American Polyphony

BARBER BERNSTEIN COPLAND THOMPSON

PPOLYPHONYO LYPHON Y SSTEPHENT EPHEN LAYTONLAYTON

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN RANDALL THOMPSON (1899-1984) STEINCOP 1 LANDTHOM Alleluia [6'12] PSONBARB E RBERNST SAMUEL BARBER (1910-1981) EINCOPLA 2 Agnus Dei [9'07] NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER Reincarnations Op 16 [9'36] BERNSTEI 3 Mary Hynes [2'23] NCOPLAND THOMPSON 4 Anthony O’Daly [3'07] BARBERBE 5 The coolin’ [4'06] RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA PPOLYPHONYOLYPHONY LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990) RBERBER N Missa brevis [11'50] with ROBERT MILLETT percussion STEINCOP 6 LANDTHOM Kyrie [1'10] PSONBARB 7 Gloria [2'48] E R BERNST 8 Sanctus [1'22] E I NCOPLA SSTEPHENTEPHEN 9 NDTHOMPS Benedictus [1'21] ONBARBER bl Agnus Dei [2'40] BERNSTEI LAYTON bm NCOPLAND LAYTON Dona nobis pacem [2'28] THOMPSON BARBERB E AARON COPLAND (1900-1990) RNSTEINC Four Motets [11'29] OPLANDTH OMPSONBA bn Help us, O Lord [2'57] RBERBERN bo Thou, O Jehovah, abideth forever [2'23] STEINCOP bp LANDTHOM Have mercy on us, O my Lord [4'09] PSONBARB bq Sing ye praises to our king [1'59] ERBERNST EINCOPLA SAMUEL BARBER ND T HOMPS ONBARBER br Twelfth Night Op 42 No 1 [4'48] BERNSTEI bs NCOPLAND To be sung on the water Op 42 No 2 [2'54] THOMPSON bt A nun takes the veil ‘Heaven-haven’ Op 13 No 1 [2'43] BARBERBE bu RNSTEINC The virgin martyrs Op 8 No 1 women’s voices [3'34] OPLA N DTH cl Let down the bars, O death Op 8 No 2 [2'35] OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP RANDALL THOMPSON LAND2THOM cm Fare Well [9'19] PSONBARB ERBERNST BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM PSONBARB E RBERNST EINCOPLA NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBER N CONTENTS STEINCOP LANDTHOM PSONBARB E R BERNST E I NCOPLA NDTHOMPS ENGLISH page 4 ONBARBER BERNSTEI Sung texts and translation page 9 NCOPLAND THOMPSON BARBERB E RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM PSONBARB ERBERNST EINCOPLA ND T HOMPS ONBARBER BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLA N DTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LAND3THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN AMUEL BARBER’S AUNT, Louise Homer, was a fine most beautiful woman of the century, is eloquently pro- STEINCOP LANDTHOM contralto, who sang at New York’s Metropolitan claimed. With the words ‘Lovely and airy the view from the PSONBARB SOpera for nineteen successive seasons. She was hill’, Barber’s imitative, più tranquillo transition smoothly E RBERNST married to a composer primarily of songs, Sydney Homer, reflects the shift of mood; still ecstatic, the breathlessness EINCOPLA whose mentoring of his nephew-by-marriage was intense gone, and yet with a closing reference, at ‘The blossom of NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER and long-lasting. The teenage student at Philadelphia’s branches’, to the melodic contour of the opening. BERNSTEI Curtis Institute had a fine baritone voice himself, and from Lovestruck warmth gives way to the stark anger and NCOPLAND an early age was rarely without a volume of poetry by his desperation of grief in the second Reincarnations setting, THOMPSON BARBERBE side. Anthony O’Daly. Intoning like a funeral bell throughout— RNSTEINC It is scarcely a surprise, then, that Barber’s output is or at least until the final page’s fortissimo climax—is the OPLANDTH so richly populated with music for the human voice. The obsessive repetition of the name ‘Anthony’, first of all in the OMPSONBA Adagio for strings may be the piece with which he achieved basses, later in all voice parts, always on the note E. Closely RBERBER N STEINCOP mass recognition; but his several dozen songs, choral works imitative writing attaches to this ‘Anthony’ pedal note, and LANDTHOM and three operas make up about half of his overall output becomes progressively more distressed until the tutti PSONBARB and are the ground source of his lyrical gift. ‘Anthony’ climax. Anthony O’Daly, an activist in County E R BERNST E I NCOPLA Barber’s maternal heritage, going back several Galway fighting the cause of oppressed tenant farmers, was NDTHOMPS generations, was Anglo-Scottish-Irish, and the composer caught and hanged in 1820 for unproven charges of ONBARBER connected early on with the Irish lyric tradition. Later, he attempted murder. Raftery may have witnessed the hanging BERNSTEI would set a number of poems by Joyce and Yeats, together himself. NCOPLAND THOMPSON with the ancient, anonymous Irish texts of the Hermit James Stephens wrote of The coolin’ (which translates BARBERB E Songs, Op 29, but an early influence was James Stephens as ‘The fair-haired one’): ‘I sought to represent that state RNSTEINC (1880–1950). In turn, it was Stephens’ interest in the re- which is almost entirely a condition of dream, wherein the OPLANDTH telling of Irish myths and fairy tales that brought Barber to passion of love has almost overreached itself and is sinking OMPSONBA RBERBERN the Gaelic poet Antoine Ó Raifteirí (or Reachtabhra, or, more into a motionless languor.’ Barber’s tender, lilting setting STEINCOP commonly in English, Raftery, 1784–1835), known as the captures this (almost) ‘motionless languor’ with a delightful LANDTHOM last of the wandering bards. Raftery’s verse was given new sense of timeless pastoral—simple lives and simple PSONBARB ERBERNST life, through translation and elaboration, in James Stephens’ pleasures. EINCOPLA 1918 volume Reincarnations, and there is no better The time bomb of Barber’s melancholy—set to darken ND T HOMPS illustration of Barber’s masterful responsiveness to text than his later years in depressive alcoholism—would not have ONBARBER in his three Reincarnations settings from 1939–40. obviously resided alongside his privileged upbringing, BERNSTEI NCOPLAND In Mary Hynes, Barber perfectly captures the urgency good looks, precocious talent and early establishment of THOMPSON and breathless excitement of passionate love (‘She is the sky his lifelong relationship with fellow composer Gian Carlo BARBERBE of the sun, She is the dart Of love, She is the love of my Menotti. But it was already sufficiently present to produce, RNSTEINC heart’). With the sprung start, on the second beat of the bar, at the age of twenty-six, a string quartet movement of the OPLA N DTH OMPSONBA and the darting entries of different vocal lines within shifting deepest sadness, an Adagio that in its string orchestral RBERBERN metres, the poet’s admiration of Mary Hynes, said to be the version has become the unofficial national anthem of STEINCOP LAND4THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN the Agnus Dei, works superbly too. The melodic contours fit STEINCOP LANDTHOM like a glove for voices, unlike similar, more recent attempts PSONBARB to choral-ize the more intrinsically instrumental lines of E RBERNST Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’ with the Lux aeterna and Requiem EINCOPLA aeternam texts. NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER Just prior to the creation of the string quartet, in 1935– BERNSTEI 6, Barber wrote two quite different a cappella settings that NCOPLAND formed his Op 8. The virgin martyrs, a setting from Helen THOMPSON BARBERBE Waddell’s translation of Sigebert of Gembloux, is a charming RNSTEINC motet for four-part female voices, motivically and harmoni - OPLANDTH cally subtle. Let down the bars, O death is an intense, OMPSONBA expressive miniature, the poem by Emily Dickinson. In a RBERBER N STEINCOP letter in 1936, Barber declared: ‘I wrote a little chorus the LANDTHOM other morning, quite good, it will be alright for someone’s PSONBARB funeral.’ Forty-five years later, in early 1981, it was E R BERNST E I NCOPLA presumably more than alright for Barber’s own funeral and NDTHOMPS subsequent memorial service—a piece carefully prescribed ONBARBER in advance by the composer himself, alongside Dover BERNSTEI Beach, Summer Music for wind quintet and some organ NCOPLAND THOMPSON music by Barber’s idol, J S Bach. BARBERB E Some years after their composition in the late 1930s, RNSTEINC Barber was encouraged to arrange two of his four songs, OPLANDTH Op 13, for choir, and these were published in 1961. One of OMPSONBA RBERBERN them was Sure on this shining night, a setting of James Agee STEINCOP (not recorded here), and the other was Gerard Manley LANDTHOM Hopkins’ A nun takes the veil ‘Heaven-haven’ (Barber PSONBARB ERBERNST reversed Hopkins’ title). The sustained solo line and spread EINCOPLA piano chords are transformed into a largely homophonic ND T HOMPS SAMUEL BARBER setting, one of great poise and reflection. ONBARBER Barber’s prodigious flow of youthful composition slowed BERNSTEI NCOPLAND mourning in the United States, far-outstripping any other in later years, and the overwhelmingly poor reception of his THOMPSON piece in a 2004 BBC Radio 4 poll for the ‘saddest music third opera, Anthony and Cleopatra, written for the opening BARBERBE in the world’. Not only has it been the most successful, of New York’s new Metropolitan Opera in 1966, affected him RNSTEINC even improving, of transfers from string quartet to string greatly. But two years later he was on top form for what OPLA N DTH OMPSONBA orchestra; Barber’s own choral arrangement of 1967, turned out to be his last two a cappella works, the Op 42 RBERBERN tracking the sinuous, stepwise string lines to the words of pairing of Laurie Lee’s Twelfth Night and Louise Bogan’s STEINCOP LAND5THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN To be sung on the water. The Laurie Lee setting is hugely STEINCOP LANDTHOM atmospheric, with expertly shaded dynamics and exquisitely PSONBARB placed chord progressions, while the Bogan is characterized E RBERNST by a constant, lilting