Gabriel Jackson
Sacred choral WorkS
choir of St Mary’s cathedral, edinburgh
Matthew owens
Recorded in the presence of the composer on 23-24 February and 1-2 March 2004 (choir), 21 December 2004 (St Asaph Toccata) and 4 January 2005 (Laudate Pueri) in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh by kind permission of the Provost
Gabriel Jackson
Sacred choral WorkS
Edinburgh Mass
1 Kyrie [2:55]
2 Gloria [4:56]
Katy Thomson treble
3 Sanctus & Benedictus [2:20]
Lewis Main & Katy Thomson trebles (Sanctus)
Robert Colquhoun & Andrew Stones altos (Sanctus)
Simon Rendell alto (Benedictus)
4 Agnus Dei [4:24]
choir of St Mary’s cathedral,
Matthew owens
edinburgh
5 O Sacrum Convivium [6:35]
6 Creator of the Stars of Night [4:16]
Katy Thomson treble
7 Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ [4:13]
Katy Thomson treble
8 A Prayer of King Henry VI [2:54]
9 Preces [1:11]
The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor
10 Psalm 112: Laudate Pueri [9:49]
11 Magnificat (Truro Service) [4:16]
Oliver Boyd treble
12 Nunc Dimittis (Truro Service) [2:16]
Ben Carter bass
13 Responses [5:32]
The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor
14 Salve Regina [5:41]
Katy Thomson treble
15 Dismissal [0:28]
The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor
16 St Asaph Toccata [8:34]
Total playing time [70:22]
Producer: Paul Baxter Engineers: David Strudwick, Andrew Malkin
Assistant Engineers: Edward Bremner, Benjamin Mills
24-Bit digital editing: Adam Binks
24-Bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
All first recordings (except O Sacrum Convivium)
Cover image: Peter Newman, Vapour Trails (oil on canvas)
Session Photography: Gary Baker (www.gbphotography.com)
Design: John Christ
Michael Bonaventure organ (tracks 10 & 16)
Susan Hamilton soprano (track 10)
The Choir of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh (tracks 1-9, 11-15)
Simon Nieminski organ accompaniment (tracks 6 & 7)
Matthew Owens conductor
A note from the composer
This recording is the culmination of a four-year association with Matthew Owens and the Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral which has been, for me, uniquely treasurable. Four of the choral works on the disc were written specially for the choir and the others have all found a regular place in their repertoire as well. It is unusual and very special for a composer to have the opportunity to build a long-term relationship of this kind. A firsthand and detailed knowledge of the particular abilities of the singers, of the building in which they sing, and the style of worship at the cathedral has deeply affected the music I have written: in the Edinburgh Mass, especially, I have tried to reflect the personality of the choir – exuberant, fiercely intelligent, yet also possessed of a rare numinousness and intimacy. To hear my work brought to life with such fearless commitment and with an intense musicality that is quite overwhelming in its fervour and immediacy has been an exhilarating experience.
I am by no means the only composer to have been blessed with such artistry and compelling advocacy, for immediately upon his arrival in Edinburgh in 1999 Matthew sought to place contemporary music at the heart of the cathedral’s musical life with an ambitious programme of commissions and other premieres. The importance of this cannot be overstated, for if the Anglican
repertoire is not to ossify and become insulated from the world outside it desperately needs the challenge and stimulus – for choir and congregation alike – of new music. Rather than reassuring us with the cosy and the familiar, genuinely new music speaks powerfully of that which we don’t yet know, and it is this quality of revelation that can make the work of living composers such a potent force in the daily liturgy. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, church music was written by the greatest composers of the day; by inviting major figures from outside the organ loft tradition – Arvo Pärt, Howard Skempton, James MacMillan, Gavin Bryars and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies among others – to compose new works for the choir, Matthew has sought to ensure that this is again the case, and thereby he has enriched immeasurably the lives of worshippers at St Mary’s.
