KYRIE Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) He began his Litanies à la Vierge Noire that Mass in G same night; the Mass in G followed the next summer. It was written during August 1937 Mass in G, FP 89 Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) Kyrie at a rented apartment in the village of Avost, 1 I. Kyrie [3.09] Gloria near Autun in Burgundy. He intended it 2 II. Gloria [3.45] Sanctus for the “marvellous” Choeurs de Lyon, who’d 3 III. Sanctus [2.18] Benedictus premiered his Sept chansons, but as his 4 IV. Benedictus [3.32] Agnus Dei renewed faith intensified, he started to apply it 5 V. Agnus Dei [4.58] retrospectively to his whole life: he dedicated “May God keep me away from gloomy saints!” the Mass “to the memory of my father”, who Missa Brevis Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) 6 I. Introitus [2.49] prayed Saint Teresa: and Francis Poulenc, had died in 1917. But while the voice he 7 II. Kyrie [2.26] characteristically, inscribed those words on the found in the Mass is unmistakably more spare, 8 III. Gloria [4.12] title page of his opera Dialogues des Carmélites. more clear, and more technically complex 9 IV. Credo [6.21] The critic Charles Rostand described Poulenc than any vocal music he’d written up to that 0 V. Sanctus [2.30] as “moine ou voyou”: part monk, part…well, time, it’s equally unmistakably the work of the q VI. Benedictus [3.36] there’s no precise translation, though something witty, sensuous master-craftsman we know w VII. Agnus Dei [5.37] between “rascal and “hooligan” comes close. as Francis Poulenc. “My religion is that of e VIII. Ite, Missa Est [3.16] Poulenc happily accepted the description. Bernanos, of St John of the Cross or of St He saw no contradiction between sincere Teresa of Avila” he explained to Rostand “I Otčenáš, JW IV/29 Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) r I. Otce náš [4.39] religious belief, and the carefree, sexy frivolity like an austerity that smells of orange-blossom t II. Bud’ vule tvá [3.25] of the music that had made his name in 1920s or jasmine”. y III. Chléb náš [1.42] Paris. But by the mid-1930s he was looking u IV. A odpusť nám [3.19] for something more. He found it one afternoon And those are the terms in which he described i V. Neuvod’ nás [1.55] in 1936 at the shrine of the Black Virgin his Mass. “As my ancestors are from Aveyron, of Rocamadour, in an instant of revelation that, that’s to say mountain and Mediterranean Total timings: [63.32] he said, “had the effect of restoring me to the people, the Romanesque style has naturally faith of my childhood”. been my favourite. So I tried to compose THE CHOIR OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE this act of faith, which is the essence of the anDREW NETHSINGHA DIRECTOR Mass, in this rough, direct style. The roughness www.signumrecords.com - 3 - is particularly striking in the opening Kyrie, Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) Two days earlier, in the cloakroom of the Brevis to hear it as an act of powerful affirmation, but don’t forget that in the early Church those Missa Brevis Opera House, and with gunfire at times a shout de profundis, in which Kodály’s who had not been baptised were allowed to threatening to drown the performance, a choir of Hungarian accent acquires a universal directness sing it with the priest. This explains the almost Introitus surviving company members accompanied by a and a towering formal strength. savage side of my Mass”. Kyrie harmonium had given the world premiere Gloria of Kodály’s Missa Brevis. For several weeks, That’s evident in the way the opening Introit The Gloria bounds upwards (writing of his later Credo Kodály and his wife Emma had sheltered from prepares the way, harmonically, for the Kyrie, orchestral Gloria, Poulenc recalled the sight of a Sanctus the fighting in the air-raid shelter beneath the and the upper voices’ haunting cries of Christe group of Benedictine monks playing football). Benedictus Opera. There, he’d completed the Missa Brevis eleison. The Gloria peals out in celebration, but He omits the Credo. “In the Sanctus I thought Agnus Dei while the fighting raged: a reworking of an its central Qui tollis comes to rest on a repeated, of the mingled heads of angels in Gozzoli’s Ite, Missa Est organ mass (an instrumental accompaniment pleading Miserere, just as the heart of the fresco in the Riccardi Palace in Florence. to the service, without words or singers) that Credo is the anguished, increasingly awestruck It’s a vocal carillon”. (Poulenc doesn’t mention Although everyone in Hungary knew that the he’d written in 1942 at the resort of Galyatető. account of Christ’s suffering in a sombre E here that one of Gozzoli’s angels is sticking Red Army was coming, few in Budapest at flat minor – followed by the dazzling light of its tongue out). The Benedictus translates Christmas 1944 seem to have realised just how Those origins are still discernable in the imposing Et resurrexit and a mighty Amen. Sanctus and the lush harmonies of a disciple of Debussy close it was. A performance of Aida went ahead Introitus for solo organ that begins the work. Benedictus, too, each find their own path from into a language of divine grace. at the Opera as scheduled on the evening of Kodály also added a postlude for solo organ, quiet prayer to resounding Hosanna. Revealingly, 23rd December, but Soviet tanks were already Ite, Missa Est, in which the work’s basic key of though, Kodály throws the weightiest emotional “As for the final Agnus Dei, sung by the soprano in the suburbs and the Buda Hills and by 26th D minor finally resolves into a blazing D major. burden of the piece onto the Agnus Dei, with its in the high register, it’s the symbol of the December, the city was surrounded. Trams These two movements anchor a monumental closing imprecation Dona nobis pacem – which Christian soul, confidently looking forward to stopped, gas and water ceased, food ran out, musical structure, powerfully unified by a resounds, with increasing power, through the life in Heaven…Forgive my immodesty, but it’s and as the German occupying forces blew up network of thematic connections and closing Ite, Missa Est. Few 20th century sacred without question one of the pieces in which the Danube bridges, the entire city became a incorporating discreet references to composers works represent a greater act of faith. I’ve most completely realised my intentions”. battlefield whose scars can still be seen today. as varied as Palestrina, Bach and Kodály’s Kodály dedicated the Missa Brevis to Emma in Amidst savage street-to-street fighting, and Hungarian contemporary Ernő Dohnányi. “If celebration of their 35th wedding anniversary, under constant bombardment, some 38,000 we really desire a new life for our country – which fell in September 1945, and which – civilians were killed or starved during the and who does not?” Kodály had said in 1940, on the day that this music was first sung – 50-day siege before the city surrendered “then we must seek regeneration from our music neither of them can have been certain they unconditionally on 13th February 1945. as well”. You don’t need to analyse the Missa would live to see.