motif passing between upper and lower EINCOPLA voices, suggestive of water-borne motion and the oar’s blade, NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER ‘Dipping the stream once more’. BERNSTEI Partly because of his partner, the Italian-American Gian NCOPLAND Carlo Menotti, Barber’s considerable European en thusiasms THOMPSON BARBERBE veered more in his youth towards Italy than to the RNSTEINC fashionable artistic mecca of Paris. Not so for Aaron OPLANDTH Copland, ten years Barber’s senior, who headed like many OMPSONBA others to the French capital for lessons with Nadia RBERBER N STEINCOP Boulanger. Remaining fruitfully in this ‘boulangerie’ for LANDTHOM three years, Copland wrote his Four Motets as a student PSONBARB exercise for his teacher in 1921, but heard them for the first E R BERNST E I NCOPLA time in Fontainebleau only in 1924. When they were finally NDTHOMPS published several decades later, Copland commented that ONBARBER he had ‘agreed to their publication with mixed emotions. RANDALL THOMPSON BERNSTEI While they have a certain curiosity value—perhaps people NCOPLAND THOMPSON want to know what I was doing as a student—the style is not training, Copland was the ‘only real composition teacher’ BARBERB E yet really mine’. He identified Musorgsky as an influence, he had. Choral music, for neither composer, would become RNSTEINC but composers of French choral music such as Fauré— a mainstay of their output; the orchestra and the stage were OPLANDTH about whom Copland wrote a critical study at that time— much stronger pulls. There are only three choral works OMPSONBA RBERBERN are surely in the background too. in the Bernstein catalogue: a short liturgical work for STEINCOP Each of the motets, settings of adapted Old Testament the Jewish Sabbath evening worship, Hashkiveinu (1945), LANDTHOM texts, maintains a discrete personality—from the gently the Missa brevis (1988) and, the best known, Chichester PSONBARB ERBERNST rocking serenity of Help us, O Lord to the rousing jubilation Psalms (1965). EINCOPLA of Sing ye praises to our king. An overall technical assu rance We have the American conductor Robert Shaw to thank ND T HOMPS is enhanced by moments of arresting ingenuity—such as for the Missa brevis, although his planting of the idea with ONBARBER the imitative entries at the mid-point of Thou, O Jehovah, Bernstein took a full thirty-three years to be realized. BERNSTEI NCOPLAND abideth forever—and the delicate, two-part ostinato that In 1955, Bernstein composed French and Latin choruses THOMPSON establishes itself in Have mercy on us, O my Lord. for a play about the trial of Joan of Arc, The Lark. This BARBERBE The twenty-year-old Harvard music student Leonard incidental music had a deliberate medieval/Renaissance RNSTEINC Bernstein met Aaron Copland—eighteen years his senior— feel, and was performed (on tape) in those performances OPLA N DTH OMPSONBA at a post-concert party in November 1938. Bernstein would by a specialist early music group, New York Pro Musica RBERBERN later say that, in the absence of a formal compositional Antiqua (SAATBB + solo). Robert Shaw’s suggestion that STEINCOP LAND6THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM PSONBARB E RBERNST EINCOPLA NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBER N STEINCOP LANDTHOM PSONBARB E R BERNST E I NCOPLA NDTHOMPS ONBARBER BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON BARBERB E RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM AARON COPLAND and LEONARD BERNSTEIN in 1967 PSONBARB ERBERNST EINCOPLA the material could be reworked as a Mass setting obviously theatre in 1955 were Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus ND T HOMPS lodged with Bernstein, because he did just that to mark movements already in place. Bernstein reworked the ONBARBER Shaw’s retirement in 1988 as Music Director of the Atlanta Prelude and Gloria from The Lark, which share the same BERNSTEI NCOPLAND Symphony Orchestra. assertive choral opening and countertenor solo, not only THOMPSON The Lark’s incidental music featured three French into the Gloria of the Missa brevis, but into the openings of BARBERBE choruses—the first of which, Spring Song, became the the Agnus Dei and Dona nobis pacem too. And The Lark’s RNSTEINC dancing section of the Dona nobis pacem—and five Latin other movement, Requiem, Bernstein adroitly turned into OPLA N DTH OMPSONBA choruses. Robert Shaw’s suggestion of a Missa brevis was the Kyrie. It is all a fascinating exercise in recycling and RBERBERN not surprising, because what he heard in that Broadway resourceful extension of material. STEINCOP LAND7THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN The prominence of percussion and a countertenor (or summer home of the BSO). Written in the first few days STEINCOP LANDTHOM boy treble) solo in Bernstein’s mid-60s hit Chichester of July 1940, and premiered at