The Choir of King’s College London Gareth Wilson The Choir of King’s College London Gareth Wilson IN MEMORIAM Alexander May, Graham Thorpe organ 1 William Byrd (1539/40–1623) Laudibus in sanctis [5:18] 9 Robert Busiakiewicz (b. 1990) Ego sum resurrectio et vita [2:27] 2 Matthew Kaner (b. 1986) Duo seraphim [5:09] Rob Keeley (b. 1960) Magnificat & Nunc dimittis Eleanor Williams, Mimi Doulton, Elizabeth Gornall, Eleanor Wood sopranos 10 Magnificat [4:15] Ben Taylor-Davies, Billie Hylton, Caitlin Goreing, Jacob Werrin, Rosanna Goodall altos 11 Nunc dimittis [2:52] James Rhoads, Miles Ashdown tenors Alexander May organ Freddie Benedict, Alex Pratley basses Antony Pitts (b. 1969) Pie Jesu (Prayer of the Heart) Gareth Wilson (b. 1976) Magnificat & Nunc dimittis (Collegium Regale) 12 I [6:55] 3 Magnificat [5:33] 13 II [5:38] 4 Nunc dimittis [5:27] Ciara Power, Lindsey James sopranos Graham Thorpe organ Caitlin Goreing, David Lee altos Silvina Milstein (b. 1956) ushnarasmou – untimely spring James Rhoads tenor Scott Richardson, Joey Edwards basses 5 ushnarasmou [4:01] 6 kusumaani [4:41] 14 Matthew Martin (b. 1976) An Invocation to the Holy Spirit [2:43] Eleanor Williams, Mimi Doulton solo sopranos Lindsey James, Charlotte Nohavicka ripieno sopranos 15 Giovanni Pierluigi Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui [4:38] Matthew O’Keeffe, Rosanna Goodall solo altos da Palestrina (1525–1594) Billie Hylton, Jacob Werrin ripieno altos Robyn Donnelly soprano Miles Ashdown, James Green solo tenors Jaivin Raj ripieno tenor 16 Jacob Clemens non Papa (c.1510–1555/6) Ego flos campi [5:27] Joey Edwards, Alex Pratley, Dominic Veall ripieno basses 17 Francis Grier (b. 1955) Panis angelicus [2:46] 7 Francis Pott (b. 1957) Nigra sum sed formosa [6:30] Charlotte Nohavicka soprano Lindsey James principal soprano James Rhoads tenor Mary Fraser, Martha Woodhams sopranos Jacob Werrin alto Total playing time [79:59] 8 Jean Lhéritier (c.1480–c.1551) Nigra sum sed formosa [5:31] Tracks 2–7, 9–14 & 17 are premiere recordings (ed. David Trendell) Recorded on 22-24 June 2015 in the Design: Drew Padrutt Join the Delphian mailing list: The Choir of King’s College London would like to offer sincere thanks to the donors who helped make this Church of St John the Evangelist, Booklet editor: Henry Howard www.delphianrecords.co.uk/join endeavour possible, and also to Father John Pritchard and the churchwardens and congregation of St John’s Upper Norwood Photography © Delphian Records Church, Upper Norwood for their generosity. With thanks also to the chaplaincy of King’s College London – Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK Like us on Facebook: 24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks www.delphianrecords.co.uk www.facebook.com/delphianrecords Richard Burridge, Tim Ditchfield, Natalie Frangos and Poppy Richards. 24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter Follow us on Twitter: @delphianrecords Notes on the music In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the After an early musical life which saw him and singers might realise only at the last From the regular canon of Renaissance death of a famous musician might prompt a singing first as a treble and then as an alto in minute that the work they were to perform had composers and sacred repertoire comes a memorial tribute created from music itself. the cathedral choir at Norwich, three years not been sung for 500 years’. One such was motet by David Trendell’s favourite composer: Examples abound: to take just a few, Josquin’s as an undergraduate organ scholar at Exeter the setting of Nigra sum sed formosa by the William Byrd. Laudibus in sanctis is a jubilant Nymphes des bois, his ‘Déploration’ on the College, Oxford, and posts at Winchester French Renaissance composer Jean Lhéritier; setting, brilliantly scored for five voices, of a death of Johannes Ockeghem (in which the College and the University Church in Oxford, it this was a piece which David Trendell edited, paraphrase of Psalm 150 (in which every living wood-nymphs of forest and fountain are called was David Trendell’s appointment as Organist but had never recorded. It is performed in this creature is called upon to praise the Lord). upon to lament with piercing cries the death and Director of Music at King’s College London recording in copies made from his hand-written of a composer who is ‘the true treasurer of in 1992 that saw him set fair for a career in transcription of the original source, neatly Of the remaining music on this CD, all are music’) and William Byrd’s Ye sacred muses, which he was able to combine his talents as an inscribed on large-form manuscript paper of the pieces with a close connection to David Trendell composed in memory of his friend and teacher academic musician and musicologist with his sort undergraduates