SONGS OF FAREWELL Digital Programme PROGRAMME
Welcome
A very warm welcome to St Gabriel’s Church, Pimlico, and Cantus’ first concert of the 2023/24 season. With so much turmoil in the world it is comforting to turn to music and the safe har-bour it can provide, and this evening we present three very different but no less emotional works of unaccompanied choral music. We begin with Randall Thompson’s The Peaceable Kingdom, inspired by eighteenth-century American artist Edward Hicks’s painting of the same name. With a range of styles from neoBaroque to antiphonal call and response, all bound together by the luscious fifth movement, The paper reeds by the brooks. After an interval we tackle a contemporary work in Ted Hearne’s Privilege, a work I’ve long wanted us to perform, which veers from the esoteric and hypnotic, to soul and finally an antiApartheid song which ends with in sustained watercolour hues. We then finish the concert with Parry’s remarkable Songs of Farewell, a work from a composer at the very top of his game in terms of writing for massed voices. Parry’s valedictory work (though he refused to be drawn on that publicly during his lifetime) deals with themes of loss and death, but for an affirmed ag-nostic there is much warmth and comfort in the way he tackles the various texts. From move-ments two to six the choir gets bigger and bigger until it is in double choir for the final move-ment. I should like to thank the singers in Cantus for their Herculean efforts in this shorter term, and the executive committee for their support in running the ensemble and this evening’s concert. As proof of the eclectic nature of Cantus we will tomorrow perform two concerts of the music of Star Wars with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, before preparing for a busy Christmas season. Tickets will soon go on sale for our Christmas Concert on Saturday 16 December which will feature Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols with harp. It is an annual sell out and we look forward to seeing you there. Thank you for coming to support Cantus this evening. I hope you enjoy the concert. Dominic Brennan
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Programme The Peaceable Kingdom
Randall Thompson (1899-1984))
I. Say ye to the righteous II. Woe unto them III. The noise of a multitude IV. Howl ye V. The paper reeds by the brooks VI. But these are they that forsake the Lord – For ye shall go out with joy VII. Have ye not known? VIII. Ye shall have a song INTERVAL Privilege
Ted Hearne (b. 1982)
I. Motive/mission II. Casino III. Burning TV song IV. They get it V. We cannot leave Songs of Farewell
Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918)
I. My soul, there is a country II. I know my soul hath power to know all things III. Never weather-beaten sail IV. There is an old belief V. At the round earth's imagined corners VI. Lord, let me know mine end
Please feel free to read this digital programme on your device during the concert
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The Cantus Ensemble Honarary patron: Sir James Macmillan The Cantus Ensemble is an amateur choir – one of the many that thrive amongst London’s diverse arts scene – that, in its short existence of just over 10 years, has gone on to be widely recognised as one of the finest such ensembles in the city. Every member of Cantus does something other than singing in their day job: current professions in the choir include teachers, lawyers, doctors, priests, TV producers…the list goes on. In short, we all sing in our spare time because we love doing it, and we believe in the transformative power of the arts to engage friends, family, colleagues and entirely new audiences alike. Cantus separates itself from its peers not only by often tackling fiercely challenging contemporary repertoire, but in its approach to programming – often juxtaposing the ancient and modern together with distinct narrative threads and immersive staging. We also give emerging young soloists a platform, have commissioned several new pieces from living composers, and have given the world and UK premieres of numerous contemporary works. Founded by Dominic Brennan in 2011 and recorded by the Decca label on Rebecca Dale’s debut album Requiem for my Mother / When Music Sounds, the choir has featured on radio; on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, Scala Radio; on TV on ITV’s Live at the Palladium and in worldwide ad campaigns for brands including Dassault Systèmes. The choir is proud to have built up strong relationships with groups including Global Radio, The Ned and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. More information on the choir’s upcoming concerts can be found at www.thecantusensembe.com
Dominic Brennan Dominic Brennan graduated with an MA in Music from Durham University in 2010, having previously completed his BA (Hons) in the same subject. Dominic was a first study percussionist, studying percussion and timpani under Daniel Ellis and Markus Gruett. He studied conducting with Peter Stark. Dominic founded the Cantus Ensemble in 2011 and, now in his elleventh season as Director, has taken the choir on tour to sing at prominent venues around Europe, steadily building up a reputation for innovative programming, multi-sensory concert experiences & engaging outreach projects. Under Dominic the choir has evolved into London’s finest non-professional choir with a reputation for musical excellence. Dominic is also the Director of Hampstead Chamber Choir. When not holding a score, he can can be found with a glass of wine in hand as a member of the Fine Wine trade and founder of Clos Fine WIne.
