A Festival of Britten NATIONAL YOUTH CHOIRS OF GREAT BRITAIN
Ben Parry director
James Sherlock organ , piano ; Vicky Lester harp
Semichorus:
A Ceremony of Carols Op. 28 Procession
Wolcum Yole! There is no rose (seniors)
That yongë child (juniors)
Balulalow (seniors)
As dew in Aprille (seniors)
This little Babe Interlude
In freezing winter night (seniors)
Spring Carol (juniors)
Deo gracias
Recession Girls’ Choir / Esther Jones
13 Rejoice in the Lamb Festival Cantata Op. 30
Saskia Jamieson-Bibb solo Nia Chittenden, Rosie Weston solos
National Youth Choir / Robert Isaacs
Bethany Partridge soprano, Rebekah Jones alto, Jacob Dorrell tenor, Tom Bell bass
Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears made good their escape from America in March 1942 on the Axel Johnson, an old Swedish freighter. It had none of the creature comforts of the Ausonia, which three years earlier had brought the two musicians across the Atlantic – threecourse dinners at the captain’s table; recitals and games of quoits and the like – and had to stop for repairs several times between New York and Halifax. Britten despaired at the noisy crew, yet, after months of waiting for passage, his bags packed and papers ready, managed to hold his tongue. Perhaps these tough youths reminded him of his great friend W.H. Auden, perfectly captured in the mid-1930s by a colleague at the GPO Film Unit, Harry Watt, as looking ‘exactly like a half-witted Swedish deckhand’.
Auden was very much a preoccupation at the time. Britten was working on a setting of the poet’s Hymn to St Cecilia, which tells of a beautiful creature with comic-book powers to summon pagan goddesses and harness the trumpets of the apocalypse. He had been interested in writing such a piece for some years, searching before the war for existing Latin texts that would do the job. How fortunate that he waited, for Britten’s music matured considerably in the American years, and Auden’s poem took on far more meaning as war raged about them, the apocalypse seemingly close to hand.
In key ways Britten was leaving not just America behind but Auden too. The failure of Paul Bunyan in 1941 underlined the cracks in their friendship – Auden a finger-wagging, didactic force, Britten slowly gaining in emotional and intellectual confidence as his relationship with Peter Pears deepened. Britten continued to acknowledge what he learned from Auden – the poetry of Donne and Christopher Smart, for instance; the power of art to change humanity – but preferred to do so from a distance. His setting of Smart’s madhouse poetry in Rejoice in the Lamb (1943) – as onomatopoeic as anything in Hymn to St Cecilia, never more so than in the section ‘For the instruments are by their rhimes’ – was a further hat-tip to his friend. But he was now his own man.
Rejoice in the Lamb was Britten’s way of making the gloomy church music of his boyhood more interesting. But it was also his way of engaging with a great English tradition, something that was increasingly important to him, not least in these early years back in England, a conscientious objector nervous about how he was viewed, wondering how he could best serve his community. Hence the flurry of choral works in the 1940s, both as he prepared to return to England and once he was settled there. Some of these were solely liturgical, such as Deus in adjutorium meum … (1945), Britten’s gritty yet radiant
unaccompanied setting of Psalm 70, and the slow-burn Festival Te Deum (1945), which builds on the opening plainsong-like melody, spilling over into an ecstatic statement, ‘O Lord, in thee have I trusted.’
Other works in these years were more like Rejoice in the Lamb, unashamedly positioning one foot in the world of the church, another in that of the concert hall. A Ceremony of Carols (1942) is one such piece, a return in some ways to the narrative ground Britten had trodden so confidently in 1933 in A Boy was Born. Framed by plainsong (a technique to which Britten would return in his Church Parables of the 1960s), the nine mostly anonymous medieval carols are brushed down and given beautiful new colours and effects. The harp accompaniment (and chilling Interlude) stitches an intricate tapestry as a backdrop. The story of Christ’s birth is not told as coherently as it is in A Boy was Born, yet of the two, A Ceremony of Carols is far the more popular work.
There are enough pieces composed throughout Britten’s life to suggest he did not view choral music as sacred alone. He often turned to the poems of Walter de la Mare in adolescence, as he did in 1932 for his Three Two-part Songs, joyful bucolic canons. And in the years that followed he wrote his boyhood evocations, Friday Afternoons, as a present for his schoolteacher brother who needed fun, secular
music to teach his pupils on rowdy afternoons at the end of the week. A similar request resulted in his much later The Golden Vanity, a heart-breaking story of the cruel extinguishing of noble aspiration aboard a ship, which Britten wrote for the Vienna Boys’ Choir, respecting their plea that he come up with a story that did not require them to put on frocks.
There were other such secular works. The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard (1943) was written ‘For Richard Wood and the musicians of Oflag VIIb – Germany’, as the dedication reads. It was a curious choice for prisoners of war separated from their loved ones, dealing as it does with the Lady Barnard’s infidelity with the commoner Musgrave. Yet it perfectly captures the ecstatic love between the pair, their discovery and murder at Lord Barnard’s hand, and Barnard’s genuine lament for his wife. Even Fancie (1961) – a miniature coda to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, first performed the previous year – manages in a little over a minute to turn Shakespeare’s words from The Merchant of Venice into a profound rumination on love.
Tell me where is Fancie bred, Or in the heart or in the head?
