What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, May 1, 2016

My playlists are on Spotify for you to enjoy: GSM – May 1, 2016 https://goo.gl/uRAK4h
Don’t forget that we have more choral and organ music programmed
on Sunday evenings beginning at 10 p.m. eastern.

08:01:16
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Adjuro vos & Caput ejus
Cambridge Singers, John Rutter

Kievo-Pechersky Chant: Blessed is the Man
Alumni of the Yale Russian Chorus, Denis Mickiewicz

We continue our survey of Palestrina’s sacred choral works with a performance of two motets from his Canticum Canticorum or Song of Songs. Denis Mickiewicz founded the Yale Russian Chorus in 1953.

08:15:51
Gordon Slater: Jesu, the Very Thought of Thee
Choir of St. John’s, Elora, Noel Edison
Paul Halley, organ

Sir William Harris: Strengthen ye the weak hands
Choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, John Scott
Andrew Lucas, organ

English organist Gordon Slater (1896–1979) held posts at Leicester and Lincoln Cathedrals. Sir William Harris set texts from Ecclesiasticus 38, vv 4, 6, 9, 10 and Isaiah 35, vv 1 – 6 and the Book of Common Prayer for this well-regarded anthem which is a staple of choirs, particularly in the Anglican tradition.

08:31:36
Father Marius Joselph Walter: Variations on ‘Salve, festa dies’
Cherry Rhodes, Ladd Thomas

Father Marius Joseph Walter is the pastor of St. Dominic’s Parish, Westfield, NY. This work was written for the dedication of the Ott organ in
Mount St. Angel Abbey. Father Walter has generously made a recording of his composition available to Great Sacred Music.

08:46:16
J.S. Bach: Cantata 86, “Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch”
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, Ton Koopman
Sibylla Rubens, soprano; Bernhard Landauer, alto;
Christoph Pregardien, tenor; Klaus Mertens, bass

The German translates as “Truly, truly, I say unto you” which is taken from John 16:23. This cantata was first performed on May 14, 1724 in Leipzig. It consists of six movements which include two arias and, of course, a wonderful concluding chorale.

09:01:51
Felix Mendelssohn: Paulus
Leipzig Radio Chorus; Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Kurt Masur
Gundula Janowitz, soprano; Rosemarie Lang, soprano;
Hans Peter Blochwitz, tenor; Theo Adam, bass;
Gothart Stier, bass; Hermann Christian Polster, bass

I was fascinated to learn that Mendelssohn’s oratorio Paulus was given its first performance in Leipzig in 1836 and was performed for the first time in the United States in Boston a year later. That’s amazing when you consider that communications were markedly slower back then. The structure of the oratorio owes much to Mendelssohn’s idol, Johann Sebastian Bach. You will hear chorales, for instance, which follow Bach’s practice of including chorales in his cantatas and passions so that the congregation could participate.