MUSIC FOR LENT MUSIC FOR LENT The King’s School, Ely The King’s School, Ely CD1 1 DARKE Nine-Fold Kyrie from the Communion Service in F major [1.50] 2 RACHMANINOV Ave Maria op 37 no 6 [3.12] 3 TAVENER Song for Athene [5.59] 4 LOTTI Crucifixus [2.57] 5 GÓRECKI Totus Tuus [9.56] 6 WOOD Nunc Dimittis [3.39] 7 IRELAND Greater Love Hath No Man [6.17] 8 HOLST Turn Back O Man [4.13] [38.10] CD2 MAUNDER Olivet to Calvary Part I 1 On The Way To Jerusalem [3.54] 2 Before Jerusalem [4.01] 3 In The Temple [7.48] 4 The Mount Of Olives [15.18] Part II 5 A New Commandment [7.13] 6 Gethsemane [4.30] 7 Betrayed And Forsaken [7.32] 8 Before Pilate [4.08] 9 The March To Jerusalem [5.18] 10 Calvery [11.11] given in the Lady Chapel & Presbytery of Ely Cathedral. [71.01] Friday 7 March 2008 KING ’S SCHOO L CHAPE L CHOIR , CANTORES ELIENSIS GRAHA M GRIGGS conductor, CATRIONA CL AR K soprano, JOHN MCMUNN tenor, LPCD26 PETER B NORTH baritone & conductor (Cantores Eliensis), JONATHAN LI ll EY organ © 2008 Lantern Productions King’s School Chapel Choir directed by Graham Griggs, Cantores Eliensis directed by Peter North CD1 TENORS Patrick Aspbury, Reggie Chamberlain-King, Luke Cunnah, Joshua Darley Oliver Diss, James Dun- Nine-Fold Kyrie (Communion Service in F major) - Harold Darke (1888 - 1976) calfe, Brad Fulford, Ben German, Sam Graham, Charlie Green, Nicholas Heller, Oliver Hill, Harvey Naylor, Lawrence Perkins Fraser Steele Lok-Man, Tang David Tagg-Oram, Peter North An interesting theme running through this programme is the significance of the Royal College of Music, founded in 1882, and one of its most distinguished and influential teachers on a formidable generation of early C20th composers, Charles Villiers Stanford. BASSES Darke followed precisely this educational path before his appointment as organist of St Michael’s, Cornhill, a post he held for 50 years Robert Atkinson, Tom Brown, Joe Gardom, Henry Golding-Fuller, Farrel Gray Ollie Kenzie, (1916-1966). Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells composed for the St Michael Singers founded by Darke in 1919, the same year George Oxby, Parker Ramsay, Daniel Simmons, Hugh Topping John Wilson, James Wood, Will as which he joined the RCM staff where he remained until 1969. Gardner, James Houlston, James Rees His musical output was almost exclusively for choir and organ and he is probably best known for his setting of In the Bleak Mid-winter. CANTORES ELIENSIS His two beautifully crafted communion services – in E and F majors – are core Anglican liturgical repertoire of which this simple but effective Kyrie is the first movement of the latter. Briony Ashby, Robert Atkinson, Cecily Beer, Sarah Belcher, Holly Brown, Reggie Chamberlain- King, Luke Cunnah, Jo Davison, Joe Gardom, Ben German, Amelia Harrington, George Morton, Kyrie eleison Lord have mercy Michael Ng, George Oxby, Tess Pearson, Lawrence Perkins, Daniel Simmons, Ruth Sliwinski Christe eleison Christ have mercy Kyrie eleison Lord have mercy Ave Maria op 37 no 6 - Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943) As a consequence of his father squandering the family fortune, the family moved to St Petersburg where the young Rachmaninov attended the conservatoire studying piano and harmony. Family turmoil deeply affected the composer, and a self-doubt permeated much of even his best and most spectacular music. Whilst this was predominantly pianistic and a showcase for his own prodigious virtuosity, A LANTERN PRODUCTIONS DIGITAL RECORDING he was equally preoccupied with a lifelong fascination with ecclesiastical chant, finding its way into some of his grandest orchestral LPCD26 MCPS repertoire like the First Symphony and his last work, the innovatively vivid, energised yet harmonically disturbing Symphonic Dances Recorded 7 March 2008 in the Lady Chapel [CD1] and Presbytery [CD2] of Ely Cathedral with its reference to the Dies Irae plainsong and other Russian Orthodox chants in the finale. by kind permission of the Chapter of Ely These traits were inevitably conspicuous in his major a cappella choral works, including the 1910 Liturgy of St John Chrysostom and All-night Vigil of 1915. Otherwise known as his Vespers, of which this heartfelt Ave Maria is one of the best known movements, Front cover image ‘Ely Cathedral’ drawn by J. M. W. Turner, R. A. Rachmaninov’s choral style is characterised by idiomatically modal, rich sonorous harmonies and rhythmic fluidity. This touching motet also simulates a tolling bell on the approach to a spectacular build-up that subsides almost as suddenly as it was generated. Production, Engineering & Art direction: Lantern Productions Executive co-ordination: Sean Farrell Ave, Ave Maria, gratia plena, Hail, Mary, full of grace, © Lantern Productions 2008 Ave Maria, Ave Maria, Dominus te cum, The Lord be with thee. Ave, Ave Maria. Ave Maria, Hail, Mary, WARNING: Copyright subsists in all recordings under this label. Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying Sancta Maria, mater Dei, Blessed Mary, mother of God or re-recording thereof in any manner whatsoever will constitute an infringement of such copyright. In the United Kingdom Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, Pray for our sins. licences for the use of recordings for public performance may be obtained from Phonographic Performances Ltd., 1 Upper James Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Now and in our hour of death. Street, London W1F 9EE. [2] [15] GRAHAM GRIGGS conductor Song for Athene - John Tavener (b 1944) Graham Griggs was a music scholar at Oakham School during which time he took organ lessons with Dr Stanley Vann at Peterborough After Highgate School, Sir John studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. His earlier expressionist style with Cathedral. He then gained places concurrently at Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music on the ‘joint dense textures and uncompromising harmonic linearity, showing some influence of Messiaen and late Stravinsky, has more recently course’ where his performing studies continued with Eric Chadwick and Dame Gillian Weir. A post-graduate year at Queens’ College, mellowed into a more lyrical exuberance and the use of minimalist motivic repetition. Just as Górecki’s deeply personal Catholic faith Cambridge, led to his first appointment as Assistant Director of Music at Denstone College in 1978. Five years later, he became the first brings a burning intensity to his vocal textures so does a pervading influence of the Greek Orthodox church infuse Tavener’s treading Director of Music at Barnard Castle School in recent times - at which point he also conducted the Barnard Castle Town Brass Band. chant-like rhythms, textures and harmonies, underpinned here by a tonic pedal throughout. Tavener’s international reputation was He moved to The King’s School Ely as Director of Music in April 1990, and was subsequently appointed conductor and director of the sealed with the phenomenal success of The Protecting Veil for solo cello and string orchestra (a comparable success to Górecki’s Fairhaven Singers of Cambridge for three years. He has also been an A-level examiner for the Cambridge Local Examining Syndicate Symphony of Sorrows). A similar meditational radiance can be found in miniature choral gems like The Lamb and Song for Athene. before joining the panel of practical music examiners for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. He has undertaken four overseas examining tours in Malaysia and has acted as co-ordinator to a team of fifteen other examiners stretching from Kuala Lumpur Composer’s note in the copy: ‘This work was written in memory of Athene Hariades, who died tragically in March 1993. to the Singapore Straits. He will examine in Hong Kong for the first time this August and return to Malaysia in summer 2009. Her inner and outer beauty was reflected in her love of acting, poetry, music and of the orthodox Funeral Church. The text is taken from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Orthodox Funeral Service’. Graham has been previously President of the Manchester University Music Society, Northern Liaison Officer on the Council of the Incorporated Association of Organists and more recently completed his term as President of the Music Masters’ and Mistresses’ ‘Song for Athene was commissioned by the BBC and first performed on 22 January 1994 at St Giles in the Barbican by the BBC Association, representing all aspects of music-making in independent education. The King’s School subsequently hosted the Singers, conducted by Simon Joly. Its highest profile performance was at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in Westminster Abbey Association’s annual conference in May 2003 when 120 leading directors of music and their staff spent a memorable weekend as part on 6 September when the Westminster Abbey Choir was conducted by Martin Neary.’ of the Ely collegial music community. Alleluia. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and a deputy organist of Ely Cathedral where he recorded a commercial CD of Alleluia. Remember me, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom. Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century French Organ Music in 1994. He has subsequently been producer for four commercial Alleluia. Give rest, O Lord, to your handmaid who has fallen asleep. recordings with the Cathedral Choir. In 2003, he completed an MA in Education with the Open University, researching the Alleluia. The Choir of Saints have found the well-spring of life and door of paradise. stimulation, nurture and development of musical ability during childhood. Alleluia. Life: a shadow and a dream. Alleluia. Weeping at the grave creates the song: Alleluia. Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you. CHAPEL CHOIR Crucifixus - Antonio Lotti (1666 – 1740) Sung by Cantores Eliensis Heads of Choir: Anna Day and Henry Golding-Fuller Although born in Hanover where his father was kapellmeister, Lotti studied in Venice with Legrenzi from 1687 and rose through the SOPRANOS ranks from second assistant to the second organist to first organist between 1690 and 1736 when he was appointed ‘primo maestro di *Briony Ashby, Charlotte Bain, *Cecily Beer, *Sarah Belcher, Lucy Borland, *Holly Brown, Alex cappella’.