Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924) Gabriel Jackson (b. 1962) Magnificat & in A Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis 1 Magnificat [6.20] Truro Service 2 Nunc Dimittis [5.37] 9 Magnificat [4.51] 0 Nunc Dimittis [2.46] (1929–1988) Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis Sir (1905–1998) Second Service Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis 3 Magnificat [6.45] Collegium Sancti Johannis Cantabrigiense 4 Nunc Dimittis [4.29] q Magnificat [4.25] w Nunc Dimittis [3.31] (1899–1995)

Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in A Total timings: [58.44] 5 Magnificat [5.02] 6 Nunc Dimittis [3.09] THE OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE (1892–1983) GLEN DEMPSEY ORGAN DIRECTOR Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis Gloucester Service 7 Magnificat [7.01] 8 Nunc Dimittis [4.48]

www.signumrecords.com CONDUCTOR’S REFLECTIONS strongly with those settings, such as Leighton’s Second Service, in which a layer of melancholy The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis have been is superimposed on the often-joyous words said or sung at daily acts of Christian worship of the Magnificat. for over a thousand years. Mark Oakley writes about the two later in the The present album comprises settings of booklet. The album seeks to demonstrate the Evening Canticles that each relate to a the breadth of imagination with which particular period of my own music-making – composers have approached these enduring at the , Truro , texts. Stanford’s starting point was the and St John’s. A second Germanic symphonic tradition; Howells volume will follow, and there could perhaps took his inspiration from the architecture be more after that if listeners are enthusiastic! and acoustics of the Cathedral in Gloucester; Settings of the Evening Canticles tend to be Tippett was inspired by the unique Spanish labelled in one of three ways: by key, by the trumpet stop at St John’s. building for which they were written, or in numerical order within the composer’s output. Whilst contemplating the concept for the The two canticles are generally jointly described recording, and the way in which external factors as a Service. can shed new light on the words of the canticles, I happened to visit Antwerp Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were originally Cathedral to see the famous Rubens part of different daily monastic offices, painting, The Descent from the Cross. This and Compline respectively. Cranmer is the centrepiece of a triptych, the right-hand incorporated the two into the single office of panel of which depicts Mary presenting the Evening Prayer, a service commonly known infant to Simeon in the temple. The as when some of the texts are angle of the panels is such that as she hands her sung. Composers have used different means child to Simeon, Mary also gazes left towards to fashion the two canticles into one entity. the central crucified Jesus. Mary’s apparent Most use motivic connections (even if hard premonition of what was to come resonates to discern on first hearing, as in the case of

- 3 - Tippett!) For some, the Glorias provide a tenure. Eight years later he went on to be a pair: Jackson’s Glorias complement one founding Professor of the Royal College of another with mirror-image endings; Stanford Music, where he taught composition for the and Sumsion follow the example of rest of his life. He also became Professor of seventeenth-century predecessors by repeating Music at Cambridge in 1882. Along with the Glorias as a refrain. Howells’s second , he had a major influence on Gloria is a more impassioned version of the the renaissance of British music, through both first, creating a cumulative effect. In Leighton’s his composition and his teaching. Stanford’s case there is a large-scale harmonic structure pupils at the R.C.M. included Howells, who in which the start of the Magnificat is not also went on to be a Professor there. tonally resolved until the end of the Nunc Dimittis. In Tippett’s work the Glorias could In this, his fourth setting of the Evening hardly seem more different – emphasising Canticles, Stanford created a symphonic the joy and growth of new life in the first , canvas which was unprecedented in Anglican and contraction and introspection at the end choral music. Having arranged for the British of life in the second canticle. premiere of Brahms’ First Symphony to take place in Cambridge in 1877, Stanford now unashamedly reused the motivic building STANFORD IN A blocks from Brahms’ Second Symphony to fashion something quite new. Stanford in Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) was A (1880) was first performed with orchestra born in Dublin and grew up in an intellectual at the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy at environment, going on to study Classics St Paul’s Cathedral, though I prefer it in the at Queens’ College, Cambridge. He was contemporaneous organ version heard here. appointed Organist at Trinity College, In their own Evening Canticles, Thomas Cambridge in 1874, whilst still an Attwood Walmisley and Samuel Sebastian undergraduate. He accepted the post on Wesley (Organists at St John’s and Gloucester condition that he be allowed to study in respectively) had introduced a considerable Berlin and Leipzig for periods during his degree of independence in the accompaniments;

