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Don’t Talk - Just Listen! p Don’t run low [0.20] a Be an egg donor [0.23] s Please to not betray [0.46] d Five Motets Robert Saxton Royal from Day One [0.17] f 1 1: Dixit autem Dominus ad Abram [3.27] I am woman [0.35] g 2 Motet 2: Distant, a family travels [2.52] Vocal ensemble for hire [0.33] h 3 Motet 3: Down the ages a has echoed [2.34] Proactive, professional [0.32] j 4 Motet 4: Returning, wander weary [2.25] Mature seeks work [0.27] k 5 Motet 5: Igitur egressus Iacob [4.27] Guarantee [0.36]

6 Thou wast present as on this day Antony Pitts [6.44] Three Contrafacta l The Man who spills his soup Anon (adpt Ian McMillan) [4.06] 7 The Armed Man Gabriel Jackson [5.47] ; So ys emprentid Walter Frye (adpt Edward Wickham) [2.54] 8 A Spousal Verse Christopher Fox [3.55] After the Mass Anon (adpt Ian Duhig) [2.51]

20 Ways To improve Your Life Christopher Fox z Te Deum* Gabriel Jackson [9.39] 9 Don’t talk, just listen [0.09] 0 I am an expert in relationships [0.27] Total Timings [61.02] q Massage, medication [0.54] w Launch your career [0.21] e Look good, feel great [0.17] The Clerks r I am fast [0.15] DIRECTED BY EDWARD WICKHAM t Reliable, efficient [0.24] y Rise to the challenge [0.29] * Members of the Choir of u Give your sperm a life [0.20] St CathArine’s College, Cambridge i I am a specialist in weight loss [0.40] o Out on the open road [0.17] www.signumrecords.com 174Booklet 7/8/09 13:06 Page 5

ARTIST’S NOTE programme NOTEs In Nomine settings by later 16th Century Tudor , the choir thus being used as one body . The technique of parody (ie: secular of sound, and the music progresses from E to a This presents a selection of works 1 - 5 Five Motets material being re-cycled for use in liturgical multiple octave A. commissioned by The Clerks over the last decade, Robert Saxton music) was a relatively common one during the and is our first devoted entirely to contemporary latetibi MedievalTrinitas and periods and was This note begins the second motet, which is the music. The impulse behind each commission was After writing an 8-voice a cappella setting of an most valuable to me in writing the motets. The first of the settings of my own texts (in English) different, as were the contexts in which they were ancient Hebrew poem for The Clerks in 2000, their source of the In Nomine melody is the Mass Gloria and acts as a ‘retrospective’ commentary on the first performed; so necessarily this is an eclectic director, Edward Wickham, suggested that I write by the great early Tudor composer, first piece. The choir is divided into two groups, anthology. As one would expect, the works were them a work on a larger scale. When the BBC . the first representing the present and the second designed to suit the forces of the group and their invited The Clerks to sing at a Prom in 2003 (the choir the past - the original voyage of departure. ranges and timbres. But more than that, they yearWandering of my 50 Jewth birthday), the opportunity presented The Five Motets describe an outward journey (a The music leads from its initial A to E flat, the each represent a fascinating and innovative itself to fulfil this request. At the time, I was voyage of departure) and a return (in the sense of uninvertible tritone being symbolic of distance, in engagement with the compositional techniques, working on a long-term project, a radio opera The fulfilment) and emanating from this overall idea this case, the span of four thousand years. genres and motivations of late Medieval and (commissioned by BBC Radio 3); and its manifestation regarding the texts set, - the repertoire on which The as the subject of wandering (with the inevitable each piece in the set addresses the technical The third motet departs from Biblical chronology, Clerks have cut their teeth. We hope you enjoy issue of whether or not a particular journey might issue of writing for a 9-voice choir in a specific setting the well-known description in Exodus of them as much as we have enjoyed working on be cyclic or goal-directed) has been a compositional way. The journey is thus circular but, as in the another outward journey: that of the Israelites’ them over the last ten years. preoccupation for many years, the idea for the Biblical narrative, the ‘return’ is not literal; life flight from Egypt and crossing of the Red Sea (or, motets developed rapidly. Edward Wickham changes and nothing remains the same. The more correctly, Sea of Reeds). It is a choral dance Edward Wickham suggested that I use the Latin Vulgate translation motets, as a sequence, both technically and describing the women on the shore, led by Moses of the , another factor which helped me expressively, mirror and illustrate this voyage. and Aaron’s sister, Miriam, as they celebrate shape the overall plan, the cycle alternating Latin freedom. This is an important passage, as it is settings with English poems of my own, the latter The first motet sets the Latin Vulgate (St Jerome) believed to be the first description of non-mythical acting as commentaries on the biblical texts. This translation (from Hebrew) of the passage from women being allotted the leading role in Western scheme also had a practical aspect; the Genesis describing Abram and Sara’s outward literature. The texture is in stratified counterpoint, ‘continuous’ Prom in which the motets were journey from Ur, in modern-day Iraq, to Canaan, the female voices and male altos singing a poem premiered included not only a parody mass by and God’s promise of the land to them and their of freedom (action) in English, while the lower , but also performances by His descendants. The setting, which sets out from male voices sing the Biblical text (description) in Majestys Sagbutts and of instrumental Taverner’s In Nomine melody, is in 9-voice ‘equal’ Latin. The pitch centre is B flat.

