CANTORUM CHOIR Patron Ralph Allwood MBE Sponsor Aspen Worldwide C antorum Choir is a dedicated and talented choir of approximately forty voices, based in Cookham, Berkshire. Under the directorship of Elisabeth Croft, the ensemble continues to earn itself a reputation as one of the leading chamber choirs in the area. Cantorum boasts a wide-ranging repertoire and performs professional-quality concerts throughout the year. It is a great pleasure to announce that the already acclaimed young composer Alexander Campkin is now working with us as Composer in Residence. We are thrilled to include his first new work for us in tonight s concert. We were also privileged to sing his glorious choral motet True Love at our Valentines event in February. You may also like to know that three years ago, in the Choir of the Year 2014 competition, Cantorum was placed 5th nationally in the Adult Choir category. Last June, we entered the regional auditions for Choir of the Year 2016. We were delighted to go through to the National Selection round, with the judge commenting: That was absolutely sensational! Soprano Julia Bentley-Dawkes, Kathy Bragg Kate Cromar, Louise Evans Kirsty Janusz, Sandy Johnstone Jenny Knight, Clare Macmillan Hilary Monaghan, Louise Smyth Joy Strzelecki, Philippa Wallace Tenor Anthony Dowlatshahi, Philip Martineau Malcolm Stork, John Timewell Alto Celia Armstrong, Jill Burton Jayne Chapman, Julie Dyg Sarah Evans, Anne Glover Angela Plant, Elspeth Scott Chiu Sung, Lorna Sykes Gill Tucker Bass Derek Beaven, John Buck Arthur Creswell, Mike Creswell Gordon Donkin, David Hazeldine Ed Millard, Paul Seddon Ben Styles 2
Elisabeth Croft (née Toye) Music Director E lisabeth was born and raised in Cardiff. She graduated with a music degree from the University of Birmingham and then went on to gain an entrance award to study singing at the Royal Academy of Music, from where she graduated with Distinction in 2004. After a number of years as a professional singer, she became a full time vocal coach and choral trainer. For ten years, she worked for Berkshire Maestros; she founded several new choirs and was the director of Berkshire Young Voices from 2013 to 2016. She is Director of Cantorum Choir and Thames Valley Chorus and is Head of Singing at Bradfield College. During 2017 she has also been directing the National Youth Training Choir of Wales. Having designed and organised this concert, Elisabeth is currently on maternity leave Robert Jones Conductor R obert Jones was educated at Trinity School, Croydon. In 1975 he became a Music Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, where he sang in the Cathedral choir. Following graduation, he held posts as Lay Clerk at St. George s Chapel, Windsor and Westminster Cathedral before embarking on a career as one of Britain s leading consort singers, featuring on award-winning recordings with the Tallis Scholars, the Orlando Consort and the Gabrieli Consort. He maintains a lifelong interest in piano and organ playing and choral directing, and has been Director of Music at the Wren church of St. Bride s, Fleet Street in the City of London since 1988. He has been associated with many leading British choral societies and has also recently taken over as conductor of Renaissance Voices, a chamber choir based in Maidenhead. He has four sons, who have all sung professionally. Alexander Campkin Composer in Residence A lexander studied composition at Oxford University, the Royal Academy of Music and the University for Performing Arts in Vienna, receiving tuition from Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Robert Saxton, Stephen Montague, Michael Jarrell and Simon Bainbridge. His music, described as fresh and attractive by Gramophone, has attracted the attentions of some of the top ensembles. His work has been performed or broadcast in over forty countries and features on over 20 CDs, one of which was Christmas CD of the Year for Classic FM. Born in 1984, Alex has received over ninety commissions from organisations including The Royal Opera House, The Tallis Scholars, The Royal Ballet Sinfonia, The London Mozart Players, Aldeburgh Music, and the BBC Performing Arts Fund. Photo A P Wilding 3
Photographic Images of Ralph Vaughan Williams from before and during World War 1 4
Mass in G Minor Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) Kyrie eleison; (Lord have mercy) Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison. Gloria in excelsis Deo. (Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace...) Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe, Filius Patris, Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis, suscipe deprecationem nostram qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis, quoniam Tu solus sanctus, Tu solus Dominus, Tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris, Amen. Credo in unum Deum, (I believe in one God the Father almighty...) Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium, et invisibilium, et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei, unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum vero de Deo vero. Genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine. Et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis: sub Pontio Pilato passus, et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos: cujus regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per Prophetas. Et in unam sanctam catholicam ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen. Sanctus sanctus sanctus. (Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth) Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Osanna in excelsis! (Hosanna in the highest!) Benedictus (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord) qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis. Agnus Dei, (Lamb of God who bears the sins of the world, pity us, give us peace.) qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis, dona nobis pacem. Solo Quartet Kate Cromar Soprano; Sarah Evans Contralto; Malcolm Stork Tenor; Derek Beaven Baritone 5