All this has been achieved with not just the support, but the active encouragement of the Provost of St Mary’s, The Very Revd Graham Forbes. Immediately after the first performance of Creator of the Stars of Night on Advent Sunday in 2000, Graham asked me if I would write ‘a sensible Mass’ for the choir. I was both honoured and excited by this request, not only because an invitation to compose a major piece for this, the most important Office, is an inspiring challenge but
equally importantly, because the Provost so values the music in his cathedral that he is minded to instigate new works personally.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to contribute to the musical life of St Mary’s Cathedral as extensively as I have. The journey from Edinburgh airport to Haymarket Station, followed by a short walk to Palmerston Place and the imposing neoGothic cathedral, has become a well-worn and much-loved one, freighted as it is with eager anticipation of the unfailingly glorious and vibrant music-making that lies ahead. The last four years have been a remarkable adventure and I am profoundly grateful to everyone in the cathedral family – choir, clergy and congregation – for the warmth of their hospitality and for their friendship.
Gabriel Jackson 6 December 2004Some fourteen years separate the earliest Jackson work recorded on this disc, the unaccompanied motet O Sacrum Convivium, and the most recent, the setting of Psalm 112 for solo soprano and organ. In 1990, when Jackson wrote O Sacrum Convivium, his music was scarcely known beyond a small circle of friends and cognoscenti. Today, he is in constant demand as one of the most accomplished and prolific writers of choral work in the UK, receiving performances by some of the leading choirs in both Britain and Europe.
Born in Bermuda in 1962, Jackson’s most formative musical experience was three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. Performing great choral repertoire in an inspiring space left an indelible impression –Jackson continues to regard unaccompanied voices in a resonant acoustic as his favourite sound in music. The influence of the then organist at Canterbury, Allan Wicks, was also significant. Wicks championed contemporary music, making early recordings of the Messiaen organ cycles and regularly performing with the cathedral choir innovative new works such as the Tippett Canticles. Early music was also part of the mix, from Purcell back to Elizabethan times and before. This too left a lasting imprint on Jackson –the re-interpretation in its characteristic forms of both late-medieval and Renaissance music has become a central focus of his work.
By his teens, Jackson was already convinced of his ambition to compose. Initial studies with Richard Blackford, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, gave him a flexible technique and immersed him in the mainstream of European modernist composition. By the mid-1980s, however, he was moving on, in search of a more personal and directly communicative voice. Stravinsky had remained a constant exemplar, but now Jackson became drawn to the radical simplicity of Tavener and Górecki, at that point far less modish figures than they were to become in the succeeding decade. Jackson’s music has elements in common with their work – the use of drones to underpin melismatic solo lines, static, repetitive structures, block chords, all serving to engender a meditative atmosphere.
Jackson himself says of his music that it is not about conflict and resolution, that even when animated it remains essentially contemplative.
Unlike Tavener, Górecki, or Arvo Pärt, Jackson’s work rejoices in warm, major-key hues and Ionian modality, whilst echoing English music of both the recent and more distant past. An ecstatic quality is pre-eminent, associated by Jackson himself with uplifting childhood memories of experiencing timeless music in a luminous acoustic. Amongst other twentieth century composers, Howells and Tippett are acknowledged influences; Rachmaninov and Poulenc are also admired. Recently, however,
the re-exploration of earlier musical models has come to the fore, though Jackson has been at pains to point out that his music, whilst drawing on an historical legacy for its techniques and ideas, is nonetheless specifically contemporary: there is no idealisation of, or desired return to, a paradisal past. Rather, he seeks to re-make for his own use the traditions of carol, votive antiphon and Eton Choirbook motet, the techniques of cantus firmus, canon and gimel, to create from them something new and personal that enhances both his own music and the great tradition upon which it draws.
Much of the music on this disc will have been first heard in the context of worship. This is reflected in its placing here within a format that includes a Mass with communion motet, and a Choral Evensong (introit, preces and responses, psalm, canticles, anthem and voluntary – sermon, hymns and spoken texts are omitted). Two carols are also included, situated between the two services. The settings chosen are appropriate for celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation. The Marian theme is especially appropriate, in that it honours the name saint of the cathedral whose choir has done so much to bring this music into being.
to follow the economical, concise examples of Poulenc (Mass in G), Stravinsky (Mass) and Pärt (Berliner Messe). The pared-down, almost terse nature of this setting for unaccompanied voices serves to intensify its power and directness.
intoning a falling melody, and the low bass drone. After two increasingly intense repetitions, the second almost overwhelming in its high, piercing harmony, balm is at last applied in a closing Dona nobis pacem.
