What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, May 8, 2016

My playlists are on Spotify for you to enjoy: GSM – May 8, 2016 https://goo.gl/ecBSNu
Don’t forget that we have more choral and organ music programmed
on Sunday evenings beginning at 10 p.m. eastern.

08:02:00
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Ave Maria
Lionheart

William Byrd: Alma redemptoris mater
The Cardinall’s Musick, Andrew Carwood

J.S. Bach and Charles Gounod: Ave Maria
National Philharmonic Orchestra; Wandsworth Boys’ Choir, Kurt Herbert Adler
Luciano Pavarotti, tenor

Lionheart is a six voice men’s ensemble based in New York. The Latin translates as “Loving Mother of our Saviour.” Charles Gounod composed the melody for this Ave Maria and set it over J.S. Bach’s first prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier.

08:14:53
Robert Prizeman: Ave Maria
Libera, Robert Prizeman

Gregorian chant: Ave Mater
Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos

Leon Boellmann: Priere a Notre-Dame ~ Suite gothique
Daniel Chorzempa, organ
Organ of the Cadets’ Chapel, West Point

Libera is an English boy band or concert choir which was founded in 1984. The first CD entitled Chant by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos sold 6 million copies back in the 90s. French composer Leon Boellmann wrote seven compositions for organ. His Suite Gothique is the one which is still performed today.

08:30:10
Franz Biebl: Ave Maria
Chanticleer, Joseph Jennings

Joseph-Guy Ropartz: Ave Maria
Michel Piquemal Vocal Ensemble, Michel Piquemal

Samuel Wesley: Ave Regina caelorum
Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Geoffrey Webber

German composer Franz Biebl wrote his setting of the Ave Maria in 1964 for a firemen’s choir. French conductor found his Ensemble Vocal Michel Piquemal in 1978. French composer Joseph-Guy Ropartz (1864-1955) studied with Jules Massenet. English composer Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) lived at the same time as Mozart. Wesley was the nephew of the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley.

08:44:09
Morten Lauridsen: Ave Maria
Polyphony, Stephen Layton

Sir Edward Elgar: Ave Maria
Choir of Westminster Abbey, James O’Donnell
Robert Quinney, organ

Pablo Bruna: Tiento sobre la letania de la Virgen
Francis Chapelet, organ
The organ of the Collegiate Church of Covarrubias, Spain

Los Angeles composer Morten Lauridsen (1943-) wrote his setting of the Ave Maria in 1997. English composer Sir Edward Elgar was a devout Roman Catholic as a young man and wrote several fine choral compositions for use in the various liturgies. Spanish composer Pablo Bruna (1611-1679) was known as “the blind man of Daroca”. Bruna was blinded by smallpox as a child.

09:01:44
J.S. Bach: Cantata 11, “Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen”
Taverner Consort & Players, Andrew Parrott
Emma Kirkby, soprano I; Evelyn Tubb, soprano II;
Margaret Cable, alto; Wilfried Jochens, tenor (Evangelist);
Stephen Charlesworth, bass

The German translates as “Praise God in His Kingdom”. This cantata tells the story of Jesus’ ascension into heaven and does it with great flourishes of trumpets and some of Bach’s most festive writing.

09:29:09
Johann Stamitz: Litanie Lauretane
Alsfelder Vocal Ensemble; Bremen Baroque Orchestra, Wolfgang Helbich

Jan Václav Antonín Stamic (1717-1757) was a Czech composer whose music bridged the baroque and classical periods. He was appointed to the German court of Mannheim in the 1740’s. His Germanized name was Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz.

09:49:26
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: Ye Holy Angels Bright, Op. 135 No. 1
Worcester Cathedral Choir, Donald Hunt

Irish composer Stanford numbered Brahms among his friends. This association developed during Stanford’s time spent in Germany studying at the Leipzig Conservatory.

10:01:22
Franz Schubert: Mass in E flat, D. 950
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Chamber Chorus, Robert Shaw
Benita Valente, soprano; Marietta Simpson, mezzo-soprano;
Jon Humphrey, tenor; Glenn Siebert, tenor; Myron Myers, baritone

The Mass in E flat was Schubert’s last mass setting. It dates from the summer of 1828. This mass and the one in A flat are considered to be the acme of Schubert’s religious compositions.

10:56:31
Andre Campra: Rigaudon ~ Idomenee
Empire Brass with Michael Murray, organ

French composer Andre Campra (1660-1740) was highly regarded as a composer of operas. This triumphal Rigaudon comes from Campra’s tragedy Idomenee.