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The fourth motet acts as ‘pre’-commentary to the Motet 1: Dixit autem Dominus ad Abram Memory ingrained in the sand? fifth, and is a setting, in English, of another poem Or was it four thousand years ago, of mine, this time about Jacob’s dream, an episode Dixit autem Dominus ad Abram egredere de terra Another voyage in a far-off place, in the midst of the sea. which occurred at Haran, the place at which his tua et de cognatione tua et de domo patris tui in What did they seek, And Miriam the prophetess, the sister grandparents (Abram and Sara) had arrived on terram quam monstrabo tibi faciamque te in Why did they travel, of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand their outward journey two generations earlier and, gentem magnam et benedicam tibi et As the light broke? and all the women went out after in his vision Jacob, too, realises the holiness of the magnificabo nomen tuum erisque benedictus Open, Time’s gates reveal her with timbrels and with dances. place where he lays his head to sleep. The lower benedicam benedicentibus tibi et maledicam Motet 3: Down the ages a song has echoed the dance of the centuries male voices, singing in homophony, meditate on maledicentibus tibi atque in te benedicentur as the women sing; this while the upper voices sing a prayer of Hope universae cognationes terrae. Men: new song, ancient dance, and Light. The pitch centre is ‘prophetically’ A flat. Down the ages a song has echoed, present, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of Distant, distant, now, The fifth motet reverts to Genesis, and sets the thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy The echoing song sounds across centuries as then. Biblical text, in Latin, describing Jacob’s dream of father’s house, unto the land that I will shew thee: the ladder reaching to Heaven. The choir begins And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will ingressus est equus Pharao Women: the piece with imitative polyphony in double canon bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou cum curribus et equitibus in mare et Distant, yet present, before the music is ‘released’ to ascend ‘towards shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that reduxit super eos Dominus aquas maris Then, as now, heaven’. bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and filii autem Israhel ambulaverunt Dancing and singing, Nomine in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. per siccum in medio eius Swaying, calling, The close returns to the initial E from the beginning sumpsit ergo Mari prohetis soror Aaron As waves of freedom of the first motet, but now the minor third of the In Genesis, chapter 12, verses 1-3 tympanum in manu Furl, deliver us, unbound, has become the major third, the egressaeque sunt mulieres post eam On the reed shore prominent A flat from both the fourth motet and Motet 2: Distant, a family travels cum tympanis et choris With salt of blessing, not tears. the first part of the fifth enharmonically becoming ring, a tierce de picardie above the bass note E. Distant, a family travels, time-laden, For the horse of Pharaoh went with his Bracelets shine, When did they leave for a new land? chariots and with his horse men into the sea Exile ended, Robert Saxton Yesterday, or this morning, as the light woke, and the Lord brought again the waters of A desert journey begun. Their journey of ages melted in the furnace the sea upon them; but the children of Spirits unshackled, of centuries, Israel went on dry land The sea our salvation,

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This shore our hope. But through his dream And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and toward 6 Thou wast present as on this day Miriam, celebrant, All generations wake. Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and Antony Pitts Leading, rejoicing. Stirring, sleep refreshed, tarried there all night, because the sun was set; With myriad sounds He stands on sun-warmed earth, and he took of the stones of that place, and put Thou wast present as on this day is a motet for We whirl, wait, watch, As a voyage of centuries them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to three pairs of voices and was commissioned as Free, unfettered, Leads to the light. sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up part of In Memoria - a live electro-acoustic concert Praising. on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven:programme devised by Antony Pitts and Edward Ears The faith of ages Motet 5: Igitur egressus Iacob and behold the angels of God ascending andWickham for The Clerks and subsequently remixed We praise with sun-drenched hallelujah cries. descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stoodand broadcast on BBC Radio 3 for the Between the igitur egressus Iacob de Bersabee pergebat Haran above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham strand. The text is for Holy Saturday or Easter Exodus, chapter 15, verses 19 and 20 cumque venisset ad quondam locum et Eve and has its origins in the Orthodox liturgy; the the father, and the god of Isaac: the land whereon vellet in eo requiescere post solis occubitum musicYerushalayim builds directly on two sources: a Messianic thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy Motet 4: Returning, wander weary tulit de lapidibus qui iacebant et subponens capiti theme from the composer’s oratorio Jerusalem- seed…and, behold, I am with thee, and will keepbois. suo dormivit in eodem loco and Josquin des Prez’s Nymphes des thee in all places whither thou goest, and will Choir 1: viditque in somnis scalam stantem super terram Josquin’s memorial motet is, in turn, the Lord, grant him rest, et cacumen illius tangens caelum angelos bring thee again into this land: for I will notcentral leave source for the sound collage which threads May he sleep in peace. quoque Dei ascendentes et descendentes per eam thee, until I have done that which I have spokenthrough to In Memoria, evoking a dialogue between Grant us angel dreams et Dominum innixum scalae dicentem sibi: thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep,our and own he synthetic age and the deep music of That we may know your light. ego sum Dominus Deus Abraham patris tui said, Surely the Lord is in this place: and memoryI knew it represented by the greatest late- et Deus Isaac not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadfulmediaeval is and early-Renaissance composers. Choir 2: terram in qua dormis tibi dabo et semini tuo this place! This is none other but the houseThou of God,wast present as on this day celebrates and Returning, wander weary, et ero custos tuus quocumque perrexeris and this is the gate of heaven. mourns the past, the present, and eternity Weighed down by what will be, et reducam te in terram hanc nec dimittam nisi Genesis, chapter 28, verses 10-13 and 15-17 together: the text is heard three times - in three He sleeps, softly, conplevero universa quae dixi different places, as it were - and the three pairs of On pillowed stone. cumque evigilasset Iacob de somno ait : Text sources: voices weave an increasingly intricate texture When did his journey begin, Vere Dominus est in loco isto et ego nesciebam Latin texts from the Vulgate; English translation of biblical texts from the King James version (1611); Non-biblical English texts by around a luminous major triad. A score is How far has he travelled, pavensque quam terribilis inquit est locus the composer. available from www.tonusperegrinus.co.uk. Alone? Iste nin est hic aliud domus Dei et porta caeli. Solitary in this place he seems, Antony Pitts

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Thou wast present as on this day, O Christ, After an initial lusty statement of the original 8 A Spousal Verse with Thy body in the tomb; chanson, the main body of the piece is divided into Christopher Fox with Thy soul Thou wast in Hades, fulfilling to the three sections. Each is underpinned by material thief Thy promise that he should be with Thee derived from the L’homme armé melody (still withthat everyone should arm himself A Spousal Verse was written in 2004 for The Clerks in Paradise; its original words) which is heard first in the bass part,with a sleeveless coat15th-century of mail. Burgundian Chanson in lieu of a subscription to their Friends Scheme and on the throne Thou wast abiding with the then the tenor, and finally the alto, in progressivelyThe armed man must be feared. and was premiered by them in The Temple Church, Father and the Holy Ghost, filling all things, and (proportionally) shorter note values; in each section How long O Lord, how long before the flood London on 17th February 2005. uncircumscribed of any. it is treated differently - in the first, as a succession Of crimson-welling