Desenclos
Requiem & m otets
Litanies à L a Vie R ge noi R e
the Choir of King’s College London
m otets
Alfred Desenclos (1912–1971) Requiem & m otets
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) Litanies à L a Vie R ge noi R e
Pierre Villette (1926–1998) m otets
Recorded on 23-25 June 2013 in the Chapel of Exeter College, Oxford
Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks
24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
Photography © Delphian Records
Choir photography © Pascal Belargent/ La Toison d’Art
Cover image: Il Sassoferrato (1609–1685), The Madonna in Sorrow, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library Design: Drew Padrutt
Booklet editor: Henry Howard Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.delphianrecords.co.uk
With thanks to Professor Richard Parish and to the Rector and Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford
the Choir of King’s College London
David Trendell
Christopher Woodward organ (tracks 1–7), Richard Hall organ (track 13)
Alfred Desenclos Messe de Requiem
Introït & Kyrie
Offertoire
Sanctus
Pie Jesu
Agnus Dei & Communion
Libera me, Domine
In paradisum
Ruby Dayan (3, 4), Poppy Ewence (2, 5) soprano
Harriet Hougham-Slade (3), Rebekah Jones (2, 4, 5) alto
Joshua Cooter (2), James Way (3, 4, 5) tenor
Angus McPhee (2, 3, 4) bass
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Alfred Desenclos Salve regina
Desenclos Nos autem
Francis Poulenc Litanies à la Vierge noire (Notre Dame de Rocamadour)
The French have had a distinguished tradition of settings of the Requiem Mass, from the theatrical grandeur of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des morts, to the more intimate works of Saint-Saëns and Fauré – works explicitly written for performance in church. Maurice Duruflé’s setting of 1947, though adhering to the ground plan of movements established by Fauré (particularly the use of a solo voice in the Pie Jesu ) broke new ground by being based on Gregorian chant. A fine, but littleknown, contribution to this Requiem tradition was made in 1963 by Alfred Desenclos. Like the settings by Fauré and Duruflé it exists in versions for orchestra as well as just for organ, probably representing his (and Duruflé’s) publisher Durand’s wish for the work to have a life outside the church in the concert hall.
Alfred Desenclos, though he died as recently as 1971, remains a rather sketchy figure. Born in 1912, he worked as an industrial designer in order to support his family before entering the Conservatoire in Roubaix. In 1942, he won the coveted Prix de Rome, something that had eluded such composers as Maurice Ravel. At various points of his life he was a choirmaster, and he later became Director of the Roubaix Conservatoire. In addition to the Requiem and a number of short choral works, he composed instrumental pieces for the concours (competitions) of the Paris Conservatoire, most notably the Prélude, cadence et final for saxophone in 1956, a work infused with jazz
rhythms and harmonies, as well as solo music for trombone, flute and horn and a symphony dating from 1954.
The musical style of the Requiem is typically French of the middle part of the twentieth century. Unashamedly romantic (as Desenclos described himself), it is influenced by Gregorian chant – though never actually using any particular chant melody – with rich harmonies based on added-note chords. The opening movement, Introït & Kyrie very much conforms to this style and sets the mood with a simple and austere melody to the words ‘Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine’ that is harmonised by parallel triads. This opens out into a luxurious series of chords with added notes at the mention of ‘eternal light’. This opening passage acts as a type of refrain to the piece and recurs whenever these words appear. The following contrapuntal passage on the words ‘Te decet hymnus Deus in Sion’ is marked ‘quasi gregoriano’ before leading to a climax based on parallel chords at ‘exaudi orationem meam’. The climax dissipates in a clever modulatory twist – a great feature of Desenclos’s style – before the reprise of the opening ‘Requiem aeternam’. The subsequent Kyrie alternates expressive passages for the organ, employing a solo reed stop, with lyrical yearning passages for the choir that rise to impassioned climaxes, again using a series of parallel triads at the Christe eleison.
