April 28, 2013 - Easter 5

Morning - Alfred Hollins
The Holy City: "They Shall Hunger No More" - A.R. Gaul
I Give To You a New Commandment - Peter Nardone
Morning Song - Stanley E. Saxton

Hymns: #8 Bunessan, #9 Morning Song, #624 Ewing

If I had to pick one word to describe this week’s music it would be new. Not new as in contemporary, but new as in a fresh start. Even though the day of spring was over a month ago it is finally starting to warm up and get greener outside. Things at church are launching in to full speed ahead for the Celebration of the Arts, Everything seems a little bit fresher and yes, a little bit newer.

The prelude and postlude I picked are only marginally suited for the day but, for me they fit in with this theme. The thing that got me into this frame of mind for the service are the first two hymns, Morning Has Broken, and the hymntune Morning Song. The prelude is simply called Morning. It is the first in a pair of pieces (the other being Evening) by the English, organist Alfred Hollins (1865-1942). Hollins early life was marked with tragedy. He was blind from birth and his mother died while he was very young. Little is known of his father, he was raised by his “Aunt Mary” from whom he received his first instruction at the piano. At age 9 he went to Wilberforce Institution for the Blikd where he studied for four years and then went on to study at the Royal Normal College for the Blind where he was given opportunity to study piano and organ. Hollins later moved to Edinburgh where he served Free St. George’s Church. This church had never had an organ or an organist but the assistant minister fought to bring the church into the twentieth century by installing an organ and hiring Hollins to play it.  Despite being remembered for only three of his organ compositions, Hollins was a very successful recitalist who made several international tours. He wrote over 50 compositions for the organ as well as choral music for the Anglo-Catholic tradition. Morning is a light character piece that has a rising and falling line that twists and turns this way and that played on the soft foundation stops of the organ with a light reed to add a little buzz.

The postlude is called Prelude on Morning Song but it is not on the hymn tune Morning Song, but rather on Laudes Domini by Joseph Barnby(1838-1896). Incidentally, Joseph Barnby’s brother William was one of Alfred Hollins’s teacher at the Wilberforce Institution. This arrangement by Stanley E. Saxton begins with chimes to announce the morning and builds from there into a full bright chorale. Saxton studied at Syracuse University and went on to study in Paris with Charles-Marie Widor, Marcel Dupre, and Nadia Boulanger. In 1928 he joined the faculty of Skidmore College where he taught for 40 years. After his retirement he retained an active schedule as a recitalist and composer but also cultivating and breeding daylilies. Saxton Gardens in Saratoga became a major supplier of seeds to wholesalers and home gardeners. (Again keeping with our Spring thinking).

The gradual anthem is a duet from A.R. Gaul’s (1837-1913) oratorio The Holy City. This week’s epistle reading from Revelation 21 describes a new heaven and new earth where there will be no pain and thirst will be quenched. The duet They shall hunger no more takes its text from slightly earlier in Revelation (7:15-16) but conveys the same sentiment as the reading for this morning. Alfred Gaul spent most of his career in Birmingham as music director and teacher. His choral music for which he is best known bears the influence of Louis Spohr whose cantata The Last Judgment he viewed as the logical prequel to his own work The Holy City. Gaul’s compositions have largely fallen out of favor today. They are firmly rooted in the choral traditions of Mendelssohn but without the creativity and originality of counterpoint that Mendelssohn possesses. This lovely duet is very comforting and sweet. The middle section is reminiscent of the duet from the Crucifixion programmed a few weeks ago in which the two soloists seemingly seek to outdo the other before joining together again at the end.

The communion anthem is a simple setting of John 13:34-35 combined with the chant Ubi Caritas. This arrangement functions almost like a partner song. The ladies start the piece with the newly composed theme. This music is repeated with the men taking up the Ubi Caritas melody. On the third iteration of the theme the men join the altos while the sopranos add a descant above. The work closes with the men singing the final phrase of the chant tune with the women repeating “I have loved you” before a final “amen.” Peter Nardone (b.1965) is the Organist and Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral. He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and later went on to study at the Royal Academy of London as a countertenor. Prior to holding this position at Worcester Cathedral he served twelve years at Chelmsford Cathedral and held numerous organist and director positions before that. He continues to maintain an active recital career as both soloist and conductor.

April 21, 2013 - Easter 4

Psalm 23 - Gerhard Krapf
Chichester Psalms - Leonard Bernstein
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need - Mack Wilberg
Pastorale - Gerald Custer

Hymns: #191 Lux eoi, #645 St. Columba,
              #478 Monk's Gate

This Sunday’s music is focused on the idea of God as the “Good Shepherd.” Three of the four pieces are settings of the much loved 23^rd Psalm while the fourth is an arrangement of an early American hymn tune with ties to the same style and mood of the day.