The Kyrie begins simply, establishing the Mass’s fundamental tonality (G) with an ornamented melisma in bare, octave unisons for soprano and tenor. Lower voices intone the Christe eleison before a dramatic, emotive outburst seals the third Kyrie. The Gloria opens brightly, with all voices at the top of their registers. The movement proceeds in a series of clearly articulated sections, the Laudamus te climaxing after a tumultuous tintinnabulation for all voices. After a Qui tollis rich in pathos and added-note harmony, the peal of voices returns for a ringing conclusion.
Omitting the Creed (significantly, Jackson describes himself as spiritual by temperament but not by belief) the Mass continues with the Sanctus, introduced by four upper-voice soloists. This swells to ten singers, then, for the Pleni sunt caeli, full choir, rising to a fortissimo. By way of dramatic anticlimax, the Hosanna is light and dance-like, and is followed by a demure Benedictus that spins a gentle alto melisma over a drone.
Composed in 1990, O Sacrum Convivium – which here plays the role of communion motet – is the earliest piece on this disc, and one of Jackson’s most frequently performed works. The gentle, perfumed harmonies of the motet’s opening seem timeless, though they are eventually broken at ‘mens impletur’ by a quicker, lighter section in a modallyinflected minor key. At ‘et futurae’ we encounter one of Jackson’s most characteristic passages, a sonorous, ecstatic trope on the opening material in up to ten parts of enhanced, added-note harmony. Once this outpouring of splendour is spent, the work resumes its otherworldly meditation, serene and untroubled to its conclusion.
The opening work, Edinburgh Mass, was written in 2001 and is Jackson’s only setting of the ritual to date. In approach, he has decided
The concluding Agnus Dei recalls the bareness of the opening Kyrie. A stark, threeoctave gap separates the high soprano line,
Two carols maintain the programme’s Marian thread. Creator of the Stars of Night, written in 2000, was the first work to be commissioned from Jackson by Matthew Owens. In setting this anonymous seventh-century carol, Jackson skilfully re-evokes the contour of late-medieval vocal line in a graceful soprano melody, played out over a drone. The medieval influence is also present through an element of isorhythm, verses 1 and 3 sharing the same rhythmic
structure, as do verses 2 and 4. The climax comes in this last verse, where the voices soar up over fanfaring organ arpeggios, before the soprano solo reprises the opening melody.
Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ, from 2002, sets a poem in Scots by John Wedderburn (c.1550-1556) celebrating the birth to Mary of the infant Christ. It provides Jackson with a chance to write a ‘traditional’ carol setting of simple tunefulness, in compound metre and with a soprano solo. The verses are interleaved with delicate organ introits, recalling the ornamentation of Scottish folk music.
Jackson’s 2002 anthem A Prayer of King Henry VI serves here as an Evensong introit. Written for the Chapel Choir at Oakham School, it conjures, in its florid vocal lines and spacious, multi-voiced sonorities the spirit of a time five centuries distant – an age that saw the building of some of the grandest chapels of England, most notably Kings College Cambridge and Eton College (both founded by Henry VI). The opening melisma, recalling the step-wise contour of plainchant, unfolds in a steady upward motion, as a prayer rising to the heavens, before returning to rest on a sonorous major chord. Jackson’s admiration for the florid, effulgent Amens of English polyphony finds expression in the anthem’s conclusion, an ecstatic re-statement of the opening phrase, this time spiced with false-relation dissonance.
A set of Preces and Responses follows.
Commissioned in 2003 by St Mary’s Cathedral, they reflect Jackson’s admiration for the simple, four-part settings of Byrd, Smith and Gibbons, with their speechinflected rhythms. Jackson, however, provides a distinctive take on these familiar texts, finding a surprise change of key to highlight the Lord’s Prayer. In further emulation of the great Tudor polyphonists, he also provides the occasional mellifluous Amen to disturb the otherwise traditionally syllabic text setting.