This mixture of the austere, the lyrical, the ecstatic and the impassioned embodies the musical atmosphere of the whole work. After a fairly lengthy and brooding introduction, the Offertoire opens with a lyrical, perhaps again Gregorian-inspired melody sung initially in octaves in D minor by the sopranos and basses, with the inner parts and organ providing a rich harmonic background. The second half of the phrase at ‘libera animas omnium fidelium’ is more impassioned, with a menacing harmonic shift at the words ‘de paenis inferni et de profundo lacu’. This leads into a wonderfully full-breathed melody to the text ‘Libera eas de ore leonis’. Desenclos is always acutely aware of the expressive potential of individual words, and the way he points the word ‘obscurum’ with an unexpected shift onto a chord of F major, as well as the radiance of C major at the climax on the words ‘lucem sanctam’ are potent examples of this – as is the way that the latter is pulled back to F sharp major. In a short, harmonically discursive passage a solo quartet sings the ‘Hostias’, before the reprise of material from the earlier part of the movement.
The Sanctus has an initial rocking figure with piquant cross-relations before an ecstatic melisma introduces semiquavers that lead to impassioned climaxes at ‘pleni sunt caeli’ and the Hosanna. By contrast, the Pie Jesu is a more restrained affair, alternating solo passages with a haunting refrain from the chorus. This format continues in the Agnus Dei &
Communion, featuring some mouth-watering harmonies before a moment of perfect stillness at ‘Lux aeterna’ leads back into the reprise of the opening idea from the first movement at the words ‘Requiem aeternam’. The following movement, Libera me, Domine is more dramatic, with a stirring initial melody sung in unison and a more angular figure at ‘dum veneris iudicare’. The idea at ‘tremens factus sum ego’ re-imparts the sense of fear through the use of parallel chords before a passionate outpouring at ‘Dies illa, dies irae’.
The In paradisum starts simply, with a rocking figure on a unison G sharp in the organ before the choir enters, also in unison. This slowly grows out into Desenclos’s favoured parallel harmonies over a background of added-note chords, leading inexorably to an ecstatic climax at the words ‘Chorus angelorum’ as the soul is greeted by the chorus of angels, and at the last with the poor man Lazarus finds eternal rest in a long diminuendo ending on a simple chord of E major. This recording also includes two motets by Desenclos, a wistful setting of the Salve regina and Nos autem, which again evokes the world of Gregorian chant.
Pierre Villette is perhaps best known for his setting of a poem by Roland Bouhéret, the Hymne à la Vierge. Like many of Villette’s works, it opens with a disarmingly simple melody, but as the motet progresses the harmonies become richer and more chromatic,
with a wonderfully effective sequence towards the end of each verse. The harmony underpinning the final line of the piece – ‘O toute belle Vierge Marie’ – sees Villette delving into an idiom that the more prudish might consider more appropriate for a nightclub than a church. But it suits the frank sentimentality of the text: this is a love song, or perhaps more correctly a poem describing God’s love for the Virgin Mary (‘Vous partagiez son coeur’, ‘you shared his heart’). Villette studied with Maurice Duruflé before entering the Paris Conservatoire, where he was a student contemporary of Pierre Boulez. He later became Director of the Conservatoire in Besançon and then at Aix-en-Provence. The setting of the Corpus Christi text O sacrum convivium dates from 1959 and shows Villette’s strong interest in jazz and the music of Oliver Messiaen. Set for eight parts, the harmonies are extraordinarily rich and there are moments of great beauty –such as the softer passage at ‘mens impletur gratia’ – before the ecstatic final Alleluias. Villette’s music had caught the attention of various English church musicians, including Donald Hunt, Organist of Worcester Cathedral, who commissioned the setting of the Lenten text Attende Domine in 1983. This is one of Villette’s finest works. It opens with altos in basses in unison singing an unsettling figure traversing the interval of a tritone. That figure acts as refrain throughout the piece and Villette perfectly captures the nature of the text in music again of great harmonic richness
– sometimes of stillness, such as the widelyspread G major chords that punctuate the piece, and sometimes highly mysterious, such as at the words ‘ablue nostri’.
