ADVENT LIVE Conductor’s Robinson’s time here, and Paul Comeau’s carol Introduction was written for my choral society in Truro. 1 A hymn of St. Columba Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) [2.06] 2 Tomorrow shall be my dancing day James Burton (b. 1974) [4.29] Advent is to St John’s as Christmas is to King’s. In 2015 listeners wrote in to Radio 4’s 3 The truth sent from above Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) [2.40] But ours is ‘A Service for Advent with Carols’ ‘Feedback’ programme to complain about our arr. Christopher Robinson (b. 1936) rather than ‘of Carols.’ This, along with the Advent broadcast containing music that was 4 Adam lay ybounden * Ian Shaw (b. 1960) [1.54] extraordinary breadth of the Advent themes – ‘downright ugly’, ‘screechy’ and ‘discordant.’ 5 The cherry tree carol Traditional, arr. Stephen Cleobury (b. 1948) [2.45] I am grateful to Alan Davey, Controller of 6 Vigilate * James Long (b. 1987) [4.11] including the terrifying Day of Judgement, the 7 Fuit homo missus a Deo Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) [3.18] beauty and innocence of the expectant Mary, Radio 3, for having a very different view of 8 our service! Christianity needs to be challenging This is the record of John Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) [4.18] the rough-hewn figure of John the Baptist – * 9 The linden tree carol Malcolm Archer (b. 1952) [2.00] gives us an amazing range of available repertoire. at times, not only cosy and comforting. I 0 There is no rose John Joubert (b. 1927) [2.18] recently read a blog by German conductor q * 1 The birth of speech Tim Watts (b. 1979) [5.28] There have been many Advent commissions at Karl-Heinz Steffens, which resonated with w The angel Gabriel from heaven came Basque carol arr. Edgar Pettman (1866-1943) [2.19] St John’s, including new works written annually my own feelings and which must surely apply e I know a flower Francis Jackson (b. 1917) [3.01] since 2008. We have recorded three of these as much to choirs as to orchestras. He wrote: r Glory to the Christ Child Alan Bullard (b. 1947) [2.30] on previous albums (Roxanna Panufnik, I am always interested in new discoveries and t Lux mundi Paul Comeau (b. 1958) [5.42] unusual repertoire. I think you have to be y I sing of a maiden * 2 Ian Shaw (b. 1960) [2.10] Jonathan Harvey and Michael Finnissy); three u Tomorrow shall be my dancing day Traditional, arr. David Willcocks (1919-2015) [2.01] more follow on the present disc. I wrote to inquisitive as a conductor, and as an artist… i The clouded heaven Judith Bingham (b. 1952) [4.07] James Burton asking for “something fun, Orchestras are not just museums for the great o Noe, noe David Bednall (b. 1979) [3.01] wacky, quirky, catchy, fast…” He certainly art of the past – though the Mona Lisa, of ticked those boxes! Before James Long course, has a place – but must also provide Total timings: [60.19] started his composition I had conversations space for modern art too. Art has to live a * premiere recording with him about the lack of repertoire contemporary life, it is an investment in the concerning the Second Coming. Tim Watts future. The modern art of today will become the THE CHOIR OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE classics of tomorrow. GLEN DEMPSEY ORGAN • JOSEPH WICKS ORGAN made use of two astonishingly talented STEPHANIE CHILDRESS VIOLIN • JULIA HWANG VIOLIN 1 violinists who were undergraduates in College ANNE DENHOLM HARP 2 • ANDREW NETHSINGHA DIRECTOR at the time. In addition we gave the premieres Some texts are appropriate both at Advent Each work was recorded live as part of the St John’s College Advent Service in the following years of the two carols by Ian Shaw. Judith and at Christmas. Our service is a journey 2014 6, 14 | 2015 7, 11, 18 | 2016 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 19 | 2017 3, 5, 13, 16, 17 Bingham’s work was written during Christopher through the themes of the four Sundays in www.signumrecords.com - 3 - Advent, culminating in the Christmas Collect. opposite one of his current successors, Hugh The sound of each group of boys is an PROGRAMME NOTES I allow myself one specifically Christmas piece Cutting, as Hugh was singing the big Gibbons expression of our musical relationship and rapport at the end of each year’s service – the works by solo heard here. You don’t get that kind of at that particular time; every term is different. Advent is a season of expectation, defined Bednall and Bullard are examples of this final adrenaline in a recording session! largely by the joyful festival it precedes. carol. For the purposes of this compilation