Yet throughout his life Britten still chose to either honour or exploit the understood association between choral music and church
worship. He genuinely enjoyed the derring-do tales of saints of his upbringing, long before his friendship with Auden, an enjoyment that would give rise in the late 1940s to Saint Nicolas, whose own magical tricks equal Cecilia’s. While his childhood faith was intact he composed a number of liturgical settings, notably the Te Deum in C and Jubilate Deo in E flat (both 1934), written as a reward for the fine work done by the choir of St Mark’s, North Audley Street, London, on A Boy was Born earlier in the year. The Te Deum is a hushed veneration that explodes on the phrase ‘Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth’. Britten later withdrew the Jubilate, replacing it in 1961 with his Jubilate Deo in C, an altogether more successful setting of the text, with its streetorgan accompaniment and startling falsebottom ending.
By the time of this later Jubilate, however, his boyhood faith had been replaced by a belief in the numinous and a dislike of institutional religion. Yet still he wrote religious settings, notably his Hymn to St Peter (1955) and Hymn to St Columba (1962), the first taking the plainsong melody ‘Tu es Petrus’ as its starting point and knitting from it a beautiful melodic chain, the second a celebration of the missionary Columba and his brimstone preaching. Even Antiphon (1956), though a setting of a religious poem by the metaphysical poet George Herbert rather than a liturgical
text, leaves the listener in no doubt of the sincerity of the hushed closing utterance,
Praised be the God alone, Who hath made of two folds one.
All three pieces look back to a more stable time in Britten’s faith and relationship with the church, a time perfectly captured in his Hymn to the Virgin, composed in 1930 when Britten was only sixteen. Feverish and confined to the school sanatorium, Britten ruled up his own manuscript paper and composed the hymn at speed, his hand and ideas certain. It contains so many lovely effects – an antiphonal choir commenting in Latin on the anonymous medieval English text; a short, doleful coda sung by the antiphonal choir alone – that would appear again and again in Britten’s mature writing. Even its probable source, Arthur Quiller-Couch’s 1919 edition of The Oxford Book of English Verse, was a harbinger of thrilling things to come: until meeting Auden, Britten’s poetic world and imagination was governed by such anthologies. Even having met Auden, Britten would return numerous times to the poetic landscape of his boyhood.
Something did shift in his thinking after the religious settings of the early 1960s, each intended for one Anglican service or another. In 1962 Britten completed War Requiem, a work in which the established church is viciously
attacked for its complicity in the terrible wars of the twentieth century. If the timing seems odd, that Britten should write Antiphon and numerous other religious works at exactly the same time he was working on his damning Requiem, it is worth remembering that he was drawn to the spiritual ideas of Herbert and Donne, which allowed him to sidestep what he saw as the increasingly irrelevant infrastructure of the Anglican Church. Before War Requiem he had kept his counsel on this matter, composing works for services when asked. Thereafter, his choral works were entirely secular, as though he had burned a bridge that could never be repaired.
© 2013 Paul Kildea
Paul Kildea is a conductor and writer. His books include Selling Britten and, as editor, Britten on Music, both for Oxford University Press. Penguin Books published Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century in early 2013 to considerable acclaim.
1 Fancie
Tell me where is Fancie bred, Or in the heart or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Replie, replie!
It is engendered in the eyes, With gazing fed; and Fancie dies In the cradle where it lies.
Let us all ring Fancie’s knell; I’ll begin it: Ding, dong, bell.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
2/11 Festival Te Deum / Te Deum in C
We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father everlasting.
To Thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heav’ns and all the Powers therein.
To Thee Cherubin, and Seraphin continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth! Heav’n and earth are full of the majesty of Thy Glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee.
The Holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee; The Father of an infinite Majesty; Thine honourable, true and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man, Thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heav’n to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the Glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine heritage. Govern them, and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify Thee; and we worship Thy Name, ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in Thee.
O Lord in Thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded.
3 A Hymn of St Columba
Regis regum rectissimi
Prope est dies domini, Dies irae et vindictae, Tenebrarum et nebulae.
Diesque mirabilium Tonitruorum fortium,
Dies quoque angustiae, Maeroris ac tristitiae, In quo cessabit mulierum Amor et desiderium, Nominumque contentio Mundi huius et cupido. attrib. St Columba (521–597)
The day of the Lord, the King of kings most righteous, is at hand, the day of anger and vengeance, of darkness and clouds, and the day of astonishing loud thundering. The day too of troubles, of grief and woe, on which will come to an end the love and desire of women, the strife for fame and the love of this world.
4 Hymn to St Peter
Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth: They shall remember thy name, O Lord. Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: Therefore shall the people praise thee, Alleluia.
Gradual for the feast of St Peter and St Paul
Three Two-part Songs
5 The Ride-by-nights,
6 The Rainbow and
7 The Ship of Rio
Texts copyright Walter de la Mare (1873–1956)
8 A Hymn to the Virgin
Of one that is so fair and bright Velut maris stella as the star of the sea Brighter than the day is light, Parens et puella: mother and maiden I cry to thee, thou see to me, Lady, pray thy Son for me, Tam pia, so holy
That I may come to thee, Maria! Mary
All this world was forlorn Eva peccatrice, through the sin of Eve Till our Lord was born De te genetrice. of you his mother With ave it went away hail Darkest night, and comes the day Salutis; of salvation The well springeth out of thee Virtutis. of virtue
Lady, flow’r of ev’rything, Rosa sine spina, rose without a thorn Thou bare Jesu, Heaven’s king Gratia divina: by God’s grace
Of all thou bear’st the prize, Lady, queen of paradise
Electa: chosen one Maid mild, mother es Effecta. you have become anon. c.1300
9/15 Jubilate Deo in C / Jubilate Deo in E flat
O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song. Be ye sure that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and speak good of his name. For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth from generation to generation. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be: World without end. Amen.