In 1936, Francis Poulenc heard of the death of his young composer colleague PierreOctave Ferroud in a motoring accident and a couple of days afterwards he visited the shrine of the Virgin at Rocamadour, perched high above the Dordogne River. This was to be a turning point in Poulenc’s life. He had been raised a Catholic by his devout and wealthy father, but the heady atmosphere of Paris in the twenties had led him to abandon his faith. Instead, he was one of the enfants terribles of Les Six, a group of composers including Honegger and Milhaud, who shunned the Romantic aesthetic in favour of the portrayal of everyday life. There was always a certain frivolity associated with the music of Les Six and perhaps of Poulenc in particular, but such works as the Concerto for Two Pianos show a profoundly gifted musician who was able to put a humorous slant on anything. The reimmersement into the Catholic faith after 1936 led to some of the most significant religious choral music of the twentieth century, of which the Litanies à la Vierge noire de Rocamadour are the first manifestation. As Poulenc said in an interview with Claude Rostand in 1954:
‘I am religious by deepest instinct and by heredity. I am a Catholic. It is my greatest freedom … Rocamadour led me back to the
faith of my childhood. This sanctuary, certainly the most ancient in France, had everything to subjugate me. The evening of the same visit to Rocamadour, I began my Litanies à la Vierge noire for women’s voices and organ. In this work I have tried to express the feeling of “peasant devotion” which had so strongly impressed me in that lovely place.’
Poulenc might have had his religious conversion, but that didn’t stop him continuing his life as a Parisian boulevardier. In fact, he was a person of great contrasts, even contradictions (at least from an Anglo-Saxon perspective). A man who once commented that ‘You know that I am as sincere in my faith, without any messianic screamings, as I am in my Parisian sexuality.’ He is frequently referred to as ‘le moine et le voyou (monk and rascal)’, and his music contains the same paradoxes mixing music of profound sentiment with the flippant. But the Litanies have little of that, and the music is based on a very humble, spare style that most of the time is sparsely accompanied by the organ. Indeed, there are very few more moving moments in his entire work than the invocation to the Lamb of God towards the end, where the first sopranos sing a simple line on a single note (D) against the limpid organ accompaniment.
© 2013 David Trendell
Texts and translations
Messe de Requiem
1 Introït & Kyrie
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus Deus in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem: exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.
2 Offertoire
Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae, libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum de paenis inferni et de profundo lacu. Libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum: sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius.
Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus: tu suscipe pro animabus illis quarum hodie memoriam facimus. Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam, quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. A hymn is due to you, O God, in Sion, and to you shall a vow be repaid in Jerusalem: hear my prayer, to you shall all flesh come. Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.
3 Sanctus
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth: Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini: Hosanna in excelsis.
4 Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.
Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory, set free the souls of all the faithful departed from the punishment of hell and from the deep pit. Set them free from the lion’s mouth, so that hell does not swallow them, so that they fall not into darkness: but let Michael the holy standardbearer bring them forth into the holy light, as once you promised Abraham and his seed.
Sacrifices and prayers of praise, Lord, we offer you: do you accept them on behalf of those souls whose memorial we make today. Make them, Lord, cross over from death to life, as once you promised Abraham and his seed.
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam.
5 Agnus Dei & Communion
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam.
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.
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.
Loving Lord Jesus, grant them rest. Loving Lord Jesus, grant them rest. Loving Lord Jesus, grant them eternal rest.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them eternal rest.
Let eternal light shine upon them, Lord, with your saints for ever, for you are loving. Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them with your saints for ever, for you are loving.
6 Libera me, Domine
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die illa tremenda quando caeli movendi sunt et terra, dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem. Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira, quando caeli movendi sunt et terra. Dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae, dies magna et amara valde, dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Libera me, Domine etc.
7 In paradisum
In paradisum deducant te angeli: in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.
Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem.
8 O sacrum convivium
O sacrum convivium in quo Christus sumitur: recolitur memoria passionis eius, mens impletur gratia, et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur. Alleluia.
St Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), antiphon for the feast of Corpus Christi
Set me free, Lord, from eternal death, on that dreadful day when the heavens and earth are to be shaken, when you shall come to judge the world with fire. I have become terrified and am afraid, until the upheaval comes and the coming wrath, when the heavens and earth are to be shaken. That day, the day of wrath, of disaster and misery, the great and most bitter day, when you shall come to judge the world with fire. Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Set me free, Lord etc.
9 Hymne à la Vierge
O toute belle Vierge Marie, Votre âme trouve en Dieu
Le parfait amour.
