CONCERT NOTES

2007 - 2008


 THE CHOIR OF WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL, U.K.

Andrew Lumsden, Director
Sarah Baldock, Organist

Tuesday, 23 October at 7:30 PM


Recognized as one of England’s leading cathedral choirs, the Choir of Winchester Cathedral continues a thousand-year long tradition of leading choral worship. The Boy Choristers, Lay Clerks, and Organists of the Cathedral sing an average of eight services each week during school term, as well as the great festivals in the Christian calendar. They also maintain a prominent international presence through regular concert tours and commercial recordings.

The Choir has toured Europe, Australia, Brazil, and the USA and has performed at the Salzburg Begegnung Festival, and at the Göttingen International Handel Festival where they appeared with the English Concert in performances of Handel’s Jephtha. The Choir appears on BBC radio and television, and the boy choristers have appeared with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Henry Wood Proms in the Royal Albert Hall. Under the direction of Andrew Lumsden, the Choir will perform works by Byrd, Ramsey, Elgar, Messiaen and Poulenc.

 
BAROQUE MASTERS: Buxtehude, Bach, and Handel

Wednesday, 14 November at 7:30 PM


The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys with Concert Royal

Three masters of the Baroque era—Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel—will be featured, with stunning choral works performed by the Saint Thomas Choir with soloists, under the direction of John Scott, accompanied by Concert Royal playing on instruments of the baroque era.

Although Buxtehude is best known for his organ music (Bach walked more than 200 miles to hear him perform), his choral works are among the finest as well. His setting of the Magnificat is filled with rich invention, alternating instrumental, solo and choral passages.

Bach’s Cantatas No. 29, Wir danken dir, Gott, and No. 11, Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, display the brilliant writing for chorus and orchestra that make Bach’s work a constant source of pleasure. Cantata No. 29 (We thank you, God) features a famous virtuoso organ part in its opening sinfonia, while Cantata No. 11 (Praise God in His kingdom), an oratorio for the Feast of the Ascension, is filled with rousing choruses and festive instrumental writing.

Perhaps no composer in the English choral tradition is as beloved as the German-born Handel. Handel’s choral anthems, Zadok the Priest and the Foundling Hospital Anthem concluding with the famous “Hallelujah” chorus from Messiah, are filled with the drama and splendor that are cornerstones of his art. Rounding out the program, and composed on a smaller scale, is Handel’s Organ Concerto in F Major, a tuneful work rich with color and exuberance, played by organist and director of music, John Scott.


MESSIAH
George Frideric Handel

Tuesday, 11 December 2007 at 7:30 PM
Thursday, 13 December 2007 at 7:30 PM

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys
with Concert Royal


No work of sacred choral music has won the hearts of audiences and performers like George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. Since its 1742 premiere, Messiah has been a centerpiece of Christmas and Easter celebrations around the world. At Saint Thomas Church, the choir’s performances of the oratorio are a much-loved Christmas tradition. A reviewer for the New York Times hailed “the Choir of Men and Boys’ pure, transparent sound [which] has provided a consistent draw for Saint Thomas’s annual Messiah performances.”

This year, Saint Thomas performs Handel’s masterpiece in its traditional baroque arrangement following last season’s anniversary performance of the Mozart orchestration.

We invite you to herald the joyous holiday season with a performance of Messiah on period instruments in the beautiful setting of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue.

 
BRITTEN AND MESSIAEN

Thursday, 20 December 2007


5:30 PM
A Ceremony of Carols
The Boys of Saint Thomas Choir
Anna Reinersman, Harp

It is difficult to imagine a Christmas at Saint Thomas Church without Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. Scored for the unusual pairing of treble (boy soprano) voices and harp, the piece is a sequence of nine carols based on texts by anonymous 15th and 16th century writers. Deeply felt, both elegiac and energetic, A Ceremony of Carols is a masterpiece for boys’ voices.


6:15 PM
La Nativité du Seigneur
John Scott, Organ

Following A Ceremony of Carols, Director of Music John Scott will take to the console of Saint Thomas’s formidable Aeolian-Skinner organ for a performance of Olivier Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur. One of the foremost composers of the 20th century, Messiaen was an extremely accomplished organist. His nine meditations on Christ’s nativity are awash with color, and will be brought vibrantly to life on an instrument that is ideally suited to this music. Tender, mysterious and rhapsodic, La Nativité du Seigneur is a magnificent musical tableau.



SIR JOHN TAVENER’S MASS
U.S. PREMIERE
Solemnitas in Conceptione Immaculata Mariae Virginis

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys
with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Friday, 7 March 2008 at 7:30 PM

Post-Concert Reception: Underwriting sponsors of the U.S. Premiere are invited to meet the soloists and conductor, John Scott, immediately following the performance.

We are privileged to present the U.S. Premiere of Sir John Tavener’s monumental setting of his Mass.

