The Choir of Ormond College Melbourne
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The Choir of Ormond College Melbourne directed by Douglas Lawrence anon 1 Rejoice in the Lord Alway Thomas Morley (1557-1603) 2 Nolo Mortem Peccatoris Ludovico Grossi da Viadana (1564-1645) 3 Exsultate Justi Adrian Batten (ca. 1585-1637) 4 Deliver us, O Lord our God 5 O Sing joyfully William Byrd (1543-1623) – from the Second Service 6 Magnificat 7 Nunc Dimittis Boris Ord (1897-1961) 8 Adam Lay Ybounden Edward Bairstow (1874-1946) 9 Let all Mortal Flesh keep Silence Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) q0 A Hymn to the Virgin Gustav Holst (1874-1934) qa Let all Mortal Flesh keep Silence Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) qs Lord, Thou has been our Refuge P 1983 Move Records move.com.au ounded in 1982 by the present Tracks 1-7 Psalm 106 (vv. 5-6). choirmaster, Douglas Lawrence, William Byrd (1543-1623) was also Fthe Choir of Ormond College The formation of the Church of an organist, both at Lincoln Cathedral and consists of 22 auditioned members, England and its insistence on English in the Chapel Royal of Queen Elizabeth, drawn mostly from the student body of as the primary language of the liturgy and is considered one of the very greatest the college. The choir gives a number of led to a demise of many of the musical composers of his time. His Second public concerts each year, “performing forms associated with the Roman Church. Service is a setting of the Magnificat and such works as J.S. Bach’s cantata, Accordingly, composers were obliged to Nunc Dimittis and is representative of the Christ lag in Todesbanden, the ‘Nelson’ modify existing forms or evolve new ones formal conception of these canticles at the Mass of Haydn and Handel’s Messiah to adequately set the English language. time. Whereas the anthems composed in with the Camerata Lorenzo Chamber As a result, liturgical music of this time the sixteenth century were largely written Orchestra. As well as this, the group has focuses on two principal forms, the without independent accompaniment, an important function in the religious anthem and the service, replacing the the service is accompanied by the organ life of the college, providing appropriate Latin motet and the plainchant rendering throughout and uses soloistic writing for liturgical music for the services held in of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. different sections of the choir. the chapel each week during term. In this ‘Rejoice in the Lord Alway’, once Like Batten, Thomas Morley (1557- context, the choir specialises in music erroneously attributed to John Redford, is 1603) was organist of St. Paul’s and like composed during two great periods of representative of the anthem style at this Byrd, was granted a monopoly on the English church music: the sixteenth and time. The word setting is mainly syllabic, printing of music by the Queen. It is twentieth centuries. with rhythmic impetus being provided by also possible that Morley was acquainted the use of imitation, as at the beginning with Shakespeare, as it is known that of the piece. The text is taken from Morley’s settings of some of the lyrics Phillippians, Chapter IV (vv. 4-7). were used in contemporary productions. Adrian Batten (ca. 1585-1637) ‘Nolo Mortem Peccatoris’ has been was organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral, described as a secular motet, despite its London and a composer of much use of English text in all verses but the church music. He is represented here first. It manifests many of the stylistic by two anthems which display the characteristics of its time, including an contemporary predilection for simple example of harmonic ‘word-painting’ homophonic settings which make for easy where a semitonal dissonance is sounded intelligibility. The first, ‘0 Sing Joyfully’, in the alto and tenor parts at the words is an aptly extrovert setting of Psalm 81 ‘Father, behold my painful smart’. (vv. 1-4) which exhorts the congregation ‘Exsultate Justi’, by Ludovico Grossi to ‘make a cheerful noise unto the God da Viadana (1564-1645) shows the extent of Jacob’, while ‘Deliver us, 0 Lord our to which the counter reformation affected God’ is a contrastingly reserved setting of the development of the motet in Europe. The Council of Trent, 1545-63, like simple unaccompanied strophic setting and organ, is a setting of verses from Archbishop Cranmer in England, saw which, like much of the Renaissance Psalm 90 in the semi-chorus, while the intelligibility of text as more desirable music here, is syllabic and homophonic, full chorus sings the hymn ‘0 God, our than the complex polyphony of Palestrina with the exception of the concluding ‘Deo Help in Ages Past’ to the tune St. Anne. and the ars perfecta. The result is a work Gratias’. The harmonic idiom is modal, This first section is unaccompanied and is like Viadana’s, homophonic with syllabic which also suggests the influence of an followed by an interlude for organ. In the setting of the words. In this respect the earlier period. third section, trumpet and organ take up motet is stylistically very close to the Sir Edward Bairstow (1874-1946), the St. Anne theme against the confident sixteenth century anthem. The text of this a distinguished organist and scholar, acclamation of the choir. piece, as is the case with the anthems was also a composer of some talent. His A friend of Vaughan Williams, presented here, is from the Psalms, in a capella setting of ‘Let all Mortal Flesh and collaborator in the collection and this instance Psalm 32 (vv. 1-3) which keep Silence’ reflects the influence of the arrangement of folk music was Gustav exhorts the people to ‘Raise your voices European Romantic idiom on English Holst (1874-1934). His setting of ‘Let all and sound His praise’. music of the early part of this century, as Mortal Flesh keep Silence’ for soprano, the piece is characterised by enormous baritone, chorus and organ is in fact an Tracks 8-12 dynamic contrasts and a rich harmonic arrangement of a French folk melody palette. with four . verses and a concluding The so-called English Renaissance in The unaccompanied eight-part Amen. The soloists for verses one and two music began in the late nineteenth anthem, ‘A Hymn tar the Virgin’ was respectively are choir members Lenore century and produced a number of written in 1930 by the then sixteen year Stephens (soprano) and Peter Balabanski distinctively English composers. A old Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), with (baritone). common interest among composers, text from a fifteenth century poem. GORDON KERRY particularly in the first half of the present The poem is unusual in its alternation century, was in the exploration of older of English and Latin lines, and Britten British music. This took the form of the mirrors this in the division of the choir collection of folk music and the revival of into two groups of four parts each, one music from the Tudor period. group for each language. The style of The latter interest is evident in the piece is strophic, each verse being the setting of the old carol ‘Adam Lay set syllabically with strongly modal Ybounden’ by Boris Ord (1897-1961). implications. Ord was an organist, harpsichord player Ralph Vaughan Williams has been and scholar associated with Cambridge mentioned with regard to his interest in University. He was also a friend of earlier music, and the influence of modal Vaughan Williams, the untitled leader of patterns is to be observed in the motet, the folk song movement, and this piece ‘Lord, Thou hast been our Refuge’. This perhaps reflects that influence. It is a work, for semi-chorus, chorus, trumpet Master of the Chapel Music: Douglas Lawrence Organ Scholar: Graeme Lieschke The trumpet player for this recording was Andrew Mott . The cathedral organ heard in the works by Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams was built by the Melbourne firm of George Fincham and Sons in 1964. It has four manuals and 73 speaking stops. The chamber organ heard in the ‘Magnificat’ and ‘Nunc Dimittis’ of William Byrd was built by Peter Collins of Redbourne, England. It has one keyboard and four speaking stops. This recording was made in St. Patrick’s Cathedral with the kind permission of the Dean, the Very Reverend F.M. Chamberlin and the Cathedral organist, Mr John Mallinson. The recording was made in July 1983 using The Choir DEGANI SOPRANOS Sony digital equipment. Two of the 12 tracks Caroline Leach, Lenore Stevens, Isobel required minor editing and were transferred CANTORIS SOPRANOS Giles, Vicky Balabanski to analog tape using dbx noise reduction Megan McLaughlin, Anne Hunter, Janet and then returned to the final digital master Watson, Claire Wells DEGANI ALTOS which was used in cutting the disc. This, Julia Douglas, Katherine Wells then, is a 10/12ths digital record! CANTORIS ALTOS Sarah Thomas, Elizabeth Anderson DEGANI TENORS Photographs of the choir: Gordon Kerry, Peter Balabanski Howard Birnstihl CANTORIS TENORS Photograph of Douglas Lawrence: Mark Duckworth, Peter Hagen DEGANI BASSES David Parker Terence Tan, Gary Ekkel, Neil Colliver Sound engineer: CANTORIS BASSES Martin Wright (Move Records) John Waugh, Stephen Watson, Michael Kirkpatrick.