Il vous revêt du manteau de la Grâce
Comme une fiancée
Parée de ses joyaux. Alleluia.
Je vais chanter ta louange, Seigneur, Car tu as pris soin de moi,
Car tu m’as envelopée du voile de l’innocence.
Vous êtes née avant les collines,
O sagesse de Dieu,
Porte du Salut,
Heureux celui qui marche dans vos traces,
O all-beautiful Virgin Mary, your soul finds in God the perfect love. It clothes you in the mantle of grace like a bride adorned in her jewels. Alleluia. I will sing your praise, Lord, for you have taken care of me, for you have wrapped me in the veil of innocence.
May angels lead you into paradise: may the martyrs receive you at your coming, and lead you into the holy city of Jerusalem.
May the choir of angels receive you, and with Lazarus,who was once a poor man, may you have eternal rest.
Qui apprête son coeur
A la voix de vos conseils. Alleluia.
Je vais chanter ta louange, Seigneur, Car tu m’as faite, avant le jour, Car tu m’as fait précéder le jaillissement des sources.
Avant les astres
Vous étiez présente, Mère du Créateur,
Au profond du ciel
O sacred banquet in which Christ is eaten: the memory of his passion is recalled, the mind is filled with grace, and a promise is given us of the glory to come. Alleluia.
Quand Dieu fixait les limites du monde.
Vous partagiez son coeur
Etant à l’oeuvre avec lui. Alleluia.
O toute belle Vierge Marie.
Roland Bouhéret (1930–1995)
You were born before the hills, O wisdom of God, gateway of salvation, happy the man who walks in your footsteps, who lends his heart to the voice of your counsel. Alleluia. I will sing your praise, Lord, for you have made me before the day, you made me come before the welling up of springs.
Before the stars you were present, Mother of the Creator, at the furthest height of heaven when God was setting the bounds of the world. You shared his heart taking your part in his work. Alleluia.
O all-beautiful Virgin Mary.
10 Attende Domine
Attende Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus. Omnium redemptor, dextera Patris, lapis angularis, exaudi, Christe, supplicantum preces. Via salutis, ianua caelestis, ablue nostri maculas delicti. Amen.
Mostly based on a tenth-century Mozarabic litany for Lent
11 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 Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis virgo Maria.
12 Nos autem
Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi, in quo est salus, vita et liberatio nostra, per quem salvati et liberati sumus. Alleluia. Deus misereatur nostri et benedicat nobis: illuminet vultum suum super nos. Deus misereatur nostri. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Nos autem gloriari etc.
Hear us, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned. Redeemer of all, right hand of the Father, cornerstone, listen, O Christ, to the prayers of thy suppliants. Way of salvation, gateway of heaven, wash away the stains of our sin. Amen.
Seigneur, ayez pitié de nous.
Jésus Christ, ayez pitié de nous.
Jésus Christ, écoutez-nous.
Jésus Christ, exaucez-nous.
Dieu le père, créateur, ayez pitié de nous.
Dieu le fils, rédempteur, ayez pitié de nous.
Dieu le Saint-Esprit, sanctificateur, ayez pitié de nous.
Trinité Sainte, qui êtes un seul Dieu, ayez pitié de nous.
Sainte Vierge Marie, priez pour nous.
Hail, queen, mother of mercy, our life, sweetness and hope, hail. To you we cry, exiled children of Eve: to you we sigh, groaning and weeping, in this vale of tears. Come then, our advocate, turn your merciful eyes towards us; and after this exile show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb. O kind, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Vierge, reine et patronne, priez pour nous.
Vierge que Zachée le publicain nous à fait connaître et aimer, Vierge à qui Zachée ou Saint Amadour éleva ce sanctuaire, priez pour nous.
Reine du sanctuaire, que consacra Saint Martial et où il célébra ses saints mystères, reine, près de laquelle s’agenouilla Saint Louis vous demandant le bonheur de la France, priez pour nous.
Reine, à qui Roland consacra son épée, priez pour nous.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, hear us.
Jesus Christ, grant us our prayers.
God the Father, creator, have mercy on us.
God the Son, redeemer, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, sanctifier, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, who are a single God, have mercy upon us.
Holy Virgin Mary, pray for us.
