Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2024 i Choir & Organ

On 28 November I was at Merton College, Oxford, to celebrate the centenary of Oxford University Press’s music department. The publisher’s new Carols for Choirs book 6 was showcased by three choirs: the Choir of Merton College, conducted by Benjamin Nicholas; London Voices, directed by Ben Parry; and schoolchildren, directed by Rachel Bowen, who are on the Oxford Bach Choir (OBC) Schools Choral Programme. The quality of singing was sublime – something I would perhaps take for granted with these two excellent adult choirs. But the children were equally impressive, singing tunefully, wholeheartedly and with evident enjoyment, completely immersed in the experience. The OBC Schools Choral Programme was launched just before the Covid pandemic struck, yet it is already working with half a dozen schools, offering children the chance to…

At The Ivors Classical Awards held in London on 14 Nov, John Rutter CBE received the Ivors Academy Fellowship for his contribution to contemporary choral repertoire. The winner of the Choral category was Ben Nobuto for Sol, written for the National Youth Choir of Great Britain’s Fellowship ensemble. Philadelphia-based vocal ensemble The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally, has been named Musical America’s 2024 Ensemble of the Year, being described as ‘one of the most innovative choirs on the planet’. The choir has won three Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance and has commissioned nearly 170 works addressing social, environmental, and political issues. crossingchoir.org Maria Koronova, of Russia, has won the 13th Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition; second prize went to Xiaofeng He (China), the third prize to Jean Nouvel Alaux…

Canterbury Cathedral has appointed Helen Brookes to the new post of Singing Partnerships Lead. Brookes will play a leading role in developing partnerships with local schools, and with other local and national musically focused institutions, to create opportunities for high-quality musical engagement for a wide range of people, particularly children, from all backgrounds. Westminster Abbey organ scholar Carolyn Craig has been appointed Junior Fellow at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University. She will take up the appointment in January 2024. Craig is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, and holds degrees from Indiana and Yale universities. Violinist Bill Chandler has been appointed director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; since September 2021 he has been director of the BBC Concert Orchestra. The Royal School of Church Music has launched…

In this digital age, social media platforms are an indispensable tool for musicians to expand their reach, connect with fans, and elevate their careers. There is no single strategy for marketing your music online. However, there are some basic guidelines every artist can use to explore and expand their presence across digital platforms: Work on your brand and presence: Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, or TikTok, ensure your profiles are professional, consistent, and truly reflect your musical identity. Optimise your bios with useful information, include links to your music on streaming platforms, and use high-quality images and videos that showcase the essence of you as an artist. Create content that looks like you: Showcase your musical talents, share your creative process through behind-the-scenes content, and captivate your audience with live…

In partnership with In this limited edition special collaboration with Classic FM, we draw together nearly 100 of our most fascinating My Music interviews. Find out which composers, works and artists have enriched the lives of some of today’s most famous celebrities including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Christopher Lee, Joanna Lumley, Armando Iannucci, Sting, Paul Simon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and many more. Order your copy today for just £9.99 Go to magsubscriptions.com/my-classical-music Call: 0800 137201 (UK) or +44 (0)1722 716997 (Overseas) P&P is free for UK addresses. An additional charge will be added for shipping overseas.…

Composing ‘is like solving a puzzle while at the same time devising that puzzle,’ says Lucy Walker, an emerging new talent in British choral composition. ‘You have to work out what’s coming next, but you are also in control.’ Admitting that she has not yet found a perfect compositional technique, she attempts to establish the pivotal moments in the texts she sets – those that demand key melodies and suggestive harmony. Once those organic ideas are in place, she sets off on her puzzle-solving mission, carefully setting her metaphorical jigsaw pieces down until the full picture gradually emerges in front of her. It’s a method that has already found favour with several publishers and commissions from, among others, the BBC Singers, Northern Chords Festival and York Minster, and which now…

A Celebration – 40 years as Birmingham City Organist (Parry, Wolstenholme, Holst, Volans, Mendelssohn, Dring, Coates, Willan, Karg-Elert, Laurin) Thomas Trotter, Birmingham Town Hall Regent REGCG584 [77:34] The only thing missing from a Thomas Trotter recital disc is the engaging and perspicacious spoken introductions which mark his live performances. Connecting with audiences by this means, in addition to his eclectic and entertaining programming, is a skill he has honed over 40 years in the post of Birmingham City Organist. How lucky Birmingham music lovers are to have the reciprocated devotion of an artist who is now the automatic first choice to inaugurate new and restored organs in the UK. A Celebration could be a typical programme from one of his weekly concerts at Birmingham Town Hall, where the stage vista…