Tanglewood on the 8th, PSONBARB Psalms was not the original thing it might have seemed at Thompson was unable to deliver the joyous fanfare E RBERNST the time; it was anticipated in his 1955 incidental music, Koussevitsky had envisaged. With the sombre news of Paris’s EINCOPLA and then replicated in the later Missa brevis. Pealing tubular surrender to the Germans a fortnight before, he produced NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER bells are the main thing here, in the latter parts of the Gloria a ‘slow, sad piece’ instead—while staying with the Hebrew BERNSTEI and Benedictus, together with the banquet dance-style word of praise, ‘Alleluia’, as his single-word text for the piece NCOPLAND percussion of tambourine, tabor and hand drum in the final (though the final notes add an ‘Amen’). With its expertly THOMPSON BARBERBE movement. The countertenor solos, much more austere graded climax from muted beginnings, Thompson’s RNSTEINC here than in Chichester Psalms, add to the ancient, Alleluia has understandably become a staple of (at least) OPLANDTH ceremonial air of the music generally—not mock-medieval North American choral repertoire, speaking to many OMPSONBA as such, but infused with a stone-vaulted, bare-fifths severity. through the sincerity of its emotional charge. Harmonically RBERBER N STEINCOP Aside from Aaron Copland’s mentoring, the closest Bern - conservative for the time, paradoxically it was ahead of its LANDTHOM stein got to formal composition teaching was orchestration time too, because we can hear its diatonic imprecations in PSONBARB classes with Randall Thompson at Philadelphia’s Curtis much more recent music choral music—by the likes of E R BERNST E I NCOPLA Institute in 1939–40. Although the composer of three Tavener, Górecki and Morten Lauridsen. NDTHOMPS symphonies himself (two in 1931 and one in the late Thompson was born in New York City in 1899, and it was ONBARBER 1940s), Thompson’s own special enthusiasm was not the for three combined school choirs on Long Island, New York, BERNSTEI orchestra but the choir: between the 1920s and the year that he wrote Fare Well towards the end of his life. He NCOPLAND THOMPSON before his death in 1984 he wrote a large number of choral was commissioned by the choirs of Calhoun, Kennedy BARBERB E works, and the best known of them opens this album. and Mepham high schools in Belmore-Merrick, and this RNSTEINC The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director, Serge beautifully measured, tender setting of Walter De La Mare OPLANDTH Koussevitsky, asked Thompson to write a choral fanfare for was premiered in the Memorial Concert of their generous OMPSONBA RBERBERN the opening of the Berkshire Music Center (Tanglewood, the benefactor, Jacob Gunther, on 4 March 1973. STEINCOP MEURIG BOWEN © 2015 LANDTHOM PSONBARB ERBERNST EINCOPLA ND T HOMPS ONBARBER BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLA N DTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LAND8THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RANDALL THOMPSON (1899–1984) 4 RBERBERN Anthony O’Daly STEINCOP 1 Alleluia Since your limbs were laid out LANDTHOM Alleluia. The stars do not shine, PSONBARB Amen. The fish leap not out E RBERNST In the waves. EINCOPLA SAMUEL BARBER (1910–1981) On our meadows the dew NDTHOMPS 2 Agnus Dei Does not fall in the morn, ONBA R BER Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, For O’Daly is dead: BERNSTEI Not a flower can be born, NCOPLAND miserere nobis. THOMPSON Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Not a word can be said, BARBERBE miserere nobis. Not a tree have a leaf; RNSTEINC Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Anthony, after you OPLANDTH dona nobis pacem. There is nothing to do, OMPSONBA Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, There is nothing but grief. RBERBER N have mercy on us. JAMES STEPHENS (1880–1950) STEINCOP after the Irish of Antoine Ó Raifteirí (1784–1835) LANDTHOM Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, printed by permission of the Estate of James Stephens PSONBARB have mercy on us. and the Society of Authors as their representative E R BERNST Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, 5 E I NCOPLA grant us peace. The coolin’ NDTHOMPS Come with me, under my coat, ONBARBER REINCARNATIONS Op 16 And we will drink our fill BERNSTEI 3 Of the milk of the white goat, NCOPLAND Mary Hynes Or wine if it be thy will; THOMPSON She is the sky of the sun, And we will talk until BARBERB E She is the dart Talk is a trouble, too, RNSTEINC Of love, Out on the side of the hill, OPLANDTH She is the love of my heart, And nothing is left to do, OMPSONBA She is a rune, But an eye to look into an eye RBERBERN She is above STEINCOP And a hand in a hand to slip, LANDTHOM The women of the race of Eve And a sigh to answer a sigh, PSONBARB As the sun is above the moon. And a lip to find