Psalm 100 (Book of Common Prayer)
10 Hymn to St Cecilia
The text, copyright W.H. Auden (1907--1973), is printed in the score of Hymn to St Cecilia published by Boosey and Hawkes
12 The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard
As it fell on one holy day, As many be in the year, When young men and maids together did go Their matins and mass to hear.
Little Musgrave came to the church door, The priest was at private mass, But he had more mind of the fair women Than he had of Our Lady’s grace. The one of them was clad in green, Another was clad in pall, And then came in my Lord Barnard’s wife, The fairest amongst them all.
Quoth she: ‘I’ve loved thee, Little Musgrave, Full long and many a day.’
‘So have I lov’d you, my fair ladye, Yet never a word durst I say.’
‘But I have a bower at Bucklesfordberry, Full daintily it is dight, If thou’lt wend thither, Thou Little Musgrave, Thou’s lig in my arms all night. Yet never a word!’
With that beheard a little tiny page, By his lady’s coach as he ran, Says, ‘Although I am my lady’s foot-page, Yet I am Lord Barnard’s man!’
Then he’s cast off his hose and cast off his shoon, Set down his feet and ran, And where the bridges were broken down He bent his bow and swam.
‘Awake! Awake! Thou Lord Barnard, As thou art a man of life!
Little Musgrave is at Bucklesfordberry, Along with thine own wedded wife.’
He called up his merry men all: ‘Come saddle me my steed, This night must I to Bucklesfordb’ry, F’r I never had greater need.’
But some they whistled, and some they sang, And some they thus could say, Whenever Lord Barnard’s horn it blew: ‘Away, Musgrave, away!
‘Methinks I hear the threstle-cock, Methinks I hear the jay; Methinks I hear Lord Barnard’s horn: Away, Musgrave! Away! ’
‘Lie still, lie still, thou Little Musgrave, And huggle me from the cold; Tis nothing but a shepherd’s boy, A-driving his sheep to the fold.’
By this, Lord Barnard came to his door, And lighted a stone upon; And he’s pull’d out three silver keys, And open’d the doors each one.
He lifted up the coverlet, He lifted up the sheet: ‘Arise, arise, thou Little Musgrave, And put thy clothès on; It shall ne’er be said in my country, I've killed a naked man.
‘I have two swords in one scabbard, They are both sharp and clear; Take you the best, and I the worst, We’ll end the matter here.’
The first stroke Little Musgrave struck, He hurt Lord Barnard sore; The next stroke that Lord Barnard struck Little Musgrave ne’er struck more.
‘Woe worth you, my merry men all, You were ne’er born for my good! Why did you not offer to stay my hand? When you saw me wax so wood?
‘For I’ve slain also the fairest ladye, That ever wore woman’s weed, Soe I have slain the fairest ladye, That ever did woman’s deed.
‘A grave, a grave,’ Lord Barnard cried, ‘To put these lovers in. But lay my lady on the upper hand, For she comes of the nobler kin.’ anon.
13 Deus in adjutorium meum …
Deus in adjutorium meum intende. Domine ad adjuvandum me festina. Confundantur, et revereantur, qui quaerunt animam meam. Avertantur retrorsum, et erubescant, qui volunt mihi mala. Avertantur statim erubescentes, qui dicunt mihi: Euge, euge. Exultent et laetentur in te omnes qui quaerunt te, et dicant semper: Magnificetur Dominus: qui diligunt salutare tuum. Ego vero egenus, et pauper sum: Deus adjuva me. Adjutor meus, et liberator meus es tu: Domine ne moreris. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Psalm 70 (69 Vulgate)
Hasten, O God, to my aid. Make haste to help me, O Lord. Let them be confounded and afraid that seek after my soul. Let them be turned backward and ashamed that wish me evil. Let them be straight away brought to shame that cry over me, ‘Ha, ha’. But let all those that seek you be joyful and glad in you, and let all such as delight in your salvation say always, ‘The Lord be praised.’ As for me, I am poor and needy: help me, O God. You are my helper and my redeemer: O Lord, do not delay. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, throughout all ages. Amen.
14 Antiphon
Praisèd be the God of love,
Here below,
And here above:
Who hath dealt his mercies so,
To his friend,
And to his foe;
That both grace and glorie tend
Us of old,
And us in th’end.
The great shepherd of the fold
Us did make, For us was sold.
He our foes in pieces brake;
Him we touch;
And him we take.
Wherefore since that he is such,
We adore,
And we do crouch.
Lord, thy praises should be more.
We have none,
And we no store.
Praisèd be the God alone,
Who hath made of two folds one.
George Herbert (1593–1633)
A Ceremony of Carols
1 Procession
Hodie Christus natus est: hodie Salvator apparuit: hodie in terra canunt angeli: laetantur archangeli: hodie exsultant iusti dicentes: gloria in excelsis Deo. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Magnificat Antiphon at Second Vespers of Christmas
Today Christ is born: today appears the Saviour: today the angels sing on earth: the archangels rejoice: today the righteous exult and say: glory to God in the highest.