- 4 - - 5 - Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) club “Tyl” would act out a series of scenes of bursts into a boisterous choral plea – Give temptation, as this non-devotional devotional Otčenáš (Our Father) tableaux-vivants resembling the pictures, while us this day our daily bread – before, to dolcissimo work by a fiercely spiritual agnostic speeds to a Janáček’s music – scored for the available forces chords, the tenor sings And forgive us our decisive Amen. When, in his 70s, Leoš Janáček composed his of piano, harmonium, mixed choir and solo trespasses. The tempo leaps to energico moderato Glagolitic Mass, the reaction appalled him. “You tenor – served as an accompaniment. Janáček and a bustling ostinato for And lead us not into Richard Bratby know what they wrote about me? ‘The pious wrote the piece in little more than a month old man’. I got angry then, and said, look here prior to the fundraising performance at the young man, firstly I am not old, and as for Brno Theatre on 15th June 1901. But he being a believer, well, I am certainly not that revised it, rescored it for organ and harp, and – certainly not! Only when I am convinced”. authorised a Prague performance in November Janáček’s childhood Catholic faith had 1906 – to mixed reviews. “Perhaps having ceased to convince him long before he wrote the pictures in the programme would have this setting of the Lord’s Prayer in the helped” he commented. summer of 1901. What did convince him was faith as an expression of the life of The paintings vanished during the Second a nation, a community; the product of a World War, but even so, this comment hardly shared Slavic heritage and spirit. seems necessary. This is Janáček responding to the associations and sonorities of the words Otčenáš (Our Father) served exactly that before him, and speaking directly and frankly to purpose. He wrote it not for use in a church his community. The six sections flow together, but in response to a request from the trustees linked by instrumental interludes to allow of a Women’s Shelter in Brno. The inspiration time for the necessary rearrangements on stage. was a set of religious paintings by the Polish The choir intones the opening lines in a gentle nationalist painter Józef Męcina-Krzesz (1860- canon, before the tenor’s heroic entry on Thy 1934), which showed Russian peasants in kingdom come (it’s possible to read patriotic devotional attitudes suggested by the lines symbolism into Janáček’s vaulting lines) and of the Lord’s Prayer, and which had been the chorus’s stirring response. The tenor leads reprinted in an illustrated weekly. The idea off again, onThy will be done; Janáček repeats was that amateur actors from the Brno theatre the verse, and a pensive interlude suddenly