use for their harmony and himself, being composed by friends, pupils Thomas Tallis (with its poignant refrain ‘Tallis is flair for the training and coaching of choirs. The counterpoint exercises, but clear and unfussy, and colleagues (and, more often than not – in dead, and Music dies’), as well as – to take two chapel choir at King’s, under his directorship, practical and legible, and with everything laid the case of such a sociable and gregarious seventeenth century examples – instrumental became an acclaimed musical instrument and out solely in the service of the music. man – a combination of all three). Most of elegies by the viol player Marin Marais in the engine which powered his excursions into them were composed in his memory, and all of memory of Jean-Baptiste Lully, and by the an extraordinary variety of choral repertoire The text of the motet comes originally from them receive their first recording on this disc. keyboard virtuoso Johann Jakob Froberger – from the most neglected corners of the the Song of Solomon, that extraordinary Old Interestingly, many of them espouse the musical commemorating the lutenist Blancrocher. Renaissance to works written specially for Testament poetical combination of highly values (and sometimes even the techniques) him by the composers of today. And it’s those perfumed eroticism and mystical sacred love; of the Renaissance masterpieces which he so In our modern technological age, it’s not varied passions and musical interests which musical settings of the ‘Song of Songs’ were a loved, in which clarity of texture, the service surprising that such a memorial should be are reflected in the repertoire recorded in this life-long fascination for David Trendell. One of of the music to the cause of the words, and fashioned not just of music, but through the tribute to him. his favourite pieces was Ego flos campi, by the ‘singable’ individual lines are core values. medium of sound itself – and so it is with Flemish composer Clemens non Papa (literally this tribute to David Trendell: organist, singer, Renaissance polyphony being one of David ‘Clement-not-the-Pope’, presumably in order to David Trendell was interested in the world choir-trainer, scholar, recording producer, Trendell’s great passions, any memorial distinguish him from Pope Clement VII). This of church music far beyond the confines of mentor; a much-loved man whose music- recording would be incomplete without some motet, richly scored in seven parts, also sets the ecclesiastical buildings where he had making, in its various forms, touched the lives examples of music from the Golden Age. His lines from the Song of Solomon. So too does spent much of his working life. He was an of those he encountered in many different knowledge of that repertoire was extensive – Palestrina’s Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui (in engaged, active and influential member of ways. This CD pays homage to him with new and frequently expanded by his own work as which the thighs of the beloved are compared the Edington Festival of Music within the music, dedicated to his memory by friends, an editor, excavating the archives for hidden to jewels, her navel to a precious goblet, Liturgy, as Director for four seasons in the colleagues and students, with other works gems and reviving music long neglected. In and her belly to wheat set about with lilies); late 1980s, but thereafter always maintaining which represent some of his many and varied his obituary of David Trendell, the writer and while Lhéritier’s text provides the cue for the an interest in its work, and in the vital role musical interests, and even with one of his music critic Rick Jones remarked that he ‘did inclusion of a modern piece, Francis Pott’s Nigra that sacred music must play in the liturgies own editions. not make a point of announcing his discoveries, sum sed formosa about which, more below. of the church. Latterly, he was always ready Notes on the music to place his chapel choir at King’s College at composed especially for The Choir of King’s One piece on this recording which steps humankind. Antony Pitts’ Pie Jesu combines the disposal of composers interested to write College London in memory of David Trendell. determinedly away from the liturgical repertoire penitential lines in English with traditional Latin for it, and a major part of his musical legacy which was the backbone of so much of David ones from the Requiem (or Mass for the Dead) is a healthy clutch of pieces performed and Francis Pott’s Nigra sum sed formosa, which Trendell’s life and work is ushnarasmou, by in a piece whose concluding words express premiered by, or even specially composed revisits the words set by Lhéritier, creates – his colleague from the Department of Music the sentiments uttered by any devout Christian, for, that ensemble.