out a lip: ERBERNST Lovely and airy the view from the hill What if the night be black EINCOPLA That looks down from Ballylea; And the air on the mountain chill, ND T HOMPS But no good sight is good until Where the goat lies down in her track ONBARBER And all but the fern is still! BERNSTEI By great good luck you see NCOPLAND The blossom of branches walking towards you Stay with me, under my coat, THOMPSON Airily. And we will drink our fill BARBERBE JAMES STEPHENS (1880–1950) Of the milk of the white goat RNSTEINC after the Irish of Antoine Ó Raifteirí (1784–1835) Out on the side of the hill. OPLA N DTH printed by permission of the Estate of James Stephens JAMES STEPHENS (1880–1950) OMPSONBA and the Society of Authors as their representative after the Irish of Antoine Ó Raifteirí (1784–1835) RBERBERN printed by permission of the Estate of James Stephens STEINCOP and the Society of Authors as their representative LAND9THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–1990) 8 RBERBERN Sanctus STEINCOP Missa brevis Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. LANDTHOM DAVID ALLSOPP countertenor 79bl Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. PSONBARB CHRISTOPHER LOWREY countertenor 8bm Osanna in excelsis. E RBERNST ROBERT MILLETT percussion 79bm Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth. EINCOPLA 6 The heavens and the earth are full of your glory. NDTHOMPS Kyrie Hosanna in the highest. ONBA R BER Kyrie eleison. BERNSTEI Christe eleison. 9 Benedictus NCOPLAND Kyrie eleison. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. THOMPSON Lord, have mercy. Osanna in excelsis. BARBERBE Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. RNSTEINC Christ, have mercy. OPLANDTH Lord, have mercy. Hosanna in the highest. OMPSONBA 7 Gloria bl Agnus Dei RBERBER N Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, STEINCOP Gloria in excelsis Deo LANDTHOM et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. miserere nobis. PSONBARB Laudamus te. Benedicimus te. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, E R BERNST Adoramus te. Glorificamus te. miserere nobis. E I NCOPLA Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, NDTHOMPS Domine Deus, rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens, have mercy on us. ONBARBER Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe. Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, BERNSTEI Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris. have mercy on us. NCOPLAND Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. bm THOMPSON Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Dona nobis pacem BARBERB E Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, RNSTEINC Quoniam tu solus sanctus. Tu solus Dominus. dona nobis pacem. OPLANDTH Laudate Dominum. Alleluia. Amen. OMPSONBA Tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe. RBERBERN Cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, STEINCOP Glory be to God on high grant us peace. LANDTHOM and on earth peace, good will towards men. Praise the Lord. Alleluia. Amen. PSONBARB We praise you. We bless you. ERBERNST We worship you. We glorify you. AARON COPLAND (1900–1990) EINCOPLA ND T HOMPS We give thanks to you for your great glory. Four Motets ONBARBER Lord God, heavenly king, God the Father almighty, bn Help us, O Lord BERNSTEI Lord the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Help us, O Lord. NCOPLAND Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. For with thee is the fount of life. THOMPSON You who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. In thy light shall we see light. BARBERBE You who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Let us march and try our ways. RNSTEINC You who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. OPLA N DTH Turn to God. OMPSONBA For you alone are holy. You alone are the Lord. It is good that man should wait. RBERBERN You alone are most high, Jesus Christ. It is good that man should hope for the salvation of the Lord. STEINCOP With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen. LAND10THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA bo O never again, it seems, can green things run, RBERBERN Thou, O Jehovah, abideth forever STEINCOP Thou, O Jehovah, abideth forever. or sky birds fly, LANDTHOM God reigneth over all men and nations. or the grass exhale its humming breath PSONBARB His throne doth last and doth guide all the ages. powdered with pimpernels, E RBERNST Wherefore willst thou forsake us ever? from this dark lung of winter. EINCOPLA When willst thou forget us never? Yet here are lessons from the final mile NDTHOMPS Thou, O Jehovah, abideth forever, of pilgim kings; ONBA R BER and all the length of our days will ever be our saviour. BERNSTEI the mile still left when all have reached NCOPLAND bp Have mercy on us, O my Lord their tether’s end: that mile THOMPSON Have mercy on us, O my