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England My England

Choir of King's College, Cambridge / Organ scholars: Thomas Williamson, Peter Stevens, Oliver Brett, James Lancelot, Benjamin Bayl, James Vivian, Tom Winpenny, Christopher Hughes / Stephen Cleobury • *Sir Philip Ledger ∙ †Sir David Willcocks

Series: EMI Classics

Released: 06/07/2009

Cat. No: 2289440

Format: CD

Number Of Discs: 2

Barcode: 5099922894403

There is surely no more quintessentially English sound than that of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Their unaccompanied voices are evocative of immemorial sandstone, of cool cloisters, evensong in church, chapel and cathedral, serene in the music of Shakespeare’s contemporaries Byrd and Gibbons, ethereal in Delius’s To be sung of a summer night on the water as their voices waft across the banks of the River Cam. No less iconic is the chapel that lends its unique acoustic to that sound. One of the glories of the English perpendicular style of architecture, the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge was completed in 1547, a little over a century after the founding, by Henry VI, of King’s College itself. England, My England opens and closes with coronation music: Zadok the Priest, written by Handel for the crowning of King George II in 1727 and I was glad, composed by Parry in 1902 for that of King Edward VII. Both were so successful that they have been sung at every coronation since. Parry’s ‘processional anthem’ is heard here in its full panoply of extra brass and shouted Vivats, the choir providing the semi-chorus in the exquisite interlude O pray for the peace of Jerusalem. In between are motets both ancient and modern – from the miniature If ye love me and the architectural splendour of the 40-part Spem in alium to William Harris’s dramatic double-choir setting of Spenser’s Faire is the Heaven; well-known psalms sung to Anglican chant stand side-by-side with favourite hymns, notably All people that on earth do dwell, arranged by Vaughan Williams for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. As well as national rejoicing there is solemn remembrance. Come ye sons of art away is Purcell’s 1694 birthday ode for Queen Mary; Thou knowest, Lord part of the music he wrote for her funeral just nine months later; John Ireland’s Greater love hath no man is often heard on Remembrance Sunday; Sir John Tavener’s Song for Athene made a powerful impression at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, while John Rutter’s small-scale, personal Requiem touched a wider public following the attacks of 11 September 2001. But Nimrod above all epitomises music of national remembrance. Here a choral setting of Nimrod, ‘Lux aeterna’, represents England’s ‘Shakespeare of music’, Edward Elgar.

Disc 1

1) Handel: Zadok the Priest (p) 2001 Academy of Ancient Music 5.19

2) Elgar (arr. John Cameron): Lux aeterna (p) 2009 3.22

3) John Goss; descant Cleobury: Hymn: Praise, my soul, the king of heaven TW (p) 2001 2.50

4) Tallis: Spem in alium PS (p) 2009 7.33

5) John Goss: Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd † DW (organ) (p) 1969/1989 2.12

6) Handel: Hallelujah Chorus † (p) 1973/DRM 1992 Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields 4.21

7) Rutter: Requiem – Pie Jesu Edward Saklatvala (treble) • City of London Sinfonia (p) 1998 3.33

8) Vaughan Williams: Hymn: Come down, O love divine TW (p) 2001 3.41

9) Tallis: O nata lux de lumine OB (p) 2009 1.56

10) Balfour Gardiner: Evening Hymn (Te lucis ante terminum) † JL (p) 1974/1995 5.27

11) Byrd: Ave verum corpus (p) 2009 4.31

12) Edward Miller arr Rutter: Hymn: When I survey the wondrous cross BB (p) 2001 3.28

13) Stanford: Beati quorum via † (p) 1974/1995 3.07

14) Vaughan Williams: Antiphon (Let all the world in every corner sing) English Chamber Orchestra (p) 1969/1989 3.16

15) Byrd: Iustorum animae † (p) 1965/2004 2.52

16) Purcell: Come ye sons of art away – Symphony, solo & chorus David Hansen (alto) • Academy of Ancient Music (p) 2006 1.46

17) William Harris: Faire is the heaven (p) 1993 5.07

18) Bairstow: Psalm 67: God be merciful unto us † DW (organ) (p) 1972/1989 2.06

19) Robert Parsons I: Ave Maria (p) 2009 5.01

20) Louis Bourgeois arr. Vaughan William; Hymn: All people that on earth do dwell The Wallace Collection • BB (p) 2001 4.58

Disc 2

1) Parry: Jerusalem OB (p) 2009 2.56

22) Rutter: Requiem – Requiem aeternam City of London Sinfonia (p) 1998 5.33

3) Holst: I vow to thee, my country PS (p) 2009 2.30

4) Tavener: Song for Athene (p) 2009 6.34

5) W. H. Monk: Hymn: Abide with me PS (p) 2009 4.49

6) Stanford: Magnificat in G Alastair Hussain (treble) • JV (p) 1997 4.12

7) Purcell: Thou knowest, Lord Z58c David Blackadder, Phillip Bainbridge, Susan Addison & Stephen Saunders (flatt trumpets) • TomW (p) 2006 2.24

8) Gibbons: Hosanna to the son of David OB (p) 2007 3.01

9) C. C. Scholefield (arr Rutter): Hymn: The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended BB (p) 2001 3.16

10) Parry: Psalm 84: O how amiable are thy dwellings † DW (organ) (p) 1969/1989 3.37

11) Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor – Kyrie † John Eaton (treble) • Nigel Perrin (alto) • Robin Doveton (tenor) • David van Asch (bass) (p) 1969/1989 3.55

12) Ireland: Greater love hath no man Michael Pearce (treble) • Paul Robinson (bass) • CH (p) 1993 5.58

13) Tallis: If ye love me * (p) 1982/1994 DDD 2.26

14) Parry: Hymn: Dear Lord and Father of mankind Thomas Bullard (baritone) • BB (p) 2001 3.54

15) Britten: Jubilate Deo JL (p) 1974/2004 2.24

16) Gibbons: Hymn: Drop, drop, slow tears (p) 2001 1.17

17) Delius: To be sung of a summer night on the water I * (p) 1976/1995 2.09

18) Goodenough: Psalm 150: O praise God in his holiness † DW (organ) (p) 1969/1989 1.46

19) Weelkes: When David heard (p) 2007 4.35

20) Parry: I was glad * 6.45

England My England Trailer

Handel: Messiah (Live from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge)

I heard a Voice: The Music of the Golden Age

Purcell: Music for Queen Mary

“I would happily sit in King’s College Chapel listening to this choir sing for the rest of my days.” - The Times

“A crowning glory of our civilisation” (Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music)

“I readily admit to being moved to tears on first hearing this disc [Credo], and innumerable playing subsequently have not fully inured me from the emotional impact of these intense performances of profoundly beautiful music.” -Gramophone

“The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, under Stephen Cleobury, is on terrific form. … Yet even their immaculate EMI recording [Ikos] does not prepare one adequately for the breathtakingly inspired, loving performance they serve up here [Rachmaninov Vespers] - one of sustained beauty, restraint, insight, taste and sensitivity that it is almost beyond praise. … the Choir’s stylish contributions … consistently take one’s breath away.” - BBC Music Magazine

used to listen to them i just looked forward to singing with them someday.

gozie - 31/08/2009