carnage shall abate? Glory be to Thee, O Christ. of drones, in the second as part of a homorhythmic From sodden plains in West and East the blood Christopher Fox chorale and finally as the basis of a nervous, quasi Of kindly men streams up in mists of hate, Ye gentle Birdes, the worlds faire ornament, 7 The Armed Man -hocketing texture. Above this the sopranos (and Polluting Thy clean air: and nations great And heavens glorie, whom this happie hower Gabriel Jackson altos in the first section) weave a freely composed, In reputation of the arts that bind Doth leade unto your lovers blisfull bower, more subjective, setting of the Robert Palmer poem. The World with hopes of Heaven, sink to the state Joy may you have and gentle hearts content Much of my work is about other music, and in Of brute barbarians, whose ferocious mind Of your loves couplement: several of my pieces for ‘early music’ ensembles I The Armed Man was commissioned by The Clerks Gloats o’er the bloody havoc of their kind, Armed Man And let faire Venus, that is Queene of love, have tried to engage with some aspect of what with funds provided by the Jerwood Foundation Not knowing love or mercy. Lord, how long With her heart-quelling Sonne upon you smile, what one might call their core repertoire. So The and first performed by them at the Wigmore Hall Shall Satan in high places lead the blind Whose smile they say, hath vertue to remove is written on a cantus firmus and on April 30th, 2000. To battle for the passions of the strong? All Loves dislike, and friendships faultie guile reworks some of the principles of the diminution Oh, touch Thy children’s hearts, that they may know For ever to assoile. motet. The piece is bi-textual, as were so many Gabriel Jackson Hate their most hateful, pride their deadliest foe. Let endlesse Peace your steadfast hearts accord, medieval motets (both sacred and secular), And blessed Plentie wait upon your bord, juxtaposing the belligerent 15th Century Burgundian L’homme armé doibt on doubter. Robert Palmer (1888-1916) And let your bed with pleasures chast abound, chanson L’homme armé with a poem by Robert On a fait partout crier That fruitfull issue may to you afford, Palmer, second son of the second Earl of Selborne, que chascun se viegne armer Which may your foes confound, who was killed at the Battle of Umm-Al-Hamal in q’un haubregon de fer. And make your joyes redound, Mesopotamia on January 21st 1916. The poem, sent L’homme armé doibt on doubter. Upon your Brydale day, which is not long: home in a letter, was first published in The Times Sweete Themmes run softlie, till I end my Song. on October 15th 1915. The armed man must be feared. It has been decreed everywhere Text taken from the Sixth stanza of Edmund Spenser’s Prothalamion (1596)

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9 - k 20 Ways To improve Your Life 9. Don’t talk, just listen 14. I am fast 18. I am a specialist in weight loss Christopher Fox Listen, I am fast, I am a specialist in weight loss and stress reduction. Don’t talk, I am enthusiastic, I am a specialist in hypnotherapy for fears 20 Ways To Improve Your Lifewas written for The Just listen. I am busy, and phobias. Clerks, at the suggestion of their director, Edward I am experienced, I am a specialist in relaxation. Wickham. For some time Edward had been talking 10. I am an expert in relationships I am accurate, to me about the possibility of a 21st Century I am expert in relationships, I can communicate. 19. Out on the open road answer to the ‘Cries of London’ of the early 1600s I am an expert in healing and spirituality, Out on the open road, and one day in February 2007, sitting on a I am an expert in love. 15. Reliable, efficient Choose your hours, Northern Line train and scanning the small ads in Reliable, efficient, friendly, decisive, Be your own boss, a discarded copy of the London Lite free-sheet, I 11. Massage, medication It’s time to be rewarded. A driving instructor. realised that I was looking at the beginning of that Massage, Do the business, make it happen, be valued, make answer. ‘Don’t talk, just listen’ was the first to be Medication, a difference, 20. Don’t run low written, on 2nd April, and over the next months I No allergies, Grow strength from strength. (Source: billboard seen on London gathered many more texts, small ads, spam email Deep sleep, Underground station) and billboard slogans; the piece was finished on Good health. 