The prelude is the sixth of seven psalm settings for organ by the organist and composer Gerhard Krapf (b. 1924.) Krapf was born in Germany and drafted into the German army in 1942 and unaware that the war had ended was captured by the Russians in 1945 and served three years in a labor camp. It was during his time there that he turned to composition. Paper was not readily available so he composed on empty cement bags.  Upon his liberation he studied organ and composition in Germany and later in the US, immigrating permanently to the US in 1953. He held several university positions before being appointed head of the organ department at the University of Iowa in 1961. Krapf is credited with building the department at UI during his sixteen year tenure.  He then went on to do the same at the University of Alberta in 1977 where he taught until his retirement in 1987. This quiet setting played on the flute stops of the organ sets the quiet tone of the service right at the beginning. The music is both calm and delicate and alternates between two manuals on slightly different registrations.

The gradual anthem is an excerpt from Leonard Bernstein’s (1918-1990) Chichester Psalms which the choir performed last year for the Celebration of the Arts. The excerpt is taken from the second movement and is Bernstein’s take on Psalm 23. The work is sung in Hebrew and alternates between a boy soprano (sung in this presentation as a tenor solo) and the women of the choir. Bernstein’s instructions state that the solo is not to be sung by a woman (probably because the soloist represents David.) The piece opens with harp (organ this week) accompanying the young king as he sings to his sheep in the field. The women of the choir enter on the text “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” before the soloist returns with the opening line of the psalm underscored by the women humming. At this point the piece normally breaks into a terrifying setting of Psalm 2 but we will forgo that and continue to the end with the Psalm 23 setting and end with the same chord that started the piece.

The communion anthem is Mack Wilberg’s (b. 1955) setting of the American folk hymn, Resignation paired with Isaac Watts’ (1674-1740) paraphrase of the 23^rd Psalm, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. Mack Wilberg was educated at Brigham Young University and then went on to earn his PhD at the University of Southern California. In 1999 Wilberg was named assistant conductor to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and took over as director in 2008. In addition to his work as a conductor Wilberg is a well-respected composer and arranger. His Requiem has been performed throughout the US and throughout the world. This plaintive setting of My Shepherd Will Supply My Need features the men and women each on their own verse before uniting in a lush final verse. Above all of this soar the flute and oboe with gentle arpeggios from the piano.

The postlude is a Pastorale from the pen of Gerald Custer, a well-known composer and conductor with degrees from Michigan State and Westminster Choir College. This piece is based on the American hymn tune Cleansing Fountain which is often associated with the rather grisly text There is a Fountain. In this gentle piece the organ functions as oboe and flute (very similar to the communion anthem). This work seems a bit sedate for the postlude but given the events of the recent week it seems appropriate to go forth with a peaceful work rather than one replete with pomp and circumstance.

April 14, 2013 - Easter 3

Three Short Pieces: "Aspiration" - John E. West
If Ye Love Me - Philip Wilby
These are They Which Follow the Lamb - John Goss
Gelobet sei Gott - Healey Willan

Hymns: #255 Munich, #205 Gelobet sei Gott,
              #492 Finnian

The Eastertide music has a very Anglican feel to it. Most of it comes from either British or American composers and has strong ties to the British choral traditions (though some feel and are more American in nature.) This vein stretches into the Celebration of the Arts with performances of the Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs and Handel’s Israel in Egypt.

The anthem for today is a new (1992) setting of John 14:15-18, If Ye Love Me. Most of us are familiar with the Tallis setting of this text which is a classic that belongs in the repertoire of every church choir. This setting is by Philip Wilby (b. 1949). He was educated at the Leeds Grammar School and while playing violin in the National Youth Orchestra attended composition seminars taught by Herbert Howells. He later attended Oxford University where he received a degree in composition and went on to a career as a professional violinist. In 1972 he was appointed Principal Lecturer in Composition at Leeds University. Wilby has made a name for himself primarily as a composer of music for Brass bands. His compositions have been used as competition and festival pieces throughout Britain and the world. This simple setting opens with the sopranos only singing the beautiful melody. This leads to a split in the soprano section with a chain of suspension before the full choir enters. The full choir in unison alternates with the lush organ accompaniment as the piece draws to a quiet end.

The communion anthem was written by John Goss (1800-1880) a British organist and composer primarily remembered for his hymn tunes Praise My Soul the King of Heaven, and See, Amid the Winter’s Snow. His anthems tend to be both very well written and very simple. I find that I turn to them when I need something at short notice they are typically quite short which makes them all the more manageable. I have never been disappointed. There are always lovely moments in them that allow for exquisite music making. These are They Which Follow the Lamb is a setting of Revelations 14:4 and 5 speaking of the redeemed in heaven. The anthem is mostly homophonic with an organ part that doubles the voices. I have opted to leave that out and to present it a cappella to allow the delicate musicality of the lines to shine through.