Tavener writes: “When I was asked to write a ‘Universalist’ setting of the entire Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, it seemed to be sent from heaven. Since my work and life have been shaped by the Orthodox Church and a life-long veneration and love of Mary, the music, as it were, literally exploded onto the page. I am deeply aware of the present Pope’s concern for a creative approach to both liturgy and music, and I therefore humbly dedicate this work to him, as well as dedicating it to the memory of Sheikh Abu Bakr, a Sufi master who loved the Blessed Virgin more deeply than I can say. Both men’s love of the Holy Virgin, and of music, is in important factor in my great respect and esteem for them.”

The work is scored for two choirs, string orchestra, brass, organ and percussion. It is a large canvas, lasting some 90 minutes in performance. The work also makes good use of the spacial potential of a large, reverberant building such as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. A group of musicians is called for in the far gallery at the back of the church – a solo soprano and string quartet.

As well as setting the entire Ordinary and Proper of the Mass to music, including all the appropriate readings and Gospel texts, Tavener has enriched this meditation devoted to Mary, Mother of God, with sacred words and texts (“divine echoes”) which serve to enhance his vision of the Eternal Feminine, drawing upon Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, Aramaic, Greek, American Indian, German and Italian sources, among others.

The writing is typical of Tavener’s post-Orthodox style: austere, dramatic, lyrical and hypnotic. At the moment of the consecration of the Sacrament, he quotes from one of his most transcendent works – The Protecting Veil, an ecstatic meditation for cello solo and string orchestra. Towards the end of the piece, Tavener inserts the Biblical Song of Mary, the Magnificat, set for both choirs in a primordial unison, but nonetheless radiating the simple, unfettered joy of the text.


THE CHOIR OF KING’S COLLEGE,
Cambridge, U.K.

Stephen Cleobury, Director
Peter Stevens and Thomas Kimber, Organ Scholars

Friday, 11 April 2008 at 7:30 PM


The Choir of King’s College owes its existence to King Henry VI who, in founding the College in 1441, envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel, one of the jewels of Britain’s cultural and architectural heritage. The Choir is undoubtedly one of the world’s best known choral groups - every Christmas Eve millions of people worldwide tune into A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols that has been broadcast each year by the BBC since 1928. While the Choir exists primarily to sing at the daily church services of King’s College Chapel, its worldwide fame and reputation, enhanced by its many recordings, has led to an extensive international tour schedule. In recent seasons the Choir has traveled throughout Europe as well as to the US, Australia and Asia-Pacific. Performances have been given at the Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels), Settembre Musicale in Turin, Teatro alla Pergola in Florence, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Gothenburg Church Music Festival, Stuttgart Barock Festival, Istanbul International Music Festival, Hong Kong Cultural Center, Seoul Arts Center, and the Singapore Esplanade, to name just a few. The Choir also performs extensively in the United Kingdom.

The Choir records exclusively for EMI Classics and is delighted that this relationship has been extended through to 2011. Under the direction of Stephen Cleobury, the Choir will perform a varied program of inspired choral music including works by Gibbons, Tomkins, Weelkes, Bach, Poulenc, Britten and Walton.


AMERICAN VOICES
Bernstein, Copland, Barber, Thompson, Rorem,
Muhly and Whitacre

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys

Tuesday, 13 May 2008 at 7:30 PM
Friends of Music (all donors) reception at 9:00 PM


America enjoys a brilliant choral tradition of music that is colorful, lyrical, elegiac, exuberant and eclectic. Whether in masterpieces by composers of the recent past or those of an exciting new generation, American choral music enjoys a unique place in the repertoire. Works by such giants of the American tradition as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Randall Thompson and Leonard Bernstein, as well as contemporary pieces by Nico Muhly and Eric Whitacre, will be celebrated in a very special concert by the Saint Thomas Choir under the direction of John Scott, with mezzo-soprano soloist, Margaret Bragle.

Leonard Bernstein’s beloved Chichester Psalms sets several of the Psalms of David. Sung in Hebrew, the piece thrills with its range and rhythmic complexity and touches the heart with its tenderness and optimism. It will be heard in Bernstein’s reduced setting for boy soloist, organ, harp and percussion.

For sheer drama, few composers equal Samuel Barber. Barber’s beautiful Agnus Dei is his own transcription of his famous Adagio for Strings. It is a dignified, simple work that starts sparely, rises in intensity to a heart-wrenching climax, and then falls away to end in a serene pianissimo.

Aaron Copland brought a uniquely American sound to serious music. His cantata In the Beginning, scored for mezzo-soprano and choir, tells the story of the seven days of creation. Randall Thompson’s initially elegiac yet exultant Alleluia, commissioned in 1940 for the opening of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, reflects Thompson’s concern over the circumstances in Europe, particularly the recent fall of France.