Lord. where the Child lies hid. BARBERBE Be not far from us, O my God. For see, beneath the hand, the earth already RNSTEINC Give ear unto our humble prayer. warms and glows; OPLANDTH Attend and judge us in thy might. for men with shepherd’s eyes there are OMPSONBA Uphold us with thy guiding hand. signs in the dark, the turning stars, RBERBER N Restore us to thy kindly light. the lamb’s returning time. STEINCOP O my heart is sorely pained LANDTHOM Out of this utter death he’s born again, and calls on thee in vain. PSONBARB his birth our saviour; Cast me not away from thee. E R BERNST from terror’s equinox he climbs and grows, O cast me not away from salvation. E I NCOPLA drawing his finger’s light across our blood— Then, oh then, we shall trust in thee, NDTHOMPS the sun of heaven, and the son of god. ONBARBER then we will bear our place. BERNSTEI LAURENCE EDWARD ALAN ‘LAURIE’ LEE (1914–1997) NCOPLAND bq Sing ye praises to our king THOMPSON Sing ye praises to our king and ruler. bs To be sung on the water Op 42 No 2 BARBERB E Come and hear all ye men. Beautiful, my delight, RNSTEINC Come and hear my praises. Pass, as we pass the wave. OPLANDTH He doth bless all the earth, Pass, as the mottled night OMPSONBA Leaves what it cannot save, RBERBERN bringeth peace and comfort. STEINCOP Shout unto God all ye men. Scattering dark and bright. LANDTHOM Shout unto God all your praises. Beautiful, pass and be PSONBARB Sing ye praises to our king. Less than the guiltless shade ERBERNST Come and praise him all ye men. To which our vows were said; EINCOPLA Shout and praise him all ye men. Less than the sound of the oar ND T HOMPS He doth bless all the earth, To which our vows were made,— ONBARBER bringeth peace to all men. Less than the sound of its blade BERNSTEI Dipping the stream once more. NCOPLAND SAMUEL BARBER (1910–1981) THOMPSON LOUISE BOGAN (1897–1970) BARBERBE br Twelfth Night Op 42 No 1 RNSTEINC No night could be darker than this night, OPLA N DTH no cold so cold, OMPSONBA as the blood snaps like a wire, RBERBERN and the heart’s sap stills, STEINCOP and the year seems defeated. LAND11THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA bt RANDALL THOMPSON (1899–1984) RBERBERN A nun takes the veil ‘Heaven-haven’ Op 13 No 1 STEINCOP I have desired to go cm Fare Well LANDTHOM Where springs not fail, When I lie where shades of darkness PSONBARB To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail Shall no more assail mine eyes, E RBERNST And a few lilies blow. Nor the rain make lamentation EINCOPLA And I have asked to be When the wind sighs; NDTHOMPS Where no storms come, How will fare the world whose wonder ONBA R BER Where the green swell is in the havens dumb, Was the very proof of me? BERNSTEI And out of the swing of the sea. Memory fades, must the remember’d NCOPLAND Perishing be? THOMPSON GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844–1889) BARBERBE Oh, when this my dust surrenders RNSTEINC bu The virgin martyrs Op 8 No 1 Hand, foot, lip, to dust again, OPLANDTH Therefore come they, the crowding maidens, May these loved and loving faces OMPSONBA Gertrude, Agnes, Prisca, Cecily, Please other men! RBERBER N Lucy, Thekla, Juliana, STEINCOP May the rusting harvest hedgerow LANDTHOM Barbara, Agatha, Petronel. Still the Traveller’s Joy entwine, PSONBARB And other maids whose names I have read not, And as happy children gather E R BERNST Names I have read and now record not, Posies once mine. E I NCOPLA But their souls and their faith were maimed not, Look thy last on all things lovely, NDTHOMPS Worthy now of God’s company. ONBARBER Every hour. Let no night BERNSTEI Wandering through the fresh fields go they, Seal thy sense in deathly slumber NCOPLAND Gathering flowers to make them a nosegay, Till to delight THOMPSON Gathering roses red for the Passion, Thou have paid thy utmost blessing; BARBERB E Lilies and violets for love. Since that all things thou wouldst praise RNSTEINC HELEN JANE WADDELL (1889–1965) Beauty took from those who loved them OPLANDTH after a Latin text by Sigebert of Gembloux (c1030–1112) In other days. OMPSONBA © All rights reserved, reprinted by permission of the Estate of WALTER DE LA MARE (1873–1956) RBERBERN Helen Waddell and Constable & Robinson Ltd printed by permission of The Literary Trustees of Walter De La Mare STEINCOP and the Society of Authors as their representative LANDTHOM cl Let down the bars, O death Op 8 No 2 PSONBARB Let down the bars, O death! ERBERNST The tired flocks come in EINCOPLA Whose bleating ceases to repeat, ND T HOMPS Whose wandering is done. ONBARBER Every effort has been made to secure necessary permissions BERNSTEI Thine is the stillest night, to reproduce copyright material in this booklet, although in NCOPLAND Thine the securest fold; some cases it has proven difficult to locate copyright holders. THOMPSON Too near thou art for seeking thee, If any omissions are brought to our