson Scholarship to study composition with Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, and became one of the rising generation of composers at the centre of a developing British musical renaissance. Bainton’s love of Bach emerges in his Op. 1 – a Prelude and Fugue for piano, dating from 1898.1

Bainton graduated from the RCM in 1901 with both the Tagore Medal and the Hopkinson Gold Medals under his belt, and that same year was appointed to the staff of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Conservatoire of Music – a privatelyrun institution established some 40 years earlier. Ethel Eales, an accomplished violinist, pianist and singer and one of his students, became his wife in 1905 and they had two daughters. Bainton was much involved with local music-making –conducting the local Philharmonic Orchestra (invaluable for learning orchestration) and serving as accompanist and programme-annotator to the Chamber-Music Society. He conducted the Newcastle and Gateshead Choral Society in the premiere of his first full-scale choral work The Blessed Damozel in 19072 and in 1912 became Principal of the Conservatoire.

The November 2018 edition of Cathedral Music contained an article about Percy Hull and his internment at Ruhleben Camp during the First World War. Edgar and Ethel Bainton suffered a similar fate – they were arrested en route to the Bayreuth Festival in 1914. Ethel was soon repatriated and it was left to her to keep the Conservatoire open throughout the war while Edgar spent the next four years interned in

Ruhleben. Being placed in charge of music in the camp, he formed an orchestra and gave regular concerts (Bainton played piano concertos by Mozart and Chopin). In addition, plays by Shakespeare (such as Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives of Windsor) were performed for the 1916 tercentenary celebrations, for which Bainton wrote theatre music, re-worked in 1919 as Three Pieces for Orchestra. 3 In the last year of the war Bainton, along with B J Dale, Percy Hull and others, was invalided out to Scheveningen in The Hague for convalescence after a breakdown in health, and composed his song Twilight (John Masefield)4 there. Before being allowed to return home, Bainton had one more deed to perform – he was asked to take Sir Edward Elgar’s place to conduct the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra for two concerts of British music in 1918 – the first British conductor to receive this honour.

– SATB a cappella). Both were published by Oxford University Press. Of the other publications: The Heavens declare thy Glory is harder to obtain – a copy is held in the British Library.

There is one highly effective organ piece, Vexilla Regis (1925), lasting around four minutes. This was published in Australia in 1973, but has been out of print for many years; however, I am very grateful to Culver Music in the UK for issuing a reprint; every copy sold generates a royalty to the Edgar Bainton (UK) Society.

Bainton’s 11 extant choral works fall into three categories. Firstly, there are three that exist in MS vocal score form only: The Transfiguration of Dante Op. 18 (author unknown), To the Name above every Name (Richard Crashaw), and The Veteran of Heaven (Francis Thompson). The last two have been typeset and deserve to be heard, but would need orchestrating (Bainton marks occasional instrumental cues in his MSS). Secondly, Bainton’s secular choral works include: Symphony No. 1 ‘Before Sunrise’ (Swinburne, 1907) which won a Carnegie Award in 1917 and is an extended four-movement depiction of the Creation from a more agnostic point of view (‘Glory to Man in the Highest’!). Other works in this category, Sunset at Sea (Geoffrey Buckley), The Vindictive Staircase (W W Gibson) and A Song of Freedom and Joy (Edward Carpenter), were originally published in vocal score, but no longer have surviving full scores and parts. Of the remaining works: The Dancing Seal (W W Gibson), The Blessed Damozel (D G Rossetti) and the two works described below have extant full orchestral scores from which parts could be created.

During much of the 1920s Bainton continued with his Conservatoire activities in Newcastle, and became part of a core group of musicians at the centre of musical life in the North East. In the early 1930s he undertook many trips abroad, both as an examiner for the Associated Board and for lecture-tours of the USA, Canada and the Far East. It must have been on one of these, in Australia, that he was considered for the post of Director of the New South Wales Conservatorium in Sydney. Helen relates that in 1933 her father received a telephone call – not from the Conservatorium but from the Sydney Morning Herald (‘paparazzi’ are not new!) informing him of his appointment! And so it was that in 1934 Edgar and his family emigrated to Australia, where he became an important part of the musical and cultural life, including as a staff conductor of the then-new ABC Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Bainton was to remain in Australia (even after retirement from the ‘Con’ in 1946) until his death in December 1956.

Now let us examine And I Saw... a little more closely. Why has it proved to be the ideal work to be performed at major church services reflecting on tragic events? For example, it has taken pride of place in special services for: Hillsborough (Liverpool Cathedral, 1989), the 9/11 attacks (St Paul’s, 2001), and more recently, Grenfell Tower (2017). Perhaps in his own special way Bainton is able to lift us above the raw emotions of the occasion and lead us towards an awareness of a higher realm of existence than our own – achieved by a perfect balance of restrained emotion and technical skill which, in my opinion, is the hallmark of his best work and in its finest form lifts us up to a heightened state of imagination.

Of Bainton’s other church music: Open thy Gates (Robert Herrick – SATB a cappella) is a short and beautiful motet, ideal as an introit; as is Christ in the Wilderness (Robert Graves

As mentioned earlier, Bainton had known Percy Hull from their time in Ruhleben – they are even photographed side by side in one of the camp’s orchestra pictures, and when Hull was appointed to succeed George Sinclair at Hereford Cathedral on his return in 1918 he was instrumental in having works by some of the Ruhleben composers featured in future Three Choirs Festivals. Bainton’s Three Pieces for Orchestra were performed at the 1921 Festival, alongside works by B J Dale, Frederick Keel and Percy Hull himself, and Bainton’s orchestral poem Epithalamion was premiered at the Worcester Festival in 1929. Edgar and Ethel regularly attended these festivals and there is a photograph, taken in Percy Hull’s garden in 1927, in which they are pictured standing beside Elgar [see illustration].

Of Bainton’s choral works, The Tower (Robert Nichols) was composed for the 1924 Hereford Festival. It evokes the mood before the Last Supper and Gethsemane and is written for

double choir (no soloists) and orchestra and lasts for around 15-20 minutes. The opening atmosphere of expectancy is created by open chords of fifths in A minor [see illustration], setting the mood for the first choral entry. The vocal score was originally published in 1924; Bainton’s full score is in the British Library but would need typesetting for future performance.

A Hymn to God the Father (John Donne) was written for the 1926 Worcester Festival. This is a six- or seven-minute tour de force for double choir and orchestra and originally preceded Elgar’s The Kingdom. Starting in D minor, the work gradually gains in intensity until by the time we reach ‘I have a sin of fear’ the choir bursts out with a rising cascade of canonic entries across all eight parts [see illustration], building to a great climax, and then subsides to a peaceful D major close. Again, there are no orchestral parts at present, but the full score has already been typeset by the Edgar Bainton (UK) Society and it is hoped that both works will be revived in time for their centenaries in Hereford in 2024, and Worcester in 2026.

Finally, what happens to the royalties generated by And I Saw...? In the past these went to Bainton’s two daughters in Sydney, but when I researched Bainton’s works during the late 1980s Helen Bainton expressed the wish that all future royalties should help to promote and make available many of her father’s other works. After Helen’s death in 1996 this became a reality when the Edgar Bainton (UK) Society was established in 1997. The royalties generated since have helped to typeset and record a sizeable number of important works, including the second and third symphonies, the three tonepoems Pompilia, Prometheus and Paracelsus, the String Quartet and numerous songs – 20 of which appeared on a NAXOS CD in 2017.4 All these works can be heard on CD, as well as the Sonata for Viola and Piano, Sonata for Cello and Piano, Two Songs (Edward Carpenter) for Baritone and Orchestra, Concerto-Fantasia

and Genesis (from the First Symphony), Three Pieces for Orchestra, the suite The Golden River and Pavane, Idyll and Bacchanal for strings. The work goes on, and typesetting the choral works’ surviving full scores will be a future priority before royalties cease in 2026. By setting these pieces it is to be hoped that many other works of Edgar Bainton will be more widely heard again, alongside the works of those of his contemporaries who are also currently being re-discovered as an essential part of our musical heritage.

MICHAEL JONES is a professional pianist and organist who graduated from what is now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 1974 with prizes for Piano, Advanced Harmony, and Musical Distinction. He is also a historian, lecturer, musicologist and independent concert-giver noted for his unusual and innovative programming. His CD recordings include Romantics in England (with cellist Joseph Spooner) and For Joyance (with oboist Mark Baigent). He is the music executor/trustee for the Edgar Bainton estate in the UK.

1 Original MS, dated “5/July 1898” is in the Mitchell Library, Sydney.

2 The original MSS full score and parts are in the Mitchell Library. A complete set of copies are kept here, as the work was performed by the Broadheath Singers and Windsor Sinfonia, conducted by Robert Tucker, in Eton School Hall in 1998.

3 This and other works listed can be heard on 3 Chandos CDs, played by the BBC Philharmonic on CHAN 9757, 10019 and 10460 (conducted by Vernon Handley, Martyn Brabbins and Paul Daniel).

4 This is one of Bainton’s unpublished songs which can now be heard on Naxos 8.571377, released in 2017.

Extract from ‘A Hymn to God the Father’

Cathedral MusiC

Roof boss depicting St Margaret of Antioch in St Mary Undercroft HOP

Photo: UK Parliament

AS AT SALISBURY CATHEDRAL Elizabeth Biggs

200 years of music & musicians at St Stephen’s Chapel within the Palace of Westminster

During the morning of 26 December 1547 the Royal College of St Stephen the Protomartyr within the Palace of Westminster celebrated the feast day of their patron saint for the last time. With the canons lined up in their stalls in the quire, the lay clerks and choristers sung the lavish Latin polyphonic mass for St Stephen composed by their verger and organist, Nicholas Ludford. Even after the many religious changes imposed by not-quite-20 years of Reformation in the English Church, the Latin mass was still – just – in use. Those present at that mass that day, including Ludford himself and the long-serving dean, John Chamber, who had been dean since 1514 and a canon before that, were aware that the end was near. The College was unlikely to be spared from the new law which had received Royal Assent from Edward VI two days earlier on Christmas Eve. This Second Chantries Act abolished all institutions – secular colleges, hospitals, and chantries – that had as their primary religious function to pray for the dead in purgatory. St Stephen’s was to be no exception, unlike St George’s Windsor and the university colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, which were the subject of an intense lobbying campaign. St Stephen’s mounted no such campaign.

By Easter 1548, not quite 200 years of royal musical tradition at St Stephen’s had ended. The community was broken up and pensioned off. The expensive vestments and altar plate were confiscated by the king’s uncle, Protector Somerset, and the College’s lands sold to a range of opportunists. The clerks and choristers went to work elsewhere, including some at Westminster Abbey. John Chamber, already in his late seventies, outlived the College by just a year before he died and was buried at St Margaret’s, Westminster. Nicholas Ludford stayed in Westminster and continued to be active at St Margaret’s until his own death in 1557.

The musical tradition that ended with Ludford and his colleagues in 1548 had been started by Edward III in 1348. He had founded St Stephen’s Westminster and St George’s Windsor as sister institutions to pray for the royal dead and to ensure that the main chapels at his two favourite palaces were the home to a constant round of religious music and services. He wanted these chapels to have an equivalent round

of services to the great cathedrals, particularly the services at Salisbury Cathedral. At Westminster, the new St Stephen’s was responsible for the main chapel dedicated to St Stephen, for St Mary Undercroft beneath it, and the small chapel with a cult image known as St Mary le Pew.

Of the College’s three chapels, St Mary Undercroft alone survives today. Edward gave both new colleges lands and revenues to pay wages, maintain the buildings and buy candles, incense, service books and vestments. Each college was headed by a dean and twelve canons who made up the chapter, supported by 13 vicars. Like any cathedral today, musical staff were also needed. By the standards of the 14th century, St Stephen’s was ridiculously elaborate, with four lay clerks and six choristers to serve as the choir. Unlike the canons and vicars, the clerks’ and choristers’ job was to focus on singing at all the services held in the chapels. The vicars also had to have good singing voices, while the canons had no obligations other than to show up at the main mass of the day to receive their residence payments of a shilling a day.

St Stephen’s College took pride in its musical abilities from the start. Edward’s foundation charter emphasised that the clerks and choristers were there to ensure that the music was polyphonic rather than the usual plainchant, which explains the high level of specialised musical staffing he provided. In the 15th century, other choirs were founded with the same

or larger numbers of musical specialists. The cathedrals especially expanded their use of positions that came to be known as singing men, and made them the backbone of their musical staff as they started to develop the English polyphonic and choral traditions. The challenge seems to have been set by St Stephen’s and St George’s; other institutions responded.

We don’t know much at all about the men who were clerks in the early days, but we do know that there were distinguished musicians among the canons. A celebratory motet, probably written and performed by the Chapel Royal to glorify Edward III as a new King Arthur for his victories in France in either 1358 or in the 1360s, talks of the knighthood, the priesthood and the people joining together to give thanks for the king’s successes. It praises 12 leading musicians around the king and his sons for their skills. Among the men named are two canons of St Stephen’s, William Tideswell and John Corby. Corby, according to the music, ‘shone out true-heartedly’ among the Chapel Royal. He had come to St Stephen’s in 1363 and probably stayed until his death around 1368. William Tideswell is identified by a Latin pun and he too was one of the singers of the Chapel Royal and played the lyre, according to the lyrics of the motet. We sadly do not know if either Tideswell or Corby composed any music that might have been used in St Stephen’s Chapel around this time. They might well have done so in working collections that did not survive the Reformation or which had become outmoded in the 15th century.

In the mid-15th century we also find Nicholas Sturgeon at St Stephen’s. He was a composer for the Chapel Royal, and a canon at Exeter and Wells cathedrals. His music survives in the Old Hall manuscript in the British Library, the most important source for late medieval English music. Sturgeon was later precentor at St Paul’s and thus was responsible for maintaining its musical tradition. How much time he actually spent at St Stephen’s and on the music there is unknown, although he did at least involve himself with the College’s land dealings in London and Westminster.

The clerks and choristers, the musical specialists of the College, are sadly very shadowy indeed. We know that usually one of the clerks served as Master of the Choristers. In 1544, Thomas Wallys was appointed clerk and Master of the Choristers. We also know that in 1452 one of the clerks was running a school in St Mary le Pew, probably as Master of the Choristers, when a careless schoolboy started a fire. The repairs were to take about 20 years, so there must have been very severe damage.

A few documents giving the duties of a clerk in the 1540s survive, but are annoyingly vague. According to his contract, William Pampion was to have a salary of £6 13s 4d in return for ‘serving and busying himself… around divine offices and behaving himself honourably in the … service’. If he was ill or infirm, it was his duty to organise a deputy. Pampion can be found living near to the College on Long Woolstaple Street in Westminster in 1544, when he paid 20 shillings in tax for that year. His neighbour there was Nicholas Ludford, who paid only 4s 5d in tax. These two paid similar amounts in the following years. After 1548, William Pampion’s colleague Alexander Perryn, who seems to have only joined St Stephen’s in its last two or so years, moved over to Westminster Abbey as a clerk there. Perryn’s processional from his Abbey days, in which he has added polyphony in the margins, survives in Paris.

The Missa lapidaverunt Stephanum or the ‘They have stoned Stephen’ Mass that would have been used on Boxing Day in 1547 is one of a whole series of elaborate masses composed by Nicholas Ludford for the College that survive in the Gonville and Caius Choirbook and in a set of partbooks for a weekly cycle of Lady Masses which are now in the British Library. These masses show the possibilities of the musical tradition at St Stephen’s and the Chapel Royal, where the composers, including Robert Fayrfax and William Cornish, are also represented in the Caius Choirbook. All the masses assume great familiarity and specialisation in singing elaborate multipart (five voices) music. The Lady Masses in particular also reflect the College’s daily commitment to saying services for the Virgin Mary, which was specified in 1348 and is clearly still being honoured 200 years later.

Ludford came to St Stephen’s in 1527 as the verger/organist, following in an established tradition. The composer John Bedyngham, whose work survives in continental manuscripts, had held the same position in the mid-15th century. Ludford’s work at St Stephen’s was not to organise the music — that was the task of the canon-precentor — and not to look after the choristers, but to play the organ and ensure that the chapel was kept in good repair. As a bonus, the College took advantage of his compositional skills.

The inventory of the chapels in 1548 includes three choirbooks, identified as ‘pricksong’ (i.e. music sung from notation rather than by ear), or polyphonic music, which would have formed the basis of the College’s musical repertoire. Two of the books cannot now be identified, but the third is known. It is almost certainly the Caius Choirbook, because there is a decorated initial showing the sexton of the chapel, John Coke, beating a pan, and other figures who are not identified but probably represent some of the men who worked at St Stephen’s in the late 1510s and 1520s. In addition, the Caius Choirbook was commissioned by Edward Higgons, canon at St Stephen’s, who also gave cloth of gold and crimson velvet altar hangings for the high altar. It would thus make sense that the choirbook was also Higgons’ gift to St Stephen’s, and that it may have returned to his family after the College’s dissolution before being given to Caius in the late 16th century.

Higgons’ canonry in 1518 was very much a retirement post after a long and active career as a lawyer in Westminster, but he seems to have taken great care of the musical and liturgical tradition at the College, and at Arundel College in Sussex, where he was Master. Although not a composer himself, he continued the tradition of musically-engaged canons that had started with Tideswell and Corby two centuries earlier.

Today St Mary Undercroft is the chapel for the Houses of Parliament and hosts regular concerts and services. It is one of the few reminders left within Parliament of St Stephen’s Chapel and College, the other being the 16th-century cloisters next door which are now used as offices. It has been many things, including the Speaker’s State Dining Room in the early 19th century, when it was full of red hangings and gilded furniture. There is a story that Oliver Cromwell stabled his horses there, but because it would have been impossible to get horses into the building, and we know that it was used for storage around that time, the story is sadly not true. Since the 1850s it has once again been a chapel and used by members of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords for weddings and baptisms. Barry and Pugin, as part of their work on the current palace of Westminster, rebuilt and redecorated it to reflect its medieval splendour, including the roof bosses first carved in the 1320s. But in 1548 St Mary Undercroft was probably little used, as it was much less lavishly furnished than St Stephen’s Chapel above it. The upper chapel was where the College and visitors to the palace were more likely to be found. The inventory says that it had a ‘hearse’ and old black vestments for use at funerals, while upstairs were sets of vestments of velvet worked with silk thread, and the three great books of polyphonic music.

Unlike St Stephen’s Chapel, which became St Stephen’s Hall, St Mary Undercroft continues a distinguished and influential royal medieval musical tradition that was modelled on the cathedrals of the 14th century. Because Westminster is still a royal palace, the chapel is a Royal Peculiar and the Speaker’s chaplain, currently The Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, is responsible for services.

ELIZABETH BIGGS is an academic and researcher who has spent the last five years working on St Stephen’s College and the Palace of Westminster during the Middle Ages. Her book on the College is forthcoming with Boydell & Brewer next year. She has held post-doctoral research positions at Durham and York, where her work on the surviving 16th-century cloisters was funded by the Leverhulme Trust as part of Dr Elizabeth Hallam Smith’s Emeritus Fellowship.

St Stephen’s Hall, Westminster

A CATHEDRAL WHICH PREDATES CANTERBURY...

Stephen Timpany

All photos Ian Maginess

On Sunday 23 September 2018 a festival service of Choral Evensong marked the 750th anniversary of the present building of St Patrick’s Cathedral (Church of Ireland) in Armagh. The anthem for the occasion was O Thou, the central orb by Charles Wood, a former chorister of the cathedral, who was born a few years shy of the building’s 600th anniversary. Wood subsequently became Professor of Music at Cambridge and a prolific composer of liturgical music.

Armagh, a small city of around 15,000 inhabitants situated 40 miles to the south-west of Belfast and 83 miles to the north-west of Dublin, has been the seat of the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic primates in a succession traced to St Patrick himself. In the mid-fifth century St Patrick founded a monastery in Armagh (predating Canterbury by 150 years) and in 1005 Brian Boru, the first High King, confirmed the tradition that the saint had granted it preeminence over all churches in Ireland. The church built by St Patrick suffered many burnings and sackings in the succeeding centuries at the hands of various raiders, and the present building was begun by Archbishop O’Scanaill

in 1268. The building is cruciform in shape, and, although modest in scale when compared to many English cathedrals, has a unified architectural style and an aura of timelessness, with an excellent acoustic for organ and choral music. It sits prominently on top of the Hill of Armagh, above the busy streets of the city below.

