What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, June 19, 2016

My playlists are on Spotify for you to enjoy: GSM – June 19, 2016 https://goo.gl/BZohUi
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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Andrew Lloyd Webber: Pie Jesu ~ Requiem
Chorus Angelicus, Paul Halley
Elena Barrett, soprano I; Emma Clune, soprano II

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Surge, amica mea
Choir of Westminster Cathedral, James O’Donnell

Joao Lourenco Rebelo: Qui habitat
The Sixteen/Christophers, Harry Christophers

Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote his Requiem in memory of his father, William Lloyd Webber. Palestrina left us thirty-two volumes of his music. The Latin translates as “Rise up, my love”. Almost all of the music of Portugese composer Joao Lourenco Rebelo was destroyed in an earthquake in November 1755.

Charles Wood: ‘Tis the day of Resurrection
Choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, John Scott

Henry Purcell: O Lord, rebuke me not
Chanticleer; Capriccio Stravagante, Joseph Jennings

Herbert Howells: Magnificat ~ Gloucester Service
Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, Stephen Layton
Jeremy Cole, organ

The three English composers in this segment represent three distinct eras in English church music. Purcell wrote music for the theatre before composing church music after becoming Master of the Music at Westminster Abbey. Sir Charles Wood was in the first class entering the Royal College of Music. Herbert Howells wrote over twenty settings of the Morning and Evening Canticles for various parish churches and cathedral.

George Frideric Handel: Ombra mai fu ~ Serse (Xerxes)
I Solisti Veneti, Claudio Scimone
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano

Salomone Rossi: Psalm 112, “Hallelujah. Blessed is the man
that fears the Lord”
Chicago a cappella

Anton Bruckner: Gradual: Christus factus est pro nobis
Corydon Singers, Matthew Best

Max Reger: Fugue ~ Choral Fantasy on “Sleepers,
Awake!”, Op. 52 No. 2
Friedrich Froschle, organ
Walcker Organ of the Ulm Cathedral

American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne has enjoyed a long career singing modern and bel canto operas. Salomone Rossi (1570-1630) was an Italian composer who straddled the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Anton Bruckner began his musical career as an organist and wrote many fine sacred compositions. German composer Max Reger was one of the most prolific composers of the late Romantic period.

J.S. Bach: Cantata 24, “Ein ungefarbt Gemute”
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
Midori Suzuki, soprano; Robin Blaze, countertenor;
Gerd Turk, tenor; Chiyuki Urano, bass

The German translates as “An unstained mind.” The cantata was first performed in Leipzig on June 20, 1723. It consists of six movements, the last of which is a setting of the familiar chorale, “O God, Thou Faithful God.”

Emanuele d’Astorga: Stabat Mater
The King’s Consort, Robert King
Susan Gritton, soprano; Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano;
Paul Agnew, tenor; Peter Harvey, bass

Italian composer Emanuele d’Astorga is mainly remembered for this setting of the “Stabat Mater”.

Marcel Dupre: Variations on Two Themes, for Piano and
Organ, Op. 35
Stefan Engels, organ; Alessio Bax, piano
Fisk Organ at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

“Variations on Two Themes in C# minor for Piano and Organ, Op. 35” dates from 1937.

Felix Mendelssohn: Christus
Accentus; Paris Orchestral Ensemble
Laurence Equilbey
Sandrine Piau, soprano; Robert Getchell, tenor;
Laurent Slaars, bass I; Markus Butter, bass II

Mendelssohn began writing his oratorio Christus in 1846. He completed the twenty minute fragment which we shall hear this morning. His brother Paul published the work posthumously as Opus 97.

John Rutter: Requiem
Cambridge Singers; City of London Sinfonia, John Rutter
Caroline Ashton and Donna Deam, soprano

John Rutter conducted the first full performance of his Requiem at Lovers’ Lane United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas on 13 October 1985.