I post these playlists weekly with the hope that you might find them useful
as you plan your music lists. All of my playlists are on Spotify for you to
enjoy at your convenience.
GSM – December 4, 2016 https://goo.gl/AzF1gl
Don’t forget that we have more choral and organ music programmed
on Sunday evenings beginning at 10 p.m. eastern.
Rob Kennedy
WCPE The Classical Station
Web: TheClassicalStation.org
Facebook: www.facebook/theclassicalstation
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Benjamin Britten: A Hymn to the Virgin
Cambridge Singers, John Rutter
Herbert Howells: A spotless Rose
Polyphony, Stephen Layton
J.S. Bach: Chorale Prelude: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645
Marie-Claire Alain, organ
Britten composed his carol for double choir, A Hymn to the Virgin, at the age of 16. “Herbert Howells, who arguably more than anyone influenced British church music in the 20th century, was not himself a believer. Suitably, his A Spotless Rose was thought up in the least sacred of circumstances – Howells said it came to him as he was watching trains shunting on the Bristol-Gloucester line from his cottage window.” Elinor Cooper in Classic-Music.com Bach’s publisher, Johann Georg Schübler, issued the Six Schübler Chorale Preludes in 1748, just two years before Bach’s death. Much of the material comes from previously composed works. This chorale-prelude, for instance, comes from the 4th movement of BWV 140
Franz Biebl: Ave Maria
Cantus
Anton Bruckner: Virga Jesse floruit
Corydon Singers, Matthew Best
Orlando Gibbons: This is the record of John
University of California Berkeley Chamber Chorus; Berkeley Festival Consort of Viols, John Butt
Jeffrey Thomas, tenor
Biebl wrote his setting of the “Ave Maria” for a double men’s chorus in 1964. “Virga Jesse floruit” is one of a dozen or so Latin motets which the great Austrian symphonist Anton Bruckner wrote when he was a young church organist. “This is the record of John” is widely considered to be a fine example of the English genre known as a verse anthem. It uses the text from John 1:19-23.
Traditional Swedish: Bereden väg för Herran!
Choir and Congregation of Timra Parish Church, Timra, Sweden
An Advent Hymn sung by the Choir of the Music High School: Jan-Ake Hillerud
Traditional: Up, awake and away!
Anonymous: All and some
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Sir Philip Ledger
Adrian Partington, organ
Anonymous: Magnificat anima mea ~ the Vespers of St. Kentigern, Patron Saint of Glascow
Apollo’s Fire, with Apollo’s Singers and Ensemble la Nef, Jeannette Sorrell
Cantors: Amanda Powell, soprano; Jesse Blumberg, baritone
Frans Michael Franzén wrote the text for the traditional Advent hymn “Bereden väg för Herran!” in 1812. The Swedish translates as “Prepare the way of the Lord!” The two carols sung by King’s College Choir come from a CD entitled Procession with Carols on Advent Sunday. Jeanette Sorrell founded Cleveland-based Apollo’s Fire in 1992.
Traditional: On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry
Choir of Wells Cathedral, Malcolm Archer
Rupert Gough, organ
Arvo Pärt: Magnificat
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury
Andre Campra: Rigaudon ~ Idomenee
Empire Brass with Michael Murray, organ
The text for “On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry” was written by Charles Coffin (1676-1749). Arvo Pärt wrote his setting of the Magnificat or Song of Mary in 1989 in his idiosyncratic tintinnabuli or bell-like style. French composer André Campra (1660-1744) wrote primarily operas.
J.S. Bach: Cantata 70a, “Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!”
Holland Boys’ Choir; Netherlands Bach Collegium, Pieter Jan Leusink
Ruth Holton, soprano; Sytse Buwalde, alto;
Knut Schoch, tenor; Bas Ramselaar, bass
This cantata was composed for the 2nd Sunday in Advent. The original cantata was lost. This is a reconstruction of BWV 70a using the movements of BWV 70 which scholars have surmised that Bach would have used.
Antonio Vivaldi: Magnificat in G minor, RV 610
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge; Academy of Ancient Music, Stephen Cleobury
Sarah Fox and Deborah Norman, soprano; Michael Chance, counter-tenor;
James Gilchrist, tenor; Jonathan Lemalu, bass
Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi composed several settings of the Magnificat. RV 610 is the original setting for SATB choir, 2 soprano soloists, alto and tenor soloists.
Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger: Organ Sonata No. 7 in F minor, Op. 127
Peter Dicke, organ
Lichenstein native Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901) had his first organist position at the age of seven.
Felix Mendelssohn: Magnificat for solo voices, choir and orchestra
Berlin Singakademie; Berlin State Orchestra, Dietrich Knothe
Carola Nossek, soprano; Elisabeth Wilke, contralto;
Jurgen Freier, baritone
Mendelssohn’s setting of the Magnificat is an early work dating from 1822. You will detect the influence of his idol, Johann Sebastian Bach, in the structure of this composition.
Aaron Copland: In the Beginning
Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, John Scott
Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano
“In the Beginning” had its first performance in May 1947 at a Symposium on Music Criticism at Harvard University. Copland used texts from the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis. The work is scored for mezzo-soprano soloist and unaccompanied SATB choir.
Cesar Franck: Final in B flat, Op. 21
Michael Murray, organ
1889 Cavaillé-Coll organ in the Basilica of Saint Sernin, Toulouse
Belgian-born organist and composer Cesar Franck dedicated his Final to Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély. This probably explains the touch of delightful exuberance laced with more than a dash of vulgarity which color the opening and closing of this tour de force for the organist.
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