What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, May 11, 2014

 

08:00:27

Stuart Stotts, arr. J. David Moore: Music in My Mother’s House

Women’s Voices Chorus, Mary Lycan

 

Arvo Part: Salve Regina

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Paul Hillier

Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ

 

“Music in My Mother’s House” brings back cherished

memories of my grandparents playing the piano and

saxophone of a Sunday evening. Estonian composer

Arvo Part’s setting of “Salve Regina” (2001) has an

ethereal quality created by the slowly shifting harmonies.

 

08:19:11

John Brown: Salve Regina

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers

 

Tomás Luis de Victoria: Alma Redemptoris mater

Chanticleer, Joseph Jennings

 

These two renaissance motets in praise of the Queen

of Heaven and Loving Mother of our Savior are fine

examples of Marian motets written in the 16th century.

Scholars think that John Brown was born around 1490

near Coventry, England. Little else is known about him.

Several of his motets have survive in the Eton Choirbook.

The life and works of the Spanish composer de Victoria,

on the other hand, are well-documented. Some scholars

suggest that de Victoria may have studied with the great

Italian composer Giovanni Luigi da Palestrina.

 

08:38:10

Cesar Franck: Panis angelicus

Accentus, Laurence Equilbey

Pavol Breslik, tenor; Sonia Wieder-Atherton, cello; Daniel Maurer, organ

 

Franz Schubert: Ave Maria, D. 839

Members of the Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan

Leontyne Price, soprano

 

These two pieces by Franck and Schubert are probably two

of the most recorded sacred music compositions extant. The

two recordings which I have chosen are slightly off the beaten

path, however.

 

08:49:24

Alfred Hollins: Concert Rondo

Jonathan Bielby, organ

1860 Father Willis organ of Huddersfield Town Hall, Yorkshire, England

 

Alfred Hollins (1865–1942) was blind from birth. As a concert organist

he toured the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

 

09:00:31

J.S. Bach: Cantata 103, “Ihr werdet weinen und heulen …”

Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki

Yukari Nonoshita, soprano; Robin Blaze, countertenor;

James Gilchrist, tenor; Dominik Worner, bass

 

Bach’s Cantata 103 was written for Jubilate Sunday or the

Third Sunday after Easter. It is scored for trumpet, piccolo

flute, transverse flute, oboes d’amore as well as strings and

continuo. The German translates as “Ye shall weep and lament.”

 

09:16:43

William Byrd: Mass for Three Voices

Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips

 

The adjective ‘sublime’ always comes to mind as I listen

to Tudor composer William Byrd’s music.

 

09:35:28

Antonio Vivaldi: Dixit Dominus, RV 595

The King’s Consort and Choir, Robert King

Susan Gritton, soprano; Catrin Wyn-Davies, soprano;

Catherine Denley, mezzo-soprano; Charles Daniels, tenor;

Neal Davies, bass; Michael George, baritone

 

Vivaldi wrote two settings of Psalm 109. RV 594 is for double

choir. It was the only setting by the composer which was known

until RV 595 surfaced in the National Library in Prague in the 1960s.

 

10:00:34

Antonin Dvorak: Mass in D, Op.86

Prague Chamber Choir, Jaseph Pancik

Dagmar Maskova, soprano; Marta Benackova, alto;

Walter Coppola, tenor; Peter Mikulas, bass;

Lydie Hartelova, harp; Josef Ksica, organ

 

Dvorak’s Mass dates from 1892 when it was arranged

for choir and symphony orchestra from the original more

modest forces of organ and choir with soloists.

 

10:37:30

Jean-Baptiste Lully: Benedictus

Le Concert Spirituel, Herve Niquet

 

The choral music of the Italian-born Lully deserves to be

performed more frequently than it is. In my opinion Lully shares

Vivaldi’s gift for setting his texts with music which makes the

words leap off the page.

 

10:56:23

Charles Koechlin: Chant de la Résurrection, Op. 179 No. 2

London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble, Christopher Larkin

Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ

 

Charles Louis Eugene Koechlin (1867-1950) was a French

composer and writer. He studied with Gabriel Faure.