Armagh has the oldest choral tradition in Ireland, dating from the days of St Patrick. In the ninth century the priests and monks were joined by the Culdees (usually translated as ‘companions of God’) who devoted themselves to the singing of daily services in the quire. This community of singers was disbanded at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. In 1634 a royal warrant established the ‘College of King Charles in the Cathedral of St Patrick’s, Armagh’ consisting of eight vicars choral and an organist. Later Archbishop Lindsay provided further funds which allowed for the addition of four boys’ voices. Like many similar institutions, the fortunes of the choir waxed and waned over the years, with its height in the mid-19th century when Armagh had a choir school, 12 salaried choir men and an assistant organist, in addition to the position of Organist and Master of the Choristers. Some of the choir men lived in tied houses opposite the cathedral, and daily services were sung. The disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871 led to a reduction in the choir’s finances, with the result that the salaried men were reduced to four and the assistant organist was made redundant. The choir school closed in 1947 and salaried choir men ceased in the 1960s, after which the choir became entirely voluntary, and remains so to this day.

The position of Organist and Master of the Choristers is part-time, and the cathedral is possibly unique in having an assistant organist who is a parish priest and a member of its chapter! I was appointed Organist in 2015, and I am also a post-primary schoolteacher. My assistant, appointed in 2011, is Canon Dr Peter Thompson, who is also Rector of Castlecaulfield. There are two choral services on Sunday (Sung Eucharist or occasionally Matins at 11am and Choral Evensong at 3.15pm) from September to June, as well as to festivals and other special occasions, and two rehearsals per week – a full choir practice on Wednesday and boys only on Fridays, in addition to a 40-minute practice before each service. There is also a post-Evensong practice for young men whose voices have recently changed, an innovation which has proved beneficial. The choir has the usual half-term breaks, as well as days off on the Sundays following Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. Usually the organist accompanies and directs the choir on Sunday mornings, while the organist directs

the choir and the assistant organist accompanies on Sunday afternoons and for special services. This latter arrangement is much more satisfactory, as, although a CCTV system enables the organist to see the choir from the console, any meaningful communication and direction are difficult. The cathedral is lucky to have Peter, who is able to skilfully accompany services, give organ recitals, intone the Office or sing a missing choir part as and when required. Cathedral music in Armagh is run on a very slender budget and the cathedral was delighted recently to receive a grant from the Friends of Cathedral Music. This was used to increase the endowment, which provides the salary of the Organist and Master of the Choristers, and to purchase a ‘new’ secondhand grand piano for the choir rehearsal room. The cathedral is most grateful for this support.

At full strength this year, the choir has 30 voices (20 boys and 10 men). All of the present choir men have been choristers in the choir, which engenders a great sense of collegiality, continuity and tradition. Most boys make a commitment to attend regularly either the morning or afternoon service, with some attending both, although all are flexible if required. Since my appointment I have been fortunate in establishing good relationships with local primary schools, and two of these schools have provided the majority of choristers in recent years. I find it useful to have two intakes per year, in October and February. Following a month’s trial period, the boys join the choir as probationers for one year. Although one or two boys have joined the choir during their first year at post-primary school, most join at age 8 or 9. I have found that approaching schools directly works much better for recruitment than invitations in the local press or media, although the latter do help to raise awareness of the choir’s activities.

Social gatherings and outings are important events in the annual choir calendar. There are at least three social events

per annum for the choir’s extended family (boys, siblings, parents, choir men and partners) and there are also termly outings for the boys, which they enjoy immensely. No choristers live within walking distance of the cathedral, so parents have to transport their sons. The cathedral is fortunate in having such supportive and committed parents who also help with the supervision and organisation of choir activities. We are greatly indebted to them. Without their wholehearted support, music-making in the cathedral would be extremely challenging.

I was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers in September 2015, having been acting director during the illness of my predecessor, Theo Saunders. I had organ lessons for seven years with Martin White, also one of my predecessors, after which I studied Music and French at Queen’s University, Belfast. I then completed teacher training and started work as a post-primary teacher. I had been organist and choirmaster in three different parishes, latterly in Holy Trinity Parish

The cathedral choir

Church, Banbridge, where the choir undertook regular cathedral visits and made two CD recordings. I have always been interested in cathedral music and about 15 years ago I resumed my musical studies and passed the ARCO diploma. I am also a past president of the Ulster Society of Organists and Choirmasters.

My immediate predecessor Theo Saunders was responsible, together with the cathedral choir and the Children and Gentlemen of Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, for the music at the Royal Maundy in 2008, which was one of the most impressive services in the cathedral’s history. Theo pioneered three important ventures during his tenure as Organist (2002-2015): firstly, the ‘Morning on the Hill’ visits whereby local school children spend a morning exploring the cathedral, Robinson Library and former Diocesan Registry, thus introducing many to the cathedral for the first time, and secondly, the establishment of a monthly organ recital series from September to June. Theo also formed a voluntary choir which sings at weekday festivals of the church, such as Epiphany, Candlemas and Ascension. It also sings at the celebration of the Eucharist which precedes a meeting of an ‘Electoral College’, the Church of Ireland’s particular way of choosing a new bishop.

Martin White served as Organist from 1968 to 2002 and was influential in the lives of many young people through his work at the cathedral and as organiser of Craigavon Music Centre. Martin deserves great credit for maintaining the men and boys’ choir through the worst years of the Troubles, when the choir could very easily have been disbanded, and when ordinary everyday life in Ulster was almost impossible. With the notable exception of Dr Joe McKee, who was Assistant Organist from 1975 to 1985, Martin accompanied services and directed the choir single-handedly, as well as finding time to undertake re-leathering of the Roosevelt soundboards to ensure the organ remained playable. Shortly after his retirement, Martin was made a lay canon of the cathedral and received the title of Organist Emeritus in 2017.

One of the treasures of Armagh Cathedral is its wonderful organ. The present instrument was originally built by J W Walker in 1840, with alterations in 1928, 1941 and 1951. The instrument stood on a screen before it was moved to its present position. The firm of Wells-Kennedy (Lisburn, Co. Antrim) completed a substantial and very successful rebuild in 1996, which included the installation of new slider soundboards and underactions, rewiring, refurbishment of the console, the installation of a new solid-state switching system and various tonal modifications and additions. Tonal egress was greatly enhanced by raising the soundboards of the manual divisions by eight feet, and the two original organ cases, which were hidden inside the chamber, were placed to face each other under the arches at the north and south sides of the crossing. The organ is essentially a Romantic instrument with full and balanced choruses and a wealth of solo and accompanimental voices. The instrument is very well resourced for recital work and is ideal for accompaniment with two divisions under expression. Two 32’ stops, a splendid Tuba and a wonderful acoustic add to the excitement. It is without doubt one of Ireland’s most successful organs.

A welcome addition to music in the cathedral was the establishment of the Armagh Diocesan Singers in 2018. The

mixed-voice ensemble of 28 voices, under the direction of Peter Thompson, sings a monthly Choral Evensong in the cathedral and complements the work of the cathedral choir. The Diocesan Singers also cover the cathedral choir’s halfterm holidays and ensures that there is choral music in the cathedral every Sunday from the start of September to the end of June. The cathedral is always happy to welcome visiting choirs during July and August This year choirs have come from St Mark’s, Portadown, St Paul’s Cathedral (Buffalo, USA), and King’s College School, Wimbledon. Budget youth hostel accommodation and hotels are available within walking distance and there is always a warm welcome in Armagh.

For one week in August each year the Charles Wood Festival and Summer School takes places in Armagh, under the artistic direction of Dr David Hill. It presents a feast of vocal and choral music in various churches around the city, alongside vocal masterclasses. The festival has become a major event in the Irish cultural landscape and has undoubtedly put Armagh into the consciousness of those interested in liturgical music in a way that would not have been possible before the festival began.

The Northern Ireland International Organ Competition (NIIOC), founded in 2011 by Richard Yarr, has now become the world’s leading competition for players aged 21 and under. NIIOC runs concurrently with the Charles Wood Festival and is now partnered with the St Albans International Organ Competition. It is fitting that both the festival and NIIOC perpetuate the names of two musicians associated with the cathedral – the Theo Saunders Scholarship and the William Lauder Scholarship – for organists and singers respectively.

St Patrick’s, Armagh was once described to me as ‘an English cathedral set in the middle of the Irish countryside’ and indeed the city’s rural location does mean that there is a limited pool of part-singers who have the skills to sing in the cathedral choir, and most of them are associated with the choir already. There are limited employment opportunities in the city, so that many choir members leave Armagh following A levels, and do not return. Although the city hosts many cultural activities, Armagh does suffer from being an hour’s drive from greater Belfast, where the majority of Northern Ireland’s population live. I often think, too, that few people realise the preciousness of cathedral music, or of the unique English tradition of cathedral men and boys’ choirs. The cathedral’s music needs to be placed on a firmer financial foundation than at present, and we are currently investigating how this might best be done. Although so many choir members leave Armagh for higher education and employment, often outside Northern Ireland, the cathedral is keen to build links with its former choristers, and this April held a Past Choristers’ service, something we plan to repeat.

It is a privilege to be Organist and Master of the Choristers in such a beautiful and historic place, and to belong to a very long tradition of musicians in the cathedral. I receive great support from the boys, their parents and the choir men, and have an excellent working relationship with Dean Gregory Dunstan, who was a chorister under Sir William Harris at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. I hope that the tradition of the men and boys’ choir will continue for many years to come on the Hill of Armagh.

MUSIC IN A ROYAL PECULIAR Colm Carey

The construction of the castle that became known as the Tower of London was begun in 1078 by Bishop Gundulf of Rochester, on the instructions of William the Conqueror. Once a place of incarceration, torture and execution, the Tower’s history encompasses many other less gruesome facets and at various times has been an armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint (run for a period by one Isaac Newton, who lived in the Tower), a public record office, and the home of the Crown Jewels of England. It is also the home to two very fine chapels.

Today, both chapels are fully functioning places of worship, and are very much living organisms within the giant museum of the Tower of London. The Chapel of St John the Evangelist, within the great White Tower itself, is one of the oldest Norman chapels in Britain and is a very fine example of early Norman architecture. It was the monarch’s private chapel when in residence at the Tower, and it was here that the Knights of the Bath kept an all-night vigil, having had their ritual bath in the adjoining room, before escorting the monarch to Westminster to be crowned, a custom that ran from Henry VI’s time to that of Charles II. This is also the chapel in which Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, married Catherine of Aragon in 1501.

In the shadow of the Tower sits the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula (St Peter in Chains), aptly named for a place of

worship within a prison. This chapel was completed in 1520 and was built on the instructions of Henry VIII. Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Lieutenant of the Tower at the time, was given the task of overseeing the construction of the chapel, and he included for himself and his wife a rather large tomb. A careful inspection of the tomb reveals that the date of death is blank. Cholmondeley had fallen out with Henry VIII and fled to the north of England so as not to lose his head. When the tomb was relocated within the chapel in the 19th century, it was found not to contain human remains, but the chapel’s font! (It is thought that this may have been hidden during the Commonwealth by the then chaplain of the Tower, but he took the secret to the grave with him.) The font, dating from around 1490, was probably part of the previously chapel, which was destroyed by fire in 1512.

The rather simple, but elegant, roof of the chapel is made of Spanish chestnut. The timbers were brought all the way from Spain and may be considered a gesture from Catherine of Aragon’s second husband, Henry VIII (Catherine was, of course, Henry’s first wife).

The very fine organ case was created by the renowned English woodcarver Grinling Gibbons. The instrument, dating from c1699, was originally built for use in the Banqueting House in Whitehall, and was moved to the Tower in 1890. Gibbons, like many craftsmen of the time, was illiterate, so he used a

Tower exterior

peapod by way of signature. If the peapod was open, it meant he had been paid for the work; if it was closed, he had not. On the Tower’s organ the peapod is open... and can be seen just above the console to the right.

The inner workings of the organ, and the façade pipes, date from 1999. Having been through various rebuilds since it began its life, by the late 1990s the organ had become increasingly unreliable, so the choral foundation of the Tower took the decision to commission an instrument to be built within the existing historical casework. Orgues Létourneau of Quebec in Canada won the tender and, as well as building a very fine 2-manual organ, they renovated the Gibbons case.

As the primary role of the organ is to accompany the liturgy in the chapel, it was important that a new instrument should have the appropriate colour and sound to do this to the highest quality. The new organ fulfils this task admirably. In addition, much of the solo repertoire can be played on it with enormous integrity.

There is great deal of fascinating history associated with the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, but perhaps what it is best known for are those people who are buried in it. Anyone who has read Hilary Mantel’s historical novel Wolf Hall will be interested to know that the main protagonists of her book are all buried there. A brass plaque (which reads like a Who’s

Who of Tudor England) on the west wall of the chapel carries the name of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s enforcer. Three Queens of England – Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey – were executed within the walls of the Tower and are buried by the altar. Two saints of the Roman Catholic church are buried in the crypt area, beside the chapel rather than under it – John Fisher (another Bishop of Rochester) and Thomas More. These last both lost their lives for not accepting Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy.

Today, the chapel is staffed by a chaplain, assistant chaplain, a chapel clerk and sextons, all of whom are drawn from the body of yeoman warders who live and work in the Tower. While primarily a Chapel Royal, St Peter’s also serves as the local church of the Tower of London. There is a choir of 12 professional singers and myself as Organist and Master of Music who provide music not just for Sundays and feast days through the year, but for many visiting charitable organisations and livery companies. The chapel uses the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible for all its services, with Matins three times a month and a Sung Eucharist once a month.

My own association with the Chapels Royal in the Tower goes back almost 25 years. I first played the organ for a service there in 1994 while a student at the Royal Academy of Music, and enjoyed ten years of accompanying the choir under

St Peter ad Vincula chapel exterior

Photo: Historic Royal Palaces

Stephen Tilton, before becoming Master of Music myself in 2004. Since then I have worked to develop the musical life of the chapels in a variety of guises. The repertoire has grown enormously. Shortly after I took over we started singing Viennese masses, which had never been done before at the Tower, and they are now a regular part of our musical offerings for Eucharists, often incorporating a small orchestra for major festivals such as Easter Day. We revel in performing Tudor music as part of our services – the building especially suits this era of composition, allowing the grandeur of the music to speak forth while enabling all the detail to be heard. I am very proud that we are one of the few places in the country that performs parts of William Byrd’s Great Service for the liturgy, as we do the major services of Gibbons, Tomkins and Weelkes. We regularly commission new music, including a carol each year, performed at our ‘State’ Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. The Chapel of St John has no organ, but this, coupled with the nature of the space, makes it ideally suited to a cappella Renaissance masses, as well as the odd offering from the Eton Choir Book and some carefully chosen contemporary pieces.

The choir performs a number of concerts each year, often with a small band, and individual members of the choir mount their own projects to perform Dowland and Purcell songs, or Bach cantatas, all well suited to the building.

I have found that the chapels at the Tower weave a wonderful thread through what has been a nomadic life as a freelance

musician. The church year gives a real sense of constancy and groundedness to what can be a very unstable and erratic professional life. Another noble institution which has offered me the same, but in a completely different way, is the beautiful Ulster Hall – a classic shoebox concert hall with marvellous acoustics for the organ – my musical home in Northern Ireland for 12 years in my role as Belfast City Organist. I have often mused that organs are rather like people: they come in all shapes and sizes and have individual temperaments and characteristics. So it was a privilege for me to be able to become ‘close friends’ with the Mulholland Grand Organ over such a long period.

I gave many solo recitals on this wonderful instrument, and had the unusual opportunity (as an organist) to perform numerous different concertos with the Ulster Orchestra, including works by Jongen, Parker, Dubois, Poulenc, Rheinberger, Leighton, Haydn and Handel, many of which are rarely heard live. I also had the chance to work with the BBC on a variety of performing projects, but also in writing and presenting a four-part series for radio on the organ as an instrument. It was wonderful to have a musical home in a building that has been so much part of Belfast’s rich heritage. Rather like the Albert Hall in London, it hosts an incredibly eclectic programme of events, from tea dances to boxing matches to beer festivals to speeches to rock concerts (and classical ones too). To have the organ – so often a neglected instrument – as a very visible and audible presence amongst all of the above was a wonderful tribute to the then hall

The Mulholland organ in the Ulster Hall

Photo: Dave Fisher

managers who, promoting the organ vigorously over many years, recognised its importance not only as part of Belfast’s cultural history, but as part of the hall’s life today.

Since stepping down from my role in Belfast, the organ has taken more of a back seat in my musical life. I had long harboured the aspiration to set up a vocal ensemble and a few years ago I brought together a flexible group of musicians to explore, through innovative projects and collaborations, the notion of music being a journey – a journey that challenges the listener and stimulates the mind, body and senses. Gaining a reputation for vivid, vibrant and characterful interpretations, the group (Odyssean Ensemble) has just released its début CD for Linn Records to critical acclaim – William Byrd’s Great Service with Motets (see the review on p60 - Ed.).

For the recording we used a reconstructed Tudor organ built by Goetze & Gwynn, the St Teilo organ, and it allowed us to perform the music for the first time in the way that Byrd might have expected to hear it. The compass at the bottom end of the keyboard enables the organist to play the vocal bass part an octave lower, which is probably what was intended. This is the first time that this has been done in Byrd’s music, and it creates a completely new aural perspective which underpins Byrd’s rich polyphony in what I believe is an incredibly effective way.

The music on the CD is placed in an historical context by texts from the Great Bible. These are available as a free download from Linn Records. The readings come from now-defunct liturgies that Byrd would have known and which were part of the Book of Common Prayer in his lifetime. One was a Service of Thanksgiving for Deliverance from the Gunpowder Plot, and the other for the Accession of James I to the throne. These are liturgies at which Byrd’s Great Service might have been performed. Picking up on the themes of these liturgies, the CD includes three anthems, the texts of which mirror the sentiments of the texts in these services.

Odyssean Ensemble has also recently been commissioned by the BBC to create a radio play with the actor David Suchet, about the life and times of William Byrd, to be aired in 2020.

Coming full circle, it is interesting to note that William Byrd’s elder son Christopher married Catherine More (Thomas More’s great-granddaughter), and I like to wonder whether the Byrd family might have visited Thomas More’s body in the Tower. More’s head was retrieved by his daughter from a spike on Tower Bridge after his execution and is buried in St Dunstan’s Church in Canterbury; his body was interred in the Tower and is now a place of pilgrimage for many from around the world. It lies just ten yards from my desk.

The organ case by Grinling Gibbons

Photo: Martyn Steel

PROFILE JOHN CHALLENGER

Education details:

Hereford Cathedral School

St John’s College, Cambridge

Career details to date:

St John’s College, Cambridge: Organ Scholar 2008–11, Assistant Organist 2011–12, Acting Director of Music 2017

Salisbury Cathedral: Assistant Director of Music 2012–present

Were you a chorister, and if so, where?

I was a chorister at Hereford Cathedral, firstly under the legendary Dr Roy Massey, and then under Geraint Bowen, who taught me to play the organ and instilled in me the desire to become a cathedral organist. There was so much to enjoy: the beautifully simple unaccompanied Friday evensongs, the

ancient surroundings of the cathedral and cathedral school, the bigger orchestral repertoire of the Three Choirs Festival, singing the Passions of Bach. The list goes on.

What or who made you take up the organ?

As a chorister, I rather took Hereford Cathedral’s golden acoustic for granted, but it is a wonderful place in which to sing and, indeed, to play the organ. Hereford has an exceptionally fine organ, built by ‘Father’ Henry Willis in 1892, and the thrilling sound echoes around the building as though the stones themselves are singing. As a chorister, it’s fair to say my head was often in the clouds, but something about this organ, and Peter Dyke’s masterful improvisations, ingrained in me a great love of the instrument. When my voice broke I was sure of two things: I wished to take up the organ, and I wished to work with choristers.

John Challenger and Salisbury Cathedral organ pipes

Photo: Ash Mills

What was the transition like from playing the organ at school to playing at university?

