Les Sirènes Female Chamber Choir There is No Rose NI6249 Les Sirènes Royal Conservatoire of Scotland At the Royal Conservatoire we are creating the Female Chamber Choir future for performance. There is No Rose We provide vocational education at the highest professional level in dance, drama, music, production, and screen. We offer an extraordinary blend of intensive BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976) TARIK O’REGAN (b.1978) tuition, world-class facilities, a full performance A Ceremony of Carols, Op.28 (23:25) 16. Bring Rest, Sweet Dreaming Child (4:25) schedule, the space to collaborate across the disciplines, 1. Procession (1:51) teaching from renowned staff and industry practitioners, 2. Wolcum Yole! (1:21) TRADITIONAL arranged LIONEL SALTER (1914-2000) and unrivalled professional partnerships. 3. There is no rose (2:44) 17. The Coventry Carol (2:44) 4. That yongë child (1:43) World premiere recording We have over 900 students from around the world 5. Balulalow (1:28) studying on our specialist undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. Alongside, we offer 6. As dew in Aprille (1:01) GUSTAV HOLST (1874-1934) evening and weekend classes, short courses, summer 7. This little babe (1:30) 18. Jesu, thou the Virgin-born (2:56) schools, and a programme of continuing professional 8. Interlude (3:46) development. Our Junior Conservatoire for 7-18 year 9. In freezing winter night (3:38) SIR PHILIP LEDGER (1937-2012) olds nurtures young musical talent and we also organise 10. Spring carol (1:14) 19. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (2:46) the Royal Conservatoire Music Centres programme, 11. Deo gracias (1:16) ‘A lullaby for Becky’ bringing music education to over 1000 young people 12. Recession (1:48) World premiere recording throughout Scotland. Produced and engineered by Bob Whitney With thanks to John Pryce-Jones Our partners include the BBC, Scottish Ballet, Scottish BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976) SIR EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934) Opera, the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal 13. Sweet was the song (3:05) 20. The Snow (5:02) Recorded by Bob Whitney at Sherbrooke St Gilbert’s Church, Glasgow on 12-14 June 2013. Scottish National Orchestra, Celtic Connections, 14. A Wealdon Trio - Shakespeare’s Globe, Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland and The Song of the Women (2:17) JOHN RUTTER (b.1945) Classic FM, amongst others. Images ©Royal Conservatoire/KK Dundas 15. The Oxen (2:36) 21. Deck the Hall (2:18) 22. Tomorrow shall be my dancing day (3:04) Design by www.0427.co.uk We are one of the most prolific performance producers 23. A Merry Christmas (1:30) in Scotland. We create around 600 music, drama, dance, © 2013 Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and film events every year featuring our students, staff, Issued under exclusive license to Wyastone Estate Limited and world-leading artists, in our own and external Total: 56:15 Royal Conservatoire of Scotland professional venues, including the Theatre Royal, 100 Renfrew Street Glasgow, Festival Theatre Edinburgh, Glasgow Royal Andrew Nunn Musical Director Pippa Tunell Harp Glasgow G2 3DB Concert Halls, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Eden Court +44 (0)141 332 4101 Fionnuala Ward Piano (Tracks 15, 19 and 20) Inverness, Horsecross Perth, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Hazel Collins, Ruth Tarr Violin (Track 20) www.rcs.ac.uk Traverse, and the Tron. There is No Rose explores a wealth of repertoire drawn from The Coventry Carol is a world premiere recording of this the compositional output for female voices, from a wonderful haunting setting for four-part female choir by Lionel Salter group of British composers. which is a mother’s lament for her doomed child. This Medieval carol tells the darker side of the Christmas story The first part of the CD celebrates the centenary of one of and originates from a play The Pageant of the Shearman and the most prolific British composers of the twentieth century: Tailors. Just before King Herod’s men slaughter all the new Benjamin Britten. Composed in 1942 aboard a Swedish cargo born boys of Bethlehem, the women in the play sing a lullaby vessel during a treacherous journey between New York and to comfort the children who are about to be killed. England, A Ceremony of Carols had humble beginnings. During the journey the vessel docked at Halifax, Nova Scotia, The reflective Jesu, thou the Virgin Born is a relatively and it is here that Britten purchased a copy of The English unknown setting by Gustav Holst and is the unaccompanied Galaxy of Shorter Poems. It is this collection of poems which third movement of the Four Old English Carols composed inspired the work. Each movement adopts a contrasting mood, in 1907. Holst made a huge contribution to the female choral and together they narrate the stories of the birth of Christ. repertoire from