Your favourite Angels

[Guest]

It seems, next Sunday 23rd, Aled Jones in The Choir will investigate favourite choral music involving Angels. That's a pretty wide remit I guess from Angels from the Realms to Hildegard von Bingen.

So, what's your fave involving angels?

[Vile Consort]

Messiaen's, of course!

[Magnificat]

Factum est Silentium where St Michael sorts out Draco

VCC

[Wolsey]

Factum est Silentium where St Michael sorts out Draco

He also gets sorted out (in English) in Neil Cox's And there was war in heaven which is my nomination, together with John Tavener's Angels.

[Roehre]

Crumb: Black Angels

[decantor]

I don't think I have a 'fave' angel piece, so Aled will owe me nothing. But I would still beg a favour of him. Please, no Christmas angels. That season is still almost 48 weeks away.

[David Underdown]

On the theme of Michael and All Angels, there's a little known 1937 radio cantata by Britten "The Company of Heaven", for two speakers, tenor soprano and chorus (some fo the choruses are spoken). There's a recording with Britten conducting the ECO, sounds samples available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Britten-Compan.../dp/B00006ANK6, there's a review of a Birmingham Festival Chorus performance at http://www.bfcs.org.uk/Reviews.htm. I was lucky enough to take part in a 2009 performance for the Bedford Park Festival with Patrick Malahide and Elizabeth McGovern as the speakers http://www.smaaa.org.uk/festival/BPF2009leaflet.pdf

[DracoM]

Agree about the Crumb - fantastic piece. But he ain't ging to play it as it's not choral. Just sung in a fantastic new piece by Roland Fudge in which bits of Milton's Satan adn Michael collide with the Bible and some of it is underscored by chorus, terrific bits of rock band and huge orchestra. Very exciting.

[Tapiola]

"The Parable of the Old Man and the Young" from Britten's 'War Requiem'.

[salymap]

The Angel in Gerontius. She [nearly] always has such a comforting contralto voice

[Anna]

R3 have now put the playlist on their website. You can read it here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xn9xz

[subcontrabass]

R3 have now put the playlist on their website. You can read it here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xn9xz

A quick trawl through shows very few pieces with visible angelic links. I can only identify four that have such a link, and in the case of the last piece it is simply the name of the author of the text.

[Anna]

I thought the playlist was a bit dismal, but I guess they have to pitch it to the average listener of The Choir. Who is the average listener to that programme I wonder?

[DracoM]

What an extraordinary playlist! Even bizarre - given the subject, and given that AJ earnestly begged our response. Did listeners really emial in for such choices? Do they know what an angel is? Genuinely flummoxed.

[Miles Coverdale]

They could have gone the whole hog and played Wylkynson's Salve regina from the Eton Choirbook, where each of the nine parts is named after one of the choirs of angels - Seraphim, Cherubim etc.