2 Wolcum Yole!
Wolcum be thou hevenè king, Wolcum Yole!
Wolcum, born in one morning, Wolcum for whom we sall sing! Wolcum be ye, Stevene and Jon, Wolcum, Innocentes every one, Wolcum, Thomas marter one, Wolcum be ye, good Newe Yere, Wolcum, Twelfthe Day both in fere, Wolcum, seintes lefe and dere, Wolcum Yole, Wolcum Yole, Wolcum! Candelmesse, Quene of bliss, Wolcum bothe to more and lesse.
Wolcum be ye that are here, Wolcum Yole,
Wolcum alle and make good cheer, Wolcum alle another yere.
anon., 14th century
3 There is no rose
There is no rose of such vertu
As is the rose that bare Jesu. Alleluia.
For in this rose conteinèd was Heaven and earth in litel space, Res miranda.
By that rose we may well see There be one God in persons three, Pares forma.
The aungels sungen the shepherds to: Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gaudeamus.
Leave we all this werldly mirth, And follow we this joyful birth. Transeamus.
anon., 14th century
Res miranda – a wondrous thing Pares forma – equal in form Gloria in excelsis Deo – Glory to God in the highest Gaudeamus – let us rejoice Transeamus – let us cross over
4 That yongë child
That yongë child when it gan weep With song she lulled him asleep: That was so sweet a melody It passèd alle minstrelsy.
The nightingalë sang also: Her song is hoarse and nought thereto: Whoso attendeth to her song And leaveth the first then doth he wrong.
anon., 14th century gan – began to
5 Balulalow
O my deare hert, young Jesu sweit, Prepare thy creddil in my spreit, And I sall rock thee to my hert, And never mair from thee depart.
But I sall praise thee evermoir With sanges sweit unto thy gloir; The knees of my hert sall I bow, And sing that richt Balulalow.
James, John and Robert Wedderburn (c.1548)
creddil – cradle spreit – spirit gloir – glory
6 As dew in Aprille
I sing of a maiden That is makèles:
King of all kings
To her son she ches.
He came al so stille
There his moder was, As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the grass.
He came al so stille
To his moder’s bour, As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the flour.
He came al so stille
There his moder lay, As dew in Aprille That falleth on the spray.
Moder and mayden was Never none but she: Well may such a lady Goddes moder be. anon., c.1400 makèles – virginal ches – chose bour – bower
7 This little Babe
This little Babe so few days old, Is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at his presence quake, Though he himself for cold do shake; For in this weak unarmed wise The gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights and wins the field, His naked breast stands for a shield; His battering shot are babish cries, His arrows looks of weeping eyes, His martial ensigns Cold and Need, And feeble Flesh his warrior’s steed.
His camp is pitchèd in a stall, His bulwark but a broken wall; The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes; Of shepherds he his muster makes; And thus, as sure his foe to wound, The angels’ trumps alarum sound.
My soul, with Christ join thou in fight; Stick to the tents that he hath pight. Within his crib is surest ward; This little Babe will be thy guard. If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy, Then flit not from this heavenly Boy.
Robert Southwell (?1561–1595)
8 Interlude
9 In freezing winter night
Behold, a silly tender babe, In freezing winter night, In homely manger trembling lies. Alas, a piteous sight!
The inns are full; no man will yield This little pilgrim bed. But forced he is with silly beasts In crib to shroud his head.
This stable is a Prince’s court, This crib his chair of State; The beasts are parcel of his pomp, The wooden dish his plate.
The persons in that poor attire His royal liveries wear; The Prince himself is come from heaven; This pomp is prizèd there.
With joy approach, O Christian wight, Do homage to thy King, And highly praise his humble pomp, Wich he from Heaven doth bring.
Robert Southwell
10 Spring Carol
Pleasure it is to hear iwis, the birdès sing, The deer in the dale, the sheep in the vale, The corn springing.
God’s purveyance for sustenance. It is for man.
Then we always to him give praise, And thank him than. William Cornysh (d. 1523) than – then
11 Deo gracias
Deo gracias!
Adam lay ibounden, bounden in a bond; Four thousand winter thought he not to long
And all was for an appil, an appil that he tok, As clerkès finden written in their book.
Ne had the appil takè ben, the appil takè ben, Ne hadde never our lady a ben hevenè quene.
Blessed be the time that appil takè was.
Therefore we moun singen.
Deo gracias!
anon., 15th century
Deo gracias – thanks be to God
13 Rejoice in the Lamb
Rejoice in God, O ye Tongues; give the glory to the Lord, and the Lamb.
Nations, and languages, and every Creature in which is the breath of Life.
Let man and beast appear before him, and magnify his name together.
Let Nimrod, the mighty hunter, bind a Leopard to the altar and consecrate his spear to the Lord.
Let Ishmail dedicate a Tyger, and give praise for the liberty in which the Lord has let him at large.
Let Balaam appear with an ass, and bless the Lord his people and his creatures for a reward eternal.
Let Daniel come forth with a Lion, and praise God with all his might through faith in Christ Jesus.
Let Ithamar minister with a Chamois, and bless the name of Him that cloatheth the naked.
Let Jakim with the Satyr bless God in the dance.
Let David bless with the Bear – the beginning of victory to the Lord – to the Lord the perfection of excellence – Hallelujah from the heart of God, and from the hand of the artist inimitable, and from the echo of the heavenly harp in sweetness magnifical and mighty.