16. Rise to the challenge Run fast. 25th September 2007. (Source: billboard, seen from a bus in Leeds) Don’t run. 12. Launch your career Rise to the challenge, Don’t run in the fast lane 20 Ways To Improve Your Life is dedicated to Launch your career - hairdressing, beauty. Not to the bait. Don’t run low in the fast lane. Edward Wickham and was first heard in part in an Launch your career - fitness, tanning. open rehearsal at St Ethelburga’s, London on 28th Launch your career, in the most fantastic locations 17. Give your sperm a life 21. Be an egg donor September 2007 and then on The Verb (BBC Radio (To rent or on commission, reasonable prices). Are you bright, Be an egg donor: 3, 19th October 2007). The premiere was given by Are you active, Help couples The Clerks in Shoreditch Parish Church, London, as 13. Look good, feel great From 18 to 45? (Infertile, childless) part of the Spitalfields Festival on 14th June 2008. Look good, feel great. Are you male? Become families. Fix your face. Be a sperm donor Christopher Fox Stop smoking now. Give you sperm a life. 22. Please to not betray Feel good, look great. (Call in confidence, generous expenses paid.) (Source: spam email) Teeth whiter today, Please to not betray the trust I lay on you. Smile brighter today. - 12 - - 13 - 174Booklet 7/8/09 13:06 Page 15

I am only daughter of most reputable merchant Creative and convincing, which exhorts the people at Mass to go about their Mull, Yell, Muck, Unst! And wish invest four million dollars in your country. Presenting the proposition, daily duties with probity and piety - is an Man, Wight, Staffa, Foula! Please to reply for more. The total package. ingenious semi-translation of the Latin original. My own version of So ys emprentid barely alters Oh, the hot soup! 23. Royal from Day One 27. Mature composer seeks work Frye’s text, but provides an excuse for us to re-visit Oh, the steaming soup! (Source: spam email) (Original text) this exquisite ballade, previously recorded by us Fly, soup, fly Put on your crown and robe, Mature composer seeks work: on an earlier Signum album. Ian McMillan’s Like the splashing sea Royal from Day One. Avant-garde, experimental, or post-modern. outrageous re-working of the 14th Century caccia Over my lady’s skirt In our casino, Commissions undertaken, for cash or credit. Se je chant is certainly the most ‘contra’ of the Soup, fly through the air Everyone is king (or queen). ‘facta’ - the original cries and howls of a hunting Like some bird of prey 28. Guarantee party turned into the pained exclamations of a Tomato Bird, Oxtail Bird 24. I am woman (Source: spam email) man spilling his soup. Pea and Ham Bird, Brothy Bird (Source: spam email) Claims which may arise Through the air to my lady I am woman with warm heart, Through faulty material Edward Wickham Oh I did not mean to trip! Much tenderness inside. Will only be considered Oh I did not mean to fall! I search serious relations, In the guarantee period. l The Man who spills his soup Oh! Ah! Oh! The hot soup! I search serious man. Oh! Ah! Oh! Hot as my love! One meeting is worth ten thousand letters. l - Three Contrafacta If I seem to slip with my soup Soup, fly to my lady’s blouse And my soup slips down my shirt And stain it, stain it with my love, 25. Vocal ensemble for hire These three works are the first in a projected It’s because I am in love The stain of love (Original text) ‘songbook’ of contrafacta - new texts adapted to And my lady loves her soup The stain of soup Vocal ensemble for hire, old songs. The technique of contrafactum is as old And her face at once most settled The stain of love and soup! All work considered; as texted music itself - indeed, the genre of the And her face anticipating Polyphony a speciality. motet grew out of the composition of new texts to The soup I made, the soup I poured Text: Ian McMillan; after Anon, 14th century caccia: Se je chant formally textless organum in the 12th and 13th Makes me spill my soup 26. Proactive, professional centuries. The three contrafacta presented here Down my shirt and her skirt Proactive, professional, proven, prospective, takesollempnia a more and less liberal approach to And there’s a stain Opening doors and closing deals. adaptation. Ian Duhig’s version of Post missarum In the shape of an island! Charismatic, tenacious, strategic, intelligent, - a motet of likely English provenance Tasmania! Madagascar!