Composer Alexander Campkin and Conductor Robert Jones rehearsing Waterfall with Cantorum Choir, September 25th 2017 D uring the above rehearsal, Alex drew the choir s attention to the fact that his piece is monothematic in that only one melody is used. The seemingly simple rising and falling theme of C, D, E, D, E, F#, G, F#, E G, F#, E A, G, F#, E, D, C is actually stated twelve times, but in each case with a subtle difference, sometimes having the time value compressed or stretched, sometimes with the intervals distributed between voices, and so on. In this way, the onrush of water moves constantly down, dividing and repeating in separate strands and rhythms to create its own sound entity, while at the same time the forceful upward drive of the poem is always musically dominant, rising eventually to a great crescendo of affirmation. The Picture shows Swallow Falls in North Wales. The poet, Henry Vaughan, was proudly Welsh actually from the south and to some extent influenced by Welsh poetry in his writing of English spiritual verse. This image was chosen as particularly suggesting the pattern of division and confluence in the powerful stream of water that both Vaughan and Campkin seem to have in mind. 6
Waterfall Alexander Campkin (b 1984) Commissioned and first performed by Cantorum Choir with thanks to Aspen Worldwide. With what deep murmurs through time s silent stealth, Doth thy transparent, cool, and wat ry wealth Here flowing fall. And chide and call. All must descend Not to an end, But quicken d by this deep and rocky grave, Rise to a longer course more bright and brave. Dear stream! dear bank!... What sublime truths and wholesome themes Lodge in thy mystical deep streams? O my invisible estate, My glorious liberty, still late! Thou art the channel my soul seeks. From Water-fall by Henry Vaughan (1621-1695) Composer s Note This piece sets an excerpt of text from the poignant poem Water-fall by Henry Vaughan. The text is an excellent example of Vaughan s mystical nature poetry, and imitates the rhythm of falling water. Vaughan finds symbolic biblical meaning in the details of the waterfall: All must descend Not to an end which suggests an application to human life not ending at death. Rather, the rush of the waterfall quickens the water. Here, Vaughan employs a pun, using it in a way no longer current. The alternative meaning of quick in the seventeenth century was alive. So the water actually makes us alive and Rise to a course more bright and brave. In this composition I try to evoke Vaughan s images of mystical deep streams, as melodies overlap and gradually build. Interval The church has one toilet near the entrance doors. The manager of the George and Dragon, on Marlow High Street (100 yards to the right as you leave the church), has kindly given permission for our audience to use their facilities during the interval. 7
Songs of Farewell Hubert Parry (1848-1918) My soul, there is a country Far beyond the stars, Where stands a wingèd sentry All skilful in the wars: There, above noise and danger, Sweet Peace sits crown d with smiles, And One born in a manger Commands the beauteous files. He is thy gracious Friend, And O my soul, awake! Did in pure love descend To die here for thy sake. If thou canst get but thither, There grows the flower of Peace, The Rose that cannot wither, Thy fortress, and thy ease. Leave then thy foolish ranges; For none can thee secure But One who never changes Thy God, thy life, thy cure. Henry Vaughan (1621-1695) (In 1987, Cantorum Choir recorded this item for the first TV Inspector Morse adaptation The Dead of Jericho) I know my soul hath power to know all things, Yet she is blind and ignorant in all: I know I m one of Nature s little kings, Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall. I know my life s a pain and but a span; I know my sense is mock d in everything; And, to conclude, I know myself a Man Which is a proud and yet a wretched thing. Sir John Davies (1569-1626) Never weather-beaten sail more willing bent to shore, Never tirèd pilgrim s limbs affected slumber more, Than my wearied sprite now longs to fly out of my troubled breast. O come quickly, sweetest Lord, and take my soul to rest! Ever blooming are the joys of heaven s high Paradise, Cold age deafs not there our ears nor vapour dims our eyes: Glory there the sun outshines; whose beams the blessèd only see. O come quickly, glorious Lord, and raise my sprite to Thee! Thomas Campion (1567-1620) 8