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
For he knows that God is his saviour.
For God has bless’d him in the variety of his movements.
For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
For I am possessed of a cat, surpassing in beauty, from whom I take occasion to bless Almighty God.
For the Mouse is a creature of great personal valour.
For this is a true case – Cat takes female mouse – male mouse will not depart, but stands threat’ning and daring.
… If you will let her go, I will engage you, as prodigious a creature as you are.
For the Mouse is a creature of great personal valour.
For the Mouse is of an hospitable disposition.
For the flowers are great blessings.
For the flowers have their angels even the words of God’s creation.
For the flower glorifies God and the root parries the adversary.
For there is a language of flowers.
For the flowers are peculiarly the poetry of Christ.
For I am under the same accusation with my Saviour –
For they said, he is besides himself.
For the officers of the peace are at variance with me, and the watchman smites me with his staff.
For Silly fellow! Silly fellow! is against me and belongeth neither to me nor to my family.
For I am in twelve HARDSHIPS, but he that was born of a virgin shall deliver me out of all.
For H is a spirit and therefore he is God.
For K is king and therefore he is God.
For L is love and therefore he is God.
For M is musick and therefore he is God.
For the instruments are by their rhimes.
For the Shawm rhimes are lawn fawn moon boon and the like.
For the harp rhimes are sing ring string and the like.
For the cymbal rhimes are bell well toll soul and the like.
For the flute rhimes are tooth youth suit mute and the like.
For the Bassoon rhimes are pass class and the like.
For the dulcimer rhimes are grace place and the like.
For the Clarinet rhimes are clean seen and the like.
For the trumpet rhimes are sound bound and the like.
For the TRUMPET of God is a blessed intelligence and so are all the instruments in HEAVEN.
For GOD the Father Almighty plays upon the HARP of stupendous magnitude and melody.
For at that time malignity ceases and the devils themselves are at peace.
For this time is perceptible to man by a remarkable stillness and serenity of soul.
Hallelujah from the heart of God, and from the hand of the artist inimitable, and from the echo of the heavenly harp in sweetness magnifical and mighty.
Christopher Smart (1722–1771), from Jubilate Agno
Ben Parry has a successful career as a composer, conductor, arranger, singer and producer in classical and light music fields. He has made over 70 recordings and his compositions and arrangements are published by Peters Edition and Faber Music. Current and previous appointments include Director of Aldeburgh Voices, co-director of London Voices and Eton Choral courses, Assistant Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge, Director of Choral Music at the Royal Conservatoire Scotland and Musical Director and singer with The Swingle Singers. Ben is Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, and conducts the Chamber Choir for this recording.
Robert Isaacs balances a busy career of conducting, singing, and teaching in his native USA. He is the newly appointed Director of Choral Activities at Cornell University, having previously run choral programmes at Princeton University and the Manhattan School of Music. Robert holds degrees in creative writing (Columbia University) and choral music (Harvard University) and spent an equally educational stint working as a juggler on the streets of San Francisco. Robert is Assistant Music Director
of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, leading the musicianship programme. He conducts the National Youth Choir’s recording of Rejoice in the Lamb.
Greg Beardsell is a leading light in music education and performance. He is Artistic Director of the Irish Youth Choir and formerly Director of the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. His extensive collaborations have seen him work with dance companies, electro-acoustic musicians, Irish folk bands, Indian musicians and jazz bands. Greg is a member of The Lip Factory, a seven-voice group headed up by world-renowned beatboxer Shlomo. Greg is Deputy Artistic Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, overseeing both NYCGB training choirs. He conduts Training Choir South on this recording.
Esther Jones is a professional conductor specialising in choral music and music education, in demand across the UK and beyond as a conductor, teacher, adjudicator and animateur. She studied music at Oxford and choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was the first Open Academy Fellow and now teaches part-time. She also directs a number of choirs in London and the
south east. Esther is Deputy Music Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, overseeing all four junior choirs. She conducts the Girls’ Choir in A Ceremony of Carols.
Dominic Peckham is regarded as one of the UK’s finest ambassadors of choral music, both in performance and through his critically acclaimed educational work. Among other roles, he is Artistic Director of The Royal Opera House’s RM19, Director of The Ulster Youth Training Choir, Patron and Adjudicator of The Voice Festival UK and has recently been appointed Musical Director of The London Oriana Choir. Dominic is Assistant Music Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and conduts Training Choir North in some of their works on this recording.
Rachel Staunton is an experienced and enthusiastic music educator, giving workshops and adjudicating at festivals all over the UK. After gaining a First Class honours degree and postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music, she is now Vocal Consultant for Opera North Children’s Chorus and their large-scale In Harmony music education project. She founded the London Youth Choir in October 2012. Rachel is
Assistant Music Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and conducts Training Choir North in some of their works on this recording.
Greg Hallam balances a freelance career conducting, singing and teaching, running residential courses for choirs and consort groups, including Ulster Youth Training Choir, Swansea Bach Choir, Bracknell Choral Society and London Youth Boys’ Choir. He studied Choral Conducting with Patrick Russill and Paul Brough at the Royal Academy of Music, gaining distinction for his MA and LRAM awards. Greg is Assistant Music Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and is the regular conductor of the Boys’ Choir.
