On Christmas Night
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ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT CHOIR OF ST JOhn’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ANDREW NETHSINGHA of ‘Silent night’ of ‘Silent 1846,withtheopeningphrase Gruber, Xaver Franz Painting by Sebastian Stief (1811 – 1889) © Lebrecht Music & Arts Photo Library On Christmas Night John Rutter (b. 1945) 1 What sweeter music* 4:35 For Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge Andante tranquillo Traditional French 2 Noël nouvelet* 3:36 Arranged by Stephen Jackson (b. 1951) For the Choir of St Peter ad Vincula, H.M. Tower of London Julius Foo treble Moderato – Poco meno mosso – Tempo I James Burton (b. 1974) 3 Balulalow 2:25 Gentle 3 William Mathias (1934 – 1992) 4 A babe is born, Op. 55* 3:24 Giocoso, alla danza Harold Darke (1888 – 1976) 5 In the bleak mid-winter* 4:46 To M.A.C. Julian Gregory tenor Moderato e tranquillo Traditional French 6 Ding! dong! merrily on high* 2:48 Arranged by Mack Wilberg (b. 1955) For the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Craig Jessop, Music Director Freddie James second organ part Quickly, with articulation Elizabeth Poston (1905 – 1987) 7 Jesus Christ the apple tree 3:16 4 Traditional English 8 I saw three ships* 2:02 Arranged by Philip Marshall (1921 – 2005) To K.J. Allegro ritmico Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (b. 1936) 9 Out of your sleep 1:44 For Michael Nicholas and the Choir of St Matthew’s Church, Northampton Allegro fluente – Poco sostenuto e tranquillo Peter Warlock (1894 – 1930) 10 Benedicamus Domino 1:25 Quick John Joubert (b. 1927) 11 There is no rose 2:47 Andantino semplice – Poco più lento – Lento 5 Traditional English 12 Tomorrow shall be my dancing day 2:00 Arranged by Sir David Willcocks (b. 1919) Allegretto Matthew Martin (b. 1976) 13 Adam lay ybounden 3:13 Calm and unhurried Matheo Flecha the Elder (attrib.) (?1481 – ?1553) 14 Riu, riu, chiu 2:37 Huw Leslie baritone (verse 2) Henry Neill baritone (verse 3) Basil MacDonald bass (verse 4) Geoffrey Clapham bass (verse 5) Brisk and firm 6 Traditional English 15 O little town of Bethlehem* 3:42 Arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958) and Sir Thomas Armstrong (1898 – 1994) (descant in last verse) Traditional German 16 Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen 2:54 Arranged by Michael Praetorius (1571 – 1621) (verse 1) and Donald Cashmore (b. 1926) Sostenuto – Meno mosso – Più animato Christopher Robinson (b. 1936) 17 Make we joy 2:09 Lively Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) 18 Hark! the herald angels sing* 3:15 Last verse arranged by Christopher Robinson 7 Sir John Tavener (b. 1944) 19 The Lamb 3:50 For Simon’s third birthday With extreme tenderness, flexible, always guided by the words – Poco meno mosso – A tempo, moving forward – Poco meno mosso Michael Finnissy (b. 1946) premiere recording 20 Telling 4:06 Peter Hicks treble Slowly, gently Kenneth Leighton (1929 – 1988) 21 Coventry Carol 3:17 Julius Foo treble Andante (cullante) – Un poco più mosso, più liberamente – Più mosso, agitato – Tempo I 8 Traditional English 22 On Christmas night* 2:03 (Sussex Carol) Arranged by Sir Philip Ledger (b. 1937) Brightly Franz Xaver Gruber (1787 – 1863) 23 Silent night 3:13 Arranged by Sir Philip Ledger Peacefully John Francis Wade (1711 / 12 – 1786) 24 O come, all ye faithful* 4:02 Arranged by Sir David Willcocks TT 74:22 John Challenger organ* Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Andrew Nethsingha 9 © Paul Marc Mitchell Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, with Andrew Nethsingha 11 11 Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge Director of Music counter-tenor Andrew Nethsingha Thomas Blackie Dominic Collingwood Senior Organ Scholar Nicholas Edwards John Challenger Timothy Teague Junior Organ Scholar tenor Freddie James Guy Edmund-Jones Julian Gregory treble Samuel Oladeinde Ethan Bamber Bradley Smith Alexander Bower-Brown Pablo Strong Francis Bushell Jason Cobb bass Alec D’Oyly Geoffrey Clapham Julius Foo Huw Leslie Peter Hicks Daniel Macklin Matthew Holman Basil McDonald Alexander Jones Henry Neill Andrew Jones Robert Murray-John Rufus Pawsey Justin Stollery Matthew Supramaniam Michael Tuft Jed Upjohn 12 On Christmas Night Introduction What sweeter music Advent is a cherished season at St John’s. More The CD opens with John Rutter’s What sweeter convivial than Christmas, when most students music, one of the works commissioned desert Cambridge for hearth and home, it has by Stephen Cleobury for the Festival of been the occasion of an annual BBC Radio 3 Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, broadcast from the College Chapel since 1981. Cambridge, where it was premiered in 1987. Advent serves as an upbeat to the celebration The words are adapted from a poem first of the Nativity, and though liturgical purists published in 1648 by the ‘Cavalier Poet’, Robert may insist that it is a penitential season, most Herrick. Although it is marked to be ‘Sung