- 6 - - 7 - Conductor’s Reflections murdered by a terrorist in Manchester. Janáček his 50th anniversary year, contrasting it with Kodály’s Missa Brevis belies its title by being himself never recovered from the death of his Poulenc’s mass, written only a few years earlier. symphonic in range and scale. To give but one I am fascinated by the way in which ancient two year-old son, Vladimir. One hears Janáček’s Kodály and Janáček form a natural pairing; example: delicate second-inversion chords (i.e. liturgical texts can become contemporary anger with God, just as the opening of Poulenc’s they both fell under the spell of folk music, without the conventional bass note) give a and speak to us afresh. Additional layers of Kyrie also seems to express a supplicant’s anger shared a passion for music education, and had heavenly sense of weightlessness in the Hosannas meaning and expression are created by the at the Lord for not yet having had mercy. the desire to create new musical languages and Christe eleison. By contrast, the preceding, backgrounds and circumstances of the composers, Absolution is eventually granted in Poulenc’s emancipated from the grip of the Austro-Germanic cowering Kyrie eleison is intensely human. Walter the performers and the listener. Indeed, this closing bars. For the final tableau of the tradition. As it happens, both the Janáček and Susskind wrote of Janáček that “he was the recording may stimulate different emotions in Lord’s Prayer (But deliver us from evil), Krzesz Kodály works were first heard with harmonium synthesis of an awesome temperament and the future depending on who is listening and painted a catastrophic flood which sweeps away rather than organ, though we employ the tender dreamfulness, of stormy energy and gentle when they are listening. As we sing the psalms a house and all its possessions. The occupants latter on this recording. sensibility.” Poulenc was also full of contrasts. each day in Chapel I try to help singers and float on a raft and Christ protects them, though His great collaborator, Pierre Bernac, wrote of listeners to experience how the annoyances, I am not convinced that Janáček sought to The disc’s title, KYRIE – ‘Lord’, links the the need for a great variety of colours in hopes and fears of the psalmist are equally portray any sense of rescue in his music. Chléb opening word of the Mass with the Lord’s Prayer. singing Poulenc’s songs - “light, clear, transparent, relevant and meaningful some three millennia náš (Give us this day our daily bread) portrayed Another title I considered was ‘Chléb’; I suspended or very dark, warm, rich, weighty.” later. As a liturgical musician, whose role includes villagers crying in anger to heaven after their have already mentioned the significance in In addition, Poulenc seems to me to call for articulating the same words day after day, I harvest had been destroyed in a storm. Otčenáš of this Old Church Slavonic word, an orchestral palette of textures in the Mass - am always searching for ways to create fresh A hundred and ten years later, as ‘Bread.’ The Broken Bread of Communion on shimmering muted strings, dry Stravinskian illumination. The genesis of Janáček’s Lord’s we recorded the work, there was a new our cover image brings to mind not only the astringency, dancing woodwind in the Sanctus, Prayer is particularly striking and original in this resonance for me as our television screens were central moment of the Eucharist, but also sometimes great clarity, at other times much use regard; his use of visual images, and the influence dominated by pictures of migrants drowning Kodály’s subtitle “Mass in time of War”, of a piano’s sustaining pedal. We have made an of contemporary social issues, bring vividness as they tried to reach our shores. provoking thoughts of a broken world. The attempt to evoke that ever-changing soundscape. and immediacy to Otčenáš. The penultimate sound of