What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, December 7, 2014

 

08:02:00
Gregorian chant: Ave plena gratiae
Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos

 

Traditional: On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry
Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer
Rupert Gough, organ

 

J.S. Bach: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 661
Hans Fagius, organ
Baroque organ in Kristine Church, Falun, Sweden

 

The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos gained fame with an album entitled

Chant which went double platinum and made it to third place on Billboard. Wells Cathedral

Choir is composed of boys and girls singing the top line. Bach’s chorale prelude on Nun

komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 661 is one of the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes which

include BWV 651-668.

 

08:14:04
Michael Praetorius: Come, thou Redeemer of the earth
John Byrt: Up, awake and away! 
Galician carol (arr. Ledger): All and some
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Philip Ledger
Adrian Partington, organ

 

Pablo Bruna: Tiento sobre la letania de la Virgen
Francis Chapelet, organ
17th century organ of the Collegiate Church of Covarrubias, Spain

 

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is famous for its superb singing as you

will hear in these three Advent carols. The maker of the ancient pipe organ in

Collegiate Church of Covarrubias is unknown. It is one of the earliest surviving examples

of Spanish organs.

 

08:28:40
Anonymous: Rejoice in the Lord
Cambridge Singers, John Rutter

 

Samuel Wesley: Ave Regina caelorum
Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Geoffrey Webber

 

Sir Edward Elgar: Lux aeterna
Choir of New College, Oxford, Edward Higginbottom

 

Three English anthems offer a study in contrast and style from the 16th century

to the early 20th century.

 

08:40:38
Domenico Scarlatti: Salve Regina
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Jeanne Lamon
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto

 

French-Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux has established an international

reputation as one of classical music’s finest contraltos.

 

08:53:48
Johannes Brahms: Prelude and Fugue in A minor
Robert Parkins, organ
1976 Flentrop Organ, Duke Chapel, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

 

The Dutch organ builder Dirk Flentrop built the organ in Duke University in the style

of 18th century Dutch organs.

 

09:02:01
J.S. Bach: Cantata 70, “Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!”
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, Ton Koopman
Sibylla Rubens, soprano; Bernhard Landauer, alto;
Christoph Pregardien, tenor; Klaus Mertens, bass

 

No cantatas were performed in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig during Advent. Having said

that, BWV 70 is appropriate for this season of introspection and preparation having as

its theme Christ’s second coming and the last judgment. 

 

09:25:41
Benjamin Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb, Op. 30
Choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge, George Guest
Roger Parker, treble; Michael Pearce, counter-tenor;
Robert Tear, tenor; Brian Runnett, organ

 

The Reverend Canon Walter Hussey commissioned Benjamin Britten to write

Rejoice in the Lamb for the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of St. Matthew’s Parish,

Northampton in 1943.

 

09:43:47
Louis Vierne: Triptych for Organ, Op. 58
Pierre Cochereau, organ
1733 Thierry/1788 F.H. Cliquot/1867 Cavaillée-Coll/1959 Hermann/1960 Boisseau

/1992 Boisseau-Emeriau-Giroud-Synaptel organ in Notre Dame Cathedral

 

Pierre Cochereau was Titular Organist of Notre Dame Cathedral from 1954-1984.

 

10:00:15
William Byrd: Mass for Four Voices
Parthenia XVI, Mary Jane Newman

 

The Mass for Four Voices dates from 1592. It is one of three great masses which

Byrd wrote, the others being for three and five voices. 

 

10:26:37
Jan Vaclav Vorisek: Mass in B flat
Czech National Symphony; Prague Chamber Choir, Paul Freeman
Patrice Michaels, soprano; Tami Jantzi, mezzo-soprano;
William Watson, tenor; Peter van de Graaf, bass

 

Jan Vaclav who? Vorisek lived a short life from 1791-1825. He is one of those relatively

obscure composers of the classical period who left a couple of works which make you wish

more of his music had survived. This very likable and rarely heard Mass in B flat major is an

example of what I mean.