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 21, 2019 https://spoti.fi/2Gt0iL2
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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Traditional, arr. John Rutter: Jesus Christ is risen today
Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys w/the St. Thomas Brass, John Scott
Jeremy Bruns, organ
Randall Thompson: Alleluia
Harvard University Choir, Murray Forbes Somerville
Joseph Noyon, arr. Gerre Hancock: Christus Vincit
Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys w/the St. Thomas Brass, John Scott
Jeremy Bruns, organ
From Oxford University Press: “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” is an arrangement of the Easter hymn tune ‘Lyra Davidica’ for SATB, optional congregation, and organ or brass choir. Dr. Murray Forbes Somerville was Gund University Organist and Choirmaster from 1990 to 2003, The Memorial Church at Harvard University. This festive Easter anthem by French composer Joseph Noyon (1888-1962) is the only piece in his extensive oeuvre which survives in common usage.
Henry Ley: The strife is o’er
Choir of Liverpool Cathedral, David Poulter
Ian Tracey, organ
Pietro Mascagni: Regina coeli (Easter Hymn) ~ Cavalleria rusticana
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Choruses, Robert Shaw
Christine Brewer, soprano
Diane Bish: Improvisation on the hymn tune “Duke Street”
Diane Bish, organ
Walcker organ in Ulm Cathedral, Austria
Francis Pott translated the 17th century Latin text for “The strife is o’er” in 1861. The musical forces which appear in this morning’s performance of Mascagni’s Easter Hymn are as rich and lush as the music itself. Kansas native Diane Bish (1941-) has had a dazzling career as a professional organist. Ms. Bish has played recitals on organs worldwide.
Commentary The Very Reverend Jean Parker Vail
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Ye choirs of new Jerusalem, Op. 123
Worcester Cathedral Choir, Donald Hunt
Paul Trepte, organ
Sir Arthur Sullivan, arr. by Richard Webster: Welcome, happy morning
Choir and Congregation of Christ Church, Georgetown, Richard Webster
Thomas Smith, organ; Brandon Almagro, trumpet; Kevin Businsky, trumpet
Stanford completed Ye choirs of New Jerusalem in 1910. The text comes from the Latin hymn written by Fulbert of Chartres (952-1028). Fortunatus, Venantius Honorius Clementianus (ca. 540-ca. 600) wrote the text for “Welcome, happy morning” as well as for “Vexilla Regis prodeunt” and “Pange lingua, gloriosi praelium certaminis.”
Herbert Howells: Te Deum
Choir of St. John’s, Elora, Noel Edison
Paul Halley, organ
Richard Strauss: Feierlicher Einzug
Saint Thomas Brass, John Scott
Christian Lane, organ
English composer Herbert Howells wrote his Collegium Regale setting of the Morning canticles for King’s College, Cambridge in 1941. The Dean of York, Eric Milner-White, had been Dean of King’s from 1919-1941 and had challenged Howells with the suggestion “that he might be the man to revitalize English church music composition.” Howell’s grand setting of the Jubilate and Te Deum was the composer’s response to that challenge. The German of the Strauss translates as “Solemn Entry of the Knights of St. John” was written for an investiture ceremony in 1909.
J.S. Bach: Easter Oratorio, BWV 249
Taverner Consort & Players, Andrew Parrott
Emily Van Evera, soprano; Caroline Trevor, alto
Charles Daniels, tenor; Peter Kooy, baritone
What we know as the Easter Oratorio began as a cantata for Easter Day 1725. Bach gave it the title Easter Oratorio when he revised the work in 1735. He further revised the oratorio in 1740. This is the version on our
playlist.
John Taverner: Dum transisset sabbatum
Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, John Scott
Jeremy Bruns, organ
From Peter Phillips: “Taverner set Dum transisset Sabbatum—the Respond to the third lesson at Matins on Easter Sunday—twice. The first has always been the more famous (and was so in the composer’s lifetime) but the second is just as engaging. In fact, since the underlying chant in the tenor is the same melody, the two settings offer a glimpse into how a composer might change his response to a pre-existing part: how he may rework the harmony suggested by the chant notes, or derive points of imitation to fit round those notes. In the end the two settings, though structurally identical, offer quite different interpretations of the possibilities. Yet they both conjure up the same rhapsodic atmosphere, the same sense of space, the same sense of repose from the noisy and insistent world we live in.”
Gerre Hancock: Toccata for Organ
Todd Wilson, organ
Arents Memorial Organ in St. Thomas’ Church, New York
Dr. Gerre Hancock (1934-2012) was Organist and Director of Music at St. Thomas Church, New York from 1971-2004. He studied with Nadia Boulanger, Jean Langlais, and Marie-Claire Alain.
Hector Berlioz: Te Deum, Op. 22
Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra; Young Singers of Pennsylvania
Dennis Keene
John Aler, tenor; Mark Kruczek, organ
Over 900 musicians gave the first performance of Hector Berlioz’ Te Deum at St. Eustache, Paris in 1855. He wrote it to honor Napoleon Bonaparte but ended up dedicating it to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort.
Leo Sowerby: Jubilee
Robert Parris, organ
1927 E.M. Skinner organ at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rochester, NY
Dr. Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) was considered by most Episcopal church musicians to be the unofficial Dean of American Church Music.
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