Great Sacred Music Sunday, February 7, 2021

Great Sacred Music Sunday, February 7, 2021 Daniel E. Gawthrop: Prayer For Grace Utah State University Chamber Singers, Cory Evans William Byrd: Christe qui lux es The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood J.S. Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring Choir of King's College, Cambridge; Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Sir Neville Marriner Daniel Gawthrop (1949-) is an American composer of choral and organ music. Over the years he has been commissioned to write more than one hundred original works. English musician Andrew Carwood has been Director of Music at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, since 2007. “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” has to be one of Bach’s most popular choral compositions. Traditional American spiritual: There is a Balm in Gilead (an orchestra and chorus assembled for this event), James Levine Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, sopranos George Frideric Handel: Awake the trumpet's lofty sound! from Samson Howard University Choir; Handel Festival Orchestra of Washington, Stephen Simon William Grant Still: Reverie Philip Brunnelle, organ 1981 Holtkamp organ in Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman were recorded in Carnegie Hall, March 1990, for a television presentation produced by Peter Gelb who is now General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera. "Awake the trumpet's lofty sound!" comes from Handel's 1742 oratorio "Samson." Reverie by William Grant Still (1895–1978) is one of over 150 compositions which this distinguished composer wrote. Commentary: Stanley Thurston Hector Berlioz: "O my spirit" from L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25 La Chapelle Royale; Collegium Vocale; Orchestra of the Champs Elysees, Philippe Herreweghe Tenor, Paul Agnew From ClassicFM: “One evening in 1850 Berlioz found himself at a party where everyone was playing cards. As this was something he particularly disliked, his friend Pierre Duc asked him to inscribe his album: I take a piece of paper and scribble a few staves on which a four-part andantino for organ appears. It seems to have a rustic character and to suggest a naïve mystical feeling. So I at once think of writing appropriate words for it. The organ piece disappears and becomes a chorus of shepherds in Bethlehem bidding farewell to the child Jesus as the Holy Family leaves for Egypt. Such was the origin of the sacred trilogy L’enfance du Christ; from the germ of a few bars of organ music sprang the full completed work in three parts.” Giuseppe Verdi: Sanctus from Requiem Vienna Philharmonic & State Opera Chorus; Chorus of the Sofia National Opera, Herbert von Karajan J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in D, BWV 532 Kevin Bowyer, organ 1962 Marcussen organ in Sct. Hans Kirke, Odense, Denmark Giuseppe Verdi wrote his Requiem in memory of his friend Alessandro Manzoni in 1873. Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in D major” dates from his Weimar years, with 1710 often cited as the date of composition. This work expresses the virtuosity and youthful exuberance of the 25 year old Bach in a manner few of his other organ compositions do. J.S. Bach: Cantata 126, "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort" Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki Carolyn Sampson, soprano; Robin Blaze, countertenor Gerd Turk, tenor; Peter Kooy, bass-baritone The German translates as “Uphold us, Lord, with Thy word.” The cantata has a military air to it as the faithful are charged with smiting the enemy and flying the flag of the church militant. Henry Purcell: My beloved spake Tolzer Knabenchor, Gustav Leonhardt David Cordier, alto; John Elwes, tenor Peter Kooy, bass-baritone; Harry van der Kamp, bass English composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695) wrote his setting of “My beloved spake” when he was still a teenager. Felix Mendelssohn: Elijah Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Robert Shaw “Elijah” was written for the 1846 Birmingham Festival. Mendelssohn uses Bach and Handel as his models for the oratorio form. The music is distinctly Mendelssohn’s own early romantic period voice. The work was sung in English at the Festival..

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