- 4 - - 5 - in Stanford’s hands, choir and organ now choral musicians to remind ourselves of become truly equal partners. As Nicholas Stanford’s edict. Temperley has written, it was due to Stanford that settings of Anglican canticles regained Stanford’s Evening Service in A is elegant, ‘their full place beside the anthem as a confident and flowing. It has a concise worthy object of artistic invention’. motivic unity, with much of the work derived from the first three notes of the organ’s Stanford’s music is now so central to the introductory melody. Stanford is the first repertoire of Anglican that it is easy composer to incorporate classical elements to forget what a pioneering figure he was of sonata form into a Magnificat. He creates in his day. He was an outspoken critic of a single through-composed arc of music, contemporary British musical tastes, bemoaning unlike the sectional of his most the prevalence of sentimental nineteenth-century progressive predecessors. In the central section repertoire in Anglican lists. When of the Magnificat, Stanford puts down the he promoted a concert containing music by mighty as far as possible from their seat – with Bach, Purcell and Palestrina, he was criticised a minor chord a tritone away from A major for producing a programme which ‘could have – followed by a suave, deft transition to the been performed 150 years ago’! In a paper subdominant as he exalts the humble and read before the Church Congress in London meek. This is sophisticated word-painting in 1899 he said it was ‘imperative that linked to large-scale harmonic planning. the Church should educate, refine and He remembering provides something of a improve its members in respect of church recapitulation, and the motif from bar 1 is music. She [the Church] should lead taste, and declaimed in augmentation to begin the Gloria. not follow it. She should uncompromisingly adopt what is best, irrespective of popularity, Stanford’s Nunc Dimittis opens with a funereal and eschew the second-rate, even if it is tread, its theme based on the first three notes momentarily attractive’. He went on to say of the Magnificat in inversion. Many other that the Church was failing in this duty. settings of the Nunc Dimittis use solo or It is important for each generation of choral basses to represent the voice of the

- 5 - old man; Stanford’s settings in G and B flat LEIGHTON – SECOND SERVICE provide examples of this. However, in the present work, it is the low, earthly tessitura This work was composed in 1972 in memory of the instrumental introduction which seems of one of the most brilliant organists of his to depict Simeon’s condition. The voices generation, , a former St John’s then float in with veiled tone from on high, . The 35-year-old Runnett, who as though the angels are singing on his had been Organist of for behalf. Tippett’s setting makes an interesting three years, was killed in a car crash whilst comparison at this point. Stanford contrasts driving to his parents’ home in Southport after the solemn end of a mortal life with the giving an organ recital at . transcendent revelation of seeing the Messiah; after the minor key opening, the rest of the In commissioning the work the Cathedral music is always in the major, as Simeon’s Organists’ Association turned to Kenneth life reaches its joyous fulfilment. Jeremy Leighton (1929-1988), who had sung Dibble has noted the hints of Valhalla and in choirs at Cathedral and Das Rheingold in the majestic solo trumpet Queen’s College, Oxford, where he particularly entry at and to be the glory. When the organ valued his exposure to sixteenth-century introduction returns in the major (after thy counterpoint. Like Stanford, Leighton read people Israel), the first three notes of the Classics at University. Unlike Stanford, he Magnificat can be heard in the pedals, perhaps studied for a music degree at the same time! reminding us of the beginning of the story Leighton was later taught by Goffredo and emphasising the overall unity of the Petrassi in Rome. Amongst the features of two canticles. The end of the Nunc Dimittis his musical language are melodic lyricism, uses a device to which Stanford was to return in expressive intensity and directness, and assured his G major canticles 25 years later – reprising contrapuntal technique. Thomas Lancaster Simeon’s opening words to create an ABA has commented on Leighton’s special ability structure, but with the note-lengths now to build climaxes, a skill which I feel is doubled as the dying man takes longer to shared by Howells. He balanced his articulate each syllable. composition with a career in University

- 6 - - 7 - teaching, culminating in his appointment Trompeta opening to Tippett’s canticles written as Reid Professor of Music at Edinburgh a decade earlier? Runnett had been the University. Julia Craig-McFeely has written organist for the Tippett premiere. There is an that ‘Leighton did much to keep alive and alluring sense of timelessness in the arching transform the Victorian tradition of English phrases of Abraham and his seed for ever. Church Music, purge its piety and drag it into the (late) twentieth century’. For the start of the first Gloria, Leighton recapitulates the Magnificat’s initial music. The ritualistic repeated pattern of daily However, the bright purity of that opening Evensong is reflected by the many ostinasti is replaced by a smouldering quality when used in Leighton’s work, right from the first transposed down a tenth. A striking moment bar. The Lydian mode opening could be heard occurs at world without end: Leighton had as a lament for Runnett – compare the start created a sense of warm security at is now, of Mozart’s Lacrimosa – but at the same time and ever shall be, enhanced by the ceaselessly it is a rocking lullaby for Mary’s unborn rocking ostinato, but the sudden bleak D child. The music grows from an embryonic minor pianissimo organ chord drains all the single note in Mary’s womb. There may be colour from one’s face, as though one had playfulness in the dance-rhythms of For he just heard the news of Runnett’s death. that is mighty, but this is eradicated as the Leighton’s music for world without end is next arc of music reaches its powerful climax mournful in the extreme, with clashing at He hath put down the mighty from their seat. early entries adding to the unease and search The tension eventually dissipates as the rich for explanation. The Magnificat, which started are sent away empty-handed. He remembering on a single F, comes to rest in the very remote and, later, For mine eyes give examples of world of C-sharp major. There is, however, a characteristic Leighton three-part choral a glowing hope in this final chord, unlike texture; sopranos and altos are separate, but the bleakness at the end of the other canticle. tenors and basses share a melodic line. Is The F to C-sharp trajectory of the first it too far-fetched to point out that the melodic canticle is later mirrored by the C-sharp to F contour of He remembering is similar to the trajectory of the Nunc Dimittis Gloria.