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The Choir
Sopranos Belle Allan Fern Ashby Anna Bailey Stella Bracegirdle Harriet Caddick Anna Cooper Abigail Ellison Izzie Gardner Cate Hall Alice Higgins Anna Lawford Davies Anna Nicholl
Altos Philippe Barbaroussis Eleanor Cozens Hannah Foakes Lorraine Crowley Charlotte Rutherford Alycia Jewes Ellie McCowan Sabrina Rodriguez Eleanor Schranz Emma Smellie Angela Waters
Tenors Frederick Brandes Dan Daly Will Kilvington-Shaw Tim Round Chris Scholtens James Townsend Illias Thoms
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Basses Max Cockerill Quentin Couradeau Jonathon Grant Tom Hansell Ed Parks Jonny McNaul Daniel Trott
The Music A commission from the League of Composers in 1935 led to the composition of The Peaceable Kingdom, scored for a cappella chorus. Thompson was greatly influenced by the eighteenth-century American artist Edward Hicks’s painting entitled The Peaceable Kingdom. The painting, reproduced on the cover of this booklet, portrays a child amongst a large group of animals serenely lying together as described in the book of Isaiah (11: 6–9, ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid’, etc). Intrigued by this passage, Thompson studied the full book of Isaiah and from it selected eight texts referencing the themes of peace and good versus evil. The choral cycle opens gently with a simple, hymn-like setting for men on the text, ‘Say ye to the righteous’ contrasted soon after by the declamatory ‘Woe unto the wicked!’. The text-settings throughout demonstrate Thompson’s penchant for mostly triadic harmonies, melodic sequences, imitative passages and quasi-Baroque ornamentations. The second movement, ‘Woe unto them’, is highlighted by alternating choral voices declaiming the text in recitative style, punctuated by tutti interjections on the word ‘Woe’. The harmonic progressions in the third movement reference the Ecclesiastical modes (especially the Dorian) from the Renaissance, and again present the text in a declamatory manner, departing
from the mostly triadic harmonies to add some dissonance in painting ‘they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth’. The dramatic, imitative ‘Howl ye’ is contrasted by the quiet ‘The paper reeds by the brooks’, where the soprano melody is mirrored by the basses in contrary motion. Always tying his text to the underlying musical setting, the gently flowing melodic lines deftly paint the word ‘brooks’. For the final three movements Thompson reverts to a very straightforward neo-Baroque chorale style, employing simple diatonic triads and traditional harmonic progressions and utilizing a double choir in the final movement, ‘Ye shall have a song’. Composed while Randall Thompson was in his mid-thirties, this choral cycle displays Thompson’s careful attention to text-setting and his skill in composing for choral ensembles in a conservative style accessible to amateur singers and lay audiences. INTERVAL Privilege is a collection of five short pieces, to be performed individually or as a set. The first and third movements are settings of little texts questioning a contemporary privileged life (Ted Hearne’s). The second and fourth movements are set to portions of Bill Moyers’ 2009 interview with David Simon. Casino sets Simon’s response to Moyers’ question: “Why do you think that we tolerate such gaps between rich and poor?” They get it ad6
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The Music dresses the idea that there is a large segment of the US population whose existence is unnecessary to the American economy, especially those who are “undereducated, that have been ill served by the inner city school system, that have been unprepared for the technocracy of the modern economy.” The final movement, ‘We Cannot Leave’, is set to an English translation of As’ Kwaz’ uKuhamba, a Xhosa anti-Apartheid song. South Africa has a strong tradition of music being used as a tool to fight societal oppression and inequality. The setting is a tribute to that practice.
did much to foster interest in Parry’s music in the early post-war years.