Niall Crowley started conducting professionally aged just 19 when he established a boys’ choir in his home town of Waterford. He is now one of the leading exponents of choral music in Ireland, as Musical Director of the Waterford Institute of Technology’s awardwinning Choral Music Programme, tutoring on singing, choral and conducting courses throughout Ireland, including the Irish Youth Choir and Ulster Youth Choir. Niall is Assistant Music Director of the
National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and is the regular conductor of Cambiata Voices.
Further details for all the conductors can be found at www.nycgb.net/people/musicaldirectors-and-conductors
James Sherlock (organ and piano) performs widely as pianist, organist and conductor, and is much in demand as an accompanist working with leading singers, instrumentalists and choirs. His wide discography includes awards from International piano, BBC Music and Classic FM magazines. He is a regular guest at major music venues and festivals internationally, working alongside vocal groups Tenebrae, Voces 8, NYCGB and Blake, and singers including Angelika Kirschlager and Sarah Connolly. James studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Georg Solti Accademia and the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden. He is a winner of the Royal Overseas League Piano Competition, Award for Young Concert Artists (Making Music), BBC Fame Academy and Gold Medallist at the Marcello Galanti International Organ Competition, and serves as Director of Music at Hampstead Parish Church and a Fellow of the GSMD.
www.jamessherlock.net
Vicky Lester (harp) leads a rich and diverse musical life as a London freelance harpist. She is in demand as a soloist, giving numerous solo recitals nationwide as well as making appearances as a concerto soloist with orchestras across the country. Vicky is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, where her studies were generously supported by the Musicians Benevolent Fund and a ‘Star’ Award from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. As an orchestral harpist, Vicky has played with most of the country’s finest professional orchestras including the RPO, RSNO, CBSO, ENO, Liverpool Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and she is currently guest principal harpist with the Sønderjyllands Symphony Orchestra in Denmark. She has performed on stage and on television with a huge variety of artists from the worlds of both classical and popular music.
www.vickylester.co.uk/
The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain (NYCGB), now in its thirtieth year, provides the widest of musical experiences for over 750 young people aged 9-24.
The various choirs are: Boys’ Choir, for trebles in school years 5-10 and Cambiata Voices, for boys undergoing voice change in school years 6-10: these choirs train together; Girls’ Choirs Junior and Senior, for girls in school
years 6-10, which also train together; Training Choirs North and South, for mixed voices in school years 9-13; National Youth Choir, for mixed voices from school year 11 to age 22; and Chamber Choir for young professionals and those studying to become professional singers up to age 24.
NYCGB’s youngest singers have very different needs from those in their early twenties, and the choir structure enables it to nurture these musicians from their earliest potential, providing high quality mentoring and guidance through their musical development.
The twice-yearly residential courses run by NYCGB for each choir include intensive rehearsals, classes in musicianship and individual and group singing lessons, all of which take place in an environment which cultivate teamwork and leadership. The courses aim to develop performance skills at the highest level, challenging young singers to embrace a broad and diverse repertoire and to develop a flexible and creative approach to musical performance.
In order to continue to offer a high quality artistic and educational programme, the choir engages with a diverse range of artists and educational bodies, nationally and internationally. By carefully monitoring and responding to this wider musical landscape, NYCGB continues to remain as relevant, supportive and exciting as possible.
Boys’ Choir
Oscar Balfour