- 7 - Like the Magnificat, the Nunc Dimittis grows seek to provide consolation and closure to organically out of a single note. Lord now the bereaved, Leighton leaves us still grieving; lettest thou provides the first of several the listener is not yet at peace. We are back in occasions when second-inversion chords are F, as we should be in a classical sense – it’s used as a point of arrival, a device found where the Magnificat began – and yet we in other Leighton works including the feel so far from where we started. and Responses. Simeon asks God to let him die in peace, and immediately Runnett’s successor as St John’s Organ Scholar, we hear the peal of bells welcoming him Jonathan Bielby, recalls a conversation with to the gate of heaven. Distant celestial bells Leighton in the 1980s when the composer continue to be heard later, as in the organ was complaining about university bureaucracy at and ever shall be. The key change which and administration, and looking forward precedes For mine eyes have seen thy salvation to more time for composing in retirement. signifies the moment of revelation; as Stanford Alas, that was never to be; Leighton, like had done in his Nunc Dimittis, Leighton Runnett, was to die before his time. suddenly turns from mourning to optimism. A driving rhythm accompanies to be a light as the Christian message spreads around SUMSION IN A the globe. The ecstatic, blinding vision of the glory of thy people Israel crumples Herbert Sumsion (1899-1995), commonly aimlessly, like a forgotten dream, as our minds known as ‘John’, was born in Gloucester and are drawn back to mourning Runnett in the became an articled pupil to the Cathedral Gloria. The tortured and unfulfilled search Organist, Sir . He was later for meaning continues right up to the final Assistant Organist at the Cathedral before Amens. The music of the organ introduction a period teaching at the Curtis Institute is reprised in the penultimate Amen – perfect in Philadelphia, during which time he met symmetry, one might say – and yet there his wife, Alice. Whilst in the USA he was is a sense of incompleteness. Whereas works appointed Organist of . like the Requiems by Fauré and Duruflé Shortly afterwards Sir Herbert Brewer died

- 8 - suddenly. The of Gloucester quickly and orchestral music but latterly it was contacted Sumsion and told him not to go to mostly for choir and/or organ. His Magnificat Coventry but to come to Gloucester instead! & Nunc Dimittis in A (1959) is a beautifully Thus began a 39-year tenure as Organist of crafted miniature, well suited to the daily Gloucester Cathedral. One evening there office of Evensong, and composed for a was a ring at the door and he found Sir choir containing only six men singing the standing outside with a house- lower parts. In Sumsion’s day the choir was warming present. Within a few months of led from the organ loft, not by a conductor. arriving, Sumsion had his first Three Choirs The organ part and the introductions are Festival to direct. After the festival Elgar, who written with this practical consideration in mind. always liked a play on words, was heard to say: ‘What at the beginning of the week was a The choice of A major is perhaps significant. Sumsion, has now become a certainty!’ John Sanders, Sumsion’s assistant and successor as Organist of Gloucester, felt that this key Sumsion was an astonishingly multi-talented chord resonated in the building better than musician. His 1965 recording of the Elgar any other. I’d love to see an acoustical study Organ Sonata remains iconic. As a choir of the effects of architecture on particular trainer, Sumsion was said to be demanding pitch frequencies. My predecessor, David but also kind and encouraging. As Donald Briggs, felt that B flat major was the best Hunt, his assistant, put it: Sumsion displayed key in ; Sir ‘that rare gift that made people want to do felt that F sharp major was better than F well for him’. As an orchestral conductor major in King’s College Chapel. he was greatly admired, with his Elgar performances considered to be particularly The work has an elegant, nonchalant melodic close to the composer’s own interpretations. fluency with great craftsmanship. Almost the For a long time there was a tradition of entire work is tightly constructed from the Gloucester organists also being composers. first four notes of the organ introduction, Sumsion wrote a considerable corpus of music with subsidiary material from the four bars – early in his career this included chamber before And his mercy. Sumsion’s innate

