What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, August 11, 2013

———————————————

 

08:02:00
Flor Peeters: Aria, Op. 51
Andrew Lucas, organ
Mander organ at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

 

Richard Goodenough: Psalm 81
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Sir David Willcocks

 

Sir John Goss: Praise, my soul, the king of heaven!
Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer
Rupert Gough, organ

 

Great Sacred Music begins with a peek inside an English

cathedral somewhere as a service is just beginning.

 

08:15:42
William Grant Still: Elegy
Philip Brunnelle, organ
1981 Holtkamp organ in Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis

 

Imant Raminsh: Ave verum corpus
Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jon Washburn

 

Lili Boulanger: Pie Jesu
Orchestra of the Toulouse Capitole, Michel Plasson
Roberto Alagna, tenor

 

American, Canadian and French composers in this set. This certainly speaks to

music’s universality. The American William Grant Still (1895-1978) wrote music

in a wide variety of genres. Imant Raminsh (1943-) is a Canadian composer of

Latvian descent. Parisian Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) was a child prodigy and

sister of Nadia Boulanger.

 

08:33:01
Sir Hubert Parry: Chorale Prelude on “Eventide”
Carlo Curley, organ
Harrison and Harrison organ in St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, England

 

Alexander Grechaninov: Now the Powers of Heaven, Op. 58 No. 6
Holst Singers, Stephen Layton

 

Anonymous: Rejoice in the Lord

Cambridge Singers, John Rutter

 

North Carolina native Carlo Curley (1952-2012) died a year ago today.

He is sorely missed. Stephen Layton (1966-) was an organ scholar at

King’s College under Sir David Willcocks. The text for “Rejoice in the

Lord Alway” comes from Philippians 4:4.

 

08:47:37
Williametta Spencer: At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners
Kansas City Chorale, Charles Bruffy

 

Pablo Casals: Eucaristica
Escolania de Montserrat, Ireneu Segarra

 

Louis Vierne: Final ~ Sixth Symphony for Organ, Op. 59
Michael Farris, organ
Casavant Organ in the Cathedral of St. Peter, Erie, Pennsylvania

 

Williametta Spencer (1932-) is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Spaniard Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was the most famous cellist

of his generation. Vierne+Farris+Casavant equals lots of fire in our

last selection.

 

09:03:21
J.S. Bach: Cantata 138, “Warum betrubst du dich, mein Herz?”
Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner
Malin Hartelius, soprano; William Towers, alto;
James Gilchrist, tenor; Peter Harvey, bass

 

Cantata 138 “Why are you troubled, my heart? ” was written for the

15th Sunday after Trinity and first performed on September 5, 1725.

The scoring for strings and two oboe d’amore adds to the overall pathos

of this sublime music.

 

09:22:16
Max Reger: Toccata and Fugue, Op. 59 Nos. 5-6
Andrew Lucas, organ
Mander organ in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

 

Reger’s scores are black with great clusters of notes. This toccata and fugue

requires tremendous dexterity which Andrew Lucas ably provides.

 

09:33:31
Giuseppe Verdi: Requiem
Kirov Orchestra and Chorus, Valery Gergiev
Renee Fleming, soprano; Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano; Andrea Bocelli, tenor; Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, bass

 

I think that Marin Alsop in this NPR piece explains Guiseppe Verdi’s Requiem far better than anything which I

could say. http://www.npr.org/2011/06/04/136928271/verdis-requiem-an-opera-in-disguise