A synopsis of the works for the Spring 2010 concert
‘Magnificat’ by John Rutter
The English composer, John Rutter (born 1945) is perhaps best known for his highly successful Christmas Carols. One of the most popular, Shepherd’s Pipe Carol, was written while he was still at school and has sold well over a million copies in sheet music alone. The royalties are reputed to have paid for his first house!
The Christmas pieces in general belong to Rutter’s early years, and as he grew older, he turned his attention to more substantial choral works. These have also become popular, both with choirs and the broader listening public – especially through the medium of radio, where his tuneful and approachable music is played regularly on Classic FM.
Most of Rutter’s large-scale works received their first performances in the United States, where he is a popular and frequent visitor, regularly writing for American choirs and conducting performances of his own music. Magnificat was first performed in 1990 in Carnegie Hall, New York, conducted by the composer, while the UK première followed a year later in Coventry Cathedral.
Magnificat takes as its starting point the canticle (song) of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:46-55). To this is added, ‘Of a Rose’, a 15th century poem and allegory for Mary; while ‘Sanctus’ from the Latin Mass and the song, ‘Sancta Maria’ (Holy Mary) provide the remaining texts.
The composer stated that his intention was to write a Magnificat redolent of Mediterranean sunshine and celebration, evoking the spirit of the many exuberant festivals held throughout Europe in honour of the Virgin Mary. To this end, the work is full of energetic, syncopated rhythms and strong melodies. Rutter’s music is always beautifully crafted, and his unashamedly popular style has seen choral societies and audiences throughout the world responded with wholehearted enthusiasm.
‘A Little Jazz Mass’ by Bob Chilcott
Bob Chilcott (born 1955) has been involved in choral music for most of his life. He was a boy chorister and choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, singing the solo Pie Jesu on their renowned recording of Fauré’s Requiem. In 1985 he joined the King’s Singers, staying with them for twelve years. Since 1997 he has worked as a full-time composer, writing a wide variety of choral music, including a significant amount for young people. He has over one hundred works published in English, and a number in German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Slovenian.
As well as being Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers, and one-time director of the choir at the Royal College of Music, Chilcott has conducted many other leading choirs throughout the world – from Europe to Canada and the USA, Japan and Australia. He has worked in 23 countries on six continents, and at festivals from Newfoundland to Tallinn, where in 2004, as the first foreign musician to be invited, he conducted a choir of 7000 young singers at the Estonian Song Festival.
Even if you have never heard of Chilcott before, you may have heard some of his music. Since 2005, his arrangements of The Skye Boat Song, Londonderry Air, and Ar Hyd y Nos have been incorporated into Henry Wood’s British Sea Songs at the Last Night of the Proms. He also worked from time to time as an arranger for the BBC Radio Orchestra and the King’s Singers.
A Little Jazz Mass was written in 2004 and first performed at a choral festival in New Orleans – an appropriate start given the Jazz-oriented style of the music. While it is necessary for the choir to stick to their music, the accompanying musicians are encouraged to improvise freely. This creates quite a challenge for the choir, so our performance should be anything but dull!
‘Requiem’ by Gabriel Faure
‘Are you sitting comfortably, then I’ll begin?’ If you remember these words, you already know at least one piece of music by the French composer, Gabriel Fauré – the Berceuse from his Dolly Suite for two pianos. This was used to introduce Listen with Mother every weekday at quarter to two on the BBC Home Service. If you haven’t a clue what this is all about, ask someone who looks older!
Fauré (1845-1924) was a fine composer and an excellent organist, teacher and administrator. He rose to become organist at the prestigious Eglise de la Madeleine in Paris, Professor of Composition at the Paris Conservatoire, and Director there from 1905-1920.
His Requiem was written between 1887 and 1890, when Fauré was in his forties. A short, five-movement version of the work was performed in 1888 at La Madeleine, but this was subsequently revised and expanded to become seven movements. Around 1900 a ‘concert’ version incorporating a full orchestra was made, probably by one of Fauré’s students. For many years this was how the work was best-known, until John Rutter discovered Fauré’s original manuscript in the Bibliothèque National in the early 1980s.
Fauré’s Requiem is very different in tone to the ‘blood and guts’ equivalents from the likes of Berlioz, Brahms and Verdi; excellent though these are. Fauré’s composing style is naturally more restrained, and here he is writing for relatively small-scale liturgical use – the first performance was for the funeral of an architect, one Joseph la Soufaché. It seems Fauré was fed up with playing the ‘standard’ service music of his day: “…after all the years of accompanying burial services on the organ! I know it all by heart. I wanted to write something different.”
The completed Requiem was originally scored for choir, two soloists, organ and a small chamber orchestra. The work’s modest intimacy proved to be a stumbling block for Fauré’s publisher, who wanted something more ‘spectacular’ to attract the concert-going public – hence the orchestral version of 1900. Despite this, it took a long time for the Requiem to gain international recognition. It was not performed in America until 1931 (and then only at a student concert) and did not reach England until 1936. In fact, it was not until the 1950s that the work started to achieve the popularity it now enjoys. Most modern performances, even high profile recordings, reflect the composer’s original intentions and are small-scale, with organ or chamber orchestra accompaniment.
(Ian Fry)