Gabriel Jackson Sacred choral WorkS choir of St Mary’s cathedral, edinburgh Matthew owens Gabriel Jackson choir of St Mary’s cathedral, edinburgh Sacred choral WorkS Matthew owens Edinburgh Mass 5 O Sacrum Convivium [6:35] 1 Kyrie [2:55] 6 Creator of the Stars of Night [4:16] Katy Thomson treble 2 Gloria [4:56] Katy Thomson treble 7 Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ [4:13] Katy Thomson treble 3 Sanctus & Benedictus [2:20] Lewis Main & Katy Thomson trebles (Sanctus) 8 A Prayer of King Henry VI [2:54] Robert Colquhoun & Andrew Stones altos (Sanctus) 9 Preces [1:11] Simon Rendell alto (Benedictus) The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor 4 Agnus Dei [4:24] 10 Psalm 112: Laudate Pueri [9:49] 11 Magnificat (Truro Service) [4:16] Oliver Boyd treble 12 Nunc Dimittis (Truro Service) [2:16] Ben Carter bass 13 Responses [5:32] The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor 14 Salve Regina [5:41] Katy Thomson treble 15 Dismissal [0:28] The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor 16 St Asaph Toccata [8:34] Total playing time [70:22] Recorded in the presence Producer: Paul Baxter All first recordings Michael Bonaventure organ (tracks 10 & 16) of the composer on 23-24 Engineers: David Strudwick, (except O Sacrum Convivium) February and 1-2 March 2004 Andrew Malkin Susan Hamilton soprano (track 10) (choir), 21 December 2004 (St Assistant Engineers: Edward Cover image: Peter Newman, The Choir of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Asaph Toccata) and 4 January Bremner, Benjamin Mills Vapour Trails (oil on canvas) 2005 (Laudate Pueri) in St 24-Bit digital editing: Session Photography: Edinburgh (tracks 1-9, 11-15) Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Adam Binks Gary Baker Simon Nieminski organ accompaniment (tracks 6 & 7) Edinburgh by kind permission 24-Bit digital mastering: (www.gbphotography.com) of the Provost Paul Baxter Design: John Christ Matthew Owens conductor Gabriel Jackson choir of St Mary’s cathedral, edinburgh Sacred choral WorkS Matthew owens Edinburgh Mass 5 O Sacrum Convivium [6:35] 1 Kyrie [2:55] 6 Creator of the Stars of Night [4:16] Katy Thomson treble 2 Gloria [4:56] Katy Thomson treble 7 Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ [4:13] Katy Thomson treble 3 Sanctus & Benedictus [2:20] Lewis Main & Katy Thomson trebles (Sanctus) 8 A Prayer of King Henry VI [2:54] Robert Colquhoun & Andrew Stones altos (Sanctus) 9 Preces [1:11] Simon Rendell alto (Benedictus) The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor 4 Agnus Dei [4:24] 10 Psalm 112: Laudate Pueri [9:49] 11 Magnificat (Truro Service) [4:16] Oliver Boyd treble 12 Nunc Dimittis (Truro Service) [2:16] Ben Carter bass 13 Responses [5:32] The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor 14 Salve Regina [5:41] Katy Thomson treble 15 Dismissal [0:28] The Revd Canon Peter Allen precentor 16 St Asaph Toccata [8:34] Total playing time [70:22] Recorded in the presence Producer: Paul Baxter All first recordings Michael Bonaventure organ (tracks 10 & 16) of the composer on 23-24 Engineers: David Strudwick, (except O Sacrum Convivium) February and 1-2 March 2004 Andrew Malkin Susan Hamilton soprano (track 10) (choir), 21 December 2004 (St Assistant Engineers: Edward Cover image: Peter Newman, The Choir of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Asaph Toccata) and 4 January Bremner, Benjamin Mills Vapour Trails (oil on canvas) 2005 (Laudate Pueri) in St 24-Bit digital editing: Session Photography: Edinburgh (tracks 1-9, 11-15) Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Adam Binks Gary Baker Simon Nieminski organ accompaniment (tracks 6 & 7) Edinburgh by kind permission 24-Bit digital mastering: (www.gbphotography.com) of the Provost Paul Baxter Design: John Christ Matthew Owens conductor A note from the composer Notes on the music This recording is the culmination of a four-year repertoire is not to ossify and become equally importantly, because the Provost Some fourteen years separate the earliest association with Matthew Owens and the insulated from the world outside it desperately so values the music in his cathedral that he Jackson work recorded on this disc, the Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral which has been, needs the challenge and stimulus – for choir is minded to instigate new works personally. unaccompanied motet O Sacrum Convivium, for me, uniquely treasurable. Four of the and congregation alike – of new music. Rather and the most recent, the setting of Psalm 112 choral works on the disc were written than reassuring us with the cosy and the It has been a pleasure and a privilege for solo soprano and organ. In 1990, when specially for the choir and the others have familiar, genuinely new music speaks to contribute to the musical life of St Mary’s Jackson wrote O Sacrum Convivium, his all found a regular place in their repertoire powerfully of that which we don’t yet know, Cathedral as extensively as I have. The