members of St John’s are happy to complete To The King In The Presence At Whitehall’, the first term of the academic year with a the circumstances surrounding its creation glimpse of the splendours of Christmas to are poignant: at the time, King Charles I was come. a prisoner of parliamentary forces, and he The repertoire recorded here spans the would shortly be beheaded. Herrick’s images entire period from Advent through to the of the Christ Child turning winter to summer Nativity itself. Indeed, one work – Tavener’s draw from Rutter one of his most winning The Lamb – has no more than a tenuous melodies, replete with the expressive leaps connection with Christmas, though it has that are a hallmark of his style. become a staple of carol services in recent years. The music falls into three broad Noël nouvelet categories – original works, arrangements of Noël nouvelet is an arrangement of a popular songs, and congregational hymns. In traditional French carol which is perhaps reality, however, the distinctions are far from better known in English-speaking lands as watertight: as the notes below make clear, even ‘Now the green blade rises’. The principal the hymns can be construed in some measure melody, which is in the Dorian mode, as original works, for they all involve significant bears more than a passing resemblance arrangements of pre-existing material. to the Marian hymn ‘Ave, maris stella’. In 13 his arrangement, written for the Choir of the influence of Hindemith, but here they St Peter ad Vincula, the Parish Church of evoke an appropriately seasonal impression the Tower of London, Stephen Jackson of ringing bells. subjects the melody to a number of inventive treatments, including canons and descants; In the bleak mid-winter the arrangement is also marked by the Christina Rossetti probably wrote her much occasional harmonic frisson. loved poem In the bleak mid-winter in the 1870s; however, it first came to light only in Balulalow 1904, ten years after her death. Two years The text of Balulalow has been set by later Holst’s setting (the hymn tune becoming numerous composers over the years, known as ‘Cranham’) appeared in The English including Peter Warlock and Benjamin Britten Hymnal, laying the foundations for the text’s (in A Ceremony of Carols). ‘Balulalow’ is a iconic status. The setting by Harold Darke Scottish dialect word meaning ‘lullaby’, and heard here was written shortly afterwards, in the text is a sixteenth-century version of 1909, at a time when Darke was still a student Luther’s famous Advent chorale ‘Vom Himmel at the Royal College of Music. Although his hoch’. James Burton, a former St John’s setting is more ambitious than Holst’s – for College Choral Scholar and now Director of a start, it includes verses for treble (here Oxford’s Schola Cantorum, creates a highly sung by the treble section) and tenor – its intimate setting with delicate hints of close- unaffected tunefulness has endeared it to harmony idioms. generations of choirs. In fact, in 2008 fifty-one choir directors in the UK and US voted it the A babe is born most popular of all Christmas carols. William Mathias’s A babe is born was written for the Cardiff Polyphonic Choir Ding! dong! merrily on high and first appeared in 1971. The anonymous Mack Wilberg is best known as the Music fifteenth-century text is macaronic in style – Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and that is to say, it mixes English and Latin his arrangement of Ding! dong! merrily on high words (in this case, phrases from well-known was written for that choir and its previous Latin hymns). Mathias’s trademark parallel director, Craig Jessop. The melody, though fourths and fifths may occasionally suggest now so closely associated with Anglophone 14 Christmas celebrations, is in fact French in the north of England, and his most significant origin, and so bears close comparison with appointment was as Organist of Lincoln the melody of Noël nouvelet. The text, like Cathedral. The arrange ment of I saw three that of A babe is born, is macaronic. Wilberg’s ships heard here is typically well crafted, with arrangement depends for much of its effect the tune, which first appeared in print in the on the dazzling organ part, which gives free nineteenth century, never seriously challenged rein to all manner of bell-like effects. by its accompaniment. Curiously, the carol seems to have originated in Derbyshire, a land- Jesus Christ the apple tree locked county – though it is perhaps worth Elizabeth Poston is now known almost noting in this context that Bethlehem, too, is exclusively for Jesus Christ the apple tree. far from any known shipping routes! However, she was a woman of many parts. A protégée of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Out of your sleep Peter Warlock, she was intimately involved For the text of Out of your sleep, Richard in the establishment of the forerunner of Rodney Bennett reached back to an Radio 3, the Third Programme, for which she anonymous fifteenth-century manuscript went on to write numerous scores.