Jackson’s setting of Psalm 112: Laudate Pueri was composed in spring 2004. A translation of the psalm’s Latin title reads ‘Praise the Lord, O ye children’. Jackson responds to the cue with a joyous, brightly coloured work for a solo (adult) soprano and organ, which, in its intricate formal design, draws inspiration from the motets of Monteverdi and his contemporaries, with their differently characterised sections separated by short ritornelli. Although the opening, marked ‘quick, dancing’, sets the tone with its high register organ and sprung rhythms for the soprano, two more meditative interludes lie at the work’s heart. The second of these, beginning ‘Qui habitare facit’, relays the central message of the Annunciation in one of Jackson’s most expansive and rapturous melodic spans to date. Fleet toccata figurations open the closing Doxology, the
soprano rising ever higher before the Amen restores a sense of calm.
If Psalm 112 is one of the most varied and complex of Jackson’s recent works, the 2001 Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Truro Service), written for Truro Cathedral, embodies simpler, more functional models. It was commissioned by Judith Rowe in memory of her husband, who had been a chorister at Truro Cathedral, her intention being to leave a living memorial that would be ‘useful’ rather than a bronze tablet on the wall. At the suggestion of the Cathedral’s then organist, Andrew Nethsingha, Jackson wrote a simple a cappella setting of the canticles, performable without much rehearsal and which could often be sung on Fridays, when the services were unaccompanied. Jackson employs the ancient formula of chant and response, alternating grace-noteembellished monophonic lines with homophonic sections of austere four-part harmony, again reminiscent of the plain, post-Reformation anthems of Tallis and his contemporaries. The key structure is fixed around A flat and its subsidiary minor keys, though there is a surprise upward shift to A for the Gloria. This pattern is repeated in the Nunc Dimittis.
The Latin anthem Salve Regina, written in 2000, is likewise a product of a connection with Truro and is dedicated to the composer’s mother. The opening, marked ‘tenderly’,
hovers around E flat major before a fresh section, ‘Ad te clamamus’, introduces a subtly tenser, more plangent momentum. A brief passage incorporating a solo soprano leads to the anthem’s conclusion, a hushed, sonorous section in block chords that rises to an intense climax for the final, reiterative line, ‘O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary’.
St Asaph Toccata was commissioned in 2003 for performance on the organ at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Originally, the work was entitled Toccata Machine, Jackson having in his mind an image of the gigantic Symphony Hall instrument as a huge machine, spewing out toccata figuration uncontrollably. Jackson’s enjoyment in casting himself against type by writing a loud, fast, quasi-minimalist piece with lots of notes is evident, though amidst familiar toccata patterns (rapid figuration in the manuals, long notes in the pedals) there is some room for respite in slower, more typically Jackson music. Like Psalm 112, the Toccata’s form is multi-sectional, closing, as all good toccatas should, in a tumult of notes.
© 2005 Matthew GreenallMatthew Greenall studied at the University of Oxford and the Royal Academy of Music. He has been Director of the British Music Information Centre since 1996.
Delphian Records gratefully acknowledges support from the Finzi Trust, St Mary’s Music Society, and the RVW Trust.
1 Kyrie
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
2 Gloria
Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Laudamus te. Benedicimus te.
Adoramus te. Glorificamus te.
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.
Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.
Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe;
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.
Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe. Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
3 Sanctus & Benedictus Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus. Dominus Deus Sabaoth: Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. We praise you. We bless you. We adore you. We glorify you. We give you thanks for your great glory.
Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.
Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ;
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Who takes away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.
Who sits at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us.
For you only are Holy, you only are Lord, you only are Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini: Hosanna in excelsis.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
4 Agnus Dei Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
Sacrum Convivium
O sacrum convivium, in quo Christus sumitur: recolitur memoria passionis ejus, mens impletur gratia, et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur.
St Thomas Aquinas (c.1227-1272)
Antiphon at Second Vespers, Corpus Christi
6 Creator of the Stars of Night
Creator of the stars of night, Thy people’s everlasting light, Jesu, Redeemer, save us all, And hear Thy servants when they call.
Thou camest, Bridegroom of the Bride, As drew the world to evening tide, Proceeding from a virgin shrine, The spotless Victim all divine.
At Thy great Name, exalted now, All knees must bend, all hearts must bow; And things in heaven and earth shall own That Thou art Lord and King alone.
To God the Father, God the Son, And God the Spirit, Three in One, Laud, honour, might and glory be From age to age eternally. Amen.