- 9 - modesty reflects the humility of Mary. If all be a believer themselves in order to deepen settings of the Magnificat were as dramatic people’s faith. Howells went on to become and attention-grabbing as Tippett’s, then the the twentieth century’s most significant daily liturgy would be unbalanced. A service contributor to Anglican church music. His should never seem like a concert, and Sumsion works include twenty settings of the Evening understood this at a deep level. When one Canticles, of which the Gloucester Service is hears Sumsion’s music as part of an Evensong one of the finest. in Gloucester – the architecture, the music, the light, the words and the silence are all The of Gloucester Cathedral was held in a beautiful equilibrium. completed in the early twelfth century in Romanesque style. The Quire was remodelled over 200 years later as one of the first examples HOWELLS – GLOUCESTER SERVICE of Perpendicular architecture, with a much higher roof, spectacular fan vaulting and Herbert Howells (1892-1983) was born a Great East Window the size of a tennis in Gloucestershire. He became an articled court! After walking from the west end of pupil to Sir Herbert Brewer at Gloucester the Nave, and then east through the organ Cathedral, a few years before his friend Herbert screen, the sudden awesome sense of light Sumsion did the same. Some of his most and height is unforgettable. If you’ll forgive life-changing musical experiences took a digression, an analogous experience occurs place at the Cathedral; these included when travelling on the New Haven Line hearing the first performance of Vaughan into the secular cathedral that is Grand Williams’s Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis, Central Terminal in New York City. After a another work that made highly effective considerable period travelling underground, use of the unique Gloucester acoustic. your breath is taken away as you emerge from Howells was an agnostic, or perhaps even a dark tunnel into that celestial Beaux-Arts an atheist, yet his music has had a profound architecture. The Gloucester experience I spiritual effect on so many listeners, showing have described is perfectly replicated by the that a musician does not necessarily need to soaring arches of As it was in the two Howells

- 10 - Glorias. I don’t know a better translation of reflecting the new life developing within visceral architectural experience into music. Mary’s womb. At the words For he that is Perhaps the floating treble Amens reflect mighty hath magnified me, the composer the same high-vaulted ceiling but in a different emphasises the modesty of Mary rather than light, and the long suspended conclusions the mightiness of God. And holy is his name of the Glorias bring to mind candles sees the music rise upwards like a prayer borne flickering and bearing witness throughout the by clouds of incense. The work contains night. The sense of being on the edge of eternity numerous felicitous examples of word-painting, is well-suited to the famously long reverberation such as the two-octave ascent and hath of Gloucester Cathedral. The intricate winding exalted, the generosity of He hath filled the of the Magnificat’s opening melismas call to hungry, and the nostalgia of He remembering. mind the of the cloisters’ fan vaulting. As in his later St Paul’s Service, Howells uses The numinous melting chords ofAbraham and a darker, more disapproving colour for and his seed for ever derive from Howells’s experience the rich he hath sent empty away. In a of the Gloucester acoustic – composers of our further parallel with the later work, the own time have often made an attempt to emulate first choral chord of the Nunc Dimittis has this mystical, glowing style of writing. an immediate diminuendo – it has taken the dying Simeon so much effort to begin the As in Leighton’s work, the lack of organ pedal word, that he hasn’t the energy to sustain at the start of the Howells Magnificat reflects it. Perhaps singing angels come to his aid – the simple innocence of the young Mary. Stanford and Tippett had similar thoughts By contrast there is more gravitas at And at this point in the text. his mercy – God’s mercy is everywhere. For behold from henceforth contains an Howells’s work displays a heartfelt lyricism. imaginative and unusual effect – with one It has a taut motivic coherence, with the treble line mf and the other p or pp – as Mary opening treble melody forming the basis meditates on distant, future generations for the whole work. The dedication of calling her blessed. This passage also brings Gloucester Cathedral to the Holy and to mind vines growing and intertwining, Indivisible Trinity may perhaps be reflected

- 11 - in the structural centrality of triads. There is GABRIEL JACKSON – a brooding, red-blooded energy to the start TRURO SERVICE of each Gloria. The Nunc Dimittis builds in an inexorable, volcanic way until it erupts Gabriel Jackson (born 1962) is a former in the second Gloria. I love the way in chorister of . His Truro which Howells’s two Glorias are so similar, Service (2001) was commissioned to commemorate but the second is an amplified, more ecstatic the life of a former chorister at Truro version of the first, just as the Quire was Cathedral, Peter Rowe. It is common for rebuilt to outshine the Nave. Thus the two liturgical commissions to be pieces which take canticles become not a pair of complementary large amounts of rehearsal time and which, movements, but one cumulative entity with therefore, can’t be performed often. I asked a single compositional arc. The Glorias both Gabriel to write something which would be float to an end, suspended in mid-air, matching straightforward enough to enter the regular the apparent weightlessness of the Quire’s . repertoires of many Cathedral choirs, constrained as they are by minimal rehearsal time. He This masterpiece was written while Howells fulfilled the brief perfectly, and the work is was in Lydney during his mother’s final widely performed. illness. His diary entry for 6th January 1946 describes ‘a lovely long day with mother. The centuries-old verse-by-verse alternation The F sharp Mag. and Nunc finished while of monody and full choir lends this setting talking to her’. She died later that month. a hypnotic quality. In this case the full The music’s sense of infinitude surely reflects choir verses are homophonic rather than his desire for his mother’s soul to live on for ever. polyphonic, which enhances the feeling of simplicity. I wonder whether Jackson had the same experience as me when a Cathedral chorister – I was asked to be a ‘server’ once a week at the 7a.m. said services; through this the experience of hearing psalm verses read alternately by one person, and then by the