I was fortunate to be offered endless playing opportunities. Taking up the organ is a very public learning process and there will always be things you could have done better, but I was lucky to find encouragement wherever I looked. I grew up in awe of the choir of St John’s College Cambridge, and so I was very lucky indeed to be offered an organ scholarship there. As a chorister in the Three Choirs Festival, I had sung under the inspiring and deeply musical direction of Andrew Nethsingha (at the time Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral); so it could not have been more perfect that he should be appointed Director of Music at St John’s a year ahead of my own arrival there. The warm and expressive sound of St John’s choir, which is loved by so many people around the world, will always influence my own ideas. It was a thoroughly happy and musically fulfilling time.

You went back to St John’s not long ago as Acting Director of Music. How did that compare to your time there as Organ Scholar?

The two roles felt quite different. As an organ scholar I was studying for a BA degree in Music alongside my chapel duties. In 2017 I returned to St John’s to cover a sabbatical term for Andrew (what an invitation!), and on that occasion I was entrusted with maintaining the standard of the St John’s Choir on a daily basis. The anthem on my last day there was Bruckner’s Christus factus est, and that was a very special moment for me.

Have you been on any tours with Salisbury or St John’s? Does anything in particular stand out from these?

With St John’s I was fortunate to visit many European countries (I remember playing some very beautiful instruments in the Netherlands in particular), as well as the United States and Japan. With Salisbury, we have visited our twin towns of Saintes in France and Xanten in Germany. In the spring of this year, we visited Salzburg, Vienna and Bratislava.

What sort of impact has the restoration of the organ had on you, on the other music staff, and the music programme of the cathedral? How do you find the electronic organ?

Salisbury Cathedral houses its own very fine ‘Father’ Willis organ, completed in 1876. During the whole of this year the instrument is undergoing an extensive programme of repair and restoration. It should go without saying that we are making no changes to the unique sound of this instrument, but it had certainly become unreliable, and so comprehensive restoration is under way. Watching the dismantling of the instrument was fascinating, and we have taken the opportunity to create an exhibition (called ‘Pulling out the stops’) where people of all ages can learn more about our great Father Willis organ. I hope it may inspire some more youngsters to take up the instrument. In the meantime, we are using an electronic organ, and we are also making greater use of our Collins chamber organ and Blüthner grand piano. I think everyone understands the reasons for this temporary upheaval; it’s a short amount of time in the life of the instrument. We are hugely grateful to Allen Organs for supplying our electronic organ, as it allows us to continue accompanying the largerscale liturgy, but it will be very good to have the Willis back.

You have made (and recorded a CD of) several transcriptions. How do you embark on transcribing a work and does the process take a long time?

I think the organ should not act as a substitute for an orchestra: if something is worth transcribing at all, it must

be re-born as an organ piece. Having said this, it is good to refer to the orchestral original too. I suspect I only began transcribing because the Salisbury instrument lends itself so marvellously to it. It takes a long time for me to get to know an organ well enough to bother with transcription, and for that reason I tend to reserve transcriptions for the Salisbury organ. When the organ is back, fully restored, in 2020, I hope to make another recording of transcriptions. I wonder where the instrument will take me next...

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

I’m very much looking forward to learning the Variations on a Theme of Guillaume de Machaut (Op. 65) by the 20thcentury British composer Christopher Steel. I discovered these when our cathedral organ scholar at the time, Daniel Mathieson, played them for a recital on the Salisbury organ. The instrument was in a bad state of repair, and the capture system had entirely failed. I ended up pulling and pushing all the stops for Dan that evening, and as a consequence I got to know the work really quite quickly.

Do you find listening to recordings of other organists playing the same works helps?

Yes, this can be a great source of inspiration. However, I try to avoid too much listening as I don’t want simply to copy someone else’s performance.

How much conducting do you do?

I conduct Salisbury Cathedral choir regularly, I direct the cathedral’s voluntary choir of adults (the Cathedral Chamber Choir), and I’m also Assistant Conductor of the Salisbury Musical Society (a chorus of around 100 people). I also get to work with the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra. It’s a great variety.

What was the last recording you were working on?

I’ve just finished editing a recording I made last year of organ works by the 19th-century Belgian composer César Franck. Franck is regarded as the father of the French symphonic organ school, and recording his Trois Chorals on Salisbury’s beautiful 19th-century organ was a rich learning experience. The recording was released this summer (see the review on p61).

Do you think the FRCO has relevance to your position as Assistant Director of Music?

It sets a standard and I’m pleased I did it. However, there are many finer organists than me who do not have it, and this has not held them back.

What is your a) favourite organ to play

There are two: the organs in Hereford Cathedral and the Abbey Church of St Ouen in Rouen, France. As an aside, I’d love to sit in the nave of Notre-Dame Cathedral and feel the full extraordinary effect of that great instrument.

b) favourite building

Again there are two: Gloucester Cathedral and St Pancras Station.

c) favourite anthem

Geistliches Lied by Brahms.

d) favourite set of canticles

Gibbons Second Service, Berkeley Chichester Service, Leighton Second Service

e) favourite psalm and accompanying chants

Any psalms sung to the chant combinations found at Hereford Cathedral will stir fond memories of my childhood. It’s hard for me to specify one favourite psalm, but the sequence of psalms for Day 27 (Evening Prayer) is one of my favourites, and I have heard wonderful chant combinations of this sung at Hereford, St John’s, Salisbury and St Davids. My favourite recording of psalms is the recording made by George Guest and the Choir of St John’s in 1977, Psalms of Consolation and Hope

f) favourite organ piece

At the moment it is Olivier Messiaen’s Messe de la Pentecôte

g) favourite composer

J S Bach.

Which pieces are you including in your next organ recital?

My next recital is at Truro Cathedral. You’ve reminded me that I need to decide what I’m going to play…

Have you played for an event or recital that stands out as a great moment? How do you cope with nerves?

My greatest memory of a musical moment is in fact a conducting one. During my recent return to St John’s in 2017 I conducted Choral Evensong for Ash Wednesday which was broadcast by the BBC. It was a singular privilege to be able to prepare Allegri’s Miserere with such instinctive and phenomenal musicians. I find that a small amount of nervous energy is good in performance, and that preparation keeps serious nerves at bay.

Do you play any other instruments?

I am a rather bad pianist.

Would you recommend life as an organist? What are the drawbacks?

It is extraordinary what music can do for people. I love the combination of working with young people, working in a glorious cathedral, and being part of a confident and happy Christian community. I thrive on the pressure to perform different music every day and Salisbury is a wonderful place to live. It can be difficult to leave work behind sometimes, but that’s the nature of the thing. If I didn’t enjoy the lifestyle, I wouldn’t be doing it. I am very lucky.

CATHEDRAL ORGANISTS’ CONFERENCE IN LEIPZIG

Michael and Dorothea Harris

MAY 2018

The Cathedral Organists’ Association meets twice annually for conferences which provide professional development and support. Whilst the venue is normally one of the UK’s cathedral or collegiate establishments, following a highly successful event in Paris in 2010 the May 2018 conference was held in Leipzig.

The three days spent there proved to be highly memorable, and provided much food for thought. Around 25 members of the Association, together with partners, enjoyed a stimulating range of activities in Saxony. German colleagues in the city provided a very warm welcome, and delegates seized an invaluable opportunity to build contacts.

Leipzig is of course not only the city of J S Bach but also of Mendelssohn, and for those who had arrived early there was an opportunity to visit the Mendelssohn House. This fascinating museum is housed in the building where Mendelssohn lived (the only property still extant) and where he died in 1847. Opened as a museum in 1997, it was later extended and now boasts some of the latest museum technology. Members were

much entertained by being able to conduct a virtual reality orchestra!

One area where church music education differs greatly in Germany is the structure and provision of the degree courses which are a necessary qualification for German church musicians. Thus it was particularly good to be able to visit the Musikhochschule ‘Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’ and observe the choral conducting class, arranged by the director of the Church Music Institute. Unlike in Great Britain, churches and their employees are principally funded through church tax, which has reduced considerably in the last quartercentury. The result has been significant financial cuts in many areas of Germany. Additionally, the average age of choirs has increased considerably, and this, along with dwindling membership numbers in some areas, has led to a tendency to favour project-based work, which requires less commitment than regular service singing.

Following the choral conducting session Dorothea Harris, who studied both in the UK and in Germany, and now

The organ at the Georgenkirche in Rötha

Photo: Michael Harris

holds a full-time post as a Bezirkskantorin in Hessen, gave an insightful talk on the life of the church musician in Germany, the differing structures in comparison to the UK, and the particular challenges associated with the role. (A Bezirkskantor/in, unlike a Kantor/in who is responsible for the church music at one church, has responsibility also for an area, or Bezirk, of a diocese. They are the point of contact for local organists and choir conductors, teach organ pupils, and put on events combining local choirs.) Dorothea is now working in this role in Schlüchtern, with a choir of 60 people and three children’s choirs comprising 40 members. Largely based at the Stadtkirche St Michael, she is also Deputy Director of the Diocesan Training centre for organists and conductors, a residential centre where courses run for much of the year. She gained the position as one of 12 candidates, of which five were invited to interview and then three for auditions in organ playing and rehearsals with the children’s and adult choirs.

On our second morning colleagues visited the nearby town of Rötha, to try out the two remarkable Silbermann organs there, in the Georgenkirche and the Marienkirche. We were met by Professor Dr Martin Schmeding, Professor of Organ at the Leipzig Conservatoire, and international recitalist, who gave of his time in typically generous fashion in workshops on the two organs. After Professor Schmeding had demonstrated the 1721 Silbermann a number of us took the opportunity to play it and discover its qualities for ourselves. The instrument is regularly used for teaching: once everyone had become used to the dimensions of the pedalboard, with its C,D-c1 compass (fewer notes than on modern instruments, but more widely spaced) and its high Chorton pitch (around a semitone

higher than the present-day A=440 standard), there was much to learn from both the sound and the way the organ almost told one how to play.

From the Georgenkirche it was only a short walk to the Marienkirche, a smaller church nearby where another Gottfried Silbermann organ, this time of just one manual and pedal, with eleven stops, awaited us. This instrument was built in 1722; following World War II it had been stored elsewhere, and was then displayed in various exhibitions. It was returned to the church and restored in 1960, with further restoration taking place in 2008. The instrument is typical of the design Silbermann used for a number of instruments still to be found in churches around Freiberg in Saxony.

Following this (and via the nearby Bayerische Bahnhof, much appreciated by the numerous railway enthusiasts amongst the delegates) the afternoon was devoted to a visit to the Thomasschule, the home of the world-famous Thomanerchor. The school, which has recently extended its site, was able to show off impressive new facilities. Dr Stefan Altner, the managing director of the choir and himself a former Thomaner, was very interesting about the history of the choir, and the experiences of the boys during their time in it.

The choir’s structure is very different to that of a British cathedral choir. Whilst the boys do sing for services on Sundays, they also have a very busy concert schedule which includes the regular Friday and Saturday Motette (in essence, musical services), and frequent foreign tours. Equally differently, the choir is organised into families; unlike in Britain, all the voice

The Thomanerchor, 2019

parts are sung by the Thomaner boys, and the senior pupils have the responsibility of helping to look after the more junior ones.

We were very privileged to be able to observe a full rehearsal under the direction of Gotthold Schwarz, the latest holder of the post of Kantor, appointed in 2016, the 34th in a continuous line since 1518, and the 17th since Bach. The rehearsal included sections of the Frank Martin Mass, and Bach’s B minor Mass, parts of which were worked on very movingly by the choir, looked down upon by the portraits of all the previous holders of the Kantor’s position.

It was fascinating to take note of and learn about the way the choir works, and to realise that whilst there are obvious similarities in parts of the repertoire, and in the boys’ voices, there are also significant differences, given the routine of the choir’s week. Stefan Altner pointed out that there are also many musical issues to be considered in the way that the choir promotes itself. The choir has a worldwide reputation but, in a world where original instruments and small forces are very much the fashion in Baroque music performance, its members are delivering something with its own unique character. This is not least because their cantata and Passion performances are accompanied by members of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the choir when performing can number 50 singers and upwards. The emphasis therefore is very much on the continuity of the tradition, and the particular sound of this German boys’ choir.

in 1968 by the DDR regime. Prior to the installation of the Woehl organ the main instrument in the church was the Wilhelm Sauer organ of 1889 (restored in 2005) situated in the west gallery. This instrument comes from the heart of the German Romantic organ tradition, and Professor Böhme demonstrated its wide range of colour with an improvised chorale fantasia.

Later in the evening we had the wonderful experience of having the Thomaskirche all to ourselves, while Professor Ullrich Böhme, the organist there, gave us a marvellous demonstration of the two organs. He began by playing Bach’s Schübler chorale preludes on the Gerhard Woehl instrument built on the north gallery in 2000; this ‘Bach organ’ was inspired by the style of organ built in central Germany in Bach’s time, and its case design is drawn from the lost 1717 Johann Scheibe organ of the University Church, the Paulinerkirche, which Bach also played on. The organ itself was rebuilt in the 1840s, and the Paulinerkirche destroyed

On the final day, those who did not have to return to the UK were able to visit the Bach Museum, the home of the Bach archive, which is housed in the Bosehaus, the oldest building in the square and opposite the Thomaskirche. The museum was substantially modernised and extended between 2008 and 2010, and now houses a fascinating collection of artefacts and interactive exhibits, among them the console from the Johanniskirche organ, an instrument which Bach himself signed off in 1743.

From Leipzig a smaller group of members then took the train to Naumburg to play the famous Hildebrandt organ in the Wenzelskirche, a memorable experience for those delegates who were able to be there.

All came away from the conference feeling inspired by the music, the architecture and the history. Being able to meet and learn from German church music colleagues and their choral and organ culture made the three days particularly special.

(Those with sharp eyes will spot that this article is not from the current year. This is the fault of the Editor, who ran out of space in previous editions but knew that the article would be of great interest to readers even if a little long in the tooth.)

MICHAEL HARRIS has been since 1996 Organist and Master of the Music of St Giles’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, and is Lecturer in Music at Edinburgh Napier University. Prior to moving to Edinburgh he held posts as Sub-Organist of Leeds Parish Church and Assistant Organist of Canterbury Cathedral.

As Organist of St Giles’s Cathedral he hosts many organ concerts on the famous Rieger organ (built in 1992) and his work has involved him in numerous recordings and broadcasts, both for television and radio. Under his direction the cathedral choir has visited the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Greece. The cathedral choir has recorded a series of CDs, on St Giles’s own label, Aegidius, under his direction.

DOROTHEA HARRIS studied Music at Oxford, where she was Organ Scholar at Corpus Christi College. Following an organ scholarship at Guildford Cathedral, she studied organ with Prof Dr Martin Sander and Church Music at the Hochschule für Musik, Detmold, Germany. She spent two years as Bezirkskantorin in Vellmar, near Kassel. In April 2019 she moved to Schlüchtern, where she is now Bezirkskantorin and Deputy Director of the Diocesan Training Centre for Organists and Choral Conductors.

Cathedral MusiC

Organ console from the Johanniskirche in Leipzig, which Bach would have played

50,000 REVIEWS

Len Mullenger

‘MusicWeb International’ and its sister site ‘Seen and Heard’ are daily review websites founded by myself. MusicWeb concentrates on recorded music, posting ten reviews per weekday, whilst Seen and Heard reviews live concerts, opera etc on an international basis. MusicWeb is rapidly approaching its 25th anniversary and already has over 50,000 CD and DVD reviews available, and hundreds of articles and some complete books! Each month we satisfy in excess of 75,000 unique visitors with over 300,000 pages being read.

The ‘back catalogue’ is at least as significant as the latest reviews. We currently review around 220 classical CDs each month with a smattering of middle of the road stuff, plus jazz, and musicals etc, but although we put sales links on

each review, our visitors do not buy enough CDs through them, so while all this makes MusicWeb sound like a thriving commercial enterprise, sadly, it is not. MusicWeb has survived through a combination of advertising, donations and because the editors put their hands deeply into their pockets! All the contributors work for nothing and although the reviewers do get to keep the discs – which do not cost the site anything – I have to cover the worldwide postage costs. It is sheer obsession that has got us where we are. From site questionnaire responses there are indications that some people would be willing to pay a subscription to visit the site, but that is a road I would rather not follow as it would lead to a massive loss of visitors which would not please our advertisers.

We have received many accolades:

Indésens & Calliope Records: We always appreciate the quality and accuracy of your reviews.

Hyperion: Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews, Len. Our artists are thrilled to bits and so is Hyperion. We really appreciate the support.

BIS: I find it a masterpiece of a review! … the author substantiates his criticism in a professional, courteous way that is admirable. An interesting and educating read.

RSK: I consider Musicweb the most reliable and consistent reviews source – I can always rely on you and your writers to support even the most obscure releases, and I do appreciate it.

Klaus Heymann (Naxos): MusicWeb International has indeed developed into the most important classical review site on the web.

Divine Art: I write from the perspective of a CD publisher as opposed to a buyer: we have been working with MusicWeb for as long as I can recall (probably all of your 20 years) and we appreciate very highly the service that MW provides and for the usually thoughtful, penetrating and factually accurate reviews and articles that appear – the standard of knowledge and professionalism of your panel is the equal of all and better than most, and the breadth of reviews is also unparalleled and shows no favouritism.

And this was how it started...

In the late 1970s (16th July 1977) the BBC broadcast William Alwyn’s opera Miss Julie. Alwyn’s name was unknown to me, so I wrote to the BBC expressing my enjoyment of the opera and seeking more information on the composer. I waited many months for a reply, during which time I read Francis Routh’s chapter in Contemporary British Music (Macdonald 1972) and started to explore the symphonies on the Lyrita recordings that were then emerging. Eventually my letter did elicit a reply – from the composer! He informed me that the opera had been recorded by Lyrita with the same cast. He went on to say how his music was much more appreciated abroad than at home, and from other sources I became aware of the way the BBC had actively suppressed broadcasts of music by British composers of that generation rather than promoting them. William also mentioned that it was to be his 75th birthday that November and he hoped that the BBC would allow him a talk feature on his life. This spurred me to write to all the magazines, and the BBC, to try and ensure there was some sort of celebration to mark the event. Gramophone promised an article, which did not emerge, but the BBC did broadcast his Symphony No. 5 from Croydon. My local Recorded Music Society sent a birthday card which included a Rossetti drawing, because Alwyn was an early collector of the Pre-Raphaelites. He was delighted, and an even longer letter arrived. This was all very exciting for me because I had never had contact with a composer before. My only regret is that I never met him, although I did eventually meet his wife Mary at the premiere performance of Miss Julie at the Norwich Theatre Royal in 1997. In 1995, ten years after the death of William Alwyn, Andrew Palmer founded the Alwyn Society with the aim of deepening the knowledge and appreciation of his work and encouraging live performances. I offered to build a website for the Society, using the experience gained from creating a website in my role as a university lecturer and admissions officer. I approached Chandos for permission to copy all the booklet notes to their recordings and, with the help of Rob Barnett of the British Music Society, we added biographical material. MusicWeb stems from that and when I retired, I was able to devote myself fully to it. (The Alwyn Society became inactive following the death of Mary Alwyn.)

The Alwyn website was successful in attracting attention and even praise. A subsequent hunt round the web showed very few sites devoted to British composers, the two standing out being the Elgar and Delius societies. It seemed an obvious move, therefore, to extend from the Alwyn site and include other composers. For the next couple of years there was a steady flow of enquiries and many composer societies ended up being represented on MusicWeb.

Most of the British composers represented on the site belong to the ‘forgotten’ generation composing in the ’50s and ’60s. This was not by design, but more a reflection of my own taste and the lack of exposure offered to these composers. In fact, the site became much more comprehensive, although presentday composers tend to have a well established presence on the web – either through having their own sites or being represented by their publishers. The site is not restricted to British composers and I was soon approached by the Dvořák Society and the Respighi Society to see if I would help them (which I did). There are now hundreds of specialist articles on non-British composers such as Leo Brouwer (one of the

most popular pages), Mahler (the most popular pages), Luis de Pablo, Egon Wellesz etc. Nevertheless, it is the British composers who have received the most in-depth treatment to date and, where necessary, articles have been commissioned by myself (Britten, Bridge, Holst). Future needs are for similar studies of Arnold, Bliss and Gershwin. We also have in-depth studies of Inglis Gundry and Arthur Butterworth, who were little known, and I was proud to be able to persuade Colin Touchin at the Warwick Arts Centre to include Arthur Butterworth’s Symphony No. 4 in one of their programmes as a 75th birthday tribute (the site has a review by Paul Conway). Arthur came with his family and we cut a cake in the interval. In one of those unfortunate coincidences, it was on that very day that the CD label Classico chose to lay down the premiere recording of the Symphony No. 1 which Arthur was therefore unable to attend.

