Launch Concert, Christ Church, Spitalfields
After almost two years of planning, the first Choir of London project was eventually launched with a major performance on December 18th 2004 in the glorious surroundings of the newly-restored Christ Church, Spitalfields. The choice of repertoire was directly inspired by the impending visit to the Middle East, and included three new works by British composers written with Jerusalem in mind. Most substantial was John Tavener’s huge Lament for Jerusalem, which juxtaposes Christian, Islamic and Jewish texts in an elegiac love song for the city. This was the first performance of the work in a special ‘Jerusalem Version’, arranged by the composer for the small orchestral forces which accompanied the Choir of London on its subsequent visit to the city.
Programme notes from the concert follow.
Choir of London and Orchestra
conducted by Jeremy Summerly
Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976), Voices for Today (1965)
with the Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, Charles Cole director
Three Australian Christmas Carols:
Peter Sculthorpe (b. 1929), Morning Song for the Christ Child (1966)
Stephen Leek (b. 1959), Peace (1993)
Matthew Orlovich (b. 1970), Lo, There Is Light! (1996)
Giles Swayne (b. 1946), Four Passiontide Motets (2004)
Vidit suum dulcem natum – Eia, Mater! – Fac me cruce custodiri – Dona nobis pacem
Isabelle Adams - soprano; Peter Crawford - alto; Allan Clayton - tenor; David Buckley - bass
Tarik O’Regan (b. 1978), Threnody (2004)
INTERVAL
John Tavener (b. 1944) Lament for Jerusalem: Jerusalem Version (2002)
Angharad Gruffydd Jones - soprano; Andrew Watts - countertenor
Benjamin Britten, Voices for Today
Voices for Today was written to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the United Nations, 24 October 1965. It was first performed on that day in three cities: by the LSO Chorus and the Choristers of Westminster Abbey at the Royal Festival Hall, London; by the Schola Cantorum and the Farringdale Boys’ Choir at the United Nations General Assembly Hall, New York; and by the French Radio Choir at the Maison de l’O.R.T.F., Paris. It was subsequently recorded by the CUMS Chorus and the Choristers of King’s College, Cambridge, conducted by David Willcocks.
This piece, Britten’s Opus 75, was composed in the same period as his Church Parables, and appeared only four years after his other major pacifist outpouring, the War Requiem. Voices for Today draws on a variety of textual sources, combining to create what Britten referred to as a “small anthology of peace”. Like the War Requiem, this work calls for a children’s choir alongside the adult chorus, although in Voices for Today the children’s choir operates independently from the main, in its own tempo structure.
This performance of Voices for Today was made possible by the kind support of The Britten Estate Limited.
Peter Sculthorpe, Morning Song for the Christ Child
Morning Song for the Christ Child was composed in 1966 and was first recorded by the King’s Singers. The elder statesman of Australian composition, Peter Sculthorpe has written very little choral music, although a later Christmas carol was commissioned for the annual Christmas Eve carol service at King’s College, Cambridge, in 1988. Sculthorpe, who turned 70 earlier this year, chose for this piece an evocative Australian text by the contemporary poet (and music critic) Roger Covell.
This performance of Morning Song for the Christ Child was made possible by the kind support of The Holst
Foundation.
Stephen Leek, Peace
Peace was written in 1993 and recorded by the Quodlibet Singers on the Tall Poppies label. Tonight’s performance is the work’s UK premiere. The leading Australian choral composer of his generation, Stephen Leek’s (b. 1959) music is popular internationally although has yet to form a firm foothold in the UK. Much of his writing is influenced by the vast Australian landscape, although this piece reflects images and themes more familiar to the
English tradition.
Matthew Orlovich, Lo, There Is Light!
Lo, There Is Light! was commissioned in 1996 for the Harvard University Choir’s performance at the 87th Annual Harvard Carol Services at the Memorial Church, Harvard University, and the work was recorded by them the following year. Tonight’sperformance is this work’s premiere in the UK. One of a newer breed of Australian composers, Matthew Orlovich (b. 1970) was a student of Peter Sculthorpe at the University of Sydney. Particularly well-known for his choral music, many of Orlovich’s pieces revolve around the juxtaposition of disparate texts. Lo, There Is Light! draws upon two texts: the hymn Brightest and best of the sons of the morning by Bishop Reginald
Heber (1783–1826), and an extract of two verses from Sunrise on the Coast by the Australian “bush” poet A.B. “Banjo” Paterson (1864–1941).
This performance of Lo, There Is Light! is made possible by the kind support of The Holst Foundation.
Giles Swayne, Four Passiontide Motets
1: Vidit suum dulcem natum
2: Eia, Mater!
3: Fac me cruce custodiri
4: Dona nobis pacem
Giles Swayne (b. 1946) is one of the most innovative and versatile of British composers. His first major international success was Cry (1979) for 28 voices, while his Magnificat I (1982) has become a much-loved classic with choirs around the world. Major works written in recent years include Goodnight Sweet Ladies (1994) for soprano and piano, All about Henry (1994) for string orchestra, The Tiger (1995) for SATB, Ophelia Drowning (1996) for solo flute and SATB, and Chinese Whispers (1997) for organ and orchestra, which was commissioned by the St Albans International Organ Festival and premiered in 1997 by Kevin Bowyer with the Britten Sinfonia under Nicholas Cleobury. The acclaimed premiere of The Silent Land, for 40-part choir and solo cello, was given at the 1998 Spitalfields Festival, and performed by Raphael Wallfisch with Clare College Choir and English Voices, conductor Timothy Brown. Following this first performance The Times described The Silent Land as "a masterpiece" and Swayne as "the most accomplished choral composer in Britain".