music was scarcely known beyond a small as well. It is unusual and very special for and it is this quality of revelation that can journey from Edinburgh airport to Haymarket circle of friends and cognoscenti. Today, a composer to have the opportunity to build make the work of living composers such Station, followed by a short walk to he is in constant demand as one of the most a long-term relationship of this kind. A first- a potent force in the daily liturgy. In the Palmerston Place and the imposing neo- accomplished and prolific writers of choral work hand and detailed knowledge of the particular sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, church Gothic cathedral, has become a well-worn in the UK, receiving performances by some abilities of the singers, of the building in music was written by the greatest composers and much-loved one, freighted as it is with of the leading choirs in both Britain and Europe. which they sing, and the style of worship of the day; by inviting major figures from eager anticipation of the unfailingly glorious at the cathedral has deeply affected the outside the organ loft tradition – Arvo Pärt, and vibrant music-making that lies ahead. Born in Bermuda in 1962, Jackson’s most music I have written: in the Edinburgh Mass, Howard Skempton, James MacMillan, Gavin The last four years have been a remarkable formative musical experience was three especially, I have tried to reflect the personality Bryars and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies among adventure and I am profoundly grateful years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. of the choir – exuberant, fiercely intelligent, others – to compose new works for the choir, to everyone in the cathedral family – choir, Performing great choral repertoire in an yet also possessed of a rare numinousness Matthew has sought to ensure that this is clergy and congregation – for the warmth inspiring space left an indelible impression – and intimacy. To hear my work brought to life again the case, and thereby he has enriched of their hospitality and for their friendship. Jackson continues to regard unaccompanied with such fearless commitment and with an immeasurably the lives of worshippers voices in a resonant acoustic as his favourite intense musicality that is quite overwhelming at St Mary’s. Gabriel Jackson sound in music. The influence of the then in its fervour and immediacy has been an 6 December 2004 organist at Canterbury, Allan Wicks, was also exhilarating experience. All this has been achieved with not just significant. Wicks championed contemporary the support, but the active encouragement music, making early recordings of the I am by no means the only composer of the Provost of St Mary’s, The Very Revd Messiaen organ cycles and regularly to have been blessed with such artistry and Graham Forbes. Immediately after the first performing with the cathedral choir innovative compelling advocacy, for immediately upon performance of Creator of the Stars of Night new works such as the Tippett Canticles. his arrival in Edinburgh in 1999 Matthew on Advent Sunday in 2000, Graham asked Early music was also part of the mix, from sought to place contemporary music at the me if I would write ‘a sensible Mass’ for Purcell back to Elizabethan times and before. heart of the cathedral’s musical life with the choir. I was both honoured and excited This too left a lasting imprint on Jackson – an ambitious programme of commissions by this request, not only because an invitation the re-interpretation in its characteristic forms and other premieres. The importance of this to compose a major piece for this, the most of both late-medieval and Renaissance music cannot be overstated, for if the Anglican important Office, is an inspiring challenge but has become a central focus of his work. A note from the composer Notes on the music This recording is the culmination of a four-year repertoire is not to ossify and become equally importantly, because the Provost Some fourteen years separate the earliest association with Matthew Owens and the insulated from the world outside it desperately so values the music in his cathedral that he Jackson work recorded on this disc, the Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral which has been, needs the challenge and stimulus – for choir is minded to instigate new works personally. unaccompanied motet O Sacrum Convivium, for me, uniquely treasurable. Four of the and congregation alike – of new music. Rather and the most recent, the setting of Psalm 112 choral works on the disc were written than reassuring us with the cosy and the It has been a pleasure and a privilege for solo soprano and organ. In 1990, when specially for the choir and the others have familiar, genuinely new music speaks to contribute to the musical life of St Mary’s Jackson wrote O Sacrum Convivium, his all found a regular place in their repertoire powerfully of that which we don’t yet know, Cathedral as extensively as I have.