In terms of scoring and treatment the six pieces fall into three groups. ‘My soul, there is a country’ and ‘I know my soul hath power’ are written for four voices in a predominantly chordal style. ‘Never weather-beaten sail’ and ‘There is an old belief’, for five and six voices respectively, introduce a certain amount of contrapuntal interest. Finally, in ‘At the round earth’s imagined corners’ for seven voices, and ‘Lord, let me know mine end’, for eight, Parry takes full advantage of the flexibility of treatment available with Hubert Parry’s six Songs of Farewell give these scorings in his use of contrasting us a glimpse of this private man, who registers, a variety of contrapuntal techsensed that his own life was drawing to a niques, and rich choral sonorities. close; of his seventieth birthday he wrote, “I have reached the last milestone”. One Composed towards the end of his life, feels that the religious impulse can nev- Parry’s Songs of Farewell serve as a woner have been stronger than at this time, derful and fitting summation of his comand yet these are not conventionally de- positional output, reflecting elements of votional works, although he called them the English madrigal and part song as motets. The sentiments and the mode of well as the influence of German comexpression are, in several of the poems, posers like Brahms and Wagner. These six personal rather than spiritual, and only motets represent the very high point of ‘Lord, let me know mine end’ has a tra- Parry’s considerable choral oeuvre, setditionally sacred text. Taken together, ting intensely philosophical texts to music the Songs of Farewell are Parry’s master- which soars through every emotion (and piece for the choral medium. In them he nearly every key), from triumph to love, approached levels of musical expression and loss to resignation. ‘My soul, there and sensitivity to textual meaning and in- is a country’, the first motet, is probably flexion which have rarely been exceed- the best known and a hugely successed in English music. All the first perfor- ful setting of Henry Vaughan’s ‘Peace’. mances were directed by Parry’s friend Flitting between dancelike compound Hugh P Allen, who had succeeded him time and regular common time, Parry at the Royal College of Music and who conveys Vaughan’s text through several 7 www.thecantusensemble.com
The Music sections, all of different moods before a triumphant and defiant end. ‘I know my soul hath power’ is a concise setting of a remarkable text (in this case by John Davies (1569 – 1626)) with the employment of rests to break up the text for extra emphasis. As the set progresses, Parry divides his choral forces into more diverse groups, ending with six voices in ‘There is an old belief’ and seven voices in ‘At the round earth’s imagined corners’ which is easily the hardest and most virtuosic writing in Songs of Farewell. It begins with a trumpet-like fanfare and repeated cries of “arise, arise, arise” before subsiding to a subdued “from death”. The middle section is richly scored and displays lots of harmonic invention, not least in the tenor and bass shout of “chance hath slain”. The rest of the motet is cascade after cascade of beautiful writing before an ending which seems at peace with itself, remarkable considering it was composed during the darkest days of the First World War.
is dramatic and misty all at once, whilst “take thy plague away from me” is a furious passage, burning with desperation and angst, ending in a combined and agonised shout: “I am even consumed by means of thy heavy hand”. The final few bars, “before I go hence and be no more seen”, represent a man at peace with himself, his life, and his impending death, and one dares to imagine that the tranquillity of the ending reflects the composer’s own peace.
The final, epic, movement ‘Lord let me know thine end’ sees Parry take the division of choral forces to its logical and maximal conclusion as he writes for two separate choirs, which allows for lots of antiphonal call-and-response moments between the bands of singers. Parry seems to take us through every emotion in this last song, and his craftsmanship is exquisite as he brings the text to life: “for man walketh in a vain shadow” 8 www.thecantusensemble.com
The Text The Peaceable Kingdom I. Say ye to the righteous Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall howl for vexation of spirit. II. Woe unto them Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with cart rope! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink! Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue till night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operations of his hands. Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas! Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth. III. The noise of a multitude The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together; the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled; and their wives ravished. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt. They shall be afraid: pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed at one another, their faces shall be as flames. IV. Howl ye Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou art dissolved. V. The paper reeds by the brooks The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and everything sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
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The Text VI. But these are they that forsake the Lord – For ye shall go out with joy But these are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands. VII. Have ye not known? Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? III. The noise of a multitude VIII. Ye shall have a song Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord. Privilege I. Motive/mission (Text by Ted Hearne) motive/mission you were always fair you were almost always kind weren’t you? you always reached out your hand you almost always refused to lie didn’t you? you wouldn’t close your shining eyes would you? II. Casino (David Simon) it’s almost like a casino you’re looking at the guy winning, you’re looking at the guy who pulled the lever and all the bells go off and all the coins are coming out of a one-armed bandit and you’re thinking that could be me. i’ll play by those rules.