Ian Lace and Rob Barnett, who already knew each other, approached me with the idea of a supplementary website specialising in film music. This started in early 1998. Ian Lace was appointed honorary editor for ‘Film Music on the Web’, and was keen to edit a site that treated film music with the respect it deserves. It embraced responsible news coverage and comment, articles, composer profiles and, most importantly, in-depth reviews of books and CDs of current and historic film scores. Ian was also keen to include coverage of concert and operatic music by film music composers such as Korngold, Franz Waxman, Miklós Rózsa, and George Antheil.

I was already running a dual site at the time because of Gerard Hoffnung. When I was a teenager, Hoffnung was much loved and his little books were sought-after Christmas presents. Hoffnung died very young (he was only 34) and as his memory gradually faded I realised that none of my students had ever

heard of him. Most of his books were also out of print. I took steps to trace his widow, Annetta, and invited her to Coventry University where we designed a site to the memory of Gerard. Annetta had a small cache of the little books so sales links were generated for these and the two CDs, and postcards of the cartoons. The site has been immensely popular, and sells the Hoffnung artefacts to all parts of the globe. (Annetta died in July 2018.)

Rob Barnett was well known as a reviewer for the British Music Society and as editor of BMS News. With the success of the CD reviews on the film music site he was appointed honorary editor of the classical CD reviews which were started in late ’98.

The number of reviewers has gradually grown to meet the demand and there are around 40 reviewers active at any one time (there are over 140 contributors to the site). We constantly seek new reviewers with specialist interests –– so if that is you, just send an email (Len@musicweb-international.com).

In the summer of 2000 I was sitting under my gazebo chatting to Peter Grahame Woolf and his charming wife Alexa. We had converging ideas. I thought that MusicWeb could be used to promote budding artists. We could perhaps mount their CVs at little or no cost and act as a contact point. Peter’s concern was that such artists now had little exposure as most of the daily newspapers had stopped printing concert reviews and consequently young artists did not have the opportunities that earlier generations had had of producing a portfolio. Peter had been writing about music for more than 40 years, having been a contributor to Strictly off the Record, which eventually failed through lack of support. The result of that meeting was the sister website ‘Seen and Heard’, which presents reviews of live concerts as soon as possible after the event, attracting a small but dedicated following. We started by presenting one or more new reviews every day. CD reviews had originally been presented monthly but often a recording was of such great interest that we wanted to draw attention to it immediately –so we started a ‘Daily Review’ on the site. Each month between 150 and 200 classical CDs and DVDs are reviewed.

In March 2004 MusicWeb published its 10,000th classical review. As a lead-up to our tenth birthday celebrations the site name was changed to MusicWeb International to reflect the diversity of both our reviewers and our audience.

In 2018 the founding editor, Rob Barnett, who had edited nearly all the reviews that appeared on MusicWeb, stepped back to concentrate on reviewing and, as so often in these cases, it has taken a whole team of new editors to complete the same work. For Rob and myself MusicWeb had been virtually a full-time job. I, too, have, at the age of 76, stepped back. The publication of reviews after editing is now carried out by David Barker in New Zealand whilst Jonathan Woolf in London coordinates the allocation and distribution of review discs. I have now moved to much smaller premises and no longer have the facilities for distribution. The indefatigable John Quinn does everything else including overseeing the occasional series of Listening Room reports and attending concerts as a reviewer. And so we head for 2020, when we will be 25, by which time who knows how many reviews we will have!

Unusually, LEN MULLENGER took two undergraduate degrees at Leeds University. The first was in Botany and Zoology; subsequently he did a further two years’ study for a Special Honours degree in Bacteriology. He is the only BSc, BSc he has ever met... His PhD was undertaken as a London University student working at an external institution: the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham, Wilts. He worked on the effects of radiation on bacteria and how that might be modified. He was appointed as a lecturer in Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering at Coventry University, where he worked for 25 years. On his retirement he volunteered with the National Trust at Charlecote Park where he became fascinated by their library of rare books, particularly botanical ones. He regularly presents talks on the books at Charlecote and surrounding public libraries.

Rob Barnett

David Barker

John Quinn

Music in Portsmouth Cathedral

Portsmouth Cathedral Choir and The Portsmouth Grammar School offer unique opportunities for young altos, tenors, basses and an organ scholar for the academic year 2020/21.

Opportunities exist for gap year students (pre or post University) to spend a year working with the Portsmouth Cathedral Choirs, whilst working as departmental assistants at one of the country’s leading co-educational schools, The Portsmouth Grammar School. The year involves daily choral worship in the Cathedral, major concerts and BBC broadcasts, choir tours (Iceland, Finland, Poland, Denmark in 2019-2020) and CD recordings.

Recent Portsmouth scholars now sing in Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, St John’s College and King’s College, Cambridge, as well as Winchester Cathedral and York Minster Choirs and with major UK groups such as the Tallis Scholars, Monteverdi Choir and The Sixteen. Regular vocal/organ tuition provided. Accommodation available. Remuneration circa £8,500 per annum.

Further Details from

Dr David Price

music@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk

023 9282 3300

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

ELY CATHEDRAL GIRLS’ CHOIR –NEW DIRECTIONS

Sarah MacDonald

The Ely girls’ choir

Photo: Keith Heppell

The UK’s choir school system is internationally known and respected. Pupils who sing the top (treble) line in their cathedral choir very often receive a financial reward that helps pay the fees of the school associated with their cathedral, and sometimes contributes towards music lessons as well. As FCM readers know and appreciate, the education that choristers receive is second to none. The obvious musical expertise acquired through daily professional performance is complemented by the transferrable skills of discipline, self-confidence and reliability. The tradition is an ancient one, dating back to the Middle Ages and, historically, choir schools educated only boys. During the latter half of the 20th century most of the schools became co-educational, although there remain a couple of high-profile exceptions.

In 1991 Salisbury Cathedral School started a separate girls’ choir, a not uncontroversial development for the repercussions are still being felt in the media today. In fact, some trail-blazing choir directors had been experimenting well before then: St Davids Cathedral in Wales has had an all-girl top line since 1966. Harrison Oxley added girls to the boys’ top line at St

Edmundsbury in the early 1970s, but subsequent opposition from a new Provost ultimately prompted Oxley’s resignation in 1984. In 1978, the first girl was admitted to the top line of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh, and that front row has remained mixed ever since. Since 1991, all but a small handful of English cathedrals and Royal peculiars have formed a separate girls’ choir, or admitted girls to their preexisting top line of boys. For some (Salisbury, York, Exeter, Durham), there has been a laudable ambition to achieve parity, regardless of gender. Their girls and boys are the same age (7-13) and sing the same number of weekly services for the same financial reward. In other places, the girls are older, and are drawn from various local secondary schools – i.e. not the cathedral choir school – and have schedules ranging from one or two services per term (Canterbury), to one or two services per week (Winchester and Guildford).

A few years ago I had to train two of my Year 13 girls, both of whom had developed into mezzo-sopranos, to audition as altos for Cambridge choral scholarships. Amusingly, they both applied to sing in Selwyn College Choir, which I also direct, and it was in teaching them the skills that they needed in order to audition successfully for me – though I had trained them both since they were 13 years old, and knew perfectly well what they were capable of – that I realised just how much they had to learn!

When Ely Cathedral introduced girl choristers in 2006, they were recruited from the older age range, i.e. 13-18. The intention was to provide secondary-school-age girls with a comparable experience to that enjoyed by younger boys. Notwithstanding this, complete parity was deemed inappropriate, since academic commitments and the social/ emotional needs of teenagers had to be considered. Two or three services per week, rather than the boys’ five or six, has been the norm since the girls’ choir’s inception. Recently, however, it became apparent that change was required.

A brief diversion into the UK’s education system is now needed. In 2006, when Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir (ECGC) was set up, compulsory public examinations (GCSEs taken at age 16, AS levels at 17, and A levels at 18) comprised a combination of modular assessment, course-work submissions, and end-of-

year examinations. In addition, university tuition fees were amongst the lowest in Europe. Two significant developments have occurred in the past few years: university tuition fees were tripled in 2012, and in 2015 the then Education Secretary, Michael Gove, began a systematic revision of the school examination system. In an attempt to remedy a perceived lack of rigour, Gove eliminated all modular/continuous assessment, and abolished AS exams, with the result that both GCSEs and A levels are now entirely based on final written examinations taken after two full years of study1

Those who have any experience in the education sector will be well aware that modular assessment has for decades been known to improve girls’ results2. The UK’s new ‘Govine’ system will inevitably adversely affect the performance of girls in particular. Since university offers are based upon schoolleavers’ grades, the dramatic rise in tuition fees placed even further weight upon school examinations. Combining an intensive cathedral choristership with this academic pressure became untenable.

In addition, over my ten years directing ECGC, I have developed serious vocal concerns about running a choir of girls from age 13 to 18. Until 2018, I auditioned girls at age 12 and they began in the choir at 13. Usually, a substantial growth spurt occurred in the months between voice trial and arrival in the choir. Over ten years at Ely, I have noticed that height change occurs first, and voice change usually about two years later. This anecdotal observation is conveniently backed up by medical research3. Of course, specific physiology and vocal training play an important role in vocal development and voice change, but I am convinced that the change from

girl-treble to soprano/mezzo, or (very occasionally) contralto, occurs during about age 14/15. I recently used two members of ECGC to illustrate this to a group of Cambridge MMus students. The two girls, one in Year 10 and the other in Year 12, had had identical chorister training, first as Durham Cathedral choristers (age 7-12), then at Ely (from 13). In addition, both had had the same singing teacher throughout. Both sang short passages, one after the other; the former was audibly still a treble, but the latter very definitely a young soprano.

The combination of unchanged, changing, and changed voices is an easily surmountable obstacle in a large choir that rehearses once or twice a week after school. In a group of just 18 girls who sing together every morning at 7.55am, a time of day well documented as being totally unnatural for teenagers4, it results in potential vocal damage both in older girls (who under-sing, in order to blend) and younger (who over-sing, in order to be heard). In addition, the sixth-formers who mature into mezzo-sopranos often struggle to continue singing soprano. Even those mezzos who have access to their falsetto after voice change can develop uncentred technique and vocal fatigue. Since the top two years of a cathedral choir’s front row are by definition the most experienced singers, it is not convenient to lose them early due to voice change, as any conductor of a boys’ top line will attest. That the ECGC was structured in such a way as to make that loss inevitable seemed to me unwise: it would be akin to setting up a choir in the 21st century which had boy trebles from ages 10 to 16.5 In summary, ideally the top two years in the choir should be those at which the child is strongest and most confident musically, and also at the peak of the maturity of

Members of the girls’ choir on the Christmas carousel in Ely

Photo: Geoff Robinson

his/her treble voice. For girl choristers, I am persuaded that the ideal age range is therefore 10-15, or school years 7 to 11.

Readers will know that mixed university and adult choirs’ alto sections comprise a combination of voice types. There are often a few countertenors and contraltos of course, but by far the most common voice type in a mixed choir’s alto section is that of mezzo-soprano. It is also the case that if any girl wishes to carry on singing in a cathedral choir while at university, either as a choral scholar or lay clerk, she will have no choice but to sing alto, since the back row is the only place where adults can be accommodated. The sixth form (Years 12-13) provides an ideal opportunity for girls to learn to sing alto, just as in those two years the boys whose voices have begun to settle are learning to sing tenor and bass (or, less commonly at that age, countertenor). It goes without saying that boys will need to learn a completely new voice part when they move from the front to the back row of the choir – indeed, the baritones and basses also need to learn to read in a different clef. Girls who do the same (whether they are sopranos, mezzos, or that great rarity, the true contralto) also need to learn to learn a new part. Singing alto requires a different way of thinking, of listening, and of reading: the inner voice

part does not just require a change of range or tessitura, but necessitates a new way of hearing one’s place in an ensemble. A few years ago I had to train two of my Year 13 girls, both of whom had developed into mezzo-sopranos, to audition as altos for Cambridge choral scholarships. Amusingly, they both applied to sing in Selwyn College Choir, which I also direct, and it was in teaching them the skills that they needed in order to audition successfully for me – though I had trained them both since they were 13 years old, and knew perfectly well what they were capable of – that I realised just how much they had to learn!

Along with the important educational and vocal considerations outlined above comes the issue of young adulthood. Although there is of course a difference in expectations and behaviour between an 11-year-old and a 15-year-old, it is significantly less marked than the difference between a 13-year-old and an 18-year-old. Girls in particular are young adults by the time they reach 16, and forcing them to adhere to a timetable that was set up in the 19th century to cater for ten-year-old boys actually doesn’t bring the best out of them. Schools have known this for a long time: sixth-formers often have a special separate common room, they wear a less-prescribed uniform,

Members from the Ely boys’ and girls’ choirs

Photo: Keith Heppell

have fewer lessons, and are expected to work independently in their free time. Society allows them to learn to drive, to drink alcohol, to vote, and to be independent. They are transitioning from school pupils to university students: walking them in a crocodile from the boarding house to breakfast every morning at 7.25am in order to be on time for chorister practice is much more likely to produce resentment and rebellion than good singing.

I hope that readers have understood the reasoning behind the need for change in the structure of the girl chorister routine at Ely Cathedral. I am of course grateful to those who set it up: I was not allowed to sing in a cathedral choir as a child or as a teenager, even in the enlightened country I call home, and I would have given my eye-teeth to have been allowed this opportunity when I was younger. Nonetheless, the educational changes imposed upon us, combined with the vocal, emotional, and social needs of teenage girls, has made these developments crucial.

Fortunately, a substantial intake to King’s Ely from local preparatory schools occurs at Year 7, and from September 2018 we admitted girl choristers from the age of 11. Once the transition period is over (we have ‘grandmothered’ in all existing choristers and will allow them to sing until the end of Year 13 if they wish), girls will finish their time as choristers at the end of Year 11, after a substantial break in choral duties for the summer GCSE examination period. Those who wish to stay on as sixth-form choral scholars will join our lay clerks and former boy choristers in the back row, singing as young adults on a reduced choral timetable, learning how to prepare music on their own.

This first year has been challenging, with nine new girls in Years 7, 8, and 9, comprising nearly half the choir. Teaching so many of them at once how to sing, listen, read, process, learn, perform, etc., has caused me more than the occasional sleepless night. But I am persuaded that we are moving in the right direction. Hopefully this will result in a thriving –slightly younger – cathedral girls’ choir, with vocally healthy former choristers achieving magnificent school examination results.

A shorter version of the first section of this article appeared in The American Organist magazine in August 2018; this version is published with permission.

Endnotes

1 As a related aside, Gove’s English Baccalaureate prescribing compulsory GCSEs does not include Music as a core subject. Consequently, the number of pupils taking GCSE and A-level Music has dropped dramatically over the past two years. (https:// www.classicfm.com/music-news/decline-music-gcse-ebacc/).

2 http://ciea.org.uk/linear-vs-modular-exams/

3 http://www.leedberg.com/voice/pages/female.html

4 https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2018/02/later-starttimes-for-teenage-pupils.aspx

5 For further information on the current average age of the onset of puberty in boys (and subsequent voice-change), notably the effects of increased protein in the western diet after World War II, as well as the raising of concert pitch over the past two centuries, see https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8052873/Choirsin-deep-trouble-over-voices-breaking-early.html and https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_soprano

SARAH MACDONALD MA

FRCO ARSCM is a Canadianborn UK-based conductor, organist and composer. She is Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn College

Cambridge, and Director of Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir. She has been at Selwyn since 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge chapel. Sarah came to the UK in 1992 as Organ Scholar of Robinson College Cambridge after studying piano, organ, and conducting at The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School in Toronto. At Cambridge she read Music, and studied the organ with David Sanger. She has toured internationally as a conductor, recitalist and teacher, and has made over 35 commercial recordings. She is a winner of the RCO’s coveted Limpus Prize, and is a supervisor and examiner for the Cambridge University music faculty. Sarah has had numerous choral compositions published, and writes a popular monthly column for the American Guild of Organists’ magazine The American Organist, called ‘UK Report’. In 2018 she received the honorary ARSCM in recognition of her contribution to choral music in the UK and Canada.

The very fine ceiling and the celebrated octagonal lantern of Ely Cathedral

Photo: Andrew Sharpe

The young Ouseley c. 1960

Photo: Charles L Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

OUSELEY’S LEGACY AND THE COLLEGE OF ST MICHAEL

Roger Judd

For 12½ years I was director of music at St Michael’s, and had the sad distinction of overseeing the closure of the college, and the disbanding of the choir, in 1985, after 129 years.

It is difficult for us today to imagine just how awful the performance of church music and the conduct of services was in the 19th century. St Michael’s College was born out of the need, as Ouseley saw it, for something far better, and worthy of the God that he worshipped, and he had the belief that he could make a difference.

Ouseley was born in 1825. His father, Sir Gore Ouseley, was an amateur musician and one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Music in 1822. Ouseley junior was educated at the family home in Beaconsfield, until, at 15, he was sent to study with a family friend, James Joyce, a vicar in Dorking. There, Ouseley was instructed in the classics and theology, and it was probably at Dorking that the decision to enter the church was taken. He joined Christ Church Oxford from where he graduated in 1846.

On moving to London Ouseley sang in the choir of St Paul’s Knightsbridge, and after ordination in 1849 he became curate at St Barnabas, Pimlico. He provided St Barnabas with an organ by Flight & Robson at his own expense. This church was the centre of the notorious ‘no popery’ riots in 1850, and the following year, when the choir was dismissed, Ouseley housed and educated the boys, also at his expense, at his home in Langley, Buckinghamshire. The boys became the nucleus of his foundation at Tenbury, which he began building in 1854. That was also the year that he was awarded the Oxford degree of Doctor of Music by examination.

St Michael’s College was dedicated on Michaelmas Day 1856 with Ouseley as Warden and vicar of the newly created parish. Perhaps difficult for us to grasp these days, he was also the newly elected Professor of Music at Oxford University, and Precentor of Hereford Cathedral.

Ouseley had an acute sense of pitch, as demonstrated to his father when he heard a wind band playing, and declared that the key they were playing in was neither F natural nor F sharp. His father, checking this at the piano, found that the

band was tuned sharp of F natural – and Ouseley was four years old! His precocity was on a par with Mozart’s – his early compositions, which he started at the age of three, show as much skill as Mozart’s but far more originality, according to Nicholas Temperley.1 Sadly, this didn’t last, and for the most part his compositions are today largely unperformed.

At Oxford, where Ouseley read ‘Greats’, the influence of both religion and music in the service of the church began to dominate his life. In his last year at Christ Church he acted as organist of the cathedral, rather to the detriment of his classical studies. In 1849 he was ordained deacon to serve with the vicar of St Paul’s Knightsbridge at St Barnabas Pimlico, where he busied himself working with the choir. In the aftermath of the Pimlico riots Ouseley resigned, and soon afterwards he embarked on a lengthy tour in Europe.

This extended period of absence from home gave Ouseley time to think about what he wanted from his life. In a letter from Berlin in 1951 he outlines his idea for a model choir: ‘I hope that by instituting a model choir, I may supply another great deficiency, i.e. Choir men, brought up as Choristers, who shall know how to be reverent and devout in Church; singing not for their sake, but for God’s glory; not to earn a scanty pittance, or gain a musical reputation, but to promote the solemnity and impressiveness of the Choral Service of our National Church.’

By mid 1852 the Bishop of Hereford had agreed to carve out a small parish just outside Tenbury, and Ouseley had bought a parcel of land adjoining Old Wood Common, and through 1853 his chosen architect, Henry Woodyer, drew up plans for the church and the college buildings. On May 3rd 1854 the foundation stone of the church was laid, and by the autumn of 1855 work had started on the college buildings.

Ouseley combined the role of choirmaster with the title of Warden, the present day equivalent of being jointly headmaster and parish priest. For the first year his organist was John Hanbury, who went on to be chaplain of Wadham College Oxford, but the next year, 1857, Ouseley made a brilliant appointment. Sir John Goss, organist of St Paul’s Cathedral, was a good friend and colleague, and he engaged Ouseley to examine his choristers in 1855, one of whom

was the 17-year-old John Stainer. Stainer wrote the splendid anthem I saw the Lord at St Michael’s and, a year later, having seen at first hand how Ouseley’s vision for church music worked out in reality, and been awarded his Oxford BMus (at 19), was appointed organist and informator choristarum at Magdalen College. Ouseley’s influence on Stainer was profound; throughout Stainer’s subsequent career he was to strive to achieve the aims which Ouseley had so carefully incorporated in his teaching of choirboys and men.

