Speech Day Concert
Saturday 27 May 2023, 9.45am
Oakham School Chapel
Chapel Choir & Chamber Choir
Nicholas Tall organ, Findlay Marsh ‘cello
Peter Davis conductor
Coronation Anthem: Zadok the Priest
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Two Latin Motets, op. 38: Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)
i) Justorum animae
ii) Beati quorum via
Two Motets: Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
i) Locus iste
ii) Christus factus est
Insanae et vanae curae
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Two Motets: Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
i) Bogoroditse Djevo, op. 37 no. 6
ii) Hymn of the Cherubim*, op. 31 no. 8
For the beauty of the Earth* Will Todd (b. 1970)
Anima Christi (soprano: Evie Holder) Ēriks Ešenvalds (b. 1977)
Messe Basse Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
i) Kyrie
ii) Sanctus
iii) Agnus Dei
Gloria (Missa Brevis) Jonathan Dove (b. 1959)
It is always a delight to share a wide range of choral music with an audience on Speech Day, and in particular to perform music in concert that has originally been prepared for our weekly worship in the School Chapel. The pillars of today’s programme are three powerful works for choir and organ by Handel, Haydn and Jonathan Dove, between which we present four pairs of motets and movements from an exquisite mass setting by Fauré.
Given the national celebrations for the King’s recent coronation, it felt appropriate to commemorate this momentous event with Handel’s renowned coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest, that was first heard in 1727 at the coronation of King George II. It still radiates Baroque glory and splendour aplenty, as well as the apt choral cries of “God save the King”. Our first two pairs of motets take us back to the Romantic music of the Anglo-Irish composer, C V Stanford, opening with the radiant simplicity of the offertory for All Saints’ Day. These motets were composed in 1887-88 and were dedicated to the composer’s successor as organist at Trinity College, Cambridge. Beati quorum via is particularly revered in the Anglican tradition, setting a paraphrase of the first verse of Psalm 119 as what the composer described as a ‘pastoral prayer’ which interweaves the lines of this beautiful six-part choral setting. The symphonic composer Anton Bruckner may be Stanford’s senior by nearly 30 years, but he shares a musical language given the influence of German Romanticism on musical composition in Britain. A life-long organist, these two motets are probably his most famous, dating from his Vienna period
which was largely dedicated to symphonic composition. Locus iste is the most exquisite miniature, setting a Gradual with the words “This place was made by God.” The scale of the following Christus factus est (“Christ became obdedient”) is far grander, and this expressive, chromatic setting reflects the influence of Wagner. We turn next to music reflecting the Strurm und Drang period of Haydn’s later years. Insanae et vanae curae (“Vain and raging cares invade our minds”) is a sacred adaptation of a chorus (Der Sturm) first heard in the 1784 revision of his oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia. Originally scored for orchestra, the work is set in four distinct sections, with the latter two reprising material from the first half of the piece. The drama abates in the second and fourth sections, adopting a more lyrical mood in setting the text as a dialogue for the upper voices: “O mortal man, what does it profit to endeavour at worldly things, if you should neglect the heavens? If God is for you, all things are favourable for you.”
Our next pair of motets have been selected to mark the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninov’s birth in 2023. Both works set texts in Church Slavonic in a musical style appropriate to the liturgy of the Orthodox church, and they are extracted from two extended works for a cappella choir: his setting of the All-Night Vigil, op. 37 (1915), and the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, op. 31 (1910) The first is a moving prayer to the Virgin Mary (equivalent to the Latin Ave Maria text), whereas the second is a more complex, bi-partite setting for 8-part choir that celebrates the “life-giving Trinity” as the Church anticipates Trinity Sunday in eight days’ time. We then move on to two 21st Century pieces originally commissioned for Oakham’s choirs in 2019 & 2020. Will Todd’s setting of Pierpoint’s familiar hymn For the beauty of the Earth enlivens a simple strophic setting with interludes for solo ‘cello, going on to develop both elements in the third verse in an eloquent musical reflection of the glories of the natural world. Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds’ communion motet, Anima Christi, emanates fervent prayerfulness in its rich harmonies, devotional mood and soaring soprano descant.
Our programme today concludes with four movements from the Ordinary of the Mass. Fauré’s ‘low mass’ setting omits the Gloria of the mass, and following its original performance (incorporating music by fellow composer, Messager), the work was revised and completed in 1906 in a scoring for three-part upper voices and organ. In Wayland Rogers’ 2004 adaptation, the scoring is expanded to embrace the tenors and the basses of the choir, who now get the opportunity to enjoy the simple and direct lyricism of Fauré’s music. Jonathan Dove’s 2009 setting of the Missa Brevis is cut from rather different musical cloth, and his setting of the Gloria is a riotous musical celebration of rhythmic choral and organ writing in a post-minimalist style. As our concert comes full circle to end as we began with a blaze of glorious D major, it is no surprise that this commission from the Cathedral Organists’ Association has quickly become a modern classic for Anglican choirs.
Peter DavisCHAPEL CHOIR
*denotes member of Chamber Choir
Soprano Eloise Baines, Shonali Banerjee*, Anna Maria Berlini*, Evelyn Brammer*, Penelope Brammer, Emma Breag, Rebecca Cao, Bea Cole*, Sophia Cure, Liberty Dickinson, Polly Dudin, Izzy Golland, Millie Headley, Simi Hirani*, Evie Holder*, Rosie Johnson*, Isabelle Jones, Madelaine Kluger, Alvina Kwok, Marni Lennard, Arabella Lloyd-Edwards, Annabella Marcham, Olivia Melville, Elsa Milne, Mia Paylor, Isabelle Pepper, Poppy Price*, Phebe Smith, Daisy Smith-Maxwell, Eloise Snape*, Molly Sutterby, Faith Taylor, Hattie Tyler Alto Ibti Al Sayigh, Audrey Beevers, Alexa Berkin-Evans, Zadie Berkin-Evans*, Annie-May Cannings, Sophie Cartwright, Jessica Day, Henrietta Gillie*, William Griffiths, Lauren Hewett, Grace Hornsby, Samantha Hughes*, Toby James, Mesi Johnson, Isabella Kluger, Grace Lai, Rosie Manning*, Elsa Marsh, Maya Mbogo, Esther Morse, Sofia Nico*, Holly Prothero, Bronwyn Reading, Ffion Reading, Elizabeth Roytberg, Sarah Ruddock*, Leonie Russell, Bea Selkirk, Elodie Shenton, Halldis Stone*, Ava Walker, Sophie West-Sadler, Heidi Yeung
Tenor Iyaas Garcia de la Vega*, William Hallam, David Harrison, Harry Kinnear, Lucas Leung, Nikhel Mandalia, Finlay Mitchell, George Nicholson*, Ewan Stockwell*, Ottó Stone, Campbell Tierney
Bass Ivor Amende*, Henry Bluff, Joshua Davis, Tomas Dickinson*, Maxim El-Sheikh, Will Fearn*, Archie Foster, Friedrich Freienstein*, Charles Hopkinson, Daniel Kelly*, Findlay Marsh, Oliver Martin, Will McEuen, Theo Moore, Alex Morrison, Charlie Nicholson*, Eddie Nicholson, Dozie Osuji, Obi Osuji, Oliver Smith, Ethan Taylor
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Lower School Live in Concert | Thursday 8 June, 7.15pm
A Summer Celebration | Friday 23 June, 7.30pm
Oakham Choral Society: The Voyage | Sunday 25 June, 5.00pm