the initial consonant of KYRIE seems Passages such as Domine Deus in Gloria call to phrase (And lead us not into temptation) is Why Kodály, Poulenc and Janáček? These to me to evoke a sense of fracture. Poulenc’s mind the words of the great French poet inspired by a painting of a man with an axe are three European composers with utterly Mass in G was also influenced by a sense of and philosopher Paul Valéry, much admired by on the point of murdering a mother and her distinctive individual voices, but linked by loss and brokenness, after an acquaintance of Poulenc: “He who would write his dream must child. That image has an additional degree of their continued use of tonality (at times when his was killed in a horrific car crash. This be completely awake.” Such dreams are what poignancy as I write in a week when many tonality was becoming less fashionable!). I wanted fellow composer who died was not a friend, enable music to open a window into the world people, including an 8-year-old girl, have been to record Kodály’s Missa Brevis for release in but – even worse – it was someone with whom beyond. Dona nobis pacem. Poulenc had fallen out. Andrew Nethsingha - 8 - - 9 - TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS Quoniam tu solus sanctus, For thou only art holy, tu solus Dominus, thou only art the Lord; KYRIE tu solus altissimus, Iesu Christe, thou only [art most high, Jesus] Christ Kyrie, eleison. Lord, have mercy. cum Sancto Spiritu with the Holy Ghost, Christe, eleison. Christ, have mercy. in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. in the glory of God the Father. Amen. Kyrie, eleison. Lord, have mercy. CREDO GLORIA Credo in unum Deum, I believe in one God Gloria in excelsis Deo, Glory to God on high, Patrem omnipotentem, the Father almighty, et in terra pax and in earth peace, factorem caeli et terrae, maker of heaven and earth, hominibus bonae voluntatis. good will towards men. visibilium omnium et invisibilium. and of all things visible and invisible: Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, And in one Lord Jesus Christ, Laudamus te, benedicimus te, We praise thee, we bless thee, Filium Dei unigenitum; the only-begotten Son of God, adoramus te, glorificamus te, we worship thee, we glorify thee, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula, begotten of his Father before all worlds, gratias agimus tibi we give thanks to thee Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, God of God, Light of Light, propter magnam gloriam tuam, for thy great glory, Deum verum de Deo vero, very God of very God, Domine Deus, rex caelestis, O Lord God, heavenly King, genitum, non factum, begotten, not made, Deus Pater omnipotens. God the Father almighty. consubstantialem Patri: being of one substance with the Father, Domine Fili unigenite, Iesu Christe, O Lord, the only begotten Son Jesu Christ; per quem omnia facta sunt. by whom all things were made; Domine Deus, agnus Dei, O Lord God, Lamb of God, Qui propter nos homines et propter who for us men and for our salvation Filius Patris: Son of the Father, nostram salutem descendit de caelis, came down from heaven, qui tollis peccata mundi, that takest away the sins of the world, et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost miserere nobis; have mercy upon us. ex Maria Virgine of the Virgin Mary, qui tollis peccata mundi, Thou that takest away the sins of the world, et homo factus est. and was made man, suscipe deprecationem nostrum; receive our prayer. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis and was crucified also for us qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, Thou that sittest at the right hand sub Pontio Pilato; under Pontius Pilate. of God the Father, passus et sepultus est, He suffered and was buried, miserere nobis. have mercy upon us. et resurrexit tertia die and the third day he rose again secundum Scripturas according to the Scriptures,