Once at Magdalen, Stainer found the standard of chapel music to be generally good – the choristers were well trained and the eight lay clerks were of fair ability. Matins and Evensong were sung every day. Stainer introduced new repertoire into the chapel music scheme, and since he regarded regular practices for the lay clerks as de rigueur, the musical results were evident to all.

Stainer was at Magdalen for 12 years before moving to St Paul’s Cathedral in 1872. Prior to his arrival there, a journal called The Choir commented: ‘The choir cannot even sing the Amens with ordinary care and decency’, and the succentor also bewailed the woeful state of affairs: ‘There was no countertenor on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, the anthem had to be changed on Thursday evening, while on Tuesday the organist played the wrong anthem.’ At the outset the Vicars Choral rarely attended general choir practices and the frustrated organist wrote, ‘I do not hesitate to say that unless all singers can be made to attend, a high standard of musical performance can never be reached.’ But gradually, with the support of the cathedral Chapter, Stainer’s will prevailed and he set about establishing better training for the boy choristers and better teaching for all.

and 14 miles from St Michael’s College. Like Stainer before him, Parratt soaked up the Ouseley ethos, making the most of the opportunity to examine the theoretical treatises and manuscripts in the extraordinary library that Ouseley was gradually acquiring, studying with Ouseley himself, and seeing at first hand the form of education espoused by the founder, both choral and liturgical.

Parratt, taking over from Stainer at Magdalen, improved the singing of the college choir even beyond what Stainer had achieved. Ten years later he moved to his final post as Organist and Master of the Choristers at St George’s Windsor, where one of first things he did was to invite Ouseley there to advise him on bringing the chapel organ into the late 19th century.

As with Stainer at St Paul’s, Parratt found the choral foundation at Windsor in a poor way. It was noted that Mendelssohn’s Hear my prayer had been sung 18 times in one year, there was no fund for new music, and the attitude of the lay clerks less than helpful. They carried on much as they pleased – joining processions late, wandering into the choir stalls after the clergy, and one even refused to sing a solo during a service, demanding that the anthem be changed to one that better suited his voice. Again, a supportive Chapter helped Parratt effect change. One of his choristers, Henry Walford Davies, wrote: ‘Of his choir-training I remember some notable features: his plan for resting the boys’ voices, his never-failing exercises, especially of long-held notes and scales; his insistence on clearness of consonants, and natural easy speech in song.’2

Parratt’s son, writing about his father added: … ‘He cultivated exact pitch, not only when accompanied, but in maintaining it for long periods, so that he could always be sure of coming in on the organ at any time without fear of disturbance. My father felt that with a choir of small numbers, practised frequently, conducting was unnecessary and unsightly. Though sometimes some extra fine shade might be attained, the loss of spontaneity was greater, and he always thought the place of the organist was in the organ loft.’

Parratt was offered the post of Precentor at Eton, and Hubert Parry, his boss at the Royal College of Music, wrote to dissuade him from taking the job: ‘… You are turning out year after year young organists who are thoroughly well trained, thoroughly infused with healthy enthusiasm for good music of all sorts, and fit to exercise a healthy influence wherever they go. We know of no one who could take your place.’

Returning to St Michael’s, in 1861 an 18-year-old Walter Parratt was appointed by Ouseley to be private organist to the Earl of Dudley at Witley Court, and the church of St Michael and All Angels at Great Witley. Witley is ten miles from Worcester,

One can imagine Ouseley’s delight in 1882. Two respected and high profile posts in Anglican church music were held by his disciples, and his ideals were being put into practice in the wider world. Ripples from the pebble dropped into the church music pond in 1856 were beginning to fan outwards. Stainer brought about a massive change to the performance of the choir at St Paul’s, as did Parratt at Windsor. Both inherited regimes that Ouseley had expressly founded St Michael’s to outlaw. No aspect of the musical part of worship was too slight to be left to chance for either man. Inevitably, other musicians looked up to the new standards that were being achieved, and set about raising their own.

On his own doorstep at Hereford, and wearing his precentorial hat, Ouseley also effected changes in the way the

I hope that by instituting a model choir, I may supply another great deficiency, i.e. Choir men, brought up as Choristers, who shall know how to be reverent and devout in Church; singing not for their sake, but for God’s glory; not to earn a scanty pittance, or gain a musical reputation, but to promote the solemnity and impressiveness of the Choral Service of our National Church.

cathedral choir performed. He had the number of choristers increased, introduced the wearing of cassocks and surplices, and organised proper processions into and out of the stalls during the organ voluntaries. He also saw to a shake-up of the choristers’ education, introducing a more rigorous timetable. On his death in 1889, another St Michael’s man succeeded him as Precentor, so his influence continued into the 20th century.

Parratt was remarkably well placed to further the Ouseley ideal. As Professor of Organ at the Royal College of Music he taught a huge number of future church musicians. From a long list, a selection of key names might read: Sir Thomas Armstrong (Exeter Cathedral, Christ Church Oxford & Principal of the Royal Academy of Music), Herbert Brewer (Gloucester Cathedral), Marmaduke Conway (Ely), Harold Darke (St Michael’s Cornhill), Sir Henry Walford Davies (The Temple Church, London and St George’s Windsor), Sir William Harris, (Christ Church Oxford and St George’s Windsor), Henry Ley (Christ Church Oxford and Eton College), Harold Rhodes (Winchester Cathedral), Cyril Rootham (St John’s College Cambridge), and Heathcote Statham (Norwich Cathedral).

St Michael’s itself nurtured a number of future musicians, both boys and staff: the third organist, Langdon Colborne, went on to be organist of Hereford Cathedral; GRS of Enigma Variations fame, George Sinclair, was a chorister in the early days with the founder, going on to be the first organist of Truro Cathedral, and designing the Willis organ there, before moving to Hereford Cathedral to be organist. C H Moody to Holy Trinity Coventry and Ripon Cathedral, Ernest Bullock to Exeter Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, Maxwell Menzies to Portsmouth Cathedral, Kenneth Beard to Southwell Minster and Lucian Nethsingha to Exeter Cathedral. Christopher Robinson was a chorister there, and his achievements are of course well known.

One of the leading British composers of the 20th century, Jonathan Harvey, was also a chorister. An interview he gave in 1999 is worth quoting: ‘I went at the age of nine to this very interesting foundation in the heart of the countryside.

All the boys learnt instruments and the choir sang two services a day, which was a lot for those times, with one rehearsal every day. We learnt to understand how polyphony worked, how all the parts were vulnerable and subject to refinement in rehearsal – not just our own – and had to work together. Some of the men weren’t particular good singers, but there were good musicians amongst them, so it was a mixed bunch. The choirmaster [Maxwell Menzies] was excellent. He taught us harmony and counterpoint, theory and history as well as giving us piano and organ lessons, and I had cello lessons. So this was really a thorough preparation in rather idyllic surroundings.’

In an interview for the Daily Telegraph ten years later, Harvey made this delightful statement: ‘… The organist used to improvise after services, and, mostly, it was pretty watery stuff, but one day he did something really wild, and at that moment I knew I had to be a composer, and create something similar.’

When St Michael’s was closed in 1985, money from the sale of the college buildings and some of the artefacts was put into a trust named after the founder. Since that date, the trustees have been able to make valuable grants, so far totalling over £2.5 million. As the charity website states ‘…In every case, the trustees look for clear evidence that a grant would serve to promote and maintain a high standard of choral service.’ If the college itself cannot exist any more, what a wonderful way to use the financial resource left by Ouseley’s dream, extending his legacy even wider.

When Ouseley founded St Michael’s College, the general condition of music in cathedrals, collegiate chapels and parish churches was at a depressingly low ebb. His foundation has had a greater influence raising the standard from that low state than he could ever have imagined, and for that we have to say ‘Deo gracias’!

1. N. Temperley’s article on Ouseley in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol.14, pp 30-31.

2. Walter Parratt, Master of the Music Sir D. Tovey and G. Parratt, OUP 1941, p.65

St Michael’s College

BOOK REVIEW

SIR WILLIAM HENRY HARRIS Organist, Choir Trainer and Composer

John Henderson and Trevor Jarvis RSCM

This is the fascinating, even romantic, tale of how a postman’s son from Brixton became one of the leading church musicians of the early- to mid-20th century, with the help of generous friends, by his own exceptional ability, by first-rate tuition and by a great deal of sheer hard work.

William Harris was born on 28 March 1883, was baptised in his local church, and spent his years as a chorister at Holy Trinity, Tulse Hill. Thereafter his career may be summarised as:

1897-9 Pupil-Assistant Organist, St Davids Cathedral

1899-1902 Scholar, the Royal College of Music

1902-1910 Assistant Organist in a number of London churches; Bachelor and Doctor of Music, Oxford University

1911-19 Assistant Organist, Lichfield Cathedral and Organist of St Augustine, Edgbaston

1919-29 Organist of New College, Oxford

1929-33 Organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

1933-61 Organist of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in which capacity he played the organ for the funerals of Kings George V and VI.

He composed music for the coronations of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II, acting as one of the sub-conductors on both occasions, and was knighted for his contribution to the latter. He died on 6 September 1973.

Having done some research of my own (see the article on Harris in CM 1/19), I am delighted to congratulate the authors on this book’s very high standard of factual accuracy, and on the breadth and volume of information they have employed. I might just point out that though William Harris was a chorister in Tulse Hill he was not born there but in Brixton, and he was baptised there in St Saviour’s Church. The authors also perpetuate the legend that during his pupillage at St Davids the teenage Harris was frequently left on his own to play for weekday Mattins because Herbert Morris, the ‘easygoing’ organist, preferred to stay in bed. Of course Harris played for many such services, but as a part of his training, and most probably with the organist lurking somewhere to overhear and assess the proceedings. A contemporary source records that Morris was anything but ‘easygoing’ – he was an exacting and dedicated teacher whose pupil won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and passed the Fellowship examination of the Royal College of Organists, both of these before his 16th birthday. Harris’s brief sojourn at the newly-founded County School may be due to someone’s concern for his general education.

The only other matter on which I would challenge the authors is the alleged snobbishness of the Fellows of New College towards their new organist. To modern sensibilities it may seem a sad state of affairs that though a Doctor of Music he was not a

Master of Arts and thus not a Senior Member of the university. I suspect that someone was kind to him and steered him towards an undemanding ‘pass’ degree, as in July 1923 he duly became a Master of Arts and a Senior Member. This enhanced status brought him into the wider world of Oxford music.

The book is generously illustrated, notably with photographs of the churches in and around London at which he played as a jobbing organist between his leaving college in 1902 and going to Lichfield in 1911. The appendix of musical examples may not be found especially useful, there being too many manuscript pages shrunk to the point of illegibility, a felony compounded by the use of a variety of brown, grey, grey-green, pink or yellow backgrounds. The examples are grouped in categories such as anthem, hymn, liturgical music and organ works, presented in chronological order, which is interesting in its way except when only the title of a work is given without any music at all. More useful and interesting is the authors’ discussion of selected works; some musical examples, closely attached to this, would have greatly benefited the reader.

All of this said, I must re-emphasise that the authors have made admirable use of their abundant material and told a compelling tale of an engagingly modest and retiring man’s very varied career, especially his 28 years at Windsor Castle. His instruction of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret is described in some detail, and we learn much of daily life in a musical establishment where the members seemed to have no great love for each other. A slightly charitable veil is cast over these years, for anecdotal tradition at Windsor has it that the choir was not of the first rank, well though Harris trained the boys. As the holder of a freehold office he was entitled to serve for as long as he wished, though his decision to continue in post until after his 78th birthday may have been prompted in part by financial necessity, for the narrative ends on the slightly sad note that Sir William and Lady Harris were not well off in retirement.

In sum, this is a thoroughly worthwhile book, which any serious Friend of Cathedral Music could read for instruction and enjoyment.

Timothy Storey

SUPPORTING A LIVING HERITAGE

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

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

Without a charitable bequest

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

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

Example:

With a 10% charitable bequest

including nil rate band

receives £56,700 instead of £70,000, and beneficiaries receive only £4200 less

SUGGESTED WORDING FOR YOUR WILL

A Pecuniary Gift

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

A Residuary Gift

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

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

CD REVIEWS

CHORAL CDs

AN ENGLISH CORONATION

Music from the coronations of Edward VII (1902), George V (1911); George VI (1937) & Elizabeth II (1953)

Gabrieli Consort and Players

Dir: Paul McCreesh

CD1: Elgar Coronation March; Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1; O hearken Thou; Howells The King’s Herald; Wood O most merciful; Tallis Litany; Parry Chorale Fantasia on ‘O God, our help’; I was glad; Purcell Hear my prayer; Vaughan Williams Creed from Mass in G minor; Handel Zadok the Priest.

CD2: Parratt Confortare: Be strong and play the man; Anon Rejoice in the Lord alway; Byrd I will not leave you comfortless; Gibbons O clap your hands; Wesley Thou will keep him; Vaughan Williams O taste and see; Stanford ‘Coronation’ Gloria in B flat; Walton Coronation Te Deum; Coronation March: Crown Imperial; David Matthews

Recessional and National Anthem.

GABRIELI 2 CD set TT 159:21

Paul McCreesh has devised and recorded a number of ‘historical’ reconstructions of Venetian festivals such as A Venetian Coronation 1595, and now he has turned his hand to the music of the four coronations of British monarchs in the first half of the 20th century. The result is a kind of portmanteau coronation of no particular date, with some spurious Latin added to I was glad to replace the names of the four reallife monarchs whose coronations were adorned by Parry’s splendid music. I cannot see any valid reason for the addition of the 21st century’s David Matthews to what purports to be an historical anthology. The inclusion of much of the spoken text of the Coronation Service adds a certain atmosphere, but unfortunately not a little tedium. On a more positive note, I was delighted to find rare orchestral works by Elgar and Howells, and it was unusually interesting to hear VW’s Mass in G minor sung in English, as in the 1953 coronation. We could well have been given also his 1937 Te Deum, a much better piece than many seem to think, and even the works by Dyson, Harris and Howells which adorned the 1937 and 1953 services, to say nothing of Healey Willan’s O Lord our Governor, a magnificent anthem composed for the 1953 coronation but sadly not sung because the homage did not take as long as expected. I believe that O clap your hands was omitted in 1937 for the same reason. So, I have my reservations about the planning of this somewhat unhistorical reconstruction, but none about the quality of the performances, which are enhanced and amplified by the Gabrieli Roar, a sizeable assemblage of youth choirs which benefits from this latest ‘outreach project’ by the Gabrieli organisation. I am sure that this pair of CDs will delight all concerned in such an exciting venture and will serve as a valuable memento of a life-enhancing experience. CD-buying enthusiasts in general may be tempted by the programme’s limited number of novelties, but I am not sure that it will bear repeated listening, admirable though the performances are.

Timothy Storey

AMARAE MORTI

El León de Oro

Dir: Peter Phillips

Dominique Phinot Incipit oratio Jeremiae prophetae; Lassus Media vita; Lamentatio tertia, primi diei; Regina caeli; Gombert Media vita; Cardoso Lamentatio feria quinta in coena Domini; Victoria Regina caeli; Magnificat primi toni; Morales Regina caeli; Palestrina Laudate pueri.

HYPERION CDA68279 TT 66:24

El León de Oro is a 40-strong Spanish group which rose to fame in the UK when they won the London International A Cappella Choral Competition in 2014. This disc, recorded in 2016, features the choir in performances of Renaissance polyphony under Peter Phillips in his capacity as honorary director. Most of the composers represented are well known, although Dominique Phinot and Manuel Cardoso might only be more familiar to specialists of the genre. Much of the music is extremely reflective, but this youthful ensemble captures the mood of the settings admirably. The Lamentations of Jeremiah are set in works by Phinot, Lassus and Cardoso. Phillips describes Phinot’s setting as ‘clearly experimental’. The work is scored for two SATB choirs, although these resources are only used for block writing in the TB or SA movements. All the works are much embellished by highly stylistic singing. The settings by Lassus and Cardoso are both very fine and, despite the large ensemble, there is no detraction from the significant word painting which permeates the compositions. Joyful and more optimistic moments are to be found in the three Regina caeli pieces by Lassus, Victoria and Morales. Many immaculate recordings by some professional groups of this period can lack vibrancy, tone and passion, but these interpretations reflect true commitment to the texts. Moreover, David Rowell’s sound balance and Adrian Peacock’s production are both of an extremely high standard whilst Peter Phillips’ liner notes are, as usual, highly informative.

David Thorne

PASSION MUSIC

Will Todd

St Martin’s Voices

Dir: Will Todd

Piano: John Turville

Passion Music; God so loved the world; I am changed; Jazz Missa Brevis; Tantum ergo; What sweeter music.

SIGNUM SIGCD563 TT 77:35

There is nothing new or inherently undesirable in the use of jazz or other popular idioms in church music. One thinks of John Dankworth’s Mass and Malcolm Williamson’s Procession of Palms, and even the supposed influence of the Blues on Herbert Howells. It is more important that the music should

suit its text, be ‘framed to the life of the words’ as William Byrd put it. Sadly, not all the music on this CD passes the test, for Mr Todd lapses all too readily into a kind of all-purpose jazz idiom starved of rhythmic and melodic variety, hard-driven by the instrumental ensemble’s piano. The Passion Music, performed here by the forces for which it was commissioned, is an assemblage of texts on the theme of Our Lord’s Passion, and an important addition to the four-part choir is a soprano who sings in a highly decorative ‘Gospel’ style, to moving and expressive effect, most notably in verses from My song is love unknown, the highlight of this work. However, the nadir is reached by a setting of the Seven Last Words, for which the composer has provided an imitation-rustic libretto. Talented composer he may be, but poet he is not! A version of Were you there when they crucified my Lord is a seemingly inevitable finale to the work. The Mass, also known as Mass in Blue, is a much more successful and appropriate work, apart from a lengthy one-size-fits-all Kyrie. Readers may well feel moved to investigate this highly able composer, and I would recommend this CD for the excellence of its performance and sound quality, not omitting to give high praise to the first-class soprano soloist.

A YEAR AT EXETER

Choir of Exeter Cathedral

Director: Timothy Noon

Organ: Timothy Parsons

Howells A Hymn for St Cecilia; RParsons Ave Maria; Lawson Lullay my liking; Tallis Videte miraculum; Purcell Hear my prayer; Blow Salvator mundi; S S Wesley Blessed be the God and Father; Hadley My beloved spake; TParsons The Lord is King; Stainer I saw the Lord; Piccolo Jesus walking on the waves; Dove Seek him that maketh the seven stars.

Regent REGCD524

This is, in all respects, an excellent, thoroughly recommendable disc. Exeter’s excursion through the Church Year is preceded here, most imaginatively, by a resounding performance of Ursula Vaughan Williams’s moving address to the patron saint of music, in Howells’ gloriously expansive setting. The programme is thoroughly varied, both in time-span (lacking only an 18th-century piece), style and mood; and, while many of the pieces are staples of the cathedral repertory (those by Purcell, Wesley, Stainer and Hadley, for instance), it is a particular pleasure to welcome three far more recent works: those by Anthony Piccolo (1978), Jonathan Dove (1995) and Philip Lawson (2003). All of these, in their contrasted ways, are highlights of this album: Lullay my liking, for example, consciously recalls the neo-mediaeval language and musical design of Holst’s very atmospheric setting of the same text, while adding more modern, astringent harmonic details. Piccolo’s unaccompanied setting of Richard Pleming’s text perfectly and effectively captures the content and atmosphere of the poem, itself a fresh perspective on St Matthew’s Gospel (14: 22-33); the performance, by two exemplary soloists and the whole choir, is outstanding. Finally comes Dove’s extended setting of words from Amos (5:8) and Psalm 139, v11, for choir and an often virtuosic organ part. The Amos text occupies most of the piece, and is briefly reprised at the close: quiet initial and closing dynamics contrast strongly with a triumphantly loud setting of the psalm verse. Throughout the disc all participants – singers, organist and (not least) director – achieve superlative results; bravissimo indeed!