Rounding out the program and representing the current generation of American composers are Eternal Light, by Saint Thomas Chorister Daniel Castellanos; i thank You God for most this amazing day, Eric Whitacre’s translucent setting of a poem by e.e. cummings; and Nico Muhly’s Bright Mass with Canons, a work commissioned in 2005 by Saint Thomas Church and dedicated to the choir and its director, John Scott. On a contrasting note, the program includes arrangements of three spirituals, including Gerre Hancock’s beautiful setting of Deep River.


VISITING U.K. CHOIRS

SUNDAY, 30 MARCH 2008

11 AM: Choral Eucharist

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL CHOIR
Gloucester, U.K.

Andrew Nethsingha, Director

Gloucester Cathedral Choir is the successor to the boys and monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter, who first sang daily worship in this magnificent building almost 1,000 years ago. The Choir of today stems from that established by Henry VIII in 1539, consisting of up to 20 full and probationary choristers, nine lay clerks and three choral scholars. Choristers attend the neighboring King’s School, supported by chorister scholarships, while choral scholars join the Choir for a year, usually before or after university or music college.

The choir sings six services each week (in term time) as well as major Easter and Christmas services; it also participates each year in the Three Choirs Festival, Europe’s longest established music festival


4 PM: Choral Evensong

THE KING’S SCHOOL CRYPT CHOIR
Canterbury, U.K.

Howard Ionascu, Director

The King’s School, Canterbury is often described as the oldest school in England. St. Augustine probably established a school shortly after his arrival in Canterbury in 597, and it is from this institution that the modern King’s School ultimately grew. Christopher Marlowe and Somerset Maugham are among the King’s School’s most famous graduates. The choir sings the school’s services in the Cathedral and also performs in concerts around the world.



THURSDAY, 10 APRIL 2008

5:30 PM: Choral Evensong

WINCHESTER COLLEGE CHAPEL CHOIR
Winchester, U.K.

Malcolm Archer, Director

Winchester College is one of the oldest and best-known schools in Great Britain. Founded in 1382 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and twice Chancellor of England, it enjoys an enviable reputation for academic and musical excellence and for the breadth and quality of the education given to its pupils. William of Wykeham's original foundation included seventy scholars, and although the school has now grown tenfold in size, the same number of scholars continues to live in medieval chambers next to the College Hall and Chapel. Wykeham also made provision for sixteen singing-boys called Quiristers, whose duty was to sing at Chapel services. For over 600 years Winchester College has maintained its Quiristers, and they now form the treble line in Winchester College Chapel Choir, besides singing a good deal in their own right as a boys' concert choir. The lower voices in the Chapel Choir are provided by senior pupils (and some staff) from the College, many of whom have themselves been Quiristers or choristers at English Cathedrals and other choral foundations. These singers in turn often go on to study music at university: in the past decade, pupils from Winchester College have won over forty choral and organ scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge. Winchester College Chapel Choir sings a full range of choral services in the College Chapel. It gives recitals, broadcasts and records for BBC Radio and Television, and makes regular tours abroad. The Choir has given performances at St John's Smith Square in central London, while the Quiristers have appeared in the BBC Proms at the Albert Hall. Foreign trips since 2000 have included Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany and Hong Kong.


SIX SATURDAYS WITH MESSIAEN

2008 Saturday Organ Concerts at 4:30 PM (various lengths)

October 4th, 11th, 18th and November 8th, 15th, 22nd

As an organist, I’ve always been profoundly grateful for the fact that our repertory has been enriched so much by the music of two composers in particular: Bach and Messiaen. Bach’s organ works have often been described as “cathedrals of sound.” To complete these structures, Messiaen's masterpieces are surely the stained glass of these cathedrals - catching, reflecting and transforming light as it enters the sacred space - illuminating the interior, sending the spirit soaring beyond the confines of the stone.

In Messiaen’s own words: "The stained-glass windows magnify the light, one of God's first creations, but the organ brings to the church something similar to light that yet surpasses it: the music of the Invisible. It is the wondrous overture to the Beyond..."

Messiaen’s trademark musical tools – brilliant colors, startling rhythms derived from diverse sources such as ancient Greek and Hindu music, and melodies derived primarily from chant and transcriptions of bird song – combine to create a visionary and deeply spiritual language aimed to elevate the listener from the commonplace into a closeness with the divine mysteries.

To play all of Messiaen’s organ works is an ambition I have long cherished, but never realized. It seems an opportune moment, as we commemorate the centenary of the composer’s birth in 2008, to embark on such a project, and the Arents Memorial Organ at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue lends itself particularly well to Messiaen’s music.
Listening to these works live in a church acoustic is an incomparably thrilling experience; the magnificent French Gothic interior of Saint Thomas and its spectacular stained glass provide an ideal backdrop for opening oneself up to the miraculous power of these transcendent masterpieces.

– John Scott