Great Sacred Music airs every Sunday morning from 8 until 11 a.m. eastern on The Classical Station.
The music on this week’s playlist can also be found on Spotify at this link: GSM – March 2, 2014
Also on Sunday evenings you can hear more choral music both sacred and secular on Wavelengths and Peaceful Reflections
beginning at 9 p.m. eastern.
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08:02:00
John Sanders: The Reproaches
Choir of St. John’s, Elora, Noel Edison
John Sanders: The Reproaches
Choir of St. John’s, Elora, Noel Edison
“O my people, O my people, What have I done to you
How have I offended you? Answer me! Answer me!” John Sanders sets
How have I offended you? Answer me! Answer me!” John Sanders sets
these opening lines of The Reproaches with an anguished cry of despair.
This work can be found on a CD entitled Psalms for the Soul on the Naxos label.
08:15:08
John Rutter: Lord, thou hast been our refuge
Cambridge Singers, John Rutter
John Birch, organ; Brian Thomson, trumpet
John Rutter: Lord, thou hast been our refuge
Cambridge Singers, John Rutter
John Birch, organ; Brian Thomson, trumpet
This composition by John Rutter shows the remarkable command the composer has
of his craft. Personally I think that this is one of his finer anthems. John Birch was for
many years organist of both Chichester Cathedral and The Temple Church.
08:28:03
Franz Schubert: Mass No. 2 in G, D. 167
Vienna Boys’ Choir; Chorus Viennensis;
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bruno Weil
Arno Hartmann, organ
Franz Schubert: Mass No. 2 in G, D. 167
Vienna Boys’ Choir; Chorus Viennensis;
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bruno Weil
Arno Hartmann, organ
Schubert wrote his Mass in G major in less than a week in 1815. Despite its now being the
best known of his six mass settings, the Mass in G major was overlooked for many years after
the composer’s death.
08:50:00
Max Reger: Prelude and Fugue in G sharp minor
Martin Welzel, organ
Johannes Klais organ in Trier Cathedral
Max Reger: Prelude and Fugue in G sharp minor
Martin Welzel, organ
Johannes Klais organ in Trier Cathedral
The Klais organ in Trier Dom is a stunner. Wonderfully suited to Reger’s organ music. Here’s the
stop list and a photo: http://www.klais.de/m.php?tx=26
09:01:32
J.S. Bach: Motet “Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf”, BWV 226
Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and Baroque Orchestra, Ivars Taurins
J.S. Bach: Motet “Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf”, BWV 226
Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and Baroque Orchestra, Ivars Taurins
The English translation is “The Spirit gives aid to our weakness”. Musicologists seem to think
that several of Bach’s six motets including this one were written for funerals.
09:12:03
Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Au travail suis
Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips
Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Au travail suis
Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips
“Au travail suis” was a song which Ockeghem used as the theme of this mass. Ockeghem’s
music written in the fifteenth century sounds fresh and vital to our ears which are accustomed
to a wide variety of musical styles. One can only imagine what fifteenth century listeners made of it.
09:34:47
Louis Vierne: Messe solennelle, Op 16
Choirs of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, Jehan Revert
Pierre Cochereau and Jacques Marichal, organ
Louis Vierne: Messe solennelle, Op 16
Choirs of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, Jehan Revert
Pierre Cochereau and Jacques Marichal, organ
Notre Dame Cathedral predates Johannes Ockeghem by about three hundred years. Louis Vierne’s
Mass for two organs and choirs makes grand use of that great space and les grands orgues.
10:01:46
Robert Schumann: Missa sacra in C minor, Op. 147
Cologne Chamber Choir, Peter Neumann
Sigrid Carstanjen, soprano; Andreas Fischer, tenor;
Stefan Meier, bass; Christoph Anselm Noll, organ
Robert Schumann: Missa sacra in C minor, Op. 147
Cologne Chamber Choir, Peter Neumann
Sigrid Carstanjen, soprano; Andreas Fischer, tenor;
Stefan Meier, bass; Christoph Anselm Noll, organ
The Missa Sacra dates from the period when Schumann was director of the municipal orchestra and
chorus in Düsseldorf. It was written in 1852.
10:44:44
Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger: Organ Sonata No. 3 in G, Op. 88
Bruce Stevens, organ
The 1871 E. & G.G. Hook organ, New Haven, Connecticut
Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger: Organ Sonata No. 3 in G, Op. 88
Bruce Stevens, organ
The 1871 E. & G.G. Hook organ, New Haven, Connecticut
The Organ Historical Society Database reports that this venerable organ was damaged by a roof leak in 2002. Apparently it is no longer playable.
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