Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes: November 2009

November 29, 2009

Luca Signorelli, The Elect (detail), Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto, 1499-1502

And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints (NRSV, 1 Thessalonians, 3:13).

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
The First Sunday of Advent

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong

3) The Concert Calendar

"O" Antiphons are an important element in Advent liturgy since the ninth century. A number of them will be sung in plainchant during this year's Procession of Carols and Lessons for Advent.

"O" by Eric Gill

Click to read about "O" Antiphons and listen to them in plainchant sung by the Cantuale Antonianum and the Dominican students of Blackfriars, Oxford, as well as versions by Healey Willan and Arvo Pärt.

Montreal Bach Festival 2009 proudly announces its 3rd Edition: November 24 to December 5, 2009.

Click for complete information.

McGill Autumn Noon-Hour Organ Recital Series
The Wolff organ of Redpath Hall
Fridays at 12:30 pm - Admission Free

November 27: Jens Korndoerfer (Bach Festival)

December 4: Michael Dirks (Bach Festival)

Click to go to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Music for Advent and Christmas, performed by the Westminster Cathedral Choir, Martin Baker, master of music.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

To listen to a 1998 Pipedreams programme of organ and choir meditations for Advent, Veni, Come, click here, then click on "Complete Show." To listen to the final, unusual and stunning piece, Jacques Charpentier, L'Ange à la trompette, performed by John Balka on the 1992 C.B. Fisk organ of the Myerson Symphony Center, Dallas, hold button and slide to 77:15 (77 minutes and 15 seconds).

Click to hear Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 61, performed by Soprano: Julianne Baird; Counter-tenor: Drew Minter; Tenor: Benjamin Butterfield; Bass: James Weaver; American Bach Soloists (no choir); Jeffrey Thomas conducting.

November 22, 2009

Russian Orthodox Icon of Solomon

"Grant to my son Solomon that with single mind he may keep your commandments, your decrees, and your statutes, performing all of them, and that he may build the temple for which I have made provision (NRSV, 1 Chronicles 29:19)."

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
The Reign of Christ

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong

3) The Concert Calendar

Cipriano de Rore, of Franco-Flemish origin, was a prolific Renaissance composer of madrigals, Masses and motets while in the service of the Este family in Ferrara. His Jubilate Deo is the introit for Choral Eucharist this coming Sunday.

Click to read about Cipriano de Rore and listen to a variety of his madrigals and motets performed by the Ensemble Weser Renaissance Bremen.

Montreal Bach Festival 2009 proudly announces its 3rd Edition: November 24 to December 5, 2009.

Click for complete information.

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano conducting, will open the festival with the Bach St. Matthew Passion on Tuesday, November 24, and Wednesday, November 25, both performances at 8:00 pm. Click for information.

Those with access to the Naxos Music Library online may prepare by listening at home to a variety of performances with notes and complete text and translation.

Click here.

McGill Autumn Noon-Hour Organ Recital Series
The Wolff organ of Redpath Hall
Fridays at 12:30 pm - Admission Free

November 20: Matthew Provost

November 27: Jens Korndoerfer (Bach Festival)

December 4: Michael Dirks (Bach Festival)

Champions in Canada: Highlight performances from Montreal by winners of the 2008 Canadian International Organ Competition, with commentary from CIOC artistic director John Grew.

Click to go to the November 9th programme of Pipedreams from Minnesota Public Radio.

Click to go to a performance of Antonio Bononcini, Stabat Mater dolorosa; Felicity Palmer, soprano; Paul Esswood, countertenor; Philip Langridge, tenor; Christopher Keyte, bass; Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge; George Guest conducting.

Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 55, performed by Ernst Haefliger, tenor; Aurele Nicolet, flute; Edgar Shann, oboe; Munich Bach Orchestra & Choir; Karl Richter conducting.

November 15, 2009

Illustrator of Petrus Comestor Bible Historiale, Hannah Praying at the Shrine at Shiloh, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, 1372 1372

She made this vow: "O LORD of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head (NRSV, 1 Samuel 1:11)."

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage
2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong
3) The Concert Calendar

The prelude for Choral Eucharist this coming Sunday by Ralph Vaughan Williams is based on the Welsh hymn-tune, Rhosymedre. Click to listen on YouTube to all three of the organ preludes based on Welsh hymn-tunes composed by Vaughan Williams in 1920 performed by Christopher Allsop on the 1975 Metzler organ of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Ave Maria: Works dedicated to the Blessed Virgin is the first concert of the season of Musica Orbium, directed by Patrick Wedd, to be held on Sunday, November 15, at 7:30 pm, at St. George's Anglican Church, 1101 Stanley Street, Montreal (Bonaventure Metro). Choral Music by Rachmaninov, Pärt, Chilcott and others (including several “Ave Marias” and “Magnificats”) will precede the beautiful and engaging “Stabat Mater” by French genius Francis Poulenc. Click for complete information and the possibility to reserve by phone.