- 12 - - 13 - others, became deeply rooted. I initially TIPPETT – ST JOHN’S SERVICE suggested a standard plainsong psalm tone for the odd-numbered verses; in fact, the composer It was a bold masterstroke on the wrote a different type of non-metric monody part of choirmaster with small, exotic decorations. The homophonic to commission Sir ​Michael­ Tippett passages are beautifully spaced, with telling (1905-1998) to compose a Magnificat changes of tessitura for different verses. There & Nunc Dimittis to celebrate the 450th are some evocative performance indications, anniversary of St John’s College. The work of which my favourite occurs at He hath was premiered in 1962, having been shewed strength: piano, Urgent (but not too composed the previous year just after fast). The unexpected shifts of tonality at the the completion of his second opera, King start of each Gloria create a pleasing frisson. Priam. One hears Priam in the opening The twoGlorias conclude at opposite ends fanfare for the unique St John’s Trompeta of the dynamic spectrum. Real organ stop. The opera had marked a major turning point in Tippett’s In the Nunc Dimittis, the light of revelation career – a shift to uncompromising clarity ignites explosively, rather than as the peak of a and concision after the radiant lyricism of long build-up. The end of the Nunc Dimittis earlier works. The great thing was that, unlike makes me think of Russian nesting dolls – the other five composers on this album, hidden within the big sound of thy people Tippett had no life-long involvement in Israel is the smaller scale (and unexpectedly the Anglican choral tradition. He was not coloured) Glory be to the Father. Hidden brought up singing Stanford, and indeed his within that (softer still, and again in a Magnificat is the polar opposite of Mary different key) is As it was in the beginning. sitting at her spinning wheel, a description The whole thing ends suspended on a second often given to Stanford’s setting in G major. inversion chord – not so as to seem positively Tippett was able to bring an entirely fresh inconclusive, but so as to lead your attention and vivid imagination to the texts. on to the next prayer in the service; it’s a beautiful piece of liturgical writing.

- 13 - in Guest probably appealed to Tippett. The Tippett’s two canticles could scarcely be more Magnificat is full of primeval, monolithic different from one another in character, yet gestures. Tippett does not evoke a self- at a deep level they form a single entity. The effacing innocence in the young Mary; instead Nunc Dimittis is based on the same cluster we hear Mary’s awareness of the radicalism of notes (C sharp, D, E) which permeated of the life that Jesus was going to lead. If parts the Magnificat and indeed formed its very of the Magnificat make people feel uneasy – first chord. The opening fourTrompeta well, that was the intention. The composer notes are similarly procreant, for instance may even have had his own suffragette mother giving rise to the final chord of the Nunc in mind whilst composing. Dimittis before the Gloria. The choral textures are less complex than they Over a Double Whisky Mac in the Baron sound – until the first Gloria none of the choral of Beef, George Guest used to enjoy telling writing is in more than two parts, though the story of the genesis of the new organ at the almost constant octave doubling imparts St John’s in the 1950s. He told the College a distinctive elemental sonority. This was an Council that every organ that was any ingenious solution to the question of how good had an en chamade Trumpet stop (i.e. the choir could compete with the strident with pipes protruding horizontally.) The Trompeta Real stop, which is as loud as the Council were interested and enquired where whole of the rest of the organ put together. they could see and hear an example of the There’s a burst of energy at the wordrejoiced, genre, expecting the answer to be nearby the choir’s one and only attempt to copy or perhaps Peterborough. the organ semiquavers! The treble phrase ‘Madrid!’ was George’s reply. He got his for And his mercy is strikingly new and way (as usual!) – and the Trompeta Real tender, perhaps suggesting God’s humanity. provided great inspiration for Tippett’s The tenors’ answering phrase throughout canticles, which are perhaps the finest setting of all generations seems to act as a bridge to the past sixty years. TheTrompeta is distinctly the future. In the Lydian-mode opening to the un-Anglican and this anti-establishment streak first Gloria, Tippett enjoys prescribing wrong