Giles Swayne writes: “These motets are taken from my Stabat Mater, which was composed in 2003–4 and first performed at the 2004 Bath Festival by Bath Camerata under their conductor Nigel Perrin. A significant feature of that piece is that it combines the twelfth-century Latin poem about the grieving mother of Jesus with Kaddish (in Aramaic and Hebrew) and the Muslim funerary prayer Salaat al-Jinaaza (in Arabic). On 8th October 2004 the BBC Singers under John Poole gave the London premiere of Stabat Mater at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge. John Poole will conduct the USA premiere at Indiana University on 24th April, 2005, and in Indianapolis a few days later.
“The first, third and fourth of the Four Passiontide Motets were premiered at Tewkesbury Abbey on 17th August 2004 by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain under their conductor Michael Brewer. The same forces are also recording all four motets for a Delphian Records CD which will be issued in 2005. Tonight’s performance, however, is the premiere of the set in its entirety. The words of the first three motets are taken from the Latin Stabat Mater poem. Vidit suum dulcem natum refers to the exact moment when Christ stops breathing, as seen through his mother’s eyes. Solo soprano and alto weave a painful lament above a short and simple chorale which expires into inarticulate humming and then into silence. Eia, Mater! places four solo voices in relief against the choir, using the two words of the title as a recurring but varied refrain to explore the mother’s grief. Fac me cruce custodiri is a prayer for redemption of the human race through Christ’s death on the cross. It too uses solo voices; but the end focuses again on the mother, who (in the form of a solo alto) pours out a grief-stricken but proudly confident appeal for the glory of Paradise. The fourth motet, Dona nobis pacem ( which corresponds to the ending of the Stabat Mater) sets a simple plea for peace in Latin, Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic (the language spoken by Christ).
“Despite their medieval texts, my Stabat Mater or the Four Passiontide Motets are not intended as religious pieces, so much as meditations on humanity and its opposite. Golgotha is re-enacted today – a stone’s throw from its original site – every time a Palestinian or Israeli life is sacrificed. As with Mary then, it is women who still make the greatest sacrifices – and who are left behind to grieve. This is, above all, a piece for them.”
This performance of Four Passiontide Motets was made possible by the kind support of The Britten-Pears Foundation and the Holst Foundation.
John Tavener, Lament for Jerusalem
Lament for Jerusalem was commissioned by Fr Arthur Bridge OAM for Ars Musica Australia, and is dedicated to “all young Australian men and women striving to make a difference in the performing arts”. Its first performance was in July 2003 at the Sydney Opera House with the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and the first UK performances took place in September 2004 in Cambridge and London. A recording of the world premiere performance has just been released on ABC Classics.
This “Jerusalem version” for smaller orchestra, was especially arranged by the composer for this performance and for the Choir’s subsequent tour. The Middle Eastern premiere of the work will take place on Tuesday 22 December in the Church of Notre Dame de l’Arche de l’Alliance, Abu Ghosh. Tonight ’s performance is the world premiere of the Jerusalem version.
John Tavener writes: “Lament for Jerusalem is a mystical love song. It is only through love that there can be a transcendent unity of all religions, and all manifestations of God. There is the Christic element in Christ's lament over Jerusalem, which is sung by the chorus in the original Greek; then, there is the Judaic element in the Psalm By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, sung by the choir and soprano solo; the Islamic dimension is taken from the prologue of Rumi's sublime Masnavi, and this is always sung by the counter-tenor. I see the Lament as a mystical love song, because all three elements can be viewed esoterically, as a lament concerning the loss of the beatific vision. Also, with the knowledge that the loss is merely temporary, because the loss is far outweighed by the Absolute and Infinite worth of that which is lost. Thus, it is only through love of God (which is the ultimate aim of this mystical love song) that the world, at an esoteric level, can heal itself in a civilisation of plurality and exoteric discord. Music is the highest form of philosophy, and I offer this love song to all who seek God, from whatever tradition they come. Any act of love must by its very nature unite. The composer may take from traditions as he pleases, and through the act of composing, which is an act of love, he attempts to form a unity.
“The music of Lament for Jerusalem should be sung and played with great intensity, but at the same time, with great purity of heart, always reflecting the mystical, sacred and sublime nature of the texts, Also, although intensely tender, it should have a magisterial dignity, transcending any human dimension. The mysterious words of Christ ambiguously and consistently haunt the music of the entire Lament, showing perhaps a temporary loss of the Beatific vision at the end of the Hindu cycle, the Kali Yuga. This music attempts to bring about a transcendent
unity though, by a music of tenderness and love, reflecting the sublimity of the three sacred texts.”
This performance of Lament for Jerusalem was made possible by the kind support of The Britten-Pears Foundation and the generous co-operation of Chester Music and Novello &Co. Ltd.
December 18th, 2004