Kerry-Anne Kutz, soprano
Philip Crozier, organ
Programme:
Ave Maria: Robert Parsons (circa 1535–1572) [Clare College: listen]
Magnificat in G: Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) [Stamford; St. John's; Andrew Johnston: listen]
Bogoroditsye Dyevo (Ave Maria): Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) [Friday's Voices; King's Singers: listen]
Bogoroditsye Dyevo: Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) [Friday's Voices; Tewksbury; Southampton; Cambridge Singers: listen]
Nova! Nova!: Bob Chilcott (b. 1955) [Tower Voices: NML] (info)
Dixit Maria: Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) [James River Singers; King College: listen]
Ave Maria (à 4): Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) [Westminster Cathedral: listen]
Ave Maria (à 8): Tomás Luis de Victoria [Tallis Scholars: listen]
Regina caeli: Gregor Aichinger (1564-1628) [Auckland: YouTube]
Magnificat: Charles Theodore Pachelbel (1690- 1750) [Tower Youth: NML] (info)
Stabat Mater: Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) [Prêtre: listen]

McGill Autumn Noon-Hour Organ Recital Series
The Wolff organ of Redpath Hall
Fridays at 12:30 pm - Admission Free

November 13: Jonathan Oldengarm

November 20: Matthew Provost

November 27: Jens Korndoerfer

December 4: Michael Dirks

2009 Commemoration: The 250 aniversary of the death of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Click to go to George Frideric Handel, Joshua, A Sacred Drama; words by Thomas Morell; performed by John Mark Ainsley (tenor); James Bowman (alto); Michael George (bass); Emma Kirby (soprano); Aidan Oliver (treble); The Choir of New College, Oxford (Edward Higginbottom, director); The King's Consort; Robert King conducting.

Click to go to a performance of František Ignác Antonín Tůma, Stabat Mater dolorosa by The Prague Madrigalists, Pavel Baxa conducting.

Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 8 performed by Soprano: Julianne Baird; Alto: Steven Rickards; Tenor: Jeffrey Thomas; Bass: James Weaver; American Bach Soloists (Choir & Orchestra); Jeffrey Thomas conducting; Recorded at St. Stephen's Church, Belvedere, CA, USA.

November 8, 2009

Sir John Lavery, The Cemetery, Etaples, Imperial War Museum, London, 1919

Those who trust in him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with him in love, because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones, and he watches over his elect (NRSV, Wisdom 3:9).

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
Remembrance Sunday

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong

3) The Concert Calendar

The last works of Johannes Brahms were 11 chorale preludes for organ,Op.122,composed in Bad Ischl in 1896 while Brahms was mourning the death of his dear friend, Clara Schumann. Click to listen to Karol Golebiowski on the 1961 Frobenius organ of the Church of the Holy Trinity (Heliga Trefaldighetskyrkan), Kristianstad, Sweden.

Kerry-Anne Kutz, soprano
Philip Crozier, organ

Programme:

Ave Maria: Robert Parsons (circa 1535–1572) [Clare College: listen]

Magnificat in G: Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) [Stamford; St. John's; Andrew Johnston: listen]

Bogoroditsye Dyevo (Ave Maria): Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) [Friday's Voices; King's Singers: listen]

Bogoroditsye Dyevo: Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) [Friday's Voices; Tewksbury; Southampton; Cambridge Singers: listen]

Nova! Nova!: Bob Chilcott (b. 1955) [Tower Voices: NML] (info)

Dixit Maria: Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) [James River Singers; King College: listen]

Ave Maria (à 4): Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) [Westminster Cathedral: listen]

Ave Maria (à 8): Tomás Luis de Victoria [Tallis Scholars: listen]

Regina caeli: Gregor Aichinger (1564-1628) [Auckland: YouTube]

Magnificat: Charles Theodore Pachelbel (1690- 1750) [Tower Youth: NML] (info)

Stabat Mater: Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) [Prêtre: listen]

McGill Autumn Noon-Hour Organ Recital Series
The Wolff organ of Redpath Hall
Fridays at 12:30 pm - Admission Free

November 6: Jean-Willy Kunz

November 13: Jonathan Oldengarm

November 20: Matthew Provost

November 27: Jens Korndoerfer

December 4: Michael Dirks

2009 Commemoration: 200th Anniversary of the Death of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Joseph Haydn, Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo (Kleine Orgelmesse / Little Organ Mass), Hob. XXII:7, Mass in B-flat Major, performed by Tamara Crout Matthews, soprano; Zoila Muñoz, mezzo-soprano; Benjamin Butterfield, tenor; David Arnold, baritone; Jonathan Dimmock, organ; American Bach Soloists, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, American Classical Soloists; Jeffrey Thomas conducting; has been added to four other versions of the Little Organ Mass previously posted. Click to read about the Little Organ Mass with the possibility of listening to all five versions.

Pedro de Raxis, St. John of God, 16th cent.

Click to go to Salvador Brotons, Stabat Mater, a performance of Joana Llabrés, soprano, Josep Pieres, baritone; Coral Càrmina; Lieder Càmera; Orquestra Sinfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya; Edmon Colomer conducting.

Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 55, performed by Jeffrey Thomas, tenor; American Bach Soloists; Jeffrey Thomas conducting.

November 1, 2009

Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Raising of Lazarus, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1308-11

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "

Lazarus come out!" [NRSV, John 11:43]

Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong

3) The Concert Calendar

This Sunday, All Saints Day, two of the organ voluntaries are by Olivier Messiaen celebrating the glorified bodies of the saints. Listen to the entire work, Les Corps glorieux, by Olivier Latry [listen], Jennifer Bate [listen] and Dame Gillian Weir [listen].

Michelangelo: The Risen Christ