Roger Wilkes

BAIRSTOW HARRIS STANFORD

Choir of Westminster Abbey Dir: James O’Donnell Organ: Peter Holder Bairstow Blessed city, heavenly Salem; Let all mortal flesh keep silence; The Lamentation; Harris Bring us, O Lord God; Strengthen ye the weak hands; Faire is the heaven; Flourish for an occasion; Stanford A Song of Wisdom; O for a closer walk with God; For lo, I raise up; Evening Service in A; Gloria in excelsis from Communion Service in B flat.

HYPERION CDA 68259 TT

‘These anthems are some of the last roses of a very long summer. Splendid though they are, they still show hardly any advance on Stanford – or even Wesley.’ Kenneth Long’s assessment, in his The Music of the English Church, of the anthems by William Harris will come as a shock to devotees of English church music, presumably everyone reading this. He goes on: ‘Since 1950 there has been an astonishing revolution in church music and it is fairly safe to say that from now onwards no composer of any calibre could continue to express himself in these threadbare idioms.’ The most recent work on this very fine disc, Bring us, O Lord God, was written in 1959 and Harris lived until 1973, so that, when we consider what Howells, Walton, Britten and Tippett were composing, we must realise that Harris was unaffected by any of the new developments of the 20th century. In that respect, therefore, Long’s assessment is correct. What we have here is, unashamedly, music of a particular age, performed in one of the noblest of sacred spaces of England by one of its finest choirs. This disc could be no better introduction to the music of these three major composers for the Anglican Church and is a great addition to an already established CD collection. I’m afraid to say that Kenneth Long goes further to suggest that ‘much of the music discussed [in this section], though highly popular at the moment (1971) ...will gradually drop out of use.’ He is clearly wrong, for the music here is still an essential part of any Anglican choir’s repertoire. The performances here are excellent. The choir shows complete affinity with the music and there is skilful accompaniment from Peter Holder, who brings off the quasi-orchestral accompaniments with great aplomb. The highlight for me is For lo, I raise up – full of passion and a superb interpretation of the text from all concerned.

Nicholas Kerrison

THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Gabriel Jackson

Choir of Merton College, Oxford

Dir: Benjamin Nicholas

Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia

Palm Sunday, Anointing at Bethany; Last Supper and Footwashing; Gethsemane; Caiaphas, Peter and Pilate; Crucifixion; The End and the Beginning.

DELPHIAN DCD34222 TT 69:01

Composed in seven sections, Gabriel Jackson’s The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ was commissioned by Merton College’s Warden and Fellows to celebrate the college’s 750th anniversary in 2014. It forms the centrepiece of the project which features works by a number of composers including Jonathan Dove, Judith Weir and Cecilia MacDowell. The libretto, devised by Dr Simon Jones, compromises seven sections intertwining material from the four Gospel narratives

Timothy Storey

with Latin hymn texts and poetic texts by Edmund Blunden. It includes the General Thanksgiving and a metrical version of Psalm 137 written by authors associated with the college. The seventh section uses an excerpt of T S Eliot’s Little Gidding from the Four Quartets. Jackson’s highly imaginative writing dispenses of an evangelist in the conventional sense, but the narrative is shared between the chorus and the two soloists, on this recording Emma Tring and Guy Cutting. Moreover, Jackson uses the ten-piece orchestral ensemble in a manner reminiscent of Stravinsky’s neo-classical style and, rather than serving continuously in an accompanimental role, instruments are often used for colour and effect to highlight the drama of the text. Nowhere is this more evident than in the opening sequence where the ominous pp sound of the timpani heralds the quasi-improvisatory solo saxophone writing which permeates much of the movement. Eventually, an orchestral interlude followed by a piece by the choir and tenor soloist mark the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem. As a contrast, in the following movement, Anointing at Bethany, the harp and violin writing illuminates Emma Tring’s beautiful interpretation of the General Thanksgiving. The interweaving of singing and playing, both excellent, under the direction of Benjamin Nicholas contributes most significantly to a highly original score. This is a challenging work, but it portrays an individual and distinctive angle on many Passion narratives written over the centuries. A thought-provoking and powerful release from Merton on the Delphian label.

David Thorne

FAURÉ REQUIEM

Schola Cantorum of The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School

Dir: Scott Price

Organ: Iestyn Evans

Introit, Kyrie, Offertoire, Sanctus, Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei, Libera me, In paradisum; Cantique de Jean Racine; Messe basse; Ave Maria.

HERALD HAVPCD 405 TT 53:37

The Schola Cantorum of The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School was founded as recently as 1980. On this CD, recorded at St Jude-on-the-Hill in Hampstead Garden Suburb, there are 12 basses, seven tenors, six altos and 29 trebles. With the Belgravia Chamber Orchestra, a group established to support the endeavour, originally for a Messiah performance in 2006, they produce a fine sound and tackle their task with seeming relish and considerable expertise. A fervent and wellcontrolled Offertory enhances this Requiem. Phrases are finely shaped and the seemingly effortless musical ebb and flow combines to yield a remarkable and controlled intensity from the youthful singers, with splendid baritone contributions from former CVMS alumnus Jack Comerford, clearly a name to watch. This is a remarkable achievement from a pre-undergraduate ensemble of fine, focused singers. The excellent Sanctus is much enhanced by the silvery solo violin of Philippe Honoré, Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music. Karol Jozwik turns in a nicely graded and un-fussy account of the famous Pie Jesu. In terms of microphone placement, the singers seem less well forward in the balance with the orchestra, though this may have been unavoidable in St Jude’s hyper-generous acoustic. The excellent organist throughout is Iestyn Evans, Director of Music at St James’s, Spanish Place as well as Organist at CVMS. Similarly stylish accounts of the Cantique, Messe Basse and the Ave Maria are a welcome bonus. Scott Price directs excellent forward-moving

accounts at favourable tempi. Treble Alessandro MacKinnon proves himself a persuasive exponent of the demanding solo role in the Messe Basse for upper voices, and the Ave Maria, featuring unison tenors and basses, is similarly well tackled.

Simon Lindley

CARACTACUS

Edward Elgar

Dir: Martyn Brabbins

Singers: Elizabeth Llewellyn (sop); Elgan Llyr Thomas (tenor); Roland Wood (bar); Christopher Purves, Alastair Miles (bass)

Huddersfield Choral Society, Orchestra of Opera North.

HYPERION CDA68254 TT 96:17

How many of us have actually heard Elgar’s late 19th-century festival cantatas, as opposed to merely knowing of their existence? Now is your chance to discover his 1898 commission for the Leeds Festival, in the afterglow of Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee, and you will discover some fine music. The libretto, by a civil servant lately retired from long service in India, relates at some length the story of the British chieftain Caractacus’s last stand at the British Camp in the Malverns, with his defeat and capture by the invading Romans. Caractacus and his family are carried off to Rome to adorn the Emperor Claudius’s ‘Triumph’, an event which called forth from Elgar a splendid Triumphal March. To everyone’s amazement the captive Britons are pardoned by Claudius, an act of clemency to be copied by all rulers and of course already observed by dear Queen Victoria. This somewhat unconvincing moral is driven home in a choral and orchestral finale. The listener would do well to follow the words closely (probably with a magnifying glass) for there is some ill-focused solo singing and the chorus’s words do not always come through the highly coloured orchestral accompaniment. I recommend this CD despite these reservations, for the overall effect of the performances is as fine as one would expect from such distinguished artists.

Timothy Storey

RODERICK WILLIAMS

Sacred Choral Works

Choir of Trinity Laban College

Dir: Ralph Allwood

Piano: Jonathan Eyre

Let nothing trouble you; O guiding night; Christmas bells; And a little child shall lead them; Love bade me welcome; Children, go where I send thee; Hymne; Holy Father, great creator; Quare fremuerunt gentes?; O saviour of the world; O Adonai; Mary had a baby; La trinité qui ne change jamais; Ave verum corpus re-imagined; The Lord’s Prayer; This is the work of Christ.

SIGNUM SIGCD517 TT 80:12

In A note from the composer in the programme notes Roderick Williams says: “A good friend once suggested to me that my compositions tended to take on the flavour of whatever piece I happened to be singing at the time.....Every piece I have ever sung will have informed me as a composer in some way.” In listening to these pieces composed by one of our best-known baritones it was tempting to try to work out just what music he had been singing at the time of their composition. All the programme notes are by Williams himself so the clues are there. On this debut disc from the Old Royal Naval College,

Trinity Laban chapel choir with Jonathan Eyre at the piano give Williams’ works assured performances – as we might expect from a choir under the direction of Ralph Allwood, who has known RW since he participated on an Eton Choral Course. Choral music is as much in RW’s blood as solo vocal music, and he obviously knows how to write for voices. I have heard only two of the pieces before, O Adonai and Ave verum corpus re-imagined, and the notes from RW suggest that, although not first performances, some are first hearings for RW himself. When I first listened to these two pieces my thought was that here was something different from much that was being composed by other choral composers at the time, and how welcome it was. I heard O Adonai performed live by Ex Cathedra (the choir for which it was written). It is a very challenging piece, particularly for the sopranos, who have the opening melodic line – it is really difficult to tune against the conflicting harmonies underneath. Ex Cathedra’s recording perhaps has the edge over security in this piece. Much of the other music presented is highly melodic, as we might expect from the singer/composer, but always with some interesting harmonies. There is plenty here for a good choir to introduce into its repertoire, including a lively take on Christmas Bells by Longfellow. Choirs will enjoy performing the arrangement of the spiritual Children, go where I send thee, which receives a crisp rendition here. This, and Mary had a baby were commissioned by OUP. RW himself is the soloist in Quare fremuerant gentes? commissioned by Ralph Allwood and the choir. This is something a little more adventurous (as a result of the text) and ‘written in turbulent political times, both in the UK and around the world’ (as RW says). I expect we will hear much more from the composer and also from this talented choir.

Nicholas Kerrison

SACRED CHORAL MUSIC

Clive Osgood

Excelsis

Dir: Robert Lewis

Dixit Dominus; Come, my way, my truth, my life; Beatus vir; Alleluia! A new work is come on hand; Hymn to the word; The peace of God; Ave verum; Brightest and best; Miserere mei; Lord, for Thy tender mercy’s sake; Rejoice in the Lord alway; The peace of God ii.

CONVIVIUM CR049 TT 60’

Clive Osgood directs the music at Haslemere Parish Church and is an important figure in local music-making. On the evidence of this CD he is a composer of no mean ability, though initially I thought him intrepid or foolish to set Dixit Dominus, a text made famous by Handel and Monteverdi. Not so! His version bears comparison with those two great men, for it is concise, attractively laid out for a mixed-voice chorus, and with rhythmic impetus added by a well-crafted orchestral accompaniment. His versions of Come, my way, my truth, my life and Beatus vir also have something to say for themselves. Whoever planned this programme is clearly of one mind with the steward at Cana of Galilee, for he has served the best wine first; and the smaller-scale works which fill up the rest of this CD are not in the same class, it seeming odd to have included Alleluia! A new work is come on hand, which failed to win the 2016 BBC Radio 3 competition. Let us focus on the positive, for the singing of Excelsis, a fine group of young musicians, is beyond reproach, and I would strongly commend this CD for the sake of Dixit Dominus alone, a work which would repay examination by enterprising choral directors.

Timothy Storey

STAR OF HEAVEN

The Sixteen Dir: Harry Christophers Plainsong Nesciens mater; Lambe Nesciens mater; Stella caeli; Phibbs Nesciens mater; Cornysh Ave Maria, mater Dei; Cooke Ave Maria, mater Dei; MacMillan O Virgo prudentissima; Galvani Stella caeli; Wylkynson Salve Regina; Stephen Hough Hallowed (In blessing; Staying the night in a mountain temple; Song of the earth; Pater noster).

CORO 16166 TT 66:57

This is singing of supreme quality and assurance, from a diversity of periods, which at first appears to be a superfluity of perfection. Star of Heaven presents significant contributions from the pens of London-based Marco Galvani (b. 1994), Sir James MacMillan and Phillip Cooke. The latter’s setting of Ave Maria, mater Dei may have been inspired by William Cornysh’s work of the same text which also deploys two off-stage sopranos singing above the main choir; Cooke utilises the verbal text as a refrain throughout. Galvani’s piece draws neatly on earlier inspiration from Walter Lambe (1450-1504). MacMillan’s O Virgo prudentissima is a real highlight and at almost 13 minutes long is pretty nearly the lengthiest piece in this stupendous recital, only pipped to that particular post by the 15thcentury Eton choirmaster, Robert Wylkynson. It is likely that Wylkynson’s 15-year tenure as Informator Choristarum at Eton began in 1500 (he had been Parish Clerk of Eton from 1496). Listening to the recital at sittings of two items apiece makes evident a special link between the medieval originals and their present-day equivalents. Conductor Harry Christophers outlines in his introductory notes his own philosophy as well as that of key associates and colleagues, and we thus discover something of the commitment of former Pope Benedict XVI (who was pope from 2005-2013) to the current continuance of and development from the traditional historic elements of sacred polyphony. From the initial track, the chant of Nesciens mater, it is clear that this is destined to be a recording of the very greatest distinction and so, indeed, it turns out.

Simon Lindley

BEATAM

Choir of York Minster

Dir: Robert Sharpe

Organ: Benjamin Morris

Bairstow I sat down under his shadow; Jesu, the very thought of Thee; I will wash my hands in innocency; FJackson Benedicite in G; Remember for good, O Father; Audi, filia; Evening Service in G; Moore Ubi caritas; O Lord God of time and eternity; The spacious firmament; Lloyd The Call; Shephard Be strong and of a good courage; O nata lux; James Cave Ave Maria; Bingham York Service; Grier Ave maris stella.

REGENT REGCD522 TT 73:02

The latest disc from York serves as a celebration of liturgical music not only written for the choir, but moreover by three successive directors of music whose tenure spans a period of almost a century. Their liturgical music plays a very significant contribution within the Anglican tradition. Sir Edward Bairstow was organist of the Minster between 1913 and 1946 and the disc opens with a highly sensitive interpretation of I sat down under his shadow, the first of the Three Motets. Less well known is the third of these, I will wash my hands in innocency, which begins quite simply but becomes gradually more passionate. The crescendo on the final chord is well

controlled and highly effective. Francis Jackson is widely acknowledged for his Communion setting and canticles. He was not only a York chorister but also an articled pupil of Bairstow. Stylistically, his use of modal motifs within a quasitonal centre combines interesting harmonic twists, although his melodic lines are far from predictable! Remember for good, O Father and Audi, filia are expansive works, the latter written for his wedding in 1950. They both require perhaps more than one performance to fully appreciate the richness of style. Most interesting is the interpretation of his Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis which receive a performance where the tempo occasionally feels rather over-precise and somewhat lacking in momentum. In an attempt to capture the counterpoint, especially in the lower voices, the general ensemble is affected by the balance of the recording. Philip Moore, appointed in 1983, is highly respected as a composer in his own right. Of the three pieces represented on this disc, the most well known is The Spacious Firmament, written for the FCM in 2008. The choir and organ (played by Benjamin Morris) both capture the diversity in Moore’s setting of Addison’s text. In the exhilarating and rhythmic final section all resources are captured most convincingly. Richard Shephard, a prolific composer in his own right, has played a significant role in support of the English Choral tradition and is now ‘Chamberlain of the Minster’. His newest piece, O nata lux, is relatively simple but contains subtle harmonic shifts which are well captured in a carefully presented performance. James Cave, a York-based composer and a member of the choir, is represented by his Ave Maria, a gentle but deceptively complex piece of writing stretching the treble line to its limits. Judith Bingham’s canticles, the a cappella Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, commissioned by Robert Sharpe, mainly use two melodic phrases inspired by a medieval window in the Minster. The work is generally relaxed, with exposed writing well managed by fine ensemble singing. The disc concludes with Francis Grier’s Ave maris stella, also commissioned by Robert Sharpe. The use of the medieval hymn throughout the anthem serves as a thread which allows Grier to explore various aspects of his distinctive choral writing and demonstrates the excellence of the choir. In general, this is a fine disc which forms a most significant addition to the library of the English Choral tradition.

David Thorne

GLORIA TIBI TRINITAS

Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford

Dir: Owen Rees

Taverner Gaude plurimum; Le roy Kyrie; Missa Gloria tibi trinitas (Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei); Ave Maria; Audivi vocem; Dum transisset sabbatum.

SIGNUM SIGCD570 TT 76:18

John Taverner is a somewhat enigmatic figure who composed some of the most expressive, colourful and attractive Latin church music of the early 16th century, but became a fervent Protestant, heavily involved in the dissolution of the monasteries. In 1524 he is recorded as being a lay clerk in the collegiate church of Tattersall, Lincs., and in 1526 he was appointed Master of the Choristers at the great college which Cardinal Wolsey had founded in Oxford only a year previously. Within three years Wolsey had fallen from favour and been driven from Cardinal College, as it was then called. We know it as Christ Church, of course. Taverner was gone by 1530, returning to Lincolnshire, marrying a (rich?) widow and spending the rest of his life in Boston. Of the music

herein recorded, the Mass’s ascription to the Holy Trinity is very probably owed to the dedication of Tattersall Church and Cardinal College, and the motets supply the sundry requirements of the pre-Reformation liturgy. If you think of Byrd and Tallis as being ‘Stone Age’, I earnestly beg you to step back a generation to the world of Taverner, Tye and Sheppard, where you will find music of a sonority peculiar to these shores and quite unlike anything to be found on the Continent. I recommend this fine recording without reservation, for the music and its performance are simply stunning.

Timothy Storey

SUPERSIZE POLYPHONY

Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge

Dir: Geoffrey Webber

Armonico Consort

Striggio Ecce beatam lucem à 40; Striggio Missa sopra Ecco si beata giorno (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei); von Bingen Ave generosa; O virtus sapientiae; O vos felices radices; Spiritus Sanctus vivicans; Tallis O nata lux; Spem in alium (plainchant); Spem in alium.

SIGNUM SIGCD560 TT 61:37

Two choirs combine here for obvious reasons! While Spem in Alium and O nata lux by Tallis will be the most well known works on this recording, the works by Striggio have become more part of the repertoire of late but necessitate so many additional singers. Ecce beatam lucem may have been the catalyst for the 40-part Spem but the Agnus Dei of Striggio’s Missa adds yet another 20 parts. The Armonico Consort adds its somewhat unbalanced forces (7 upper voices v 14 lower voices by necessity, I presume) to the Gonville and Caius Choir, with tremendous effect. Christopher Monks, the director of Armonico Consort, talks at length in Gramophone of the challenges of performing this multi-part music and advocates, for obvious reasons, performing it in the round. My daughter once performed Spem in the round with Ex Cathedra in the Royal Opera House atrium with the audience lying on the floor in the middle... It seems as if the recording was made in this way; certainly the overall effect is of hearing sounds coming from different directions. The engineers of Signum have definitely done their work to superb effect. Striggio’s blocks of homophonic sound, in dialogue with one another, contrast distinctly with the ever-intertwining strands of Tallis’s polyphony. The sections of the Missa are interspersed with chants by Hildegard of Bingen with a solo singer – quite a contrast from the huge sounds of the rest of the music, as is the one-per-part of O nata lux

Nicholas Kerrison

CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD

BBC National Chorus of Wales

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Dir: Adrian Partington

Soloists: Kiandra Howarth, Jess Dandy, Ruairi Bowen, Gareth Brynmor John Mass ‘Via Victrix 1914-1918’ for SATB, chorus, orchestra and organ; At the Abbey Gate (for baritone solo, chorus and orchestra).