notice, we would be BARBERBE Too tender to be told. pleased to include appropriate acknowledgements in RNSTEINC subsequent pressings. OPLA N DTH EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886) OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LAND12THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA POLYPHONY RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM Polyphony was formed by Stephen Layton in 1986 for a Champs Elysées in Paris, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, PSONBARB concert in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Since then the and festivals in Belfast, Dublin, Cheltenham and Antwerp. E RBERNST choir has performed and recorded regularly to critical The choir, under the direction of Stephen Layton, regularly EINCOPLA acclaim throughout the world, and has been described collaborates with the City of London Sinfonia, Philharmonia NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER by Gramophone as being ‘renowned for both their sound Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and Orchestra of the Age of BERNSTEI and versatility—whether in early music or contemporary Enlightenment. NCOPLAND works … they embody the remarkable tradition of British Polyphony’s extensive discography on Hyperion THOMPSON BARBERBE choral excellence at its finest’. This has been reinforced by encompasses the choral riches of nineteenth- and twentieth- RNSTEINC Grammy Award nominations for recordings of Eric Whitacre century composers, including Bruckner, Grieg, Grainger, OPLANDTH (Cloudburst) and Morten Lauridsen (Lux aeterna), and a Britten, Poulenc and Walton. An important and substantial OMPSONBA Gramophone Award and Diapason d’Or for their Britten body of work has also resulted from Polyphony’s collabora - RBERBER N STEINCOP recording. tion with contemporary composers, including Tavener, Pärt, LANDTHOM In addition to their annual sell-out performances of Rutter, Lauridsen, Whitacre, L/ ukaszewski and Ešenvalds. PSONBARB Bach’s St John Passion and Handel’s Messiah at St John’s, The choir’s recording of Bruckner’s Mass in E minor E R BERNST E I NCOPLA Smith Square, which have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and motets moved Gramophone to write: ‘Put simply, we’re NDTHOMPS and the EBU, Polyphony has made many appearances at the unlikely to hear choral singing as fine as this for a good few ONBARBER BBC Proms since 1995, at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, years to come.’ BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON POLYPHONY (2011 sessions) POLYPHONY (2013 sessions) BARBERB E RNSTEINC soprano Esther Brazil*, Zoë Brown, Alison Hill, Emilia Morton, soprano Rachel Ambrose Evans, Zoë Brown, Rosemary Galton, OPLANDTH Laura Oldfield (solo, tracks 25& bq), Katie Thomas*, Alison Hill, Emilia Morton, Laura Oldfield, Hannah Partridge, OMPSONBA Genevieve Wakelin, Emma Walshe, Louise Wayman, Amy Wood Louise Prickett, Genevieve Wakelin, Emma Walshe, RBERBERN 79bl Louise Wayman, Amy Wood STEINCOP alto David Allsopp (solo, tracks ), LANDTHOM Catherine Backhouse, Aaron Burchell*, Ruth Kiang, alto David Allsopp, Catherine Backhouse, Helen Charlston, PSONBARB Christopher Lowrey (solo, tracks 8bm), Ruth Massey Jessica Dandy, Ruth Kiang, Christopher Lowrey, ERBERNST (solo, track bq), Katherine Nicholson, Tom Williams* Amy Lyddon-Towl, Ruth Massey, Eleanor Minney, EINCOPLA tenor Ronan Busfield, David de Winter, Jonathan English, Katherine Nicholson, Simon Ponsford ND T HOMPS bq ONBARBER Julian Forbes, Benedict Hymas (solo, track ), Oliver Jones, tenor Gwilym Bowen, Ronan Busfield, Jonathan English, BERNSTEI Peter Morton*, Nicholas Todd Christopher Hann, Benedict Hymas, Oliver Jones NCOPLAND bass Richard Bannan, Tim Dickinson*, William Gaunt*, bass Richard Bannan, Michael Craddock, Dominic Kraemer, THOMPSON Johnny Herford, Jimmy Holliday, Gareth John, Richard Savage, Simon Whiteley, Laurence Williams BARBERBE Tom Oldham*, Ashley Riches (solo, track bq), RNSTEINC OPLA N DTH Richard Savage, Simon Whiteley OMPSONBA RBERBERN *Barber Agnus Dei and Bernstein Missa brevis only STEINCOP LAND13THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA STEPHEN LAYTON RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM Stephen Layton succeeded the late Richard Hickox as Artistic PSONBARB Director and Principal Conductor of the City of London E RBERNST Sinfonia in 2010. He guest-conducts widely and has ap- EINCOPLA peared in recent years with the Seattle Symphony, and the NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER Philadelphia and Minnesota orchestras, the Melbourne BERNSTEI Symphony and Auckland Philharmonia, the London NCOPLAND Philharmonic, the Philharmonia and the Hallé, the Academy THOMPSON BARBERBE of Ancient Music, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment RNSTEINC and Britten Sinfonia. Layton is Fellow and Director of Music OPLANDTH of Trinity College Cambridge. He is the Founder and Director OMPSONBA of Polyphony. His former posts include Chief Guest RBERBER N STEINCOP Conductor of the Danish National Vocal Ensemble and Chief LANDTHOM Conductor of the Netherlands Kammerkoor. PSONBARB Stephen Layton’s discography ranges from Bach and E R BERNST E I NCOPLA Handel with original instruments to Bruckner and Poulenc, NDTHOMPS Pärt and Tavener, /Lukaszewski and Whitacre. A champion ONBARBER of new music, Stephen Layton has premiered much s r