Jeremy Jackman assesses new liturgical pieces, concert items, and a book of choral warm-ups Owain Park’s fine Trinity Te Deum (SATB & org, brass + perc; Novello NOV 297480, £6.50) was written for the recent installation of the new Dean at Trinity College, Cambridge. For those without access to such luxurious instrumental forces, the vocal score comes with a do-it-all organ part. While the original scoring is undoubtedly shiny and glorious, this is still an effective work when performed by choir and organ alone. The most declamatory sections (beginning, end, and ‘Thou art the King of Glory’) are reminiscent of Walton in boisterous ceremonial mood. Much of the music in between features a very simple figure neatly coloured by a quaver triplet, allowing the natural rhythm of the text to…

Henry Purcell (ed. Bruce Wood): Dido & Aeneas SSSSSSSTB soli, SATB chorus & orch. Stainer & Bell, vocal score £15.95 Stainer & Bell’s full score of the Purcell Society’s new edition of Dido & Aeneas was released in 2021. Now the vocal score has hit the shelves. The Purcell Society’s original edition was published in 1889, when the society was in its infancy. Edited by William Cummings (who sang Elijah under Mendelssohn’s baton), it is necessarily a product of its age. The Purcell Society edition which I grew up with was made by Margaret Laurie and Thurston Dart in 1961, and was revised twice thereafter (in 1966 and 1974). The newest Purcell Society edition is edited by Bruce Wood and benefits from the fruits of recent scholarship. When ‘Bob’ Dart…

NEW WINE IN OLD SKINS A new organ in the chapel of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, is to be inaugurated on 13 January. The instrument has been a collaboration between two organ builders: Flentrop and Klais. The idea of inviting the Dutch and German builders to submit a joint bid was that of the late Catherine Ennis, who was organ adviser at the time the project started. The builders took on an intriguing challenge. The organ dates back to 1765 and is the largest surviving instrument by the 18th-century Swiss builder Johann Snetzler. Despite significant work in the 1890s (by Hill & Son) and 1960s (by Noel Mander), the original pipes remain largely unaltered. The brief for Flentrop and Klais was ‘to preserve the Snetzler heritage while creating a versatile instrument…

CD DELIUS: EINE MESSE DES LEBENS (MASS OF LIFE) Sols, Bergen Philharmonic Choir, Edvard Grieg Kor, Collegium Musicum Choir, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder (dir) LAWO Classics LWC1265 ‘A splendid new recording’ (see review, p.58) WIN Delius had strong ties with Norway, so it is appropriate that this release of his choral magnum opus brings together Norwegian and British musicians. It is sung here in the original German (the text was by Nietzsche). Sir Mark Elder ‘finds the tender beauty at the heart of the composer’s music’ and the choir ‘sing their hearts out’ for him. Courtesy of LAWO and VAM Artists, we have 3 copies to give away; quote code ‘DELIUS’. CD MOZART: MASS IN C MINOR; C.P.E. BACH: HEILIG IST GOTT Sols, Dunedin Consort / John Butt…

Competitions are listed by date. ORGAN 24th International Organ Competition for the Wiesbaden Bach Prize Dates 11-13 January 2024 Location Wiesbaden, Germany Eligibility Organists of all nationalities born on or after 1 January 1994. Prizes 1st Prize – Bach Prize (€6,000 and contract to play in 2025 Wiesbaden Bach Festival); 2nd Prize (€4,000); 3rd Prize (€2,500) Jury Anna-Victoria Baltrusch, Martin Haselböck, Sebastian Küchler-Blessing, Ludger Lohmann Closing date Entries closed. Address Bernhard-Schwarz-Str. 25, D-65201, Wiesbaden, Germany Email info@bach-wiesbaden.de Web bach-wiesbaden.de Elizabeth B. Stephens International Organ Competition Dates 17-19 June 2024 Location Atlanta, GA, USA Eligibility Born after 17 June 1992. Prizes 1st prize US$12,000; 2nd Prize US$6,000; 3rd Prize US$3,000 Organ Mander (2002/2008, IV/135) Jury David Briggs, James O’Donnell, Isabel Demers, Lynn Davis, David Coucheron Closing date 9 February 2024 Address…