disc This album is comprised entirely of live The church calendar sees it as a period of I have tried to arrange the works into a A one-off live broadcast has much potential for recordings as captured by BBC producers and cleansing in preparation for Christmas, and pleasingly varied musical sequence, rather than spontaneity. Repeated takes and over-obsession engineers, with no musical editing whatsoever. in some traditions it is marked by fasting and following Advent themes in order. with perfection – whatever that means – can I am grateful to Simon Gibson at Abbey Road sombre reflection. However, the church’s diminish ‘character’ and ‘personality’ in a for his work in seeking to reduce extraneous understanding of the word adventus [arrival] Our cover image of an apple refers to the choir; it is a great shame if that happens. My sounds. There is still a degree of background embraces not only Christ’s incarnation but second verse of one of the most famous Advent desire to preserve some of our best live noise emanating from the densely packed also the Second Coming. It is therefore a texts, Adam lay ybounden: ‘And all was for performances is amplified when one considers chapel and from our wheezy organ blower, but time to ponder the Four Last Things – Death, an apple.’ The Fall of man followed Adam’s the constant turnover of the singers; both the I do hope listeners will tolerate this and may Judgement, Heaven and Hell – and sermons temptation to eat the forbidden fruit from the Boys and the Gents are constantly changing. even feel that it enhances the sense of eager preached on the four Sundays of Advent Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in There is something deeply moving about the anticipation so redolent of the Advent season. were traditionally devoted to these themes. the Garden of Eden. In Western Europe this sound of a particular set of boys, knowing The works assembled here – all drawn from fruit has often been depicted as an apple. that a few weeks later some voices may have Andrew Nethsingha BBC recordings of the 2014–2017 Advent broken; it means a lot to me to take a snap-shot services at St John’s College, Cambridge – St John’s College Chapel is an intimate space, for posterity of a special time for the choir. range from pieces that express yearning for which is always very full for the Advent The voices of leading adult singers change Christ’s First Coming, through celebrations services, broadcast annually by the BBC since in subtle ways over the decades; for boy of His incarnation, to musings on the great 1981. A particular frisson comes from having trebles the evolution is much quicker and mysteries of the Last Judgement. Several of the members of the congregation surrounding the shorter – and then it’s suddenly all over. The works were commissioned specially for St choir, less than a metre away on all four sides, final bar of the Burton brings a smile to my John’s; others feature words or music by whilst the service is broadcast live around face, with one single amazing boy – George members of the College. the world. You never know who will be in Balfour – adding a top A which fearlessly the Chapel. In the 2016 service I remember projects over the sound of the full organ and finding that a distinguished former choir- choir. Many singers who were on this album member, Iestyn Davies, was sitting right can no longer sing a note of treble register. - 4 - - 5 - Britten’s A hymn of St. Columba was written combine with rich harmonies to foreground in the other. In both, sinuous vocal lines are the focus to the Second Coming. The text in 1962, a few months after the first darker colours in the text. contrasted with more astringent harmonies is macaronic, with Latin and English words performance of the War Requiem, and its and brittle accompanimental gestures in the interspersed, and as in Byrd’s Vigilate, there distinctive combination of largely diatonic The truth sent from aboveis a game of musical organ. In Adam lay ybounden, Shaw builds are strong madrigalian influences – most melodies, shifting harmonic planes and a consequences. Its origins lie in a sacred to a climax, reflecting the text’s positive memorably, chromatic writhing on the word tight motivic repertoire recalls sections of folksong. Cecil Sharp identified one version interpretation of the Fall, before ending on a ‘wail’ and a remarkable stuttering effect for Britten’s choral masterpiece. The text, attributed in Shropshire; Ralph Vaughan Williams heard more reflective note. ‘gallicantu’ [cock-crow]. to Saint Columba, is a loose paraphrase of another in 1909 in Herefordshire, publishing the requiem mass’s ‘Dies Irae’.