Virgin, queen and protectress, pray for us.
Virgin whom Zacchaeus the publican caused us to know and love, Virgin to whom Zachaeus or St Amadour raised this sanctuary, pray for us.
Queen of the sanctuary, which St Martial consecrated and where he celebrated his holy mysteries, queen, before whom St Louis bent his knee asking for good fortune for France, pray for us.
Queen, to whom Roland consecrated his sword, pray for us.
It behoves us to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which is our salvation, life and freedom, by which we are saved and set free. Alleluia. May God be merciful to us and bless us: may his face shine upon us. May God be merciful to us. 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. It behoves us to glory etc.
Reine, dont la banière gagna les batailles, priez pour nous.
Reine, dont la main délivrait les captifs, priez pour nous.
Notre Dame, dont le pélerinage est enrichi de faveurs spéciales, Notre Dame, que l’impiété et la haine ont voulu souvent détruire, Notre Dame, que les peuples visitent comme autrefois, priez pour nous.
Queen, whose banner won battles, pray or us.
Queen, whose hand set captives free, pray for us.
Our Lady, to whose pilgrimage special favours are granted, Our Lady, whom irreligion and hate have often wished to destroy, Our Lady, whom the people visit as in the old days, pray for us.
Agneau de Dieu, qui effacez les péchés du monde, pardonnez-nous.
Agneau de Dieu, qui effacez les péchés du monde, exaucez-nous.
Agneau de Dieu, qui effacez les péchés du monde, ayez pitié de nous.
Notre Dame, priez pour nous, afin que nous soyons dignes de Jésus Christ.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, forgive us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us our prayers.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Our Lady, pray for us, that we might be worthy of Jesus Christ.
Biographies
The Choir of King’s College London is one of the UK’s leading university choirs. Consisting of about thirty choral scholars and two organ scholars, the choir’s principal role is singing at services in the College Chapel during term time. In addition, the choir gives many concerts, both in the UK and abroad. In the UK the Choir has performed recently at the Oundle International and Spitalfields festivals and abroad it has given concerts in France, Germany, Italy, Russia (St Petersburg International Choir Festival), the USA, and most recently Hong Kong.
The choir has made several notable recordings, including two jointly with the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge: Richard Strauss’s Deutsche Motette (Delphian DCD34124) and Rodion Shchedrin’s The Sealed Angel (DCD34067), as well as discs of sixteenthcentury music by such composers as William Byrd, Alonso Lobo, John Taverner, Philippe Rogier and Sebastián de Vivanco. The Byrd recording was nominated for a Gramophone Early Music award. In addition, the choir regularly broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong. A recording of masses and motets by Gregorio Allegri appeared on Delphian (DCD34103) in 2012, to critical acclaim.
Biographies The Choir of King’s College London
Born in 1964, David Trendell received his early musical education as a chorister at Norwich Cathedral, during which time he was the soloist on a recording of Mendelssohn’s famous Hear
My Prayer . He was later an alto choral scholar there before going up to Oxford, where he was Organ Scholar of Exeter College. Subsequently, whilst Assistant Organist at Winchester College, he embarked upon research into the works of Alexander Zemlinsky. In 1989 he was appointed Organist of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford and College Tutor at St Hugh’s, St Hilda’s and, later, Oriel Colleges. He moved to London in 1992 to become College Organist and Lecturer in Music at King’s College London.
Trendell is also Director of Music at St Mary’s, Bourne Street in London, having held a similar post at the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great for over thirteen years. He was also Director of the Edington Festival, a festival of music within the liturgy, and conducted the Nave Choir there for ten years, broadcasting frequently for BBC Radio 3, for whom he has also presented programmes. He has written on the music of William Byrd and lectures and performs each year at the International William Byrd Festival in Portland, Oregon. He has also made many editions of the work of Spanish sixteenth-century composers, among them Alonso Lobo and Sebastián de Vivanco. Since 2001, Trendell has conducted a number of choral workshops with Chorus Angelorum in Houston. In addition, he is well known as a record producer, having worked with such choirs as The Clerks’ Group, New College, Oxford, Oxford Camerata, Schola Cantorum of Oxford, Westminster Abbey, Winchester College and in France the Maîtrise de Caen.