- 10 - - 11 - et ascendit in caelum, and ascended into heaven, AGNUS DEI sedet ad dexteram Patris. and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. Agnus Dei, Lamb of God, Et iterum venturus est cum gloria And he shall come again with glory qui tollis peccata mundi, that takest away the sins of the world, iudicare vivos et mortuos, to judge both the quick and the dead: miserere nobis. have mercy upon us. cuius regni non erit finis. whose kingdom shall have no end. Agnus Dei, Lamb of God, Et in Spiritum Sanctum, And I believe in the Holy Ghost, qui tollis peccata mundi, that takest away the sins of the world, Dominum et vivificantem: the Lord and giver of life, miserere nobis. have mercy upon us. qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Agnus Dei, Lamb of God, Qui cum Patre et Filio who with the Father and the Son qui tollis peccata mundi, that takest away the sins of the world, simul adoratur et conglorificatur: together is worshipped and glorified, dona nobis pacem. grant us thy peace. qui locutus est per prophetas. who spake by the prophets.

Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et And I believe one [holy] catholic and OTČE NÁŠ apostolicam Ecclesiam. apostolic Church. Otče náš, jenž jsi na nebesích, Our Father, which art in Heaven, Confiteor unum baptisma I acknowledge one baptism posvěť se jméno tvé, Hallowed be thy name. in remissionem peccatorum. for the remission of sins. Ó přijď nám království tvé, Thy kingdom come. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum And I look for the resurrection of the dead, buď vůle tvá Thy will be done in earth, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen. and the life of the world to come. Amen. jako v nebi, tak i na zemi. as it is in heaven. Chléb náš vezdejší dej nám dnes Give us this day our daily bread. SANCTUS a odpusť nám naše viny, And forgive us our trespasses, Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Holy, holy, holy, jako i my odpouštíme našim viníkům as we forgive those Dominus Deus Sabaoth: Lord God of hosts, Neuvoď nás v pokušení, who trespass against us. pleni sunt caeli heaven and earth ale zbav nás všeho zlého. And lead us not into temptation, et terra gloria tua. are full of thy glory. Amen. but deliver us from evil: Hosanna in excelsis. [Hosanna in the highest]. Amen. BENEDICTUS English translations taken from the Book of Common Prayer Benedictus qui venit Blessed is he that cometh and the Order of Holy Communion of the Church of England (in traditional language). Any alterations made to these texts in nomine Domini. in the name of the Lord. (delineated in square brackets) are made in order to provide a Hosanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. more literal translation of the Latin text.

- 12 - - 13 - THE CHOIR OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge The Choir also performs a Bach Cantata is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the Evensong once a term with St John’s Sinfonia, its Trebles Counter Tenors Herbert Howells Organ Scholar world, known and loved by millions from period instrument ensemble. George Balfour 7, 12 Hugh Cutting Joseph Wicks 6-13 its broadcasts, concert tours and over 90 Joel Branston 5 Jack Hawkins recordings. Founded in the 1670s, the Choir It brings the ‘St John’s Sound’ to listeners Organ Scholar Matthew Brown Thomas Lilburn 8 around the world through its weekly webcasts. 14-17 is known for its rich, warm and distinctive 5, 12 Glen Dempsey David Bryson Hamish McLaren sound, its expressive interpretations and In addition to regular broadcasts in this James Buttery Alexander Simpson Director of Music its ability to sing in a variety of styles. country and abroad, the Choir usually makes William Buttery Andrew Nethsingha Alongside this discipline, the Choir is two recordings each year. In May 2016 Alan Chen Tenors 5 particularly proud of its happy, relaxed and the College launched its new ‘St John’s Blake Chen 5 William Ashford 5, 14, 15, 17 Numbers indicate soloist credits mutually supportive atmosphere. The Choir Cambridge’ recording label (in conjunction Jaylen Cheng Michael Bell 8, 9 for each CD track is directed by Andrew Nethsingha following with Signum Records) on which the Choir Adam Chillingworth Benedict Flinn 8, 12 a long line of eminent Directors of Music, has released the critically acclaimed and BBC Charles Cobb Xavier Hetherington recently Dr George Guest, Dr Christopher Music Magazine Award winning recording Lewis Cobb Gopal Kambo Robinson and Dr David Hill. of Jonathan Harvey’s music, Deo, and in Alfred Harrison Basses October 2016 ‘Christmas with St John’s’. James Lewis James Adams The Choir is made up of around 20 Choristers Alexander Tomkinson Peter Lidbetter Philip Tomkinson and Probationers from St John’s College The Choir also maintains a busy schedule of Louis Marlowe 5 Thomas Watkin School and 15 Choral Scholars who are concerts and events and it tours internationally Stephen Matthews Samuel Williams members of St John’s College, its primary twice a year. Recent destinations include Augustus Perkins Ray purpose being to enhance the liturgy and Denmark, Germany and France, the USA, 8 Theodore Platt worship at daily services in the College the Far East and the Netherlands. It also Chapel. The Choir has a diverse repertoire performs regularly in the UK, with venues spanning over 500 years of music. It is also including Symphony Hall, Birmingham and renowned for championing contemporary Royal Festival Hall, London. music in its commissioning of new works, including recent compositions by the College’s first Composer in Residence Michael Finnissy, Nico Muhly, and James Burton.

- 14 - - 15 - JOSEPH WICKS

Joseph graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Music in 2016. Whilst an undergraduate he gained his FRCO diploma and was awarded the prestigious Limpus Prize. He then served a fourth year at St John’s as Assistant Organist following three years as Organ Scholar whilst also directing ‘The Gentlemen of St John’s’. From September 2017, he became Assistant Director of Music at Truro Cathedral.