Anonymous (7th century)
Translated by JM Neale (1818-1866)
vv 1, 3 & 4 adapted by the Editors of the New English Hymnal
Used by permission of SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd, Norwich
O sacred feast, in which we feed on Christ: the memory of his passion is renewed, the mind filled with grace, and to us is given the promise of future glory.
7 Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ
I come fra hevin heich to tell The best nowells that e’er befell.
To you thir tythings trew I bring And I will of them say and sing.
This day to you is born ane child
Of Marie meik and Virgin mild. That blissit bairn bening and kind Sall you rejoyce baith hart and mind.
Lat us rejoyis and be blyth
And with the Hyrdis go full swyth And see what God of his grace hes done Throu Christ to bring us to his throne.
My saull and life, stand up and see Wha lyis in ane cribbe of tree. What Babe is that, sa gude and fair?
It is Christ, Goddis Sonne and Air.
O my deir hart, yung Jesus sweit, Prepair thy creddill in my spreit! And I sall rock thee in my hart And never mair fra thee depart.
Bot I sall praise thee evermoir
With sangis sweit unto thy gloir. The kneis of my hart sall I bow, And sing that rycht Balulalow.
attrib. John Wedderburn (c.1500-1556) from Ane Compendious buik of godlie Psalmes
heich = high
bening = benign
swyth = swiftly
Prayer of King Henry VI
Domine, Jesu Christe, qui me creasti, redemisti, et preordinasti ad hoc quod sum, tu scis quid de me facere vis; fac de me secundum voluntatem tuam cum misericordia. Amen.
King Henry VI (1421-1471)
9 Preces
Versicle: O Lord, open thou our lips.
Response: And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
Versicle: O God, make speed to save us.
Response: O Lord, make haste to help us.
Versicle: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
Response: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Versicle: Praise ye the Lord.
Response: The Lord’s Name be praised.
Lord Jesus Christ, who did create me, redeem me, and has brought me now to that which I am. You know what you will have me to be; do with me according to your will, and show me your mercy Lord. Amen.
10 Psalm 112: Laudate Pueri
Laudate pueri Dominum: laudate nomen Domini. Sit nomen Domini benedictum, ex hoc nunc, et usque in saeculum. A solis ortu usque ad occasum, laudabile nomen Domini. Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus, et super caelos gloria eius. Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, qui in altis habitat: Et humilia respicit in caelo et in terra?
Suscitans a terra inopem et de stercore erigens pauperem. Ut collocet eum cum principibus, cum principibus populi sui. Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo, matrem filiorum laetantem. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Praise the Lord, O ye children: praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this time forth, now and for ever. From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the Lord’s name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is as the Lord our God, who dwells on high: and looks down on the humble things in heaven and in earth? Raising up the needy from the earth and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill. That he may set him with princes, with the princes of his people. Who makes a barren woman to keep house, the joyful mother of children. 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.
Magnificat (Truro Service)
My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded: the lowliness of his hand-maiden. For behold, from henceforth: all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me: and holy is his Name. And his mercy is on them that fear him: throughout all generations. He hath shewed strength with his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away. He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel: as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever. 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 Luke 1: 46-55
12
Nunc Dimittis (Truro Service)
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen: thy salvation. Which thou hast prepared: before the face of all people. To be a light to lighten the gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel. 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
Luke 2: 29-32
13 Responses
Versicle: The Lord be with you.
Response: And with thy spirit.
Versicle: Let us pray.
Response: Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.
Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Versicle: O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us. Response: And grant us thy salvation.
Versicle: O Lord, save the Queen.
Response: And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Versicle: Endue thy Ministers with righteousness. Response: And make thy chosen people joyful.
Versicle: O Lord, save thy people.
Response: And bless thine inheritance.
Versicle: Give peace in our time, O Lord.
Response: Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.
Versicle: O God, make clean our hearts within us.
Response: And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.
1st Collect: We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
Response: Amen.
2nd Collect: O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Response: Amen.
3rd Collect: Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Response: Amen.
Salve Regina
Salve regina, mater misericordiae. Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules, filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes, in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende, O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
attrib. Herman Contractus (1013-1054)
Antiphon to the Blessed Virgin Mary
15 Dismissal
Versicle: The Lord be with you.
Response: And with thy spirit.
Versicle: Let us bless the Lord.