BERNSTEI new repertoire by living composers. His recordings have e d n

NCOPLAND u won awards worldwide, including from Gramophone and a S

THOMPSON h t i

BBC Music Magazine, and in the USA he has had four e

BARBERB E K

RNSTEINC Grammy nominations. © OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM PSONBARB ERBERNST EINCOPLA ND T HOMPS ONBARBER BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLA N DTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LAND14THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM PSONBARB Also available E RBERNST EINCOPLA MORTEN LAURIDSEN (b1943) NDTHOMPS Lux aeterna & other choral works ONBA R BER Lux aeterna; Madrigali: Six ‘Fire Songs’ on Italian Renaissance Poems; BERNSTEI Ave Maria; Ubi caritas et amor; O magnum mysterium NCOPLAND POLYPHONY, BRITTEN SINFONIA / STEPHEN LAYTON conductor THOMPSON CDA67449 BARBERBE ‘It’s not often I have to brush away the tears when I’m reviewing a recording, RNSTEINC but I will happily confess that on this occasion Lauridsen got me again and OPLANDTH again … Run out and buy it as soon as you can’ (Fanfare, USA) ‘The finest OMPSONBA RBERBER N I’ve heard among several excellent collections of Lauridsen’s work. None are STEINCOP quite as exquisitely nuanced or sung with such glowing vocal sheen as this’ LANDTHOM (American Record Guide) ‘Exquisitely sung’ (The Observer) PSONBARB E R BERNST MORTEN LAURIDSEN E I NCOPLA Nocturnes & other choral works NDTHOMPS Mid-Winter Songs; Les chansons des roses; I will lift up mine eyes; ONBARBER O come, let us sing unto the Lord; Ave, dulcissima Maria; Nocturnes BERNSTEI POLYPHONY, BRITTEN SINFONIA / STEPHEN LAYTON conductor NCOPLAND CDA67580 THOMPSON ‘What more can one say of the singing other than that it is Polyphony? This BARBERB E RNSTEINC ensemble—surely one of the best small choirs now before the public— OPLANDTH invests everything it sings with insight, crisp ensemble and tonal warmth’ OMPSONBA (The Daily Telegraph) ‘Should be on the shelf of each and every choral- RBERBERN music aficionado’ (Fanfare, USA) STEINCOP LANDTHOM ERIC WHITACRE (b1970) PSONBARB Cloudburst & other choral works ERBERNST POLYPHONY / STEPHEN LAYTON conductor EINCOPLA CDA67543 ND T HOMPS ‘Here’s a CD to put the hype back into Hyperion … extraordinarily beauti- ONBARBER ful … the recording is blessed with top performers in the choir Polyphony BERNSTEI under the conductor Stephen Layton, who carefully shapes the recitativo NCOPLAND THOMPSON phrasing and demands crystal clarity in diction and ensemble. Hyperion has BARBERBE awinner’ (The Times) ‘Ethereal and chillingly beautiful choral works—an RNSTEINC intense and moving aural experience’ (The Independent on Sunday) OPLA N DTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LAND15THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBERN STEINCOP LANDTHOM PSONBARB E RBERNST EINCOPLA NDTHOMPS ONBA R BER BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON BARBERBE RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA RBERBER N STEINCOP LANDTHOM Recorded in All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London PSONBARB on 22–24 August 2011, 31 July 2013 (tracks 1 & 21) and 3 August 2013 (track 19) E R BERNST Recording Engineer DAVID HINITT E I NCOPLA Recording Producer ADRIAN PEACOCK NDTHOMPS Booklet Editor TIM PARRY ONBARBER Executive Producer SIMON PERRY BERNSTEI P C NCOPLAND & Hyperion Records Ltd, London, MMXV THOMPSON BARBERB E RNSTEINC OPLANDTH OMPSONBA All Hyperion and Helios recordings may be purchased over the internet at RBERBERN STEINCOP www.hyperion-records.co.uk LANDTHOM where you will also find an up-to-date catalogue listing and much additional information PSONBARB ERBERNST EINCOPLA ND T HOMPS ONBARBER BERNSTEI NCOPLAND THOMPSON Copyright subsists in all Hyperion recordings and it is illegal to copy them, in whole or in part, for any purpose whatsoever, without BARBERBE permission from the copyright holder, Hyperion Records Ltd, PO Box 25, London SE9 1AX, England. Any unauthorized copying RNSTEINC or re-recording, broadcasting, or public performance of this or any other Hyperion recording will constitute an infringement of OPLA N DTH copyright. Applications for a public performance licence should be sent to Phonographic Performance Ltd, 1 Upper James Street, London OMPSONBA W1F 9DE RBERBERN STEINCOP LAND16THOM PSONBARB ERBERNST

17 www.hyperion-records.co.uk