He began his musical education as a chorister, later Bishop’s (Head) Chorister, at Salisbury Cathedral. He then moved to Lancing College as the Walter Stanton Music Scholar and Sixth Form Organ Scholar, before spending a gap year as Organ Scholar of Hereford Cathedral. He has given recitals in Westminster Abbey, King’s, Queens’, St Ealovega © Benjamin John’s and Trinity Colleges in Cambridge, Joseph remains as committed as possible Hereford and Truro Cathedrals. to singing. A graduate of the prestigious Genesis Sixteen training scheme, Joseph now During his time at St John’s, Joseph has sings with The Gesualdo Six, a vocal consort played a large proportion of the College who were St John’s Smith Square Young Choir’s daily services, and also accompanied Artists for the 2015-16 season and who them on their busy broadcast, recording are releasing a CD of English renaissance and international tour schedules. In addition, polyphony in 2017. © Benjamin Ealovega © Benjamin

- 16 - - 17 - GLEN DEMPSEY ANNE DENHOLM

Organ Scholar Glen Dempsey is studying Anne Denholm is one of Britain’s leading Music at Cambridge. Glen’s formative musical young harpists, and is currently Official experiences were centered around the English Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales. Anne choral tradition, firstly as a chorister at St underwent a British musical upbringing, Mary’s, Bury St Edmunds and later in the studying at the Purcell School, Newnham choirs of St Edmundsbury Cathedral. Organ College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy lessons with Michael Nicholas led to Glen of Music (RAM) in London. She received being awarded a scholarship as a répétiteur her master’s degree from the RAM with to study at the Purcell School of Music. During distinction, studying under Karen Vaughan this time, Glen performed in all the major and graduating with the Renata Scheffel-Stein concert halls of London as a soloist and Harp Prize and a Regency Award for notable chamber musician on the organ and piano, Ealovega © Benjamin achievement. Whilst at the RAM, she was and also conducted at the Wigmore Hall. of Michael Hedley, Glen accompanied the the first ever harpist to win the historic majority of the choral services in the Basilica, RAM Club Prize. © Timothy © Timothy Ellis In 2013-14 Glen served as Organ Scholar at St as well as having had responsibility for George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. In this role conducting the Basilica’s various choirs and Anne is increasingly in demand as an interpreter Anne freelances with orchestras across England, he was responsible for accompanying and ensembles. Advanced organ studies with Jacques and performer of new music; she has been most recently working with the City of directing the choir’s daily services and for van Oortmerssen enhanced his understanding recording and premiering new works for solo Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir John assisting in the training of the choristers, as of historical performance practice. harp since 2006, and in 2013-14 worked Eliot Gardiner’s Orchestre Révolutionnaire et well as for playing at many events attended by with Sally Beamish on a video project of Romantique. She is also Principal Harpist with the British Royal Family. He was accompanist In his role at St John’s, Glen accompanies her work Awuya. She is a founding member Ensemble Cymru, a group championing chamber to the Windsor and Eton Choral Society and the Choir in their busy schedule of services, of contemporary experimental quartet, The music throughout Wales. Anne thoroughly studied the organ with Ann Elise Smoot. recordings and international tours. He is in Hermes Experiment and also greatly enjoys enjoys working with choirs: collaborators demand as a guest recitalist in the UK and working with the Birmingham Contemporary have included The Choir of St John’s College In 2014-15 he resided in the Netherlands and overseas, and continues his organ studies with Music Group. Cambridge, Trinity Boys Choir, The Temple was the Assistant Organist of St Nicholas’s Gordon Stewart. Outside of music, his interests Church Choir and Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir. Basilica, Amsterdam. Under the mentorship include languages and gastronomy. www.annedenholm.com