The revolution at the end of the 18th century saw the French organ school suffer a near total collapse. Together with the requisitioning of ecclesiastical goods and the abolition of Catholic services, it is estimated that some 2,000 organs were auctioned, damaged, or destroyed. Except for Alexandre-Pierre-François Boëly and a small handful of others who restricted themselves to forms made popular during the high Baroque, very little music of significance was composed for the organ. In the years after Napoleon had come to power, organ builders were left to salvage and repair existing instruments, and new ones were mainly built from pre-existing material. It was not until the arrival of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in Paris that the landscape of French organ building began to show notable signs of recovery. As at…

Arvo Pärt: Odes of Repentance Cappella Romana / Alexander Lingas (dir) Cappella Records CR428 [74:26] Cappella Romana’s long engagement with Pärt’s settings of Orthodox texts has borne precious fruit in the ensemble’s first recorded presentation of three odes from his Kanon Pokajanen (and other works) in the form of an Office of Repentance. Alexander Lingas and his expert voices lovingly, artfully, and deeply devotionally induce a meditative state that evokes ‘deliverance and optimism’: an intensely intimate, centred, ego-suppressing sequence, centred on The Woman with the Alabaster Box, balm to ear and soul. Don’t expect their trademark twists of Byzantine chant; here is pure Pärt, his sublime, distilled simplicity requiring and receiving total technical and emotional commitment. REBECCA TAVENER Veljo Tormis: Reminiscentiae Veiko Tubin (reciter), Annika Lõhmus (s), Triin Sakermaa (s),…

Michael Burkhardt (ed.): Toccatas for Organ E. C. Schirmer, US$38.50 John Hosking: Toccata in F sharp minor Banks Music Publications, £4.95 Naji Hakim: Montallegro Variations United Music Publishing, £18.99 Antony Baldwin: Variations on God save the King Banks Music Publications, £4.50 Harald Feller (arr.): Vorspiel und Isoldes Liebestod Edition Walhall, €14.90 Schirmer’s Toccatas anthology brings together a stylistically diverse selection of greatest hits (BWV 565, Gigout etc.) and some lesser-known – perhaps not always consistently enthralling – items from the less frequently opened vaults of the genre. A volume containing Percy Fletcher and Murschhauser is nothing if not eclectic, but that’s toccatas for you. There are background notes on the evolution of the form, and brief analytical/contextual remarks on individual works, albeit of a fairly basic kind. This could in…

David Hill: When did your first musical experiences begin? Ben Parry: My dad was a teacher, organist and director of music in Ipswich, which is where we currently live. I always cite him as one of my biggest influences. I was the fourth of four children and the musical geek! All my siblings sang in the church choir at St Margaret’s in Ipswich. When I was too young to sing in the choir I sat on the organ stool, watching my dad play and the choir singing. My earliest recollection was when the choir sang Stanford in C – that amazing G13 chord in the second bar – and I exclaimed to my dad, ‘Daddy, what lovely music!’ I was in heaven from such an early age. I also owned…

I. POSITIF (quatre octaves et demie d’ut en fa) (Flûtes) 1. Bourdon 16 2. Salcional 8 (sic) 3. Bourdon 8 4. Prestant 4 5. Flûte 4 6. Nasard ou quinte 3 7. Doublette 2 8. Tierce 9. Cymbale de quatre rangs 10. Fourniture d° (Anches et jeux harmoniques) 1. Flûte harmonique 8 2. Flûte octaviante 4 3. Flageolet harmonique 2 4. Trompette harmonique 8 5. Cor d’harmonie et hautbois 8 6. Cromorne 8 7. Clairon octaviant 4 8. Tremblant II. GRAND-ORGUE (quatre octaves et demie d’ut en fa) (Flûtes) 1. Montre 32 2. Montre 16 3. Montre 8 4. Viole 8 5. Bourdon 16 6. Bourdon 8 7. Flûte traversière harmonique 8 8. Flûte octaviante harmonique 4 9. Prestant 4 10. Nasard ou quinte 3 11. Doublette 2 12. Grosse…

Rebecca Tavener rounds up the latest releases It’s all about change, our world’s one constant, and these albums all reflect ‘translations’ in one way or another: death to life, shifting belief systems, sanctified bread and wine, obscurity to limelight. We begin with the greatest transmutation of all in an original approach to the Mass for the Dead by Francesco Cavalli. In Transitions [Deutsche Harmonia mundi 19658794522] the singers and players of Capella de la Torre offer an unusual take on life, death, resurrection and transformation, centred around Cavalli’s Missa Defunctorum and ending with the great Easter Sequence Victimae paschali laudes. The clever juxtaposition of two sinfonias from Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne (inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the tale of a woman escaping ‘a fate worse than death’ by…