There is an old belief, That on some solemn shore, Beyond the sphere of grief Dear friends shall meet once more. Beyond the sphere of Time and Sin, and Fate s control, Serene in changeless prime Of body and of soul. That creed I fain would keep. That hope I'll ne er forego. Eternal be the sleep, If not to waken so. John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854) At the round earth s imagined corners, blow Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise From death, you numberless infinities Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go; All whom the flood did, and fire shall o erthrow, All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies, Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you whose eyes Shall behold God and never taste death s woe. But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space, For if above all these my sins abound, Tis late to ask abundance of thy grace When we are there; here on this lowly ground Teach me how to repent; for that s as good As if thou had st sealed my pardon with thy blood. John Donne (1572-1631) Lord, let me know mine end and the number of my days, That I may be certified how long I have to live. Thou hast made my days as it were a span long; and mine age is as nothing in respect of Thee, And verily every man living is altogether vanity. For man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain, he heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what is my hope? Truly my hope is even in Thee. Deliver me from all mine offences and make me not a rebuke to the foolish. I became dumb and opened not my mouth for it was Thy doing. Take Thy plague away from me, I am even consumed by means of Thy heavy hand. When Thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin Thou makest his beauty to consume away like as it were a moth fretting a garment; every man therefore is but vanity. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with Thine ears consider my calling, hold not Thy peace at my tears! I am a stranger with Thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence and be no more seen. Psalm 39 verses 5-15 9
I n 1921, the date of the G Minor Mass, no English composer had set such an overtly Catholic text for three hundred years. Indeed, during some of that time it had been technically illegal to do so. The last English mass had been by William Byrd, who, as a Catholic under Elizabeth I, had written his liturgical settings virtually in secret (Cantorum performed Byrd s Mass for Five Voices exactly a year ago in our Polyphony Concert). Ralph Vaughan Williams was not a Catholic nor was he even particularly religious. But he had been an ambulance driver during WWI and, as a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he had experienced active service. By the finish of the conflict, he had of course lost many friends, several of them significant composers or musicians. His hearing, so precious to any musician, had also been damaged. In addition, the celebrated Hubert Parry, his teacher at the Royal College of Music, had died from the devastating influenza epidemic that swept an exhausted Europe during the winters of 1918 and 1919. It is possible to imagine, then, that the traditional Catholic mass, ending as it does with a plea for peace Dona nobis pacem might have seemed to Vaughan Williams a poignant, if somewhat daring, means to commemorate the unimaginable tragedies, both national and personal, which had occurred during the period 1914-18 (he was to title a piece with the same three words in 1936 in response to the rise of Hitler). We could even see the Mass in G Minor as an early war requiem; though perhaps with the standard Requiem s apocalyptic visions of fire, ash and the Dies Irae deliberately and pointedly set aside. There is, however, a direct musical line back from Vaughan Williams s Mass in G Minor to his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis for string orchestra (1910) almost as if the war had not intervened. The works are of similar length. Both are virtually identical in concept: the forces divided antiphonally around a solo quartet (a string quartet in the case of the Fantasia) that perhaps symbolises the pilgrim human soul. Both works are characterised by melodic lines reminiscent of plainchant, wrapped in vast minor chords whose grand and startling progressions frequently switch the third of the scale to major (the mediaeval technique known as tierce de Picardie) to create a ravishing sour-sweet effect. Both compositions also hint at folk song and feature moments of dramatic ascension in the top line of the quartet. (We should note that Vaughan Williams had already composed the first material for The Lark Ascending.) Both seek a new and unfamiliar direction in music and were greeted on first hearing with a degree of bafflement! Every composer seeks to honour the past, but also to break free from it. For Vaughan Williams, the past was unavoidably the great German classical/romantic tradition, which had been dominated by Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner and, around the turn of the nineteenth century, Richard Strauss. For Parry, as Vaughan Williams s mentor at the Royal College, these composers still represented the heights of music s expressive power. The ever-questing Wagner in particular had already broken most of the rules of harmony. He and Strauss had taken the consonance of tones to exotic, even delirious levels. What was there left for a new generation to do? The answer, for almost every major composer of the twentieth century, proved to lie in a far deeper past, with the techniques of mediaeval polyphony. For Schoenberg and The Second Viennese School, the new and fiercely mathematical application of polyphonic methods frequently resulted in the harsh or atonal sounds we now tend to associate with modern music. But Parry, too, led an equivalent turn and was keen to revive the sounds of the 10 Samuel Palmer: The valley thick with corn 1825