LYRITA SRCD.382 TT 79:57

Much gratitude and esteemed acclaim go to Professor Jeremy Dibble and conductor Adrian Partington for bringing these

two late Stanford works into the catalogue; a definite bonus is the beautiful and elegant singing of the extremely classy solo quartet involvement, much of it underpinned from the BBC National Chorus of Wales, as well as the stylish playing of the Corporation’s National Orchestra of Wales. The Via Victrix Mass contains the same fervour as Stanford’s major Leeds Festival works – Stabat Mater and Te Deum. The final bars of the opening Kyrie fair take the breath away. The start of the Gloria abounds in celebration and hops along at a speedy onein-a-bar as a great paean of praise, with frequent stratospheric adventures for sopranos and tenors. Laudamus te has strongly etched contributions from the solo quartet. Credo, like the initial Kyrie, sends the choral singers into the thick of things from the very opening orchestral chords. Rich instrumental sonorities herald Stanford’s vivid representation of Isaiah’s vision of the heavenly hosts introduced by melismatic work from the four soloists supported by the chorus. Similarly, in the Agnus Dei, the soloists play a major role as the final prayer for peace unfolds; each member of this fine quartet impresses mightily; Kiandra Howarth and Ruairi Bowen very particularly so – but, to be fair, Stanford’s writing for those two is a gift for any fine young singer! This is a stunning account with all Stanford’s harmonic shifts accomplished with seemingly effortless ease. At the Abbey Gate consists of a march for chorus, solo baritone and orchestra to words by Mr Justice Darling published in The Times on 26 October 1920 in connection with the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Stanford completed the work about a month later.

The male soloist, the resonant Gareth Brynmor John here, is representative of the unknown warrior himself, engaging in a vivid dialogue with the choir. Expression is strongly to the fore in both works under the committed and excellent direction of Adrian Partington. No lover of Stanford’s music should be without this recording.

Simon Lindley

JULIAN ANDERSON CHORAL MUSIC

Choir of Gonville & Caius, Cambridge

Dir: Geoffrey Webber

Organ: Michael How, Luke Fitzgerald

My beloved spake; Bell Mass; O sing unto the Lord; I saw eternity; Four American Choruses; Nunc dimittis; Frescobaldi Toccata quarta.

DELPHIAN DCD34202 TT 61:54

Julian Anderson (b. 1967) received his musical education at Westminster School, the Royal College of Music and Cambridge University. He is a versatile and prolific composer and a well-regarded teacher of composition, with an impressive tally of academic posts and visiting fellowships. The first work in this programme is, dare one say, deceptively simple and attractive, a wedding anthem capable of effective performance on very little rehearsal. Bell Mass and O sing unto the Lord are striking works, composed for Westminster Abbey and Cathedral respectively, which make little concession to either listener or performer. The same may be said of the rest of the music recorded here, for though the Four American Choruses are settings of texts from Sankey and Moody’s hymnal they are not in the least folksy! If you wish to bring your musical preferences up to date, you could well invest in this CD, for Geoffrey Webber’s choir and organists are absolutely in command of the music, and one could not wish for more persuasive advocates.

Timothy Storey

ANGELS

Choir of Winchester Cathedral

Dir: Andrew Lumsden

Organ: George Castle

Tavener A Christmas Proclamation; Hymn to the Mother of God; Love bade me welcome; They are all gone into the world of light; Annunciation; As one who has slept; Song for Athene; The Lamb; The Lord’s Prayer; Angels; Five anthems from ‘The Veil of the Temple’.

HYPERION CDA69255 TT 70:03

This most worthy anthology of sacred settings from the legendary Sir John Tavener is a remarkable and very splendid achievement. Tavener’s association with the choral foundation at Winchester through the tenure of Martin Neary and David Hill as well as with the present distinguished director, Andrew Lumsden, is of long standing; the cathedral and its musicians have given many first performances of Tavener’s music. The honeyed acoustic and wonderful organ at the cathedral contribute much to the 11 separate works augmented by the four anthems from the large-scale Veil of the Temple cycle, an all-night vigil in music commissioned for the choir of Temple Church, London and first heard in 1992. The admirable liner booklet contains perceptively informative notes by Dr Martin Neary and complete texts of the music sung. The whole choral foundation features in the enterprise, with all upper voices combining in deft transcriptions of the two most famous works – Song for Athene and The Lamb – and of the Lord’s Prayer, the work of Dr Barry Rose. There is a wonderfully conceived lightness of texture that contrasts with the deeper resonances of the remainder of the programme. Impressively assured singing, along with the brilliant and sensitive organ-playing of George Castle, is a major factor in this great success. Some of the lengthier pieces find boys, girls and men all involved. Boys and girls together tackle the upper voice material and boys and men have the five excerpts from The Veil of the Temple along with God with us, Hymn to the Mother of God, Love bade me welcome and They are all gone into the world of light.

A marvellously worthwhile anthology, and a recording that should be in everyone’s collection. Andrew Lumsden’s singers are deserving of the highest approbation. Interpretatively inspirational and technically brilliant.

Simon Lindley

LOCUS ISTE

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge

Dir: Andrew Nethsingha

Organ: Glen Dempsey Harris Faire is the heaven; Rorem Sing my soul, his wondrous love; Finzi God is gone up; Britten Hymn to the Virgin; Jubilate in C; Stanford Justorum animae; Tavener The Lamb; Dove Seek him that maketh the seven stars; Poulenc Salve Regina; C Robinson Jesu, grant me this, I pray; Alex Woolf O vos omnes; Bruckner Locus iste; Swayne Adam lay ibounden; Rachmaninov Cherubic Hymn; Parry Blest pair of sirens.

SIGNUM SIGCD567 TT 73:51

The choir’s very first chord gives a foretaste of great things to come, for the singers somehow just melt into the music, with no sense of attack, but with sheer loveliness of tone and perfect balance of the voices. I do not often wax so lyrical! This is an eclectic programme, chosen to celebrate the sesquicentenary

of the college’s chapel, and it makes for highly agreeable listening. Not everything will appeal to everyone, of course, and I wished that Tavener’s irritating Little Lamb had been safely left in Toytown; nor did there seem any valid reason for following Britten’s superb (and superbly sung) Hymn to the Virgin with that trite and silly Jubilate. Twice Britten, once shy, perhaps? I would, though, give special mention to Finzi, Christopher Robinson, Ned Rorem and Giles Swayne, to say nothing of Rachmaninov, which many of us have known in translation, but which sounds especially sonorous sung here in its original Russian. Parry, of course, sounds as splendiferous as he always does. It is my very great pleasure to recommend this CD in the warmest possible terms.

Timothy Storey

THE GREAT SERVICE AND ANTHEMS

William Byrd

Odyssean Ensemble

Dir: Colm Carey

Organ: Christian Wilson

The Great Service (Venite, Te Deum, Benedictus); O God, the proud are risen against me; Creed; Fantasia; Sing joyfully; Magnificat; Nunc dimittis; Exalt thyself, O God.

LINN LC11615 TT59:25

This trail-blazing issue is the distinctive debut recording of Colm Carey’s very finely textured Odyssean Ensemble. The supremely sensitive organist is Christian Wilson.

The crucial elements to the internal balance of the ensemble is the alto section, three of which are countertenors. Most authorities assert that the service was composed in the final years of the 16th century, and certainly completed by 1606 at the latest. It is set for two five-part choirs, one on the side of the Dean (Decani) and the other on that of the Precentor (Cantoris). Nowadays, liturgical accounts of the morning music are extremely rare, though the evening canticles remain in regular use by cathedral and (especially, perhaps) collegiate choirs.

The verbal texts, of course, pre-date the more familiar stanzas of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and have a syllabic quaintness all their own at times. The singing is accompanied by a Tudor organ reconstructed by Goetze & Gwynn to and with which the choral intonation is brilliantly attuned and intimately responsive. Three English anthems and a keyboard fantasia, fair bristling with stylish ornamentation and neatly articulated part-writing, are interspersed with the liturgical settings. Sing joyfully is delivered in modern concert D flat major and the easement of the inner part writing and its seemingly effortless movement is particularly successful. Warm congratulations to director Colm Carey, Master of the Music at HM Chapel at the Tower of London, for a great release.

Simon Lindley

MASSES FOR DOUBLE CHOIR

Kenneth Leighton, Frank Martin

Choir of King’s College, London

Dir: Joseph Fort

Organ: James Orford Leighton Mass, Op. 44; Martin Mass for double choir; Alain Postlude pour l’office de Complies.

DELPHIAN DCD34211 TT 63:42

These two Mass settings were composed 40 years apart but they received their first performances within three years of each other in the 1960s as a result of Frank Martin withholding his work from performance. Anyone who plays Leighton’s organ music or sings his more familiar choral music will be well versed in the hard-edged, soul-searching characteristics which lie alongside rhythmic exuberance and vitality, and that is exactly what we have in his setting of the Mass. You only have to listen to the opening Kyrie and set that alongside the Credo (which has excellent organ accompaniment from James Orford) and you have Leighton’s style almost summed up. There can’t be many recordings of this music so this is a welcome addition to the catalogue (I understand that Paul Spicer’s recording with the Finzi Singers is only available on download) and the work receives a confident and persuasive performance with strong contributions from the four soloists, particularly Mimi Doulton. The new recording of Frank Martin’s Mass has more competition in the catalogue, not least from the choir of Westminster Cathedral and also The Sixteen. The former, of course, uses boys on the top line, and they sing this music regularly within the context of the liturgy and in the cathedral itself where their recording was made. There are advantages in this and the WC singers certainly sound as if they believe what they are singing. Nevertheless, this new recording holds its own against the competition and is yet another example of the high standards of choral singing within our universities. Listen to the pleading of the Agnus Dei for proof of that. There is a solitary piece for the organ by Jehan Alain at the end of the disc which acts as a concluding voluntary to the liturgy.

Nicholas Kerrison

LOVE BADE ME WELCOME

Choir of Wadham College, Oxford

Dir: Katharine Pardee

Organ: Julian Littlewood

Harmonium: Anne Page

Vierne Messe Solennelle; GJackson

Magnificat from the Truro Service; Hurd Love bade me welcome; Parsons Ave Maria; Sowerby I will lift up mine eyes; Chilcott My true love; arr Holst I love my love; arr Overton Loch Lomond. Guilmant Sonata No 4. OXRECS OXCD 147 TT

A recording that includes a harmonium as well as an organ is to be warmly welcomed, and especially so when it features the stylish and informed playing of the distinguished Cambridgebased Anne Page. The involvement of the harmonium arose from the decision of the Wadham College authorities to utilise such an instrument during the extensive restoration of their chapel’s famous Father Willis organ. With the money they would have expended on hiring in a substitute, they purchased a handsome and resourceful harmonium instead. Understandably, there arose a wish to utilise both instruments on this OXRECS issue. The ‘bookend’ works, the Vierne Mass and the Fourth Sonata of Guilmant, make use of both keyboard resources, with Dr Julian Littlewood clearly enjoying himself on the college instrument and Anne Page equally at home on the harmonium. The choral pieces comprise an eclectic choice, ranging from the eponymous work by David Hurd –a deeply expressive unaccompanied and richly-harmonised setting by this Brooklyn-born composer who has for many years held major positions in and around New York City, via Gabriel Jackson’s Magnificat and Leo Sowerby’s I will lift up mine eyes and the immortal Ave Maria of Robert Parsons. Then there is secular music from Holst (I love my love), Bob Chilcott (My true

love hath my heart) and David Overton’s fine arrangement of Loch Lomond – each is described in the liner notes as a ‘choir favourite’, which the committed singing reinforces. Very individual as a recital, but highly recommended. The Sonata, Guilmant’s only such work to appear in print as either for organ or harmonium, affords a chance to appreciate further the sonorities of both. Congratulations to Katharine Pardee and her students for an enterprising disc.

Simon Lindley

ORGAN CDs

TE DEUM LAUDAMUS

David Price plays the Nicholson organ of Portsmouth Cathedral

Tylman Susato Mohrentanz; Couperin Messe pour les couvents; Praetorius La canarie; Bach Wachet auf (BWV 645); Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (BWV 731); Krebs Fuge über das ‘Magnificat’; Boyce Trumpet voluntary in D; DPurcell Prelude and Air; Andriessen Thema met Variaties; Morricone arr Price Gabriel’s Oboe; Tournemire Improvisation sur le ‘Te Deum’.

HERALD HAVPCD 406 TT 64:30

As the CD booklet says: ‘The music of this recording charts the development of the Nicholson organ from its designer’s quasi-Iberian roots via Manchester and Bolton through to its Portsmouth home’. The organ is an interesting mix of sounds and the instrument has clearly had much done to it, including a new West Great in 2001 and West Tower en chamades added in 2017. The music chosen shows just how versatile an instrument it now is, and the repertoire is very varied indeed, from Susato and Praetorius to Tournemire and Ennio Morricone. David Price is aiming to display all the tonal features of the instrument and we therefore have, even within the first piece, Mohrentanz by Susato, the contrast between the 1861 Solo Ophicleide and the 2017 west-end Trompete de Maris, which also features in Bach’s Wachet auf strongly enough to waken the dead! François Couperin’s Messe pour les Couvents gives Price even more opportunities to demonstrate the versatility of the instrument. It is not until track 19, in Andriessen’s Thema mit Variaties, that we hear the full strength of the organ and the changes which have been made to the instrument have clearly paid off. The spatial possibilities, with the West Tower en chamades, are used to good effect in Improvisation sur le ‘Te Deum’. The Andriessen and Tournemire pieces are two which really show David Price’s skill as an organist but, although I understand the reason behind the other repertoire, I’m not sure that the programme works particularly well as a whole.

Nicholas Kerrison

CESAR FRANCK

John Challenger plays the Willis organ of Salisbury Cathedral

Pièce héroïque; Prélude, fugue et variation

Op. 18; Cantabile; Trois chorals pour grand orgue (E major, B minor, A minor).

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL TT 69:23

John Challenger’s CD of works by César Franck is the first to be released independently by Salisbury Cathedral and was

the final disc to be recorded on the magnificent Father Willis organ before it was removed from the cathedral for a major rebuild in 2018. Willis was much influenced by Cavaillé-Coll, and the large reeds used in the various pieces bear testament to this. There are many occasions when the strings and tremulant emulate the French palette extremely convincingly. The superb playing on one of the finest instruments in the country shows Challenger’s sensitive and immaculate touch, which is full of virtuosity yet warmth. There are moments, for example in the first Choral, where the opening feels perhaps a little over-luxuriant and lacking in momentum but, conversely, the A minor Choral is full of panache. Most important is the way that the splendour and colours of this instrument are reflected so magnificently, and, without doubt, the rebuild will return Willis’s iconic instrument to its original glory.

The sound balance captures the organ within the space of the building, so much an important feature often ignored by many producers. The comprehensive liner notes also include a picture of the console. Perhaps a small yet significant point is the ease of removing the liner notes and CD from the cardboard case!

David Thorne

BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC

Arthur Sullivan and Michael Thomson

John Kitchen plays the organ of The Usher Hall, Edinburgh Sullivan Overture; Oh, is there no one maiden breast? (The Pirates of Penzance); The sun whose rays (The Mikado); Overture (The Yeomen of the Guard); Introduction to Act III (The Tempest); Gavotte and Cachucha (The Gondoliers); Thomson On the Square; Parc de Paris; Salute to Busby Berkeley; The Bard’s Ceremonial; Whirly-Granny; A Bouquet of Roses; Tullich to Inverey: Scots March. DELPHIAN DCD34212 TT 69:52

Organ recitals featuring arrangements have become more common again over the past few years, but with the axing of BBC Radio 2’s The Organist Entertains there are increasingly few opportunities to hear examples of lighter music played on the organ. Delphian’s project to release on disc arrangements of the music of Arthur Sullivan is to be commended, especially when it is heard on the 1913 Norman & Beard organ in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and coupled with the immaculate playing of John Kitchen, who, amongst his many roles, is Edinburgh’s City Organist. Here is certainly a programme designed by Kitchen to reflect Sullivan’s gift not only as a melodist, but also as a fine composer; this is captured especially in the overture to The Yeoman of the Guard and performed, in presumably Kitchen’s own arrangement, with great aplomb!

In the liner notes, Kitchen speaks highly of Michael Thomson, a large number of whose pieces are represented. Thomson’s style often echoes that of Eric Coates, though not as convincingly. Whilst both his compositions and arrangements are enjoyable, ranging from a selection of Broadway songs in Salute to Busby Berkeley to A Bouquet of Roses, his playing feels a touch four-square, especially on an instrument which, despite its bells, is not totally suited to Thomson’s style of writing, which is more for the theatre or cinema organ. Nevertheless, for those who enjoy less challenging organ music played with great precision – if lacking in total panache – this is a welcome addition to the library!

David Thorne

CHRISTMAS CDs

A RENAISSANCE CHRISTMAS The Sixteen

Dir: Harry Christophers

Anon Resonemus laudibus; Sweelinck

Hodie Christus natus est; Handl Omnes de Saba; Resonet in laudibus; Eccard Resonet in laudibus; Plainsong Veni, veni, Emmanuel; Crudelis Herodes; Kirbye Vox in Rama; Lassus Videntes stellam Magi; Resonet in laudibus; Omnes de Saba; Tallis Videte miraculum; Dering Quem vidistis, pastores?; Byrd O magnum mysterium; This day Christ was born; Victoria Quem vidistis, pastores?; Sheppard Reges Tharsis; Guerrero Pastores loquebantur; Philips O beatum et sacrosanctum diem.

CORO COR 16167 TT 67:11

In this recording, made in 2017, The Sixteen and Harry Christophers explore shorter pieces of the Renaissance in a journey through the Christmas season from Advent to the arrival of the Three Kings. Heard at the very start, the simple musical statement Resonet in laudibus, one of the earliest and a popular example of a Christmas song, not only sets the overall character of the disc, but serves as a thread. It is performed in three settings by composers featured on the disc. The standard of singing is of the customary high standard we have come to expect from The Sixteen. Harry Christophers writes in the liner notes that much of the interest within the settings is reflected in the way composers such as Eccard, Handl and Lassus all put their own individual stamp on this particular melody. Eccard’s style combines homophonic and relatively straightforward counterpoint whilst Handl’s contrasting chordal and ornate writing is clear and effective. Most of the music is highly spirited, so the inclusion of the more reflective plainsong Advent chant, Veni, veni Emmanuel, serves as a contrast, and Tallis’s Videte miraculum demonstrates excellent early English contrapuntal writing highlighted by the soaringly high soprano lines. This is a most refreshing disc, enhanced by the first-class recording made in St Augustine’s Church in Kilburn.

David Thorne

ADVENT LIVE

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge

Dir: Andrew Nethsingha

Britten A hymn of St Columba; James Burton Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; Vaughan Williams arr C Robinson The truth sent from above; Ian Shaw Adam lay ybounden; I sing of a maiden; arr Cleobury The Cherry Tree carol; James Long Vigilate; Palestrina Fuit homo missus a Deo; Gibbons This is the record of John; Archer The linden tree carol; Joubert There is no rose; Tim Watts The birth of speech; arr Pettman The Angel Gabriel from heaven came; F Jackson I know a flower; Alan Bullard Glory to the Christ Child; Paul Comeau Lux mundi; arr Willcocks Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; Bingham The clouded heaven; Bednall Noe, noe.

SIGNUM SIGCD535 TT 60:19

An inspirational programme, with satisfying and very carefully chosen key sequences from one track to the next. Much of the more recent music has a close or direct association with the St John’s choir, heard here at the peak of its form. Especially refreshing are carol settings from James Burton, Dr

Christopher Robinson, Ian Shaw and Sir Stephen Cleobury. Robinson’s setting of The truth from above not only burns with fervour and real discernment of the mystery of the incarnation but is a wholly apt setting of a well-known text and melody – G minor is a great key for such a choral treatment. The same noble simplicity applies to Old Johnian Sir Stephen’s Cherry Tree Carol, which is sung with liquid tone and sincere beauty. Classics of yesteryear include a Palestrina motet, Gibbons’ This is the record of John (with a beguiling soloist in Hugh Cutting, whose use of expressive tone is a delight). Apt tempi are in abundance and choral balance, definition and blend are brilliantly captured by the engineers. The performance, recorded live, of four years of Advent choral endeavour is representative of both the BBC and this world-beating choir at their combined best during the Corporation’s annual visit to St John’s Chapel each Advent. Andrew Nethsingha’s brilliant, sensitive and poetic approach to each and every item shines through in a series of vintage performances. The text is king – always! The sound has magic at every turn and the listener is transported throughout. Without doubt, this disc has to be the pick of an extremely fine bunch!

