A Feast of Choral Music from The Temple

[ardcarp]

The Temple Winter Festival

Doversoul, of Early Music fame, has kindly alerted me to next week's Live In Concert series, which is a veritable feast of Choral Music. Rather then list all the concerts individually, may I refer everyone to...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/programmes/schedules/2014/w51

...which is the R3 schedule for 15th - 19th December. Scroll down to the evening section.

As a brief summery:

Monday - Vox Luminis (early music) 7.30
Tuesday - Polyphony 7.30
Wednesday - Gallicantus (early music) 7.30
Thursday - Temple Church Choir 7.30
Friday - BBC Singers + Norwegian Wind Ensemble (Messiah) 7.00

[jean]

Your link doesn't work, ardcarp.

I decided to give the SJSS Christmas Festival a miss this year as it didn't look as interesting as usual. Now I see why - they all decamped to the Temple without telling me!

Here is a link to the Fesitval:

http://www.hazardchase.co.uk/events-and-festivals/temple-winter-festival/

[ardcarp]

Temple Winter Festival

Next week (15th – 19th December) Live in Concert will be broadcast from The Temple Church. Two concerts in particular feature Early Music:

Monday 7.30
Vox Luminis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v1rc1

Wednesday 7.30
Gallicantus

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v24q3

(Oh, and on Friday 7.00, Handel's Messiah with the BBCS and Norwegian Wind Ensemble.)

Thanks, doversoul, for alerting me to all this.

[ardcarp]

Thanks for noticing that, jean. I've edited post #1 so ( fingers crossed) it works now. Thanks for your link too....much better than mine.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes I was perusing the programme only this morning. For me the Tuesday (Howells, Warlock, Leighton etc) and Wednesday (XVI century inc. the sublime Tallis Puer Natus est Nobis Mass) are the "must-hear" concerts. Alas I work 5 minutes away (on the bike) but can't go to either. Thank heavens for iPlayer... and I anticipate that they will find their way onto the iPod for in-car travel listening over the holidays

[Vox Humana]

... the sublime Tallis Puer Natus est Nobis Mass

Isn't it just?!

[mercia]

Missa puer natus est also featuring on Wednesday afternoon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v20tm

[ardcarp]

I'll hang on till the evening......

[Nick Armstrong]

I'll hang on till the evening......

Oh God, so will I ...... !

[Vile Consort]

The Vox Luminis concert was wonderful. Right up my street and nicely performed.

[ardcarp]

Vox Luminis certainly did not disappoint. My only thought was that the programme, after a while, became rather 'samey' . It concentrated on a period that shared a pretty similar (quite simple?) harmonic language. By its constitution, Vox L. is a small chamber group, but some of the pieces (Schutz, Scheidt) come to life when contrasts between a big ripieno group and a smaller favoriti group are possible.

[DracoM]

Not entirely up my street, but , oh such clean articulation, no wobble, less is more as a major virtue,, no striving, no me me me group of soloists coming together, calling themselves a choir etc, just beautiful, delicate music-making, discreet continuo organ.

[ardcarp]

Very much looking forward to hearing Polyphony tonight:

Byrt : All and some
Howells : Three Carol-Anthems – No.1 Here is the little door
Howells : Long, Long Ago
Howells : Three Carol-Anthems – No.3 Sing Lullaby
Warlock : As dew in Aprylle
Warlock : Bethlehem Down, ‘When he is King we will give him the King’s gifts’
Warlock : I saw a fair maiden
Warlock/Carter : Lullaby my Jesus
Warlock : A Cornish Christmas Carol
Warlock : Benedicamus Domino
Tavener : Today the Virgin
Tavener : The Lamb
Tavener : Tyger
Tavener : A Hymn to the Mother of God
Leighton : Of a rose is all my song
Leighton : A Hymn of the Nativity
Leighton : Three Carols, Op 25 No.1 The Star-song
Leighton : Three Carols, Op 25 No.2 Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child
Leighton, Kenneth: Op 25 No.3 An ode of the birth of Saviour
Rathbone : Oxen
Wishart : Three Carols, Op 17 No.3 Alleluya, a new Work is come on Hand

Whar a fabulous selection of music. No, the first item is not a mis-print for Byrd! John Byrt lives in Devon and wrote 'Both All and Some' a while ago. It expresses for me all that is best in mid- to late- 20thC choral composition, as does Peter Aston's 'A New Work is Come on Hand' and of course Leighton's 'Lully Lulla'.

I just hope they're all in good voice, because I know many members of Polyphony have been singing their socks off in the run up to Christmas.

[jean]

...Wednesday (XVI century inc. the sublime Tallis Puer Natus est Nobis Mass)...

The Josquin Praeter rerum seriem and the Cipriano de Rore mass based on it are wonderful, too - I just wonder how the interleaving of such different works is going to work; a Kyrie from the one, a Gloria from the other, an Agnus from each. We shall see.

I'll be disappointed if the end of the Josquin isn't as magical as I know it can be. But even the Sixteen couldn't bring it off when they did the piece as part of their Choral Pilgrimage a few years ago.

[ardcarp]

I just wonder how the interleaving of such different works is going to work; a Kyrie from the one, a Gloria from the other, an Agnus from each. We shall see.

When I first saw it, I did wonder why the programme had been put together that way. However, there must surely be a good artistic reason. They've probably tried it out elsewhere and found that it works.

One can understand filching a Kyrie from elsewhere as English Masses before a certain date rarely if ever set the Kyrie polyphonically, and we can only assume it was done as plainsong.