The composer of the postlude was born in Britain but spent the majority of his professional career in Canada. His music, however is strongly associated with the Anglican tradition. Healey Willan (1880-1968) was born in England and moved to Canada in 1913 to accept the position of organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s in Toronto. In 1921 he accepted a similar position at St. Mary Magdalene and in 1938 was named professor of theory at the University of Toronto. His setting of Melchior Vulpius’s hymn Gelobet sei Gott has the feel of a light and joyful German chorale prelude. The tune (played in the tenor register on a trumpet stop) alternates with the bubbly ritornello played on the principal chorus. These stops join together for the final joyous “Hallelujahs” which end the piece.

John Ebenezer West’s Aspiration is the first in his 1905 publication Three Short Pieces. West received a formidable education in his early years. He studied organ with J.F. Bridge, the organist at Westminster Abbey and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music. He received additional instruction from his uncle, Ebenezer Prout, a renowned Bach scholar. West held several church positions before his appointment to the publishing firm of Novello & Co. In 1897 he was named musical editor and advisor. The piece is in a very simple ABA form. The A section is a winding reed solo played above a sustained four voice texture played on the soft foundation stops of the swell. The accompaniment and solo dance back and forth in a way that occasionally gives prominence to the accompanimental figure over the solo. The B section bears a great deal of similarity to the accompaniment of the Wilby piece. It has thick chords with inner voices that move from consonant to dissonant and the registration waxes and wanes as the lines flow up and down. The title seems to lend itself to the message of the Wilby anthem. This should be our “aspiration” as a church, to keep his commandments.

 

April 7, 2013 - Easter 2

Prelude on "Westminster Abbey" - Robert M. Speed
Look, Ye Saints! - Dan Forrest
Peace I Leave With You - J. Valery Roberts
Rubrics: "Hallelujah has been restored" - Dan Locklair

Hymns: #192 Vreuchten, #314 Adoro Devote,
              #209 St. Botolph

This week’s music was written by contemporary American composers. The prelude is a piece written by Robert M. Speed the organist of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Des Moines, Iowa. The composition is based on Henry Purcell’s hymn tune Westminster Abbey which, in the 1982 Hymnal is paired with the 7^th century text Christ is Made the Sure Foundation. For me this piece helps to bridge the gap from the resurrection to the Christ as the risen and ascended head of the Church. This piece starts with an agitated theme in minor and then bursts into a new key but as it does gets softer until all that is left is the string celeste on the swell and a simple 8’ principal to play the melody. At the last line stops are added and the building begins. This line is repeated and the material from the opening returns to lead to a triumphal return of the tune played in full chords with pedal scales. The piece ends with a loud fanfare that takes us into the opening song of praise and sets up the joy of the service to follow.

The gradual anthem is an arrangement by Dan Forrest (b. 1978) of William H. Monk’s hymn tune Coronae. This tune is paired with the text Look, Ye Saints the Sight is Glorious by Thomas Kelly. Dan Forrest is a well-respected and highly sought after composer. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center. Forrest holds a doctorate in composition from the University of Kansas. He taught theory and composition at Bob Jones University but left the position to compose full time. This setting of Look, Ye Saints! was written for piano four hands and is a simple arrangement of the hymn that is primarily driven by the accompaniment. I will be playing the accompaniment on the organ which, although you lose the novelty of the piano duet allows for the additional colors available on the organ. The piece sets all four verses. The first begins in unison and then expands to four parts; the second is divided between the women and men. The third takes the tune away and plays with the tonality making it a bit darker and more reserved as the choir sings about the “Sinners in derision.” The piece closes with a soprano descant followed by a coda of “crown Hims” and an extended five- one progression in the organ.

Peace I Leave With You by J. Valery Roberts falls into the “oldie-but-goodie” category for me. I learned this anthem at one of my previous churches. After I left they dissolved the choir in favor of a contemporary service and sold all of their choir music. This is one of the first pieces that I looked for when I went back. It is a little on the “schmaltzy side” but conveys the message of the text elegantly and simply. The anthem is divided in half – perhaps to make it more appealing. The opening section is an extended tenor solo which could stand on its own. The second half is just the choir. The solo never returns, it becomes exclusively choral once the soloist is done. The choir illustrates the text through the use of drastic dynamic contrast – often going from pianissimo to forte in one measures time. This anthem conveys the text through gentle simplicity and the easy to listen to melody truly does bring peace to the listener.

The postlude is the first movement of Dan Lockair’s (b. 1949) Rubrics. This piece is one of the most often performed contemporary American organ works. It was premiered by Mary Preston in 1989. Most of what I know about the piece comes directly from the preface written by the composer which states: “The extra-musical impetus and subsequent titles for each movement are found in the instructions to the services for THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.” The first movement is called Hallelujah has been restored and is taken from pg. 584 which gives “instruction” for the Psalter. The last “rubric” states that “Hallelujah” has replaced the English “Praise the Lord.” Despite the implications of the instruction in the BCP, it seems an incredibly appropriate piece for the second Sunday of Easter when – just as its name indicates, “Hallelujahs have been restored.” The piece is based on “F,C,G,D” and hops about from keyboard to keyboard with a great many trills and even a couple of pedal glissandos.