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; So ys emprentid but you must act without disguise, treat each as if their fleece was gold, frequently subverted by odd harmonic sidesteps Walter Frye with fairness in all people’s eyes. so build your best for all of them and at the last moment, after much minor key In privacy, executive, as if you built Jerusalem, harmony, the piece moves triumphantly into A major. So deeply on my soul engraved is, He lets you take so you may give our home when His will comes to pass, Your being, your truth, your presentness, with open, clean hands charity and for that, Deo Gracias. Gabriel Jackson So lovingly embalmed your body is to souls God loves on parity - In tightening folds of remembrance; bear this in mind too, men of law... Voices 3 & 4 Te deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur. O Lord that freed us, be now my witness! be just to rich no more than poor, For His service, for His Mass: Te aeternum Patrem omnis terra veneratur. That dreaming, waking, in peace or restlessness to family no more than guest; Deo, Deo Gracias. Tibi omnes Angeli, tibi Caeli: et universae Potestates: When doubting, forgetting, still do I know impartiality’s your test. Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant: My heart cannot free you, go where’er ye go. We serve no one man, but the Mass Text: Ian Duhig; after Anon (Ivrea MS): Post missarum sollempnia : Sanctus: Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. and for that, Deo Gracias. Pleni sunt caeli et terra majestates gloriæ tuae. text adapted by Edward Wickham z Te Deum Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus: Voice 2 Gabriel Jackson Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus: After the Mass Mass is music that has no end, Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus. its swelling resonances send My Te Deum was commissioned by The Clerks in Te per orbeum terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia: Voice 1 His sweetness seeding this sweet air 2004 (with funds provided by the RVW trust) to Patrem immensae majestatis: Mass now is ended, cleansing sin, to spread redemption everywhere. provide a coda to their innovative staging of the Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium: and thus your service may begin. You teachers trusted with our seed, 12th Century Play of Daniel. The piece brings Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum. As brothers, bishops, mind your sheep; teach wisdom beyond word to deed, together the performing forces of Edward Tu Rex gloriae, Christe. immortal souls are in your keep, while farmers, harvesting His land, Wickham’s edition of the drama - a plainchant Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius so keep the wolf beyond their field, He holds you in His heart and hand, choir who sing the Te Deum chant in octaves (in Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non God raised your Church to be their shield; so work His land for all your worth, Latin), and a consort of five solo voices who weave horruisti Virginis uterum. its walls are built from Peter’s rock - His Bread of Heaven’s bread on earth. an ornate tapestry around them in English. The Tu devicto mortis aculeo, aperuisti credentibus by his example, lead your flock. Remember, you God calls to trade: chant is in even notes throughout, which gives the regna cælorum. State officers, you borrow power: on His scales will your soul be weighed, piece a ritualistic unrelenting quality as the Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris. remember He grants you this hour as architects and carpenters, singers breathlessly wind their way through the Judex crederis esse venturus. Who has no need to share His plan designers, tilers, plasterers; long-limbed text. The unchanging modality and Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni, quos or justify His ways to man, all you who’d build God’s sheep a fold: repeated melodic formulae of the chant are pretioso sanguine redemisti.

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Aeterna fac cum Sanctis tuis in Gloria numerari. Salvum fac populum tuum Domine, et benedic BIOGRAPHIES haereditati tuae. Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in æternum.Thou art the everlasting Son: of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man: thou Per singulos dies, benedicimus te. THE CLERKS One of the outstanding vocal groups in its field, Et laudamus nomen tuum in sæculum, didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb. The Clerks’ recordings and performances of Dignare Domine die isto, sine peccato nos custodire.When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of Carys Lane, Helen Neeves - soprano Renaissance vocal music have earned them a Miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri. death: thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to Lucy Ballard, Ruth Clegg, Kim Porter - alto place among the foremost interpreters of the Fiat misericordia tua Domine super nos,all believers. William Balkwill, Tom Raskin, Nicholas Todd, repertoire. The group’s discography of over 20 CDs quemadmodum spera vimusin te. Thou sittest at the right hand of God: in the Glory Christopher Watson - tenor represents a uniquely valuable and pioneering In te Domine speravi: non confundar in aeternum. of the Father. Jonathan Arnold, Edward Grint, contribution to early music and has won them We believe that thou shalt come: to be our Judge. Edward Wickham - bass many accolades, including the coveted We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be We therefore pray thee, help thy servants: whom Gramophone Award for Early Music. the Lord. thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. All the earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting. Make them to be numbered with thy Saints: in To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens, and all glory everlasting. the Powers therein. O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine heritage. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim: continually do cry, Govern them: and lift them up for ever. Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth; Day by day: we magnify thee; Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty: of thy Glory. And we worship thy Name: ever world without end. The glorious company of the Apostles: praise thee. Vouchsafe, O Lord: to keep us this day without sin. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: praise thee. O Lord, have mercy upon us: have mercy upon us. The noble army of Martyrs: praise thee. O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust The holy Church throughout all the world: doth Attributedis to in Niceta thee. of Remisiana (4th Century) acknowledge thee: O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never The Father: of an infinite Majesty; be confounded. Thine honourable, true: and only Son; Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.

