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List Price: $25.99 | | Label: Lammas Records
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Released: July 1, 1999 |
| Our Price: $25.99 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Saints & Souls Track Listing:
1. Te Deum in B flat Charles Villiers Stanford
2. Antiphon I Mode i
3. Greater Love hath no man John Ireland
4. Give us the wings of faith Mark Blatchly
5. Antiphon II Mode i
6. The souls of the righteous Geraint Lewis
7. In Paradisum from the Requiem Gabriel Fauré
8. Antiphon III Mode i
9. This is the record of John Orlando Gibbons
10. Antiphon IV Mode i
11. Ave Maria Anton Bruckner
12. Antiphon V Mode i
13. O quam gloriosum Tomás Luis de Victoria
14. Blessed City, heavenly Salem Edward C Bairstow
15. Antiphon VI Mode i
16. Psalm 23 Henry Walford Davies
17. Give us the wings of faith Ernest Bullock
18. Antiphon VII Mode i
19. Te Deum in C Benjamin Britten
Editorial Review:
The feast of All Saints is kept on 1st November to celebrate all the Christian saints, known and unknown. It is thought that it originated in 609, when Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was at first celebrated on May 13th of that year; Pope Gregory III (Pope from 731-41) changed the date to November 1st when he dedicated a chapel in honour of All Saints in the Vatican Basilica. Gregory IV later extended the feast to the whole Church and ever since Egbert of York brought the feast to England it has ranked as a principal feast. 1,255 ancient English churches bear this dedication, a number surpassed only by those dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
All Souls' Day marks the commemoration of the souls of the faithful departed and takes place on the day following All Saints' Day (except when 2nd November is a Sunday in which case All Souls' Day is moved to 3rd November). It is a feast begun by Abbott Odo of Cluny in his monasteries in 998 and gradually adopted by the whole Church.
Both commemorations have inspired composers and writers around the world to write texts and choral music of the highest quality. The sequence of music represented here barely touches upon the huge available repertoire. Its selection was guided by the plainsong office hymn for All Saints 'Father, in whom thy saints are one', written by George Timms (b. 1910). He has made use of several Latin hymns to create an extended hymn of praise and prayer. Whilst the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist are the only individuals to be singled out, the hymn also focuses on themes of sacrifice, praise, eternal rest, steadfastness, patriarchs and prophets, the twelve Apostles, and also of the love that underlies spirituality. These themes are all brought together in the ancient hymn of the church, the Te Deum Laudamus ('We praise Thee, O God'), two settings of which frame this programme, and which also served as the inspiration for the stained glass window by Christopher Webb that adorns the cover. The origins of this text are unclear, although it appears to have been used in a recognisable form by the fourth, or certainly the fifth century. In Britain, the Te Deum is familiar from its central role at Mattins as part of the Book of Common Prayer (1662).
The Te Deum in B flat of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) was used at the Coronation Service of 1902. It is a grand setting, making use of Gregorian intonations amongst the moments of fanfare-like choral writing ('Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ') and more reflective sections ('We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants'). The sparse opening of the Te Deum in C by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) introduces a setting that is much less ceremonial. Written in 1935 for St Mark's Church, North Audley Street, London, when the composer was twenty-one years old, a feature is the great urgency in mood created by a syncopated motif heard on the organ pedals. This pedal figure provides a link with the middle section that gives prominence to a treble solo memorable for its descending arpeggios. Following the recapitulation of the opening, it is this music that provides the codetta.
John Ireland (1879-1962) composed his Remembrance-tide anthem, Greater Love, in 1912, at which point he was eight years into his twenty-two year incumbency as Director of Music at St Luke's Church, Chelsea. Ireland is better known today for his piano and chamber music rather than for his small output of music for the church. Greater Love is, however, perhaps his best known work for the church (in 1986 it was sung at more cathedrals and collegiate churches in the British Isles than any other anthem) and the combination of treble and baritone solos followed by climactic moments for full choir gives it a rather Victorian feel....
Benjamin Nicholas, January 2000
