What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, March 8, 2015

 

 

Pierre de la Rue: Pater de caelis, Deus a 6
Ars Antiqua de Paris, Michel Sanvoisin

 

Camille Saint-Saëns: Pro defunctis ~ Seven Improvisations
Stefan Johannes Bleicher, organ

 

Listen to how the late Robert Shaw shapes this beautiful chorus from

Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Dr. Shaw never allowed his singers and musicians to

get in the way of the music. Franco-Flemish composer Pierre de la Rue lived

from c. 1452 to 1518. We tend to think of Camille Saint-Saens as the brilliant

composer of symphonies. That he was indeed. But he was also Organiste Titulaire

of Paris’ Eglise de la Madeleine from 1857-1877.

 

08:22:57

 

Diogo Dias Melgas: Salve Regina
The Sixteen/Christophers, Harry Christophers

 

Henry Stonex: Psalm 35
Choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, John Scott
Andrew Lucas, organ

 

Portugese composer Diogo Dias Melgás (1638-1700) was a student of

Manuel Rebelo. English composer Henry Stonex (1823-1897) was Organist

of St. Nicholas’ Church, Great Yarmouth.

 

08:38:36

 

George Frideric Handel: Lord, to Thee each night and day ~ Theodora
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano

 

John Hughes: Guide me, O thou great Redeemer
Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer
Rupert Gough, organ

 

Handel’s oratorio Theodora was first performed in Covent Garden on March 16, 1750.

Rupert Gough is now the Director of Choral Music and College Organist at Royal

Holloway, University of London.

 

08:49:23

 

John Tavener: Song for Athene
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury

 

Johann Ludwig Krebs: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier
Edwin Swanborn, organ; Timothy Valentine, obbligato English horn
Noack organ in Trinity Lutheran Church, Worcester, Massachusetts

 

20th century English composer John Tavener, not the Tudor composer

John Taverner, was much influenced by ancient chant. Johann Ludwig

Krebs (1713–1780) was taught by Johann Sebastian Bach.

 

09:00:56

 

J.S. Bach: Widerstehe doch der Sunde, BWV 54
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman
Andreas Scholl, alto

 

The German translates as “Hold thou firm against all evil”. German countertenor

Andreas School (1967-) is one of the most renowned countertenors of his generation.
 

09:13:42

Herbert Howells: Stabat Mater
London Symphony Chorus; London Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Neill Archer, tenor

 

Stabat Mater was English composer Herbert Howells’ last large scale work having

been composed in 1965. English tenor soloist Neill Archer studied at the Brevard  Music

Center in North Carolina.

 

10:07:07

 

Gabriel Faure: Requiem, Op. 48
Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys; Orchestra of St. Luke’s, John Scott
Richard Pittsinger, treble; David Pittsinger, bass-baritone;
Frederick Teardo, organ

 

John Scott has been the Organist and Master of the Choir at St. Thomas’ Church, Fifth Avenue, New York since 2004.

 

10:44:10

 

Thomas Arne: Organ Concerto No. 1 in C
Cantilena, Adrian Shepherd
Roger Bevan Williams, organ

 

English composer Thomas Arne (1710–1778) left us six organ concerti.