What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, August 21, 2016

I post these playlists weekly with the hope that you might find them useful
as you plan your music lists. All of my playlists are on Spotify for you to
enjoy at your convenience.

GSM – August 21, 2016 https://goo.gl/9yH3pa

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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George Frederic Handel: Thine be the glory
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury
Tom Etheridge, organ

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Salve Regina
The Studio of Ancient Music of Montreal, Christopher Jackson

Jean-Baptiste Lully: O dulcissime Domine
Le Concert Spirituel, Herve Niquet

“Thine be the glory” comes from the June 2016 release of the Choir of King’s Callege, Cambridge, entitled “Hymns from King’s.” The tune was adapted from “See, see, the conqu’ring hero comes” in Joshua (1747) and Judas Maccabeus (1746) and was harmonised by Arthur Hutchings. Palestrina’s votive antiphon “Salve Regina” was written for use after the Feast of the Pentecost. It was published in Venice in 1584 in “Motectorum liber secundus.” French baroque composer Jean-Baptiste Lully mainly wrote operas and ballets. Fortunately he left us about two dozen large and small sacred motets.

Charles Gounod: O Divine Redeemer
English Chamber Orchestra, Barry Rose
Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano

William Mathias: Let the people praise Thee, O God
Choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, John Scott
Andrew Lucas, organ

French composer Charles Gounod’s “O Divine Redeemer” was one of hundreds of sacred songs which he wrote. It is the most popular of those songs although it was not published or performed in the composer’s lifetime. Welsh composer William Mathias’ setting of Psalm 67 was composed for the wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer at Saint Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981.

Johannes Brahms: Geistliches Lied, Op. 30
Corydon Singers, Matthew Best
John Scott, organ

Michael Haydn: Dixit Dominus ~ Vespers
American Boychoir, James Litton

Franz Biebl: Ave Maria
Trinity College Choir, University of Melbourne, Michael Leighton Jones

Brahms wrote his “Sacred Song” in 1856 at the age of 23.Austrian composer Michael Haydn’s “Vespers for the Holy Innocents” dates from 1793. German composer Franz Biebl wrote his setting of the “Ave Maria” for a double men’s chorus in 1964.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Dirge for Two Veterans ~ Dona nobis pacem
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Robert Shaw

Camille Saint-Saëns: Berceuse in E, Op. 105
Joachim Dorfmuller, organ

While part of his 1936 cantata “Dona Nobis Pacem”, the “Dirge for Two Veterans” was actually written in 1914 just as World War I was breaking out. Although we associate French composer with grand symphonic works, Saint-Saens got his start as an organist. And a very distinguished one he was with appointments at Paris’ historic Eglise Saint-Merry and Eglise de la Madeleine.

J.S. Bach: Cantata 77, “Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren Lieben”
Holland Boys’ Choir; Netherlands Bach Collegium, Pieter Jan Leusink
Ruth Holton, soprano; Sytse Buwalde, alto;
Nico van der Meel, tenor; Bas Ramselaar, bass

The German translates as “Thou shalt love God, thy Lord”. The cantata is a meditation on the ten commandments, and Bach uses all of his musical tricks to reinforce that theme. The trumpet enters ten times in the opening chorus which is a canon. And so on. This is an early work first performed in Leipzig on August 22, 1723.

Felix Mendelssohn: Magnificat
Amadeus Choir; Wurttemberg Philharmonic, Nicol Matt
Nathalie Karl, soprano; Barbara Werner, alto;
Robert Morvai, tenor; Manfred Bittner, bass

It is no secret that Felix Mendelssohn admired the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. You will hear the great German master’s influence in musical style and form throughout most of Mendelssohn’s sacred choral works.

John Rutter: Lord, thou hast been our refuge
Cambridge Singers, John Rutter
John Birch, organ; Brian Thomson, trumpet

I quote the composer’s notes in their entirety: “St Paul’s Cathedral was the magnificent setting for the first performance of ‘Lord, thou hast been our refuge’, written in 2008 for the annual United Guilds’ Service, on which occasion the Lord Mayor and Livery Companies assemble in splendour to give thanks. I was commissioned to write the anthem by the Worshipful Company of Barbers—most of whose members are in fact surgeons. The Guild was marking its 700th anniversary, and the choice of Psalm 90 as text seemed obvious, particularly with its concluding verse ‘prosper thou the work of our hands’.”

Gustav Holst: The Cloud Messenger, Op. 30
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Richard Hickox
Della Jones, mezzo-soprano

English composer Gustav Holst was fascinated with Sanskrit poetry. “The Cloud Messenger” was composed between 1910-1912 and is based on a poem by the 5th century poet Kālidāsa.

Tomaso Albinoni: Concerto in D minor for Organ & Trumpet, Op. 9 No. 2
Maurice André, trumpet; Marie-Claire Alain, organ

Italian baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni was primarily a composer of operas, though he did write over a hundred instrumental works.