Hugo Carpenter
Matthew Chan
Joshua Conway
Stephen Conquer
Harvey Cullis
Thomas Edwards
Kai Felstead
Ben Ford
Cameron Goold
Rowan Ireland
Leo Johnson
Sam Lightwing
Ben Osgood
Thomas Paley-Menzies
Leo Parry
Thomas Pegram
Frederick Rees
Daniel Sandell
John Scholey
Jack Simpson
Luke Temple
Sebastian Thomas
Jake Trembath
Stephon Umashangar
Luke Vinecombe
Glyn Webster
Callum West
Oliver West
Oscar Wells
Cai Williams
George Williams
Cambiata Voices
Tenor 1
Nicholas Backhouse
George Blackwell
Dan Coxon
Robert Ekbery
Theo Golden
John Henry Kelly
Sam McGregor
Reid Morgan
William Partridge
Alex Petter
Noah Radcliffe-Adams
Oscar Ridout
Anthony Tuch
Ben Whitehead
Thomas Wilcox-Mahon
Zach Yarrow
Tenor 2
Jake Alston
Thomas Ashdown
Oliver Champness
Luke Collins
William Fowler
Matt Jackson
Alexander Kerley
Joss Littler
Callum May
Kedem Morgan
Benedict Munden
Peter Oliver
Dominic Rawson
Alastair Walker
Baritone
Robert Anderson
Ben Baker
Daniel Bell
Max Campbell
Spike Clarkson
Timothy Greenbank
Samuel Haywood
Rupert Jackson
Alfred Mitchell
Anthony Moll
Oliver Neale
Peter Nieves
Hamish Sennett
Bass
Daniel Bassett
Jacob Billings
Henry Bittleston
Dominic Carrington
Joe Chamberlain
Henry Chappell
Samuel Cross
Robert Davies
Jamie Goodwyn
Harry Guthrie
George Horgan
Cassius Kay
Jacob Oberholzer
Thomas Parfitt
Harry Poore
James Preston-Pacey
George Ryland
Alexander Scott
Girls’ Choir
Soprano 1
Seniors
Lucinda Baker
Caroline Bassett
Eleanor Bunce
Siobhan Carlin
Bea Carpenter
Emily Christian
Evie Davies
Megan Dennis
Charlotte Dick
Ellena Dover
Gabriella Eels
Honor Halford-MacLeod
Emma Hoggett
Amy Hughes
Aoife Judge
Anna Lalande
Lucy Lambert
Harriet Lang
Bronte Larsen-Disney
Georgia Lennon
Rebekah Lindo
Hannah Michell
Katie Newton
Ruby O’Connell-Rogers
Anna Palethorpe
Jennifer Palmer
Mollie Richmond
Morgan Rooke
Rebecca Smith
Katy Staite
Sophie Steers
Anna Sutherland
Charlotte Tuffill
Georgia Webb
Rosie Weston
Isobel Wicks
Chloe Wood
Juniors
Lily Ashton
Faith-Sarah Benson
Georgina Brown
Genevieve Bunce
Annabel Chappell
Amanda Cufley
Varsha Dadachanji
Yasmin Dugdale
Annabel Glover
Iona Griffiths
Julia Lelewel
Georgia McBurnie
Ellen McDonald
Imogen Parsley
Alice Rees
Alicia Ruiz-Yeganeh
Katie Sanders
Hannah Wakefield
Matilda Wale
Soprano 2
Seniors
Sophie Anderson
Claudia Atkinson
Samantha Blackman
Freya Bolton
Eleanor Brown
Flora Buckley
Sarah Carroll
Francesca Carver
Nia Chittenden
Ruby Donnelly
Alexandra Elvidge
Lily Goss
Lucy Green
Olivia Hamblyn
Lauren Hardyman
Ellie Haston
Sara Hill
Amaryllis Emily Hill
Katherine Hodgson
Saskia Jamieson-Bibb
Megan Kelly
Emily Kiel
Hannah McNaboe
Lauren Morgan
Niamh Morrissey
Nicola Myers
Jemima Oakey
Emma Read
Megan Rutherford
Alexandra Stewart-Ashley
Amy Talbot
Isabelle Tett
Lydia Tunstall
Molly Upjohn
Sophia Wakefield
Bethany Williams
Sarah Woodmansey
Juniors
Issie Attey
Kitty Casey
Lucy Cole
Mia Fisher
Jennifer King
Izumi Magee
Emilie Meyer
Hannah Moore
Anna Mullock
Milly Orr Ewing
Alexandra Persinaru
Isabel Pott
Ksenia Reimchen
Emma Reynolds
Hannah Samuel
Lydia Stables
Arabella Vickers
Alexandra Watson
Zoe Wheelwright
Lola Willcock
Alto Seniors
Marion Bird
Rachel Bird
Lara Breckon
Amelia Cant
Hannah Coles
Bethany Conway
Flora Davies
Sian Davies
Louise Gerth
Olivia Gough
Sophie Grosz-Dequenne
Ella Halpern Matthews
Jessica Higgins
Isabel Irvine
Anna Kell
Esme Lees
Isabella Markham
Aimee O’Doherty
Ruby O’Kane
Lucy Parfitt
Anna Pathak
Ellen Pearson
Hannah Rashbass
Phoebe-Loveday
Raymond
Lulu Renney
Clara Rupf
Rosie Sewell
Molly Soo
Elizabeth Steven
Nina Sundstrom
Grace Thomas
Olivia Thomas
Sacha Thompson
Helena Tuck
Farren Turner
Laura Watts
Stella Werth
Juniors
Francesca Banks
Laura Barraclough
Hettie Cloud
Millie Eve
Saskia Goodwill
Abigail Henderson
Eleanor Lavers
Olivia Lindo
Annie O’Gorman
Annabelle Pearce
Morgan-Darcy ReesDeacon
Jennifer Rodgers
Samrah Siddiqi
Emily Simpson
Florence Stone
Josie Tyers
Training Choir North
Soprano 1
Liberty Anstead
Sapphire Armitage
Daisy Ball
Vivienne Bertram
Esther Brassett
Natalie Cameron
Hannah Deasy
Sarah Dover
Robyn Haggie
Emma Hall
Sophie Moores
Freya Morgan
Juliet Powell
Ella Rainbird-Earley
Sophie Rudge
Chloe Salvidge
Emily Scott
Imogen Vining
Eleanor Walder
Soprano 2
Samantha Allsop
Harriet Aspin
Sula Cotterell
Imogen Creedy
Sophie Daniels
Harriet Edwards
Susannah Hill