works he composed during his time at St Paul’s Although widely performed by boy’s and children’s voices, the Girls School from 1905. work was initially intended for women’s voices, and received its first performance by the Fleet Street Choir on 5 December The second of the world premiere recordings is in memory of 1942. It was after this performance at Norwich Castle that its composer Sir Phillip Ledger, who was a much loved former revisions were made; the solo movement ‘That yongë child’ Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and world and the central harp interlude were added, and this now renowned voice on choral music. Matthew, Mark, Luke and familiar version received its premiere in December 1943 by the John is a charming setting, subtitled ‘A lullaby for Becky’ which Morriston Boys’ Choir. has a touching story. The piece was composed by Ledger, during a period when he knew he was ill, as a lullaby which The other three works by Britten included here are carols he could leave his granddaughter, Becky. The piece was very which span his compositional lifetime, the first two being personal to the composer and as such was one of the pieces student compositions revised in maturity. Sweet was the which were performed at his funeral. It has been a privilege for song was composed during Britten’s second term at the Royal Les Sirènes to make the first recording of this work. College of Music and was originally part of a set of five carols, later published as Christ’s Nativity. After some revisions in The Snow by Edward Elgar is a real showpiece for Les Sirènes 1966 it premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival, conducted by and one of the works which secured their place in the Grand Imogen Holst, who was of course the daughter of Gustav Holst. Final of Choir of the Year 2012. This is an evocative setting of A Wealden Trio was originally submitted for a Royal College a beautiful text by Elgar’s wife Alice, which paints the perfect of Music composition scholarship in 1930 and not revised until vision of an Edwardian winter landscape. some thirty years later. After these revisions, the work received its premiere at the 1968 Aldeburgh Festival conducted by The final part of this CD takes a lighter mood and celebrates Phillip Ledger. Subtitled The song of the Women, the piece one of the most loved British composers of the present time, adopts a folk-based style, painting a somewhat bleak picture John Rutter. Deck the Hall; a traditional Welsh carol appears of hardship at Christmas time. As the women lament over here in an incredibly witty arrangement where the well-known their troubles and how ‘it’s hard work a-Christmassing’, the melody is intertwined with clever accompaniment. The spirit of Christmas returns to soften this mood. The Oxen is an traditional English carol Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing atmospheric setting of a text by Thomas Hardy, composed in Day is an uplifting setting which truly captures the spirit of the 1967 as a commission from the East Coker Women’s Institute. festive season. There is No Rose ends with a message to all for the festive season; we wish you a very Merry Christmas and The most contemporary of the works featured on this a Happy New Year! recording is an incredibly moving setting by Tarik O’Regan of a poignant poem by the Anglican priest-poet, Mark Pryce. Bring Rest, Sweet Dreaming Child is a text that, in the author’s own words, “reflects on the birth of the Christ-child who comes Andrew Nunn into the anxiety, noise and loneliness of the contemporary city, Musical Director with its threats of terrorism and fear of neighbour”. Les Sirènes Female Chamber Choir BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976) The aungels sungen the shepherds to: In October 2009 Les Sirènes performed with female National Orchestra Chorus, working alongside chorus A Ceremony of Carols, Op.28 Gloria in excelsis, gloria in excelsis Deo. vocal harmony group All Angels as part of the Paisley director Timothy Dean. In January 2013 he prepared Gaudeamus, gaudeamus. Choral Festival, and in December of the same year the Children’s Chorus for the RCS and Scottish Opera 1. Procession sang with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera as part of the joint production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Hodie Christus natus est: Leave we all this werldly mirth, hodie Salvator apparuit: and follow we this joyful birth. Children’s Classics Concerts in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Night’s Dream, performed in Edinburgh, Glasgow and hodie in terra canunt angeli: Transeamus, Transeamus, Transeamus. In 2008 the choir collaborated with director Marilyn Inverness. Andrew has also conducted the RCS Chamber laetantur archangeli: Alleluia, Res miranda, Pares forma, Gaudeamus, Imry in a performance of a play called The Bones Boys, Choir in a recording of a new work Scotland Behold and hodie exsultant justi dicentes: Transeamus.