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The Text III. Burning tv song (David Simon) flashing window empty street burning tv song flashing window empty street burning tv song flashing window empty street burning tv song stay IV. They get it (David Simon) we pretend to need them we pretend to educate the kids but we don’t and they’re not foolish they get it V. We cannot leave (traditional Xhosa, translated by Patiswa Nombona and Mollie Stone) we cannot leave this land of our ancestors on this earth we are being killed by the monster on this earth shuku shuku oh, mother, it’s leaving me behind! i want to get on the train to get on the train in the morning i want oh, mother, it’s leaving me behind!
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The Text Songs of Farewell I. My soul, there is a country (Henry Vaughan) My soul, there is a country Far beyond the stars, Where stands a winged sentry, All skilful in the wars: There, above noise and danger, Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles And One, born in a manger Commands the beauteous files. He is thy gracious friend, And O my soul awake! Did in pure love descend To die here for thy sake. If thou canst get but thither, There grows the flow’r of Peace, The Rose that cannot wither, Thy fortress, and thy ease. Leave then thy foolish ranges, For none can thee secure But One who never changes, Thy God, thy life, thy cure. II. I know my soul hath power to know all things (John Davies) I know my soul hath power to know all things, Yet she is blind and ignorant in all: I know I’m one of Nature’s little kings, Yet, to the least and vilest things am thrall. I know my life’s a pain and but a span; I know my sense is mock’d in ev’rything; And, to conclude, I know myself a Man, Which is a proud and yet a wretched thing. III. Never weather-beaten sail (Thomas Campion) Never weather-beaten sail more willing bent to shore, Never tired pilgrim’s limbs affected slumber more, Than my wearied sprite now longs to fly out of my troubled breast:
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The Text O come quickly, sweetest Lord, and take my soul to rest! Ever blooming are the joys of Heaven’s high Paradise, Cold age deafs not there our ears nor vapour dims our eyes: Glory there the sun outshines: whose beams the blessed only see: O come quickly, glorious Lord, and raise my sprite to Thee! IV. There is an old belief (John Gibson Lockhart) There is an old belief, That on some solemn shore, Beyond the sphere of grief dear friends shall meet once more. Beyond the sphere of Time and Sin, and Fate’s control, Serene in changeless prime of body and soul. That creed I fain would keep, That hope I’ll ne’er forgo; Eternal be the sleep, If not to waken so. V. At the round earth’s imagined corners (John Donne) At the round earth’s imagined corners, blow Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise From death, you numberless infinities Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go, All whom the flood did, and fire shall o’erthrow, All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies, Despair, law, chance, hath slain, and you whose eyes, Shall behold God, and never taste death’s woe. But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space, For, if above all these, my sins abound, ’Tis late to ask abundance of thy grace, When we are there. Here on this lowly ground, Teach me how to repent; for that’s as good As if thou hadst sealed my pardon, with thy blood. VI. Lord, let me know mine end Lord, let me know mine end and the number of my days, That I may be certified how long I have to live. Thou hast made my days as it were a span long; And mine age is as nothing, in respect of Thee, and verily, every man living is altogether vanity, For man walketh in a vain shadow, And disquieteth himself in vain, he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them. And now Lord, what is my hope!
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The Text Truly my hope is even in Thee. Deliver me from all mine offences And make me not a rebuke to the foolish. I became dumb and opened not my mouth for it was Thy doing. Take Thy plague away from me, I am even consumed by means of Thy heavy hand. When Thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, Thou makest his beauty to consume away, like as it were a moth, fretting a garment; every man therefore is but vanity. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with Thine ears consider my calling, Hold not Thy peace at my tears! For I am a stranger with Thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen.
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