Response: Thanks be to God.
Hail, O queen, mother of mercy. Our life, our sweetness, and our hope, hail. To you we cry, exiled children of Eve. To you we sigh, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.
Turn then, our advocate, your merciful eyes towards us. And show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, after our exile here. O clement, O holy, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh
Treble
Oliver Boyd °
Andrew Bull
Rosha Fitzhowle
Calum Heath
Peter Innes
Adam Lagha
Hanna Lagha
Lewis Main •
Aonghas Maxwell
Alexander McCleery
Jourdan Penrice
Gordon Robertson
Ben Robinson
Caitlin Spencer
Thomas Spencer
Jennifer Sterling
Katy Thomson •
Alto
Robert Colquhoun
Rory McCleery
Simon Rendell
Andrew Stones Tenor
Alexander Cadden
Martin Hurst
Christopher May
Ashley Turnell Bass
Thomas Brimelow
Ben Carter
Will Dawes
Colin Heggie
Peter Smith
Jamieson Sutherland •• Head
pronunciation:
Gabriel Jackson’s music is regularly performed and broadcast throughout Europe and the USA and has also been heard, in recent years, in Cape Town, Ho Chi Minh City, Kiev, Kuwait, Sydney, Tokyo and Vancouver. Particularly acclaimed for his choral works, he is a frequent collaborator with many of the world’s leading choirs, the BBC Singers, the Nederlands Kamerkoor and the Berlin RIASKammerchor among them; strongly influenced by medieval and Renaissance techniques, he has also written a number of consort pieces for the Clerks’ Group, Chapelle du Roi, Cappella Nova, I Fagiolini and the Orlando Consort. His liturgical works are in the repertoires of many of Britain’s leading cathedral and college choirs and at the inaugural British Composer Awards in 2003 he was the Liturgical category winner with O Doctor optime, written for the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
A strong involvement with the visual arts has produced a series of ensemble pieces based on textworks by Richard Long: Black and White Trio (1988-9) for clarinet, violin and piano, commissioned by New Macnaghten Concerts, Rhapsody in Red (1990) for two pianos, commissioned by the Tate Gallery, and In The Mendips (2003) for mixed sextet,
commissioned by Making Music for CHROMA. A second trilogy derived from works by Ian Hamilton Finlay – Eurydice for solo clarinet, String Quartet No 2: Ring of Waves and Clarinet Quintet: In Prairial and Thermidor – was completed in 1996 and premiered at the Tate on the occasion of Finlay’s 70th birthday. Jackson has curated concerts for Tate Britain, Tate St Ives and the British Music Information Centre’s Cutting Edge series.
Recent works include Warldis Vanitie: Ane Mirrour for Marie Stuart (2001), a madrigal cycle on sixteenth-century Scots texts, A Woman’s Life and Loves (2002), a half-hour companion piece to Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben with newly-written poems by Sophie Hannah, the large-scale votive antiphon Salve Regina 2 (2004), written for the 800th anniversary of the Foundation of Beaulieu Abbey and the ensemble pieces Luna 21 in the Sea of Serenity, The Butterfly Corona, (both 2003) and A Piece of Sky (after Yoko Ono) (2004) all commissioned and premiered by OKEANOS.
July 2005 saw the premiere by Ex Cathedra of Sanctum est verum lumen, a 40-part motet commissioned by the Lichfield Festival for the Tallis quingentenary.
The Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, is regarded as one of the UK’s finest cathedral choirs. It is unique in Scotland, in maintaining a daily choral tradition and singing over 250 services every year. The choristers are educated at St Mary’s Music School, which acts as the choir school for the cathedral, again unique in Scotland. St Mary’s Cathedral became the first in the UK to offer girls scholarships to sing with the boys as trebles in 1978. The lay clerks of the choir consist of undergraduate choral scholars reading a diverse range of subjects at Edinburgh University alongside more experienced singers.
The choir broadcasts frequently on BBC Radios 3 & 4, and on television, and has made a number of highly acclaimed recordings on the Black Box, Delphian, Herald and Lammas labels. It has a busy schedule of concerts and has worked recently with the BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra, the BT Scottish Ensemble, the Royal College of Music and the Dunedin Consort. The choir tours extensively; in recent years it has been to Hungary, Norway and Ireland. It also plays a major part in the Edinburgh Festival.