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The Clerks formed at Oxford University and made coach choirs and consorts in Europe, the United its professional London debut in 1992. In recent States and the Far East, and spent several years composer BIOGRAPHIES years the ensemble has expanded its repertoire to as the artistic director of The Renaissance Singers include contemporary works. They have performed of London, and The Orlando Chamber Choir. in the UK’s major venues and festivals, including Christopher Fox was born in York in 1955. He simple ideas but he makes them sound quite the BBC Proms, the Barbican and the Queen Edward Wickham’s most recent project is the studied composition with Hugh Wood, Jonathan wonderful”. Fox’s work regularly extends beyond Elizabeth Hall, and regularly appear at festivals establishment at St Catharine’s of the first Harvey and Richard Orton at Liverpool, Southampton the conventional boundaries of the concert hall; throughout Europe and the United States. The College-based children’s girls’ choir in the UK, and York Universities. Since 2006 he has been his most recent work was premiered in the turbine Clerks have broadcast in many European which launched in September 2008. Research Professor in Music at Brunel University. works of Siemens Berlin. countries, and have made programmes for He lives in London with his wife Susan McNally Belgian and French television. You can keep up with The Clerks at their website: and various of their four children. Antony Pitts began composing at an early age www.theclerks.co.uk and his music has been performed in Wigmore In recent years The Clerks’ range of programmes Fox’s work has been performed and broadcast Hall and Westminster Cathedral in London, the has widened to include site-specific, multi-media Members of the Choir world-wide and is widely available on CD, with Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the projects and collaborations with musicians from of St Catharine’s four portrait CDs on the Metier label, a portrait CD Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal in Berlin. He has different musical traditions. This is their first disc College, Cambridge on NMC, and other recordings on Artifact, BVHaast written music for the Berlin Radio Choir, devoted entirely to contemporary music. and FMR. He also writes regularly on new music. Cambridge Voices, Cappella Pratensis, The Clerks, Louise Berkin, Lydia Cracknell, Benjamin Cox, Jessica He was co-editor of Von Kranichstein zur Gegenwart the Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy, Edward Wickham is the founder and artistic Eccleston, Martin Hudson, Peter Mallinson, Anthony (1996, DACO Verlag, Stuttgart), a history of 50 European Chamber Opera, Festival of the Voice, director of The Clerks, a role which he combines Moore, Niall Pay, Danielle Rolet, Winnie Smith. years of the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, and of King’s College London, the London Festival of with his duties as Director of Music at St Uncommon Ground, a book on the music of Contemporary Church Music, New Chamber Opera, Catharine’s College, Cambridge and an Affiliate Michael Finnissy (1998, Ashgate Press, London). Oxford Camerata, the Oxford Festival of Lecturer at the Faculty of Music in Cambridge. Contemporary Music, Peter Johnson Entertainments, Fox has been hailed by Andy Hamilton in The Wire Schola Cantorum of Oxford, the Swingle Singers, Dr Wickham read Modern History at Christ Church, as “a tantalising figure in British Music”; Paul and the Choir of Westminster Cathedral. Oxford where he was also a choral scholar, and Driver in The Sunday Times has described his went on to do post-graduate work in Medieval music as “impressive, thoughtful, entertaining The record label Naxos commissioned him to write Studies and Music at King’s College, London, and extremely varied”, while Paul Griffiths, writing The Naxos Book of Carols which is available both where he gained his PhD. He is regularly invited to in The Times, has said of Fox’s work that “he takes on CD and as a carol book from Faber Music; Faber