English Tudors and to plant hints of their technique in his work. In this way, he and Stanford inspired new, consciously nationalist composers to share an English Musical Renaissance (Vaughan Williams, Holst, Howells, Ireland and, later, Finzi). Modal scales and their implied harmonic values seemed to offer a far less austere path than the Viennese method. Indeed, Vaughan Williams is rarely atonal. He seems to look always for Edward Calvert The Sheep of his Pasture 1825 the musical opportunity to heal painful rifts: between, say, past and present, sacred and profane, Catholic and Protestant, folk music and the cathedral sound. He seeks as a lifelong admirer of Bunyan s The Pilgrim s Progress (1678) to bring The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains (VW 1921) closer to the Celestial City. In the process, he strikes chords of a lost spirituality. His music conjures that visionary English/British landscape which hovers so tantalisingly just behind and beyond our everyday experience. The revival of Tudor choral methods necessarily provoked a quest for texts Parry had no intention of setting catholic Latin. Nevertheless, there is a seam of English art and writing that stems directly from the metaphysical verse and ecstatic prose of such seventeenth century protestant figures as John Donne, John Milton, Henry Vaughan and Thomas Traherne. It appears (fleetingly) in the early nineteenth century in the work of William Blake and his disciples, the artists Samuel Palmer and Edward Calvert. And it is this seam that Parry undertook to mine. He is most famous, of course, for his setting of Blake s much misunderstood Jerusalem. But he also set Milton (Blest Pair of Sirens and L Allegro ed Il Penseroso). And so it is through both music and text that we should see Parry as the key to tonight s concert. While his own musical style evokes Brahms or Mendelssohn, his visionary thought would seem directly to inspire the Vaughan Williams generation. And now it inspires our own. For Alexander Campkin s Waterfall, tonight s world premiere, pays tribute both to Parry s Songs of Farewell through the Henry Vaughan text, and to the Vaughan Williams G Minor Mass in its sound world. Campkin s magical response to language and his sonorous echoes of 16th and 17th century harmonies, reveal how a leading young composer of today answers the question of the new turning tradition again into something beautiful and fresh. This is in no way to brand him as an English Renaissance composer Waterfall was commissioned specifically as a personal response to tonight s programme, and Alex s style elsewhere is his own, broadly based and entirely contemporary. Yet his love for Vaughan Williams is clear. And what a privilege it has been to rehearse and prepare this work. We are all thrilled to be giving its first performance. What of Parry s six Songs of Farewell? They are the product of 1918, his very last year. In all of his chosen poems, the composer meditates musically on life s end as though prescient of his own. Parry s was an existence both successful and frustrated. He was born into an extremely privileged Victorian background, yet his childhood was fraught with loss, difficulty and a degree of struggle. Uncertainty about his destiny and his own value frequently seems to have left him somewhat adrift, until, as a protégé of the famous George Grove (of Grove s Dictionary of Music and Musicians), he was employed for many years as an academic musician and tutor at the Royal College. He achieved some distinction as a composer, but was in many ways underestimated and misrepresented particularly by George Bernard Shaw, the playwright and stinging music critic, whose comments sabotaged Parry s career. It is possibly only now, with the renewal of interest in his music, that we realise quite how radical Parry was, a women s suffragist and surprisingly in view of his religious settings a Darwinist. He emerges as a figure of strange contradictions, but for all that the unsuspected wellspring of a living stream of composition. 11
Future Cantorum Concerts: Date: Saturday 16th December 2017 Event: Traditional Christmas Concert Venue: Holy Trinity Church, Cookham SL6 9SP Date: Good Friday 30th March 2018 Event: J S Bach St John Passion Venue: Eton College Chapel SL4 6DW Date: Saturday 23rd June 2018 Event: Summer Concert Venue: Holy Trinity Church, Cookham SL6 9SP Grateful thanks are due to: The Stationery Depot, Cookham Rise Parade All others who have helped in the production of this concert And thanks to you, our audience, for your continued support! If you would like to be on our mailing list, please email us: info@cantorumchoir.org.uk If you or your organization would like to consider sponsoring Cantorum Choir in some way, then please call us on 07711 056661 to discuss the various options Cantorum Choir is proud to support this year: The Alzheimer s Society and Crisis (the national charity for homeless people) Cantorum Choir @cantorumchoir www.cantorumchoir.org.uk info@cantorumchoir.org.uk 12 Cantorum Choir Registered Charity no. 1136210