- 18 - - 19 - ANDREW NETHSINGHA The Choir would like to thank the following donors for their generous support of this recording: Performing in North America, South Africa, the Far East, and throughout Europe, Andrew Mr Archie Burdon-Cooper, The Rt Hon Sir Richard Aikens, Nethsingha has been Director of Music at Mr Simon Robson Brown, Mr Grayston Burgess, The Revd Peter Cobb, St John’s since 2007. He helped to set up a Ms Sian Cobb, The Revd Duncan Dormor, Mr Miguel Faragoso, new recording label, ‘St John’s Cambridge,’ Mr Edward Jones, Miss Jill MacMahon, Mr Bruce Mathers, in conjunction with Signum. His first disc on Sir Jonathan Philips, Mr Andrew Rupp, Mr Stephen Shorter, the new label, Deo (music by Jonathan Harvey), Mr John Thompson, and other donors who wish to remain anonymous. was a 2017 BBC Music Magazine Award winner. Publishers Andrew Nethsingha was a chorister at Exeter Poulenc Mass in G (Éditions Salabert) Cathedral, under his father’s direction. He Kodály Missa Brevis (Boosey and Hawkes) later studied at the Royal College of Music, Janáček Otčenáš (Bärenreiter) © Benjamin Ealovega © Benjamin where he won seven prizes, and at St John’s Recorded in St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge, UK from 11th to 14th July 2016 College, Cambridge. He held Organ Belshazzar’s Feast, Poulenc Gloria and Duruflé Producer – Chris Hazell Scholarships under Christopher Robinson at Requiem. He has also worked with: Royal Recording Engineer – Simon Eadon St George’s Windsor, and George Guest at Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Editor – Dave Rowell St John’s, before becoming Assistant Organist Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Vocal Consultant – David Lowe Language Coach – Ivana Sustkova at Wells Cathedral. He was subsequently Britten Sinfonia, Orchestra of St Luke’s (New Project Manager – James Beddoe Director of Music at Truro and Gloucester York), Aarhus Symfoniorkester, BBC Concert Dean – The Revd Duncan Dormor

Cathedrals, and Artistic Director of the Orchestra. Venues have included the BBC Cover Image – James Beddoe and John Challenger, edited by Premm Design Gloucester Three Choirs Festival. Proms, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Verbier Design and Artwork – Woven Design www.wovendesign.co.uk

Festival and Tokyo Suntory Hall. P 2017 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Signum Records Ltd Andrew’s concerts conducting the Philharmonia © 2017 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records Ltd Orchestra have included: Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Concerts this year include Royal Albert Hall, Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Britten War Konzerthaus Berlin, Müpa Budapest, Royal or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd.

Requiem, Brahms Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream Festival Hall, Singapore Esplanade, Birmingham SignumClassics, Signum Records Ltd., Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, UK. of Gerontius and The Kingdom, Walton Symphony Hall and Hong Kong City Hall. +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected] www.signumrecords.com

- 20 - - 21 - ALSO AVAILABLE ALSO AVAILABLE

Jonathan Harvey: Deo Christmas with St John’s Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Andrew Nethsingha Director Andrew Nethsingha Director SIGCD456 SIGCD458

BBC Music Magazine Choral Award Winner, 2017 The Sunday Times ‘nuanced and exhilarating performances.’ ‘Under Nethsingha, St John’s Choir rides high among the Cambridge colleges ... Nethsingha’s programming is eclectic H H H H H The Observer while retaining a “traditional” core.’ ‘ecstatic…the Choir tackles it all with confidence and clarity’ BBC Music Magazine Gramophone ‘There are treasures [here], not least the rapt performance of Editor’s Choice Cornelius’s The Three Kings ... Excellent engineering captures ‘An essential disc’ ‘Outstanding on every count’ evocatively the atmosphere of St John’s College chapel.’ ‘Remarkable and under-performed repertoire, beautifully performed and recorded’ The Guardian ‘a meticulously sung carol collection ... Most arresting is Choir and Organ O Oriens, by Cecilia McDowall, a beautiful setting of an ‘Nethsingha and his St John’s forces have this often-challenging Advent antiphon.’ repertoire well under control, delivering characterful yet authoritative performances of which they can be justly proud … warmly recommended.’

signumclassics signumclassics Available through most record stores and at www.signumrecords.com For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 Available through most record stores and at www.signumrecords.com For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 ALSO AVAILABLE

SUBITO! Julia Hwang violin Charles Matthews piano SIGCD486

Subito: suddenly, or immediately. And something else besides – a moment of revelation or transformation, charged with surprise.

On her debut disc, Julia Hwang has taken that idea – of virtuosity as communication – and embraced it from four very different directions. Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Minor blends virtuosity with traditions both local and international, to say something unambiguously personal. Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending refines violin technique into expression as pure as the song of a skylark. Lutosławski’s Subito creates a brief, dazzling moment whose very brilliance is its own meaning; and Henryk Wieniawski, entertainer par excellence, spins fantasy from another man’s tunes in his Fantaisie brillante sur des motifs de l’Opéra Faust de Gounod – enriching them in the process.

Any debut may come subito: as a wonderful surprise. Artistry lies in taking that moment of contact and creating something that continues to speak long after the final notes have died away.

signumclassics Available through most record stores and at www.signumrecords.com For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000