Veni Creator Spiritus

This week on Going Beyond Words and ACDA ChoralNet Radio, Host Stan Schmidt presents an hour of music that will take you from the mid-1400s to our present history.  Our broadcast will examine how composers over centuries have used the glorious Latin texts of Veni Creator Spiritus (Come Creator Spirit) and Creator Alme Siderum (Creator of The Stars at Night). 

We begin with the Gregorian Chant in Mode 4 by Dufay and later another setting of the chant created in Mode 8 by Binchois who died in 1460.   Canadian composer Larry Nickel’s “Creator Alme Siderum” a commissioned work for ProCoro Canada (Alberta) is heard in all its glory. It is a three-movement composition where the composer, for the second movement inverts the theme throughout the section and closes with Glory to God.  Paul Hillier with his theatre of Voices and Ars Nova Copenhagen salute Arvo Pärt and his special style with “Veni Creator Spiritus.” Then we hear a piece commissioned by the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, and its renowned Choir at the Invitation of  Stephen Cleobury in 1998 that appears on a somewhat new recording with the Cambridge Singers.  It is composed by John Rutter who expresses, how he is a composer is a mystery at times.  It is 7 minutes and gets right to the point with the text “ Veni Sancte Spiritus”.  Challenge your ensembles with it they will thank you.  Finally, we hear Robert Shaw and his 1991 recording of the first movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony #8 “Veni Creator Spiritus”.  Joining him is the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus, the Atlanta Boy Choir and ensembles from Ohio State University, and the University of South Florida along with eight notable Soloists that have the ability to sing this gigantic work by Mahler.   Take a listen to know why you are in this business.

For a look at the CD’s used and a complete list of music heard, go to the blog of WWW.GOINGBEYONDWORDS.COM website and click on show 2530.