Sopranos
Jocelyn Coates
Melissa Davies Harrow Choral Scholar
Ruby Dayan Hudson Choral Scholar
Poppy Ewence Hudson Choral Scholar
Sophie Gallagher Lineham Choral Scholar
Megan Hector Williams Choral Scholar
Lindsey James
Charity Mapletoft
Emily Wenman
Hannah Wight
Altos
James Andrewes
Tristram Cooke Gough Choral Scholar
Harriet Hougham-Slade Williams Choral Scholar
Rebekah Jones Warrell Choral Scholar
Constance Leung Harrow Choral Scholar
William Morrison Williams Choral Scholar
Elizabeth Post
Tenors
Joshua Cooter
James Green Williams Choral Scholar
Samuel Lyons
Miles Russell Williams Choral Scholar
James Way
Basses
Oscar Davies Glanfield Choral Scholar
Eunseog Lee
Angus McPhee
Rubin Patel
Scott Richardson Ouseley Choral Scholar
Jonathan Stewart
Andrew Mahon (guest bass)
Organ Scholars
Richard Hall
Christopher Woodward
Allegri: Missae In lectulo meo & Christus resurgens, Miserere, Motets
The Choir of King’s College London / David Trendell
DCD34103
Gregorio Allegri deserves better than for his reputation to rest on just one piece. Alongside his iconic Miserere, which never fails to cast its spell on listeners, the Choir of King’s College London presents premiere performances of two of his five surviving masses, richly wrought with consummate skill in Palestrina’s prima prattica, and of their originating motets. These radiant performances shed new light on a much-loved composer.
‘David Trendell’s fine choir glows with warmth and commitment’ – The Observer, May 2012
Deutsche Motette
Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge; The Choir of King’s College London
Geoffrey Webber & David Trendell conductors
DCD34124
Delphian’s superchoir reunites after its highly successful recording of The Sealed Angel, this time for a unique programme of German music from Schubert to Richard Strauss. Strauss’s sumptuous Deutsche Motette is the last word in late Romantic choral opulence, its teeming polyphony brought to thrilling life by this virtuoso cast of over sixty singers. The rest of the programme explores the vivid colours and shadowy half-lights of a distinctly German music that reached its culmination in Strauss’s extravagant masterpiece. The singing throughout combines a musical intensity and imagination with an understanding of period style, two qualities that are hallmarks of both choirs’ work.
‘Credit to conductor David Trendell for eliciting that sustained intensity of expression from his combined college choirs, whose youthful timbre imparts a freshness which … suits the imprecatory nature of Rückert’s poem perfectly’
– BBC Music Magazine, August 2013
Rodion Shchedrin: The Sealed Angel
Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge; The Choir of King’s College London
Geoffrey Webber & David Trendell conductors, Clare Wills oboe
DCD34067
Two of Britain’s finest collegiate choirs join forces and cross a continent to take on the sublime expressiveness of Rodion Shchedrin’s ‘Russian liturgy’, an astonishing statement of faith composed in the early days of perestroika. Shchedrin’s choral tableaux juxtapose tenderness with bracing sonic impact, and are shadowed throughout by the plangent voice of a solo oboe representing the soul of the Russian people.
‘Caught here in fine sound, this is a splendid disc of a multifaceted, manylayered modern masterpiece’ – Gramophone, June 2009, EDITOR’S CHOICE
Haec Dies: Byrd & the Tudor revival
Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge / Geoffrey Webber DCD34104
In this highly original programme, the Choir of Gonville & Caius College explores the fascinating relationship between 16th- and early 20th-century music as understood by the pioneers of the Tudor revival in England. Centring on Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices – revelatory and influential listening for a whole host of later composers – this mosaic of reworkings, reimaginings and lovingly crafted homages is brought to life with all the scholarly acumen and full-throated fervour that we have come to expect from one of Britain’s finest choirs.
‘The choir sounds responsive and light in texture … The contours of this music might be Tudor, but the autumnal sensibility is pure late Romantic’
– The Times, July 2012
‘A brilliantly conceived disc … Under Geoffrey Webber’s sure direction [the choir] clearly relishes every moment with both precision and passion’
– International Record Review, September 2012