Simon Lindley

100 YEARS OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS (2 CDs)

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

Dirs: Stephen Cleobury, Philip Ledger, David Willcocks

CD1: arr Pettman Gabriel’s Message; Ord

Adam lay ybounden; arr Wood Ding! dong! merrily on high; arr Willcocks Sussex Carol; O come, all ye faithful; Unto us is born a son; arr Robert de Pearsall In dulci jubilo; arr Ledger Hark! the herald angels sing; Weir Illuminare, Jerusalem; arr Walford Davies The holly and the ivy; Warlock Benedicamus Domino; arr Preston I saw three ships; Adès The Fayrfax Carol; Gardner Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; Rütti I wonder as I wonder; Chilcott The Shepherd’s Carol; Rutter Dormi, Jesu; Pärt Bogoroditsye Dyevo; MBerkeley This Endernight; Watkins Carol Eliseus; Gauntlett Once in royal David’s city.

CD2: Adam arr Rutter O Holy Night; arr Cleobury The Linden Tree Carol; Tavener The Lamb; arr Willcocks God rest you merry, gentlemen; O come, all ye faithful; Berlioz The Shepherds’ Farewell; arr Ledger I saw three ships; arr Neary We three kings of Orient are; FJackson Can I not syng but hoy?; Whitbourn The Magi’s Dream; Joubert There is no rose; R Elfyn Jones Adam’s Fall; Bach How shall I fitly meet thee? Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light; R O Morris Love came down at Christmas; arr Cleobury Hark! the herald angels sing; arr Willcocks O come, all ye faithful KGS0033 TT 106:42

This double album, issued towards the end of 2018 to mark the 90th anniversary of the first BBC broadcast of the Christmas Eve service, has already and deservedly received many glowing reviews. Although many might enjoy hearing more of the ‘live’ broadcasts of the choir under David Willcocks, for modern day listeners the increased congregational noise could prove somewhat distracting. The singing is impeccable. Willcocks’s performances are marked by highly precise phrasing (especially evident in The Sussex Carol), steady tempi, and the utmost attention to dynamics. Interesting to hear the well-known descant to O come, all ye faithful in the key of A, with the trebles floating over the melody with such ease. Philip Ledger’s approach is evident from the very first phrase of In dulci jubilo. These are, of course, newer archive recordings and, being so well balanced, capture the tradition of immaculate intonation and precise phrasing, but with perhaps more of a

natural flow than Willcocks’s interpretations. The remaining 13 tracks are devoted to the choir under Stephen Cleobury. He brings more of a distinctive edge to the choral blend. Robust and highly rhythmic energy is immediately apparent, but contrast is easily achieved in more sensitive carols such as John Rutter’s Dormi, Jesu, written, according to the notes, for the television production of ‘Carols from Kings’ in 2007. Many of the commissioned carols and arrangements have become standard fare, although some deserve more outings, notably Michael Berkeley’s This Endernight, which was premiered in 2016.

The second CD was specifically recorded for this album and contains a wide and diverse selection of carols. Suffice it to say that both the singing and the organ accompaniments by Henry Websdale and Donal McCann are impeccable. The informative liner notes written by Timothy Day are most comprehensive and enjoyable to read. They throw much light on the history of a service which has become a significant feature of Christmas celebrations worldwide. It is important to note that the compilation not only pays tribute to past directors of music at King’s, but also serves as a legacy to Stephen Cleobury’s skills as a musician, and to the way in which he enabled so many distinguished composers to write for the service. Their works will remain in the repertoire of many choirs for years to come.

David Thorne

CHRISTMAS AT ST GEORGE’S

Choir of St George’s RC Cathedral, Southwark

Dir: Norman Harper

Organ: Frederick Stocken

Plainchant Dominus dixit; Laetentur caeli; In splendoribus sanctorum; Puer natus est nobis; Tui sunt caeli; Viderunt omnes; J F Wade O come, all ye faithful; Este’s Psalter 1592 While shepherds watched; Gruber Silent night; arr Vaughan Williams O little town of Bethlehem; H J Gauntlett Once in royal David’s city; FDuffy Of one that is so fair and bright; Bennett Out of your sleep; Victoria O magnum mysterium; Tavener A Christmas Proclamation; MacMillan

In splendoribus sanctorum; Harper Welcome Yule; Strover The Virgin’s Last Slumber Song; Bullard Glory to the Christ Child.

REGENT REGCD533

This disc deserves a warm welcome. The programme content (and its ordering) shows great imagination, proceeding from Christmas Midnight Mass through different stages of the Mass for Christmas Day to Mrs Alexander’s familiar ‘Once in royal David’s city’, which (as Norman Harper’s splendidly informative notes explain) ‘lead us from the nativity, through Jesus’s childhood and on to the triumphant vision of Christ enthroned in heaven’. Even some of the familiar carol-hymns contain attractive ‘different’ elements – such as Mr Harper’s superb final verses to ‘O come, all ye faithful’ and ‘While shepherds watched’, and his attractive arrangement of ‘Silent Night’. The programme is punctuated by six plainchant propers, in excellent, stylish performances from tenors and basses. The lay clerks provide a particularly sensitive account of Victoria’s haunting O magnum mysterium. The mixed treble line – bright-toned and exhilarating throughout the disc – is showcased, to great effect, in the two carols by Francis Duffy and Christian Strover. Perhaps the most imaginative juxtaposition is that of the plainchant In splendoribus with James MacMillan’s extended and dramatic treatment of that chant and text, especially notable for the virtuosic interpolations for solo trumpet by Simon Desbruslais. Tavener’s A Christmas Proclamation receives a wonderful rendition. Alongside this,

it is especially good to have relatively unfamiliar works of fairly recent composition. Richard Rodney Bennett’s setting of a 15th-century poem and Alan Bullard’s carol (setting an Elizabethan text) both receive committed and vivacious performances. A much newer work is Harper’s own Welcome Yule (another 15th-century text).

This is an excellent Christmas disc, with a difference. All sections of the choir, including the outstanding soloists, sing with conviction and vitality, while Frederick Stocken’s organ accompaniments are consistently first class in quality. Norman Harper (whose final term as Director of Music at St George’s coincided with the release of this disc) directs with real authority and musicality. Highly recommended!

Roger Wilkes

VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST

Choir of Portsmouth Cathedral

Dir: David Price

Organ: Sachin Gunga

Arr Luke Fitzgerald Gaudete; Sarah MacDonald Matin Responsory; Tim Rogers

Sinful Adam; arr Andrew Carter O come, O come, Emmanuel; Biebl Ave Maria; D’Aquin

Noel étranger; George Malcolm Missa ad praesepe (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei); Murschhauser Variationes super cantilenam; Rutter There is a flower; Adam arr Rutter O holy night; arr Ledger On Christmas Night; Helmut Walcha Chorale Prelude on ‘Quem pastores’; Walton All this time; Andrew Carter Mary’s Magnificat; arr David Beeby I saw three ships; Gardner Tomorrow shall be my dancing day; Stopford Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child; arr Leontovich The Swallow and the Bells; arr Willcocks Resonemus laudibus.

HERALD

HAVPCD 407 TT 79:09

This disc features all the musical resources of Portsmouth Cathedral: the cathedral choir (boy choristers, lay clerks and scholars), Cantate, a youth choir which is made up of the girl choristers and teenage boys (also supported by the lay clerks and scholars), and the Cathedral Consort, an adult group from across the locality. Clearly there is no shortage of singers in Portsmouth! The three groups only sing together in two pieces (in Sarah MacDonald’s Matin Responsory and Andrew Carter’s arrangement of O come, O come, Emmanuel), otherwise it is mostly down to individual choirs to present the music. David Price, the director, also contributes two organ works with the Portsmouth instrument being ideally suited to the music of Louis D’Aquin. Although the programme listing doesn’t indicate it, I presume it is Sachin Gunga, the sub-organist, who performs the music by Franz Murschhauser. One of the gems on this CD is Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria which I confess to having not heard before. As the programme notes say, ‘Musicologists have often wondered quite how a 20th-century German composer who set an ancient text, in a repetitive, simple style, for seven-part double male chorus has become so well known in the Christmas choral sphere’. It really is a beautiful piece of music, sung very well here with considerable affection (I suspect). For anyone looking for a relatively restrained setting of the Mass, look no further than George Malcolm’s Missa ad praesepe, written while he was at Westminster Cathedral. Yes, there are one or two more explosive moments but, as the programme notes tell us, Malcolm said that the Mass was “to be performed in an unsophisticated way, to give the impression of the wondering angels and simple shepherds singing on the first Christmas night”. The disc features much well-known repertoire but this is the first time I have heard a recording of Resonemus Laudibus in the arrangement by David Willcocks –

with the new, blazing, west-end Trompete de Maris in the last bars. Every time I review performances by our cathedral and collegiate choirs I realise just how lucky we are in this country to have such a wealth of musical talent which the Church, even with diminishing numbers in the congregations (though perhaps not in the cathedrals), supports and respects. This CD is yet further proof of that. There is much fine singing and playing here and Portsmouth is a very lucky city to have these excellent choirs.

Nicholas Kerrison

ELY CHRISTMAS

The Girls’ Choir of Ely Cathedral

Dir: Sarah MacDonald

Organ: Aaron Shilson

Arr Mark Armstrong Deck the hall; Edwards No small wonder; Adam arr

MacDonald O holy night; Joubert There is no rose; Warlock arr M Jacobson Come to Bethlehem; arr A Berry Away in a manger; Annabel Rooney

Glorificamus Deum; Richard Peat Corpus Christi Carol; arr MacDonald The Cherry Tree Carol; The holly and the ivy; Rubbra A hymn to the Virgin; Bernard Trafford Sir Christèmas; Mealor

A Spotless Rose; Lole Love came down at Christmas; Peter Gritton

Follow that star; Matthew Larkin Adam lay ybounden; Rutter What sweeter music; Gary Higginson St Godric’s Hymn; Wood arr Oxley Mater ora filium; Stopford A Christmas Blessing; arr Gary Cole Away in a manger; Todd My Lord has come; Ben Parry Three angels.

REGENT REGCD 527 TT 71:30

There is much to enjoy in this ingeniously compiled and generous programme, even if purists might complain that most of its contents are Christmas part-songs rather than true carols. That said, one can only rejoice in the Ely girls’ tuneful, confident and expressive singing, and salute the contribution of the cathedral’s excellent lay clerks, although they sound somewhat remote at times, whether by choice of the director or the recording engineers. One cannot of course be expected to enthuse about every item in such an anthology, and I feel compelled to point out that the Corpus Christi Carol has nothing to do with Christmas; but I especially enjoyed Annabel Rooney’s exhilarating Glorificamus Deum and Sarah MacDonald’s chirpy, Cleobury-esque arrangement of The Cherry Tree Carol. Edmund Rubbra’s A hymn to the Virgin is a real ’find’ and an attractive alternative to Britten’s familiar setting. Bernard Trafford’s Sir Christèmas, the winning entry in the 2017 BBC Radio 3 competition, is a jolly and skilful unaccompanied essay in calypso style which admirably succeeds in banishing the ghost of Mathias’s familiar version. A ghost present elsewhere was that of Howells, who surely said the last word on A Spotless Rose. All too pervasive in the rest of the programme is the influence of John Rutter, whose admirable What sweeter music offers ample proof, if it were needed, that the genuine article is always to be preferred to an imitation. Such reservations aside, I am happy to recommend this CD as an agreeable adornment to your Yuletide celebrations.

Timothy Storey

BORN ON A NEW DAY

Choir of Belfast Cathedral

Dir: David Stevens

Arr Stevens Once in royal David’s city; Head The little road to Bethlehem; Matthew Orlovich Nativity; arr Paul Ayres Entre le boeuf et l’ane gris; Chilcott The Shepherd’s Carol; arr Gjeilo The Holly and the Ivy; arr

Jim Clements Gabriel’s Message; arr Carolyn Jennings Ding! dong! merrily on high; Dan Forrest A Christmas Lullaby; arr Stephen Paulus The First Nowell; Hark! the herald angels sing; Hafidi Hallgrimsson Joseph and the Angel; arr Rutter Angels we have heard on high; arr Paul Halley Jesus, Jesus, rest your head; Campkin Sleep, Holy Babe; Tavener The Lamb; arr Matthew Culloton In dulci jubilo; Peter Sculthorpe Morning Song for the Christ Child; arr Jacek Sykulski Lulajze Jezunin; John David arr Peter Knight Born on a New Day.

PRIORY PRCD 1195

For all the choir directors up and down the country looking for new repertoire for Christmas this is the disc to survey, as, amongst the well-known works, there are several new ones or arrangements of well-known melodies which are very welcome. This is an entirely unaccompanied programme (even in Once in royal and Hark! the herald) by the girls of the cathedral choir with the lay clerks and choral scholars. In 2012 the cathedral’s music department was re-formed on the arrival of the present Master of the Choristers, David Stevens, to include both boys’ and girls’ choirs, and this arrangement is clearly shown to be working well by the assured performances on this CD. The girls have a very bright and forward sound and they are supported well by the back row (which includes the all-female alto line). Just occasionally an individual voice is allowed to project perhaps a little too much, but otherwise the overall balance of the choir is good. The absence of the organ also allows the ample acoustic of Belfast Cathedral to be exploited without worrying about balance issues. I particularly enjoyed Matthew Culloton’s arrangement of In dulci jubilo and Peter Sculthorpe’s Morning Song for the Christ Child which would both be something a little different for a ‘Nine Lessons’. All in all, interesting repertoire sung with assurance and a useful CD to explore new repertoire.

Nicholas Kerrison

DVD REVIEW

THE GRAND ORGAN OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Daniel Cook

Purcell Rondeau from ‘Abdelazar’; Widor Toccata from Symphonie V; Howells Psalm Prelude Set 1 No. 3; Bach Prelude and fugue in E flat BWV 552; Prokofiev ‘Montagues and Capulets’ from Romeo & Juliet; Whitlock March: Dignity and Impudence; Parry Choral Prelude on ‘Eventide’; Willan Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue; Walton Prelude and Fugue ‘Spitfire’; Hollins Concert Overture in C minor; Handel Variations on ‘The Harmonious Blacksmith’; Vierne Final from Symphonie VI.

PRIORY PRDVD 15 2 DVD set with free bonus CD

This fine organ has had an eventful history. By 1895 it had grown to a 5-manual instrument, complete with an Echo or Celestial division located high above the south transept and played from the topmost row of keys. The Surveyor of the Fabric, J L Pearson (famed for Truro Cathedral) had designed a matching pair of cases to stand on either side of the screen and clothe the main part of the organ. Magnificent though these were, the organist complained that they muffled the sound of the main diapason chorus. A major rebuild by Harrisons of Durham was completed just in time for the 1937 Coronation, but though the instrument was glorious in tone

it looked terrible, for Pearson’s cases had been replaced by unadorned rows of huge pipes, derided as ‘zinc chimney-cans’ and all too visible on films of the 1937 and 1953 Coronations and the 1947 Royal Wedding. Fortunately, as part of the great restoration of the building, the cases were reinstated in 1959, and coloured to match the brilliant new decoration of the stalls in the quire. New pipes had to be made to stand in the cases, many of the bulkier parts of the instrument being banished to the triforium. Further work was to ensue in 1982. A need was felt for something more robust to accompany large congregations, and the console seemed to cry out for a fifth manual to replace the row of stop-keys rather optimistically placed below the music desk in the hope that one day the Echo organ might be brought back into use. So the fifth manual was duly provided, to control the new bombard division. Further work followed in 1987 and subsequent years. Daniel Cook is a player of exceptional quality and a most persuasive advocate for this instrument, which he controls with impressive economy of movement, his skilful employment of four manuals in the Willan Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue being the undoubted highlight of the programme. The DVD is generous in its inclusion of a Cook’s Tour (sorry!) of the performances and the instrument itself, and not the least attraction is Mr Cook’s obvious enthusiasm for this great instrument. As is Priory’s wont, there are many images to delight the eye as well as the ear. I recommend this DVD with very great enthusiasm.

PRINTED MUSIC REVIEW

PRECES, RESPONSES, and THE LORD’S PRAYER

Jeremy

Elgar) & Jeremy Dibble (after Parry) ENCORE publications

There is at least one precedent for this sort of exercise. The late Dr Donald Hunt plundered the more obscure corners of S S Wesley’s church music to create some very acceptable Responses, wishing no doubt to have a midVictorian example of the genre to keep company with Goss, Mendelssohn, Stainer and so on. Professor Dibble has cast his net more widely, to include secular music from such a variety of sources that I would defy any but the most knowledgeable Elgarian or Parryist to be able successfully to play ‘Spot the Tune’. For example, Elgar has contributed morsels from The Dream of Gerontius, The Kingdom, The Light of Life (a most beautiful Amen after the third Collect) and the Hereford Festival Te Deum, and somewhat incredibly, Froissart, the Second Symphony and the Violin Concerto. Even the dear

old Sea Pictures get a look-in! By contrast, Parry is represented chiefly by secular part-songs and cantatas, though there is a quotation from one of the Songs of Farewell and Job supplies a fine Amen. Professor Dibble is guilty of a little humour in finding for the words ‘World without end, Amen’ a musical extract that appears to be in no hurry to reach its ending. His own settings of the Lord’s Prayer are imaginative, well-crafted and entirely suitable to the style of both composers. The Dibble (after Parry) Responses were broadcast a couple of times last year and sounded good, so let us hope to hear the Elgar soon. I cannot see either of these rather complicated settings fitting easily into the daily round of a cathedral choir, but the excellent mixed-voice choirs in our universities, with their ample rehearsal time and relatively few services to sing, might find these attractive works become best friends with Gray, Harwood, Naylor, Noble and Stanford.

Timothy Storey

Dibble (after

Timothy Storey

George Sixsmith & Son Ltd Organ Builders

We provide all types of new instruments

New Organs

Restoration

Rebuilding

Tuning

Maintenance

We can give unbiased advice for all your requirements

Hillside Organ Works

Carrhill Road, Mossley, Lancashire OL5 0SE

Tel: 01457 833 009

www.georgesixsmithandsonltd.co.uk

REGENT RECORDS

New and Recent Releases

DOBRINKA TABAKOVA

The Choir of Truro Cathedral

BBC Concert Orchestra, Natalie Clein (cello), Joseph Wicks (organ) directed by Christopher Gray

These radiant performances are the culmination of a collaboration, supported by Arts Council England, with leading composer Dobrinka Tabakova, following the introduction of Truro’s girl choristers in 2015 It features music written specifically for Truro Cathedral, including the Truro Canticles which formed the centrepiece of the first live BBC Radio 3 broadcast by Truro Cathedral Choir with its girl choristers on International Women’s Day in March 2017

‘The 20 girl choristers are perfectly blended and balanced a deeply impressive disc exper tly steered by Christopher Gray Bravo Truro!’ Gramophone October 2019

'The Truro choir is in inspired form ’

★★★★★ Choir and Organ October 2019

‘The shining voices of Truro Cathedral Choir’ BBC Radio 3 In Tune

PRIÈRES POUR NOTRE DAME

Music for organ and upper voices by Dupré, Boulanger, Demessieux, Poulenc

The Cavaillé-Coll organ of St Ouen, Rouen Colin Walsh (organ), Senior Girls of Romsey Abbey Choir directed by George Richford

A unique project combining Cavaillé-Coll’s undisputed masterpiece, one of the finest organists of his generation, and a girls’ choir from an historic English former Benedictine convent, in French Marian music of the twentieth centur y for solo organ and upper voices

BEN PARRY Music for Christmas

The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir, Prime Brass directed by Sarah MacDonald

A sparkling collection of Christmas music by Director of he National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, A ssistant Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge, and ormer director of the Swingle Singers

MAKE WE MERRY

Christmas music for upper voices by David Bednall, Bob Chilcott and Sarah Quartel

Benenden Chapel Choir

London Metropolitan Brass directed by Edward Whiting

The first recording of David Bednall’s major new Christmas work for upper voices and brass Make we merr y, alongside Bob Chilcott’s The Midnight of his bir th, and Snow Angel by Sarah Quartel

REGENT RECORDS, PO Box 528,Wolverhampton, WV3 9YW

Tel: 01902 424377 www regentrecords com (with secure online ordering)

Retail distribution by RSK Entertainment Ltd, Tel: 01488 608900, info@rskentertainment co uk

Available in the USA from the Organ Historical Society www ohscatalog org

REGCD530

REGCD538

REGCD542

REGCD547

15 Versets pour les Vêpres du commun des Fêtes de la Sainte-Vierge, Op 18 Dupré, Pie Jesu Boulanger, Attende Domine; Rorate Caeli (12 Choral Preludes on Gregorian Chant Themes, Op 8) Demessieux, Litanies à la Vierge Noire Poulenc