I post these playlists weekly with the hope that you might find them useful as you plan your programs. All of my playlists are on Spotify for you to enjoy at your convenience.
GSM – April 14, 2019 https://spoti.fi/2XkPt4m
Don’t forget that we have more choral and organ music programmed
on Sunday evenings beginning at 10 p.m. eastern.
Rob Kennedy
WCPE The Classical Station
Web: TheClassicalStation.org
Facebook: www.facebook/theclassicalstation
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Michael Teschner: All glory, laud and honor
Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer
Rupert Gough, organ
John Ireland: Vexilla Regis (Hymn for Passion Sunday)
London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Richard Hickox
Paula Bott, soprano; Teresa Shaw, contralto;
James Oxley, tenor; Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone; Roderick Elms, organ
Orlando Gibbons: Hosanna to the Son of David
Oxford Camerata, Jeremy Summerly
We begin our Palm Sunday program with the quintessential Palm Sunday hymn, “All glory, laud and honor.” The text was written by Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans (c. 820) and translated by J.M. Neale in 1854. The tune was composed by Melchior Teschner (1584-1635) and is known commonly as St. Theodolph. John Ireland’s setting of the Passiontide hymn “The Royal Banners Forward Go” is scored for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, chorus, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones & organ. English composer Orlando Gibbons’ “Hosanna to the Son of David” captures the jubilation of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.
Anton Bruckner: Christus factus est pro nobis
Bavarian Radio Choir, Eugen Jochum
William Horsley: There is a green hill far away
Choir of Liverpool Cathedral, David Poulter
Anton Bruckner began his musical career as an organist and wrote many fine sacred compositions. English composer William Horsley (1774-1858) was Organist of the Asylum for Female Orphans from 1802-1854. His tune “Horsley” for the text “There is a green hill far away” dates from 1844. Cecil Frances Alexander wrote this much-loved hymn in 1848. It is published in some 568 hymnals.
GSM Commentary: The Reverend Stephen Crisp
Bartholomäus Crasselius: Ride on! Ride on in majesty
Salisbury Cathedral Choir, Simon Lole
Rene Clausen: Ubi caritas
Vocal Arts Ensemble of Durham, Rodney Wynkoop
In Hymnary.org the writer remarks about the text of “Ride on! Ride on in majesty” that “the text unites meekness and majesty, sacrifice and conquest, suffering and glory–all central to the gospel for Palm Sunday.” Rene Clausen (1953-) is Professor of Music at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota.
Samuel Barber: Agnus Dei
Choir of New College, Oxford, Edward Higginbottom
J.S. Bach: Fantasy on “Valet will ich dir geben”, BWV 735
Michael Murray, organ
Samuel Barber arranged the Adagio movement of his 1936 string quartet for SATB chorus in 1967. Barber used the text to the “Agnus Dei” portion of the Mass and scored the music in the visually terrifying key of B flat minor. Bach knew Melchior Teschner’s tune well as you will hear in this compact fantasia on the familiar Palm Sunday processional hymn.
J.S. Bach: Cantata 182, “Himmelskornig, sei willkommen”
Holland Boys’ Choir; Netherlands Bach Collegium, Pieter Jan Leusink
Ruth Holton, soprano; Sytse Buwalde, alto
Knut Schoch, tenor; Bas Ramselaar, bass
I can hear you thinking “But Bach didn’t write any cantatas for the Sundays before Easter.” Bach composed Cantata 182 when he was employed at Weimar in 1714. The court imposed no musical restrictions on Bach during Lent.
Henryk Gorecki: Totus Tuus, Op. 60
Choir of New College, Oxford, Edward Higginbottom
Vladimir Morosan writes in Hyperion’s liner notes: “Górecki (1933-2010) composed the work in 1987 for the third visit of Pope John Paul II to his homeland and the piece uses sonorously contrasting sections of eight-part and four-part writing, reminiscent of the Russians. The text, while short and simple, is given considerable extension and imbued with prayerful intensity through repetition.”
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546
Daniel Bishop, organ
Willis organ in Liverpool Cathedral
Bach’s grand Prelude and Fugue in C minor has always seemed to me the perfect concluding work for the Palm Sunday liturgies. It captures the
drama of the events of Holy Week as only Bach could. Not many young organists understand how to interpret Bach’s masterworks. But Daniel Bishop does. His mastery of the music and the noble Willis organ in Liverpool Cathedral is superb.
Alexander Glazunov: King of the Jews, Op. 95
Moscow Capella; Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Igor Golovschin
Ivan March writes in Gramophone: “Glazunov’s King of the Jews was written as incidental music for a large-scale religious mystery play, first performed in 1913, and soon forgotten. But, fortunately, the music survived, and lends itself to concert performance owing to its beautiful linking theme suggesting (in the composer’s words) ‘the figure on the cross’. It first appears on the cor anglais in the Introduction, and the various interludes, dances and entr’actes, together with the stirring, very Russian choruses join readily together to form a kind of cantata. It is the choruses which form the work’s basic structure, depicting the ‘Entrance of Christ into Jerusalem’, the ‘Song of Jesus’s Disciples’, and finally the ravishing ‘Song of the Singers of Psalms’. But much of the rest of the music is also inspired, its simple eloquence and rich palette showing the composer at his finest.”
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