- 14 - - 15 - word stresses in the same headstrong way keys, and then reassembled. Tippett’s visionary as Poulenc does in his Mass in G: Gloria in imagination is brought to bear on Simeon’s excelsis Deo. Tippett whips up an irrepressible visionary words. The Magnificat had been energy, reminding us of the rhythmic vitality intensely physical, but its thrust and rhythmic of late 1930s works such as Concerto for energy are now all gone. Time ceases to flow Double String Orchestra. in an earthly way. The Nunc Dimittis is experienced in a dream, and it is a dream from Concerning the Nunc Dimittis, George which we don’t awake. Guest wrote: ‘And what of the high treble soloist, who enunciates the words? Is it too Andrew Nethsingha fanciful to suggest that Simeon conceived them, was too weak to utter them, but that they were plucked out of his brain (by an MAGNIFICAT angel?), and articulated?’ This outpouring of melody feels quite independent of the long A canticle is a hymn or song of praise that low groans of the old man in the alto, tenor uses words from the Bible or other religious and bass parts. The organ part was described texts other than the psalms. There are twenty by Tippett as ‘the primitive onomatopoeias one of them in the Book of Common Prayer of the thunderings of God’. The canticle but perhaps the best known are the Magnificat incorporates short passages of quasi-monastic and the Nunc Dimittis. These lie at the heart chanting in the lower voices, for instance of the service of Evensong and the musical while the treble sings according to thy word. settings of them, such as those celebrated in These, along with the pleading repetitions this recording, have helped bring them into the of the word Lord, add to a sense of prayers hearts of millions of people through the centuries. around the bedside of the dying man, perhaps in the manner of Elgar’s The Dream The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis are both of Gerontius. The Nunc Dimittis Gloria is a texts from the according to St Luke. quasi-Cubist construction, the phrases seeming The Magnificat is a speech, or maybe a hymn, to be cut out of paper, transposed to new by Mary, mother of Jesus. According to the

- 15 - Gospel, after Mary is told that she is to bear my spirit rejoices in God my saviour.’ This the son of God in her womb, she makes is a song of love. Right in the centre of her way, full of the good news, to her relative Evening Prayer, our distracted lives are Elizabeth who is also pregnant. They greet recalled to magnify God and not ourselves. each other in what one 17th-century writer called ‘a collision of joys’. Even the baby in Mary’s Magnificat, however, is no sentimental Elizabeth’s womb leaps with delight. Mary ballad. Biblical scholars often call it then tells her story and begins it with the revolutionary, upturning the standards of the words ‘My soul magnifies the Lord’. ‘Magnify’ contemporary world. If the Church always is not a word we use much today, except when needs the leaven of discontent then we have we describe what a magnifying glass does – it here, a continual reminder of the priorities makes things look bigger. Mary tells her story of God and his first love of the poor and not for her own celebrity but, to the contrary, marginalised and downtrodden. The truth of to make God larger. Here she is the model for Mary´s song is that whilst we have tried to the Church. God is the subject of all the verbs make her a submissive woman, we have failed in the canticle except one. to see she was a subversive one. Mary puts the ‘odd’ back into God. She teaches us here that When we praise someone, we make them the way to know if God is being born in the large in the sense of giving them more room. messy stable of your life is if God revolutionizes We step back, we put our preoccupations and the way you think, the way you act and the plans aside so as to let the reality of someone way you treat other people. The ego, the rich, else live in us for that moment, find room in us. the proud, the mighty – they must be resisted Real praise, as proud parents and partners will as the influences and priorities of a human know, is about forgetting ‘me’ for a moment life. They must be put down from their seats. so that the sheer beauty of someone other The hungry, the poor, the forgotten, the comes alive in ‘me’. In that moment I even weak – these instead lie in the heart of God’s begin to turn a little into what I’m looking compassion and Christian spirituality means at, something of their reality caught up to stand with them. These are the ‘exalted’. with mine. ‘My soul magnifies the Lord and

- 16 - It is always possible to be part of a land and as to see by. Life is to be viewed in the light not be part of the revolution, even to go to the of the love and the wisdom and the sacrifice revolution´s festivities and not be part of the that this child will embody. Again, by asking revolution. By singing or saying the Magnificat worshippers to pray this prayer each day, the every day of the year, the Church is reminding Church proclaims that the one who, from the the worshipper that it is possible to be part of beginning was seen as the light to live by is the congregation and not be part of God´s also the one who later told his disciples that revolution. The Magnificat places a compass they are the light of the world too (Matthew in the heart of the liturgy to point us back 5,14) and that the way in which they live to the heart of God. This woman who sang of their life, the people they become, should divine liberation for oppressed peoples is not be a hope and not a darkness for those they made of plaster or plastic. She is very much share life with and for the world’s justice. alive and is still singing out for all who are unloved and overlooked for as long as her These two canticles – spoken by young and Magnificat is sung. old, man and woman, one near to a birth and one near to a death, capture human life and After hearing the words of a young woman the way God is weaved within it. Both Mary about to bring new life into the world, and Simeon know that to try and stop God Evening Prayer then enables us to hear the loving his people is as pointless as trying words of an old man facing the end of his to stop a waterfall being wet. God’s heart life. The Nunc Dimittis is a prayer offered by pours out, especially on those the world Simeon in the Temple when the child Jesus laughs at or ignores. These two canticles are is taken by his parents to present him to the the two compasses which point us towards the Lord. Simeon says that now that his eyes have peaceful harbour of the human soul but also seen God’s salvation, nestling in his arms to the humility, courage and generosity with and full of divine potential, he can depart which we must make the journey there. this life in peace. He says that the child is a light to enlighten people, a light, perhaps, The Rev’d Mark Oakley, not so much that we are to look at, so much, Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge

- 16 - - 17 - © Andrew Nethsingha © Andrew

- 18 - TEXTS Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; Magnificat As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : My soul doth magnify the Lord : world without end. and my spirit hath rejoiced in Amen. God my Saviour. Luke 1: 46-55 For he hath regarded : the lowliness of his hand-maiden. For behold, from henceforth : Nunc Dimittis all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me : Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace : and holy is his Name. according to thy word. And his mercy is on them that fear him : For mine eyes have seen : throughout all generations. thy salvation, He hath shewed strength with his arm : Which thou hast prepared : he hath scattered the proud in the before the face of all people; imagination of their hearts. To be a light to lighten the Gentiles : He hath put down the mighty from their seat : and to be the glory of thy people Israel. and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things : Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and the rich he hath sent empty away. and to the Holy Ghost; He remembering his mercy hath holpen As it was in the beginning, is now, his servant Israel : and ever shall be : as he promised to our forefathers, world without end. Abraham and his seed for ever. Amen.

Luke 2: 29-32

- 18 - - 19 - THE CHOIR OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Trebles Counter Tenors Herbert Howells Felix Bamford Daniel Brown 1 Organ Scholar Matthew Brown 9 Hugh Cutting 12 Glen Dempsey William Buttery Richard Decker Alan Chen Jack Hawkins Junior Organ Scholar Jaylen Cheng James Anderson-Besant Adam Chillingworth Tenors Director of Music Lewis Cobb 1 Michael Bell 1 George Ducker Benedict Flinn Andrew Nethsingha 12 12 Gopal Kambo Alfred Harrison Numbers indicate soloist credits Henry Laird Harry L’Estrange for each track Toby L’Estrange Louis Watkins James Lewis Basses Jonathan Mews James Adams 1 Lucas Nair-Grepinet Jamie Conway Ewan Tatnell Matthew Gibson 12 Philip Tomkinson Simon Grant 10 Thomas Watkin Piers Kennedy William O’Brien James Quilligan

- 20 - - 21 - © Nick Rutter © Nick

- 20 - - 21 - The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Each term the Choir sings Bach Cantatas is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the liturgically with St John’s Sinfonia, its period world, known and loved by millions from instrument ensemble. This Bach series is its broadcasts, concert tours and recordings. now entering its second decade. Founded in the 1670s, the Choir is known for its distinctive rich, warm sound, its The Choir brings the ‘St John’s Sound’ to expressive interpretations and its breadth listeners around the world through its weekly of repertoire. Alongside these musical webcasts (available at www.sjcchoir.co.uk). The characteristics, the Choir is particularly Choir has also live-streamed video broadcasts proud of its happy, relaxed and mutually of Chapel services on Facebook, in association supportive atmosphere. The Choir is directed with Classic FM. In addition to regular by Andrew Nethsingha following a long radio broadcasts in this country and abroad, line of eminent Directors of Music, recently the Choir releases multiple recordings each Dr George Guest, Dr Christopher Robinson year. In May 2016 the College launched its and Dr David Hill. new ‘St John’s Cambridge’ recording label (in conjunction with Signum Classics) on The Choir is made up of around 20 which the Choir has released the BBC Music Choristers and Probationers from St John’s Magazine award-winning recording of Jonathan College School and around 15 Choral Scholars Harvey’s music: DEO; Christmas with St who are members of St John’s College, its John’s; KYRIE (works by Poulenc, Kodály primary purpose being to enhance the liturgy and and Janáček); Mass in G minor (works worship at daily services in the College by Vaughan Williams); Advent Live (a Chapel. The Choir has a diverse repertoire collection of live recordings from the College spanning over 500 years of music. It is Chapel’s Advent Carol Services, broadcast also renowned for championing contemporary each year by the BBC) and Locus Iste, the music by commissioning new works, including Choir’s 100th recording which celebrated recent compositions by Joanna Ward, Lara the 150th anniversary of the Consecration Weaver, Cecilia McDowall, and the College’s of St John’s College Chapel in 2019. Composer in Residence, Michael Finnissy.

- 22 - - 23 - The Choir also performs concerts outside of Cambridge and tours internationally each year. Recent destinations have included Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Hong Kong, Singapore and the USA. It also performs regularly in the UK, with venues including Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall, London.

GLEN DEmPsEY

Born in Suffolk in 1994, Glen’s formative musical experiences were centred around the English choral tradition – as a chorister in St Mary’s, Bury St Edmunds and later in the choirs of .