Ruth Hoare
Zoe Jackson
Hebe James
Emma Jones
Loren Kell
Sophie Overin
Kethaki Prathivadi
Alice Zoe Roberts
Amrita Shergill
Molly Toolan-Kerr
Amy Walker
Elizabeth Watson
Lauren Woolley
Alto
Danielle Brosnan
Ilona Bushell
Isobel Carlin
Amber Fudge
Ciaran Jasper
Katherine Jeffries-Harris
Eleanor Leaper
Hannah Lee
Alice Lindsay
Hannah Peace
Hannah Thomas
Emma Wright
Alix Newton
Josie Perry Tenor
Isaac Bateman
William de Chazal
James Field
Peter Law
James Micklethwaite
James Nash
James Otieno
Alexander Porteous
Oliver Price
Sebastian Robson
Andrew Woodmansey
Bass
Benoit Andre
David Bagshaw
George Clark
Alistair Donaghue
Richard Fairlie
Marek Hilton
Matthew Hull
Edward Jowle
Thomas Last
Thomas Mullock
John Oliver
Miles Potts
Edward Robinson
Thomas Ryland
Dominic Spencer-Jolly
Benjamin Thurlow
Dominic Wright
Training Choir South
Soprano 1
Georgina Armfield
Lucy Donora
Louise Duff
Stephanie Edwards
Francesca Englezou
Alice Gillie
Annabel Green
Hannah Jeffery
Zoe Lakota-Baldwin
Megan Lawrence
Mabel Moll
Emma Nelson
Kirsty O’Neill
Danielle O’Neill
Cerys Price
Iona Purvis
Anna Saunders
Olivia Strafford
Lilly Werth
Hannah Wills
Soprano 2
Fern Ashby
Kathleen Brenner
Tierney Chappell
Catherine Clark
Mei Ling DaniellGreenhalgh
Megan Dolman
Kate Egerton-King
Sylvie Field
Emily Higgins
Kirsty Hobkirk
Catherine Hooper
Jessica Lee
Ruth Lovett
Alison Mansfield
Cara-Jade Nichols
Eliza Parr
Harriet Peck
Alicia Pettit
Kate Russell
Jadwiga Slomka
Charlotte Taylor
Bethany Wright
Alto
Poppy Barrett-Fish
Sadie Bosher
Georgia Ellis
Ella Garner
Antonia Gough
Melissa Kirby
Philippa Moreton
Olivia Perrett
Florence Pope
Matilda Smith
Serena Steptoe
Clare Sutherland
Florence Wadley
Helen Walpole
Tenor
George Cook
Gabriel Fry
Sam Herman-Wilson
Daniel Hunt
Jack Huxtable
Michael Jacobs
Aidan Nightingale
Philip Orchard
Joseph Partridge
William Pearson
William Pepperell
Matthew Pope
Jack Robertson
Joel Whitewood
Bass
Oliver Black
Thomas Boutelle
George Butler
Anthony Chater
Jonathan Cooper
Simon Grant
Jonathan Hunkin
Nicholas Kerley
Andrew Noble
Henry Schulte
Sebastian Souter
Harold Thalange
Louis Watkins
National Youth Choir
Soprano 1
Ella Bodeker
Luisa Boselli Alcock
Elinor Cooper
Robyn Donnelly
Helen Lacey
Anna Lush
Anna Marmion
Rosie Miller
Isabelle Morgan
Elisabeth Munns
Bethany Partridge
Eleanor Partridge
Elisabeth Paul
Milly Price
Jennifer Shrimpton
Julia Storm
Soprano 2
Kate Apley
Rachel Balcombe
Sophie Denton
Katie Dobson
Emma Doherty
Naomi Dunston
Zara Fyfe
Molly Garfoot
Annie Hamilton
Mary Hamilton
Sam Hickman
Maisie Hulbert
Grace Le Tocq
Jessica Mabin
Katie Maundrell
Kayleigh McEvoy
Eleanor Penfold
Alice Pollock
Alice Pusey
Suyen Rae
Leona Roberts
Madeleine Sakakini
Florence Taylor
Mhairi Thatcher
Alto 1
James Blay
Jessica Blease
Christy Callaway-Gale
Paige Campbell
Lucia Chan
Katie Coventry
Alisha Hart
Victoria Hodges
Anna Jackson
Louise Laprun
Beth Mabin
Alex Masters
Charlotte Roberts-
Rhodes
Hannah Semple
Miriam Shovel
Ellie Sowden
Elske Waite
Eleanor Warner
Alto 2
Emma Buckley
Jessica Croghan
Jessica Edwards
Elsa Field
Lara Harvey
Sarah Hickling
Rosheen Iyer
Rebekah Jones
Liz Kelly
Hannah Millard
Sarah Penny
Amelia Tudor Beamish
Katrina Rose Wilson
Tenor 1
William Anderson
Richard Bignall
Rupert Dugdale
Laurence Jeffcoate
David Jones
Oliver Kelham
Cameron Mitchell
Andrew Mott
Timothy Peters
Tenor 2
David Casey
Jacob Dorrell
Benjamin Gutsell
Daniel Marx
Benedict Rowe
Jonathan Schranz
Alistair Semmence
Matthew Thomson
Jonathan Wood
Bass 1
Richard Austin
Charlie Baigent
Jonathan Champion
Thomas Chevis
Eamonn Cox
Andrew Horton
Jeremy Hubbard
James Hutchings
Andrew Johnston
Oliver Jones
Oliver Kember
James Quilligan
Ben Tomlin
Tom Unwin
Bass 2
Gary Allen
Tom Bell
Luke De Belder
Thomas Durrant
Daniel Hayes
David Ireland
Greg Link
Daniel Overin
Danny Purtell
Edoardo Toso
Robert Welsby
Chamber Choir
Soprano
Laura Attridge
Amelia Berridge
Hannah Berridge
Charlotte Brosnan
Robyn Donnelly
Victoria Hodges
Sarah Maxted
Emily Owen
Bethany Partridge
Hannah Partridge
Lissie Paul
Elizabeth Stock Alto
Felicity Buckland
Sarah Champion
Rebekah Jones
Louise Laprun
Amy Lyddon
George Poppe
Tenor
Christopher Hann
Robbie Jacobs
Felix Leach
Ted Lougher
James Slimings
Matthew Thomson
Bass
Peter Bardsley
George Coltart
Greg Hallam
Greg Link
David Le Prevost
Jamie Wright