A recent innovation has again placed Edinburgh at the forefront of sacred choral music with the commencement of The Bach Cantata Project under the Presidency of Sir John Eliot Gardiner: a Bach Cantata is performed on the first Sunday of every month – incorporated within and forming a devotional part of the liturgy. This often involves the Orchestra of St Mary’s Music School who frequently perform other major works within services such as the Fauré Requiem each Remembrance Sunday and Viennese masses.
Many leading composers have written for the choir. Under Matthew Owens it has premiered works by Richard Allain, Gavin Bryars, Dave Heath, Francis Jackson, Gabriel Jackson, James MacMillan, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Arvo Pärt, Howard Skempton, Janos Vajda, Philip Wilby and others.
Gabriel
Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh
Matthew Owens
Matthew Owens was appointed Organist and Master of the Music at St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, in 1999; a post which he held until the age of 33 when he became Organist and Master of the Choristers at Wells Cathedral in January 2005. He is also Conductor of The Exon Singers, one of the UK’s leading chamber choirs.
Born in Manchester, he studied at Chetham’s School of Music and was subsequently Organ Scholar at The Queen’s College, Oxford. As a postgraduate he received the highest award for performance, the Professional Performance Diploma, with distinction, at the Royal Northern College of Music; gained a Master’s Degree from the University of Manchester and won thirteen prizes in the diplomas of the Royal College of Organists. He then studied at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam and was appointed Sub-organist of Manchester Cathedral in 1996. From 1994-99, he was Tutor in Organ Studies at the RNCM and Chetham’s.
He was Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain from 1993-99; he has also conducted the BT Scottish Ensemble, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Hungary, Ludus Baroque
Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St Mary’s Music School. With the Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral he has made ten recordings, which have met with critical acclaim. Matthew has given recitals in France, Ireland, Switzerland and throughout the UK, including festival appearances at Lichfield, Newbury, Oxford and Peterborough and at venues such as St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral and St John’s Smith Square. As a conductor and solo organist he has premiered many works by leading composers including Richard Allain, Gavin Bryars, Dave Heath, Francis Jackson, Gabriel Jackson, Naji Hakim, George Lloyd, James MacMillan, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Arvo Pärt, Howard Skempton and Giles Swayne. He is increasingly active as a composer and some of his works have been recorded for commercial release and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Michael Bonaventure, born in Edinburgh in 1962, was an organ pupil of Herrick Bunney at St Giles’ Cathedral. For many years he was Organist of St Peter’s, Lutton Place, Edinburgh, where he gave numerous recitals during the years 1997-2003. Since March 2003 he has been based in London, working as a freelance musician and Organist of All Saints’, Blackheath.
Numerous composers have written for this indefatigable exponent of new music including Geoffrey King, Judith Weir, James MacMillan, Peter Nelson, Jean-Pierre Leguay; and many others. He has premiered almost fifty works, several of which were for organ and other forces.
Michael has broadcast programmes of contemporary music on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland, and on Swedish Radio. He has given recitals throughout the UK –playing regularly at all of London’s Cathedrals, and major City Churches – in Sweden, in the USA (with financial subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council) and throughout France; particularly notable were two recitals at NotreDame Cathedral, Paris, given at the invitation of Jean-Pierre Leguay.
Susan Hamilton was born in Edinburgh. A noted soloist specialising in Baroque and contemporary music, she sings regularly in Britain and Europe with, among others, the Dunedin Consort, Collegium Vocale, Florilegium, The King’s Consort, The Ricercar Consort, and regularly appears at major International Festivals. She has worked closely with many renowned conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul McCreesh and Ton Koopman. Susan has premiered new works by a host of composers including Witold Lutoslawski, James MacMillan, and Ronald Stevenson. She appears regularly on the radio and television and is widely recorded.
Simon Nieminski
Following Organ Scholarships at the University of Cambridge and York Minster, Simon Nieminski was Assistant Organist at Dundee Cathedral, the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great in London and St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. He has recorded a number of discs as an accompanist and soloist, the most recent of which features transcriptions of works inspired by Shakespeare.
Michael Bonaventure Susan Hamilton