Organ lessons with Michael Nicholas led to © Louis Marlowe his being awarded a scholarship as a répétiteur for training the choristers, as well as for to study at the Purcell School of Music. playing at many events attended by the During this time Glen performed in all the British Royal Family. Alongside his organ major concert halls of London as a soloist studies with Ann Elise Smoot he maintained and chamber musician on the organ and a varied performance profile as organist, piano, and also conducted at the Wigmore Hall. conductor and tenor.

In 2013, Glen was appointed Organ Scholar During the academic year 2014/15 he at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. In this resided in the Netherlands and was the role he was responsible for accompanying Assistant Organist of St Nicholas’s Basilica, and directing the choir’s daily services and Amsterdam. Under the mentorship of

- 23 - Michael Hedley, Glen accompanied the ANDREW NETHSINGHA majority of the choral services in the Basilica, DIRECTOR OF MUSIC as well as having responsibility for conducting ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, the Basilica’s various choirs and ensembles. CAMBRIDGE During this time he studied with Jacques van Oortmerssen. Performing in North America, South Africa, the Far East, and throughout Europe, Andrew Glen became Organ Scholar at St John’s Nethsingha has been Director of Music at College, Cambridge in October 2015, where St John’s College, Cambridge since 2007. He he accompanies the choir in their busy has helped to set up the recording label, ‘St schedule of daily services, tours, broadcasts John’s Cambridge,’ in conjunction with and recordings, and assists in the training of Signum Classics. His first disc on this label, the choristers. Gordon Stewart and Ann DEO (music by Jonathan Harvey), was a Elise Smoot have been his organ teachers. 2017 BBC Music Magazine Award winner.

Glen’s interest in contemporary music has Andrew Nethsingha was a chorister at been developed through premiering several , under his father’s direction. choir and organ, and solo organ works at He later studied at the Royal College of St John’s College; by the end of his Scholarship he Music, where he won seven prizes, and will have given the first performances of five at St John’s College, Cambridge. He held new works by the College’s Composer in Organ Scholarships under Christopher Residence, Michael Finnissy. Robinson at St George’s Windsor, and George Guest at St John’s, before becoming Assistant Organist at . He was subsequently Director of Music at Truro and Gloucester , and Artistic Director of the Gloucester .

- 24 - © James Beddoe Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Philharmonic Orchestra, CityofBirmingham Requiem Belshazzar’s Feast Dream ofGerontius War Requiem Symphony, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Britten’s Orchestra have included:Mahler’s 8th Andrew’s conducting thePhilharmonia concerts . He has also worked with: the Royal , Brahms’ , Poulenc’s and The Kingdom Requiem Gloria and Duruflé’s , Elgar’s , Walton’s The - 25

Berlin andSingapore Esplanade. Festival, Tokyo Suntory Hall, Konzerthaus Proms, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Verbier Orchestra. Venues have includedtheBBC York), AarhusSymfoniorkester, BBCConcert Britten Sinfonia, Orchestra ofSt Luke’s (New

Acknowledgements The Choir would like to thank the following donors for their continuing support of the ‘St John’s Cambridge’ recording label:

The CD Recording Fund, in particular Mr Archie Burdon-Cooper

The ‘Minute of Music’ campaign forMagnificat : Ms Michelle Baikie, Mrs Catherine Beardsall, The Rev’d Peter Cobb, Mrs Sian Cobb, Miss Lynda Collins, Dr John Daniel, Mrs Grace Davidson, Mr Iestyn Davies, Professor Sir Christopher Dobson, Lady Dobson, Mr Rupert Forbes, Mr Miguel Fragoso, The Rev’d Canon Michael Garland, Mr Geoffrey Hall, Mrs Caroline Jones, Mr Edward Jones, Mr Timothy Jones, Mrs Margaret Manning, Cdr Mark Metcalf, Ms Adell Nair-Grepinet, Mr John Pawsey, Mr Simon Robson Brown, Mr Morgan Rousseaux, Mr Timothy Terry, Mr John Thompson, Dr Hiroyuki Yamada and other donors who wish to remain anonymous.

Publishers Howells; Stanford (Novello) Sumsion (Royal School of Church Music) Jackson; Leighton () Tippett (Schott Music)

Recorded in St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge, UK P 2019 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Signum Records Ltd from 19th to 22nd April 2018. © 2019 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records Ltd

Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording Producer – Chris Hazell of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will Recording Engineer – Simon Eadon render the infringer liable to an action by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights Editor – Matthew Bennett reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, Vocal Consultant – David Lowe or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Project Manager – James Proctor recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd.

Dean – The Rev’d Canon Mark Oakley SignumClassics, Signum Records Ltd., Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middlesex UB6 7LQ, UK. Cover Image – Shutterstock, edited by Premm Design +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected] Design and Artwork – Woven Design www.signumrecords.com www.wovendesign.co.uk

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