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Music also publishes selected scores, including the Royal Academy of Music and is now choirs. In 2003 he won the liturgical category at York Ambisonic, and the British Music Label. In his 40-voice motet XL. A recording by Tonus Professor of Composition at Oxford, where he is the inaugural British Composer Awards. 2005 Delphian Records released a disc devoted to Peregrinus of his sacred choral music Seven tutorial fellow of Worcester College. He has been a his choral music, followed by a recording of his 40 Letters (Hyperion), was Gramophone Editor’s member of the Music Panel of the Arts Council Over recent years his music has been equally part motet Sanctum est Verum Lumen in 2008 by Choice, and The Peace of Jerusalem - the choral and was, for 9 years, a Governor of the South focussed on instrumental compositions, commissions The National Youth Choir of Great Britain. coda from his oratorio Jerusalem-Yerushalayim - Bank Centre. including Kenidjack for alto saxophone, strings features on a new Tonus Peregrinus recording and percussion, works for guitarist Tom Kerstens, Amongst recent prestigious commissions is Alpha and Omega (Hyperion). His recent mass Commissions include works for the BBC (TV, radio organist Michael Bonaventure, and LM-7: Aquarius Jackson’s Ave, Regina caelorum premiered by The setting for the Dutch Illustre Lieve Vrouwe and Proms), LSO, ECO, Opera North, London for Lunar Sax Quartet. Sixteen and electric guitarist Tom Kerstens for the Broederschap was the first to be commissioned by Sinfonietta, Nash Ensemble, Chilingirian String opening of Kings Place and his setting of the that medieval foundation for almost 500 years. Quartet, Edward Wickham and The Clerks, Performances and broadcasts take place Requiem - commissioned and premiered by the You can find more details of Antony’s work at Stephen Darlington and the choir of Christ Church worldwide, and his music is being recorded with Vasari Singers on Remembrance Day at St Martin- www.cd.tp. Cathedral Oxford, Richard Rodney Bennett and increasing frequency with works available on in-the-Fields, London. Projects in 2009 include works Susan Bradshaw, Teresa Cahill, Leon Fleisher, NMC, Metier, Usk, GFR, Lammas, Priory, Telarc, for the Chapel Choir of Merton College, Oxford, and Robert Saxton was born in London in 1953. After Steven Isserlis, Mstislav Rostropovich, Paul a Piano Concerto for the Presteigne Festival. early advice from Britten, he studied with Silverthorne, Raphael Wallfisch and John Wallace. Elisabeth Lutyens, at Cambridge with Robin Current commissions include The Wandering Jew, Holloway, as a postgraduate at Oxford with Robert a radio opera for BBC Radio 3 to his own libretto The Clerks acknowledges with gratitude the financial support it receives: P 2009 Signum Records Ltd. Sherlaw Johnson and with Luciano Berio. He was and a work for the Arditti String Quartet. C 2009 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records Ltd. awarded First Prize at the Gaudeamus Festival, Benefactors of The Clerks: Anthony Damer, Martin Hudson; Henry and Madeleine Wickham Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Holland in 1975 and a Fulbright Arts Award 1985- His music is published by Chester/Music Sales Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action by law. Patrons of The Clerks: Clodagh Hayes; Peter and Hazel Hedges; Peter Jefferson; Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance 86 enabling him to spend a year as a visiting and by the University of York Music Press and has Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or Nigel Reid; Lionel and Helen Wickham and its many Friends transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, fellow at Princeton, USA. He took his DMus by been recorded on the EMI, Hyperion, Sony Classical, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd. To support The Clerks via its Friends scheme, please e-mail examination at Oxford University in 1992. Signum, NMC, Metier and Divine Art labels. [email protected] SignumClassics, Signum Records Ltd., Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Recorded at St George’s Church, Chesterton, and the chapel of St Catharine’s Middx UB6 7JD, UK +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected] After a lectureship at Bristol University, Robert Gabriel Jackson was born in Bermuda in 1962. College, Cambridge from 5 - 9 January, 2009 Producer and Editor - Nick Parker www.signumrecords.com was Head of Composition at the Guildhall School His reputation as a choral composer has led to his Engineer - Mike Hatch of Music and Drama for most of the 1990s, later liturgical pieces forming part of the repertoires of Cover Image - © Colin Turner Head of Composition and Contemporary Music at many of Britain’s leading cathedral and collegiate Design and Artwork - Woven Design www.wovendesign.co.uk

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