Reviews

CHORAL MUSIC

*** AVE VIRGO SANCTISSIMA: A garland for Our Lady
The choir of the London Oratory/John McGreal (organ)/Patrick Russill · Herald HAVPCD 346
The blooms that comprise this musical garland are flowers of the rarest indeed. The choir of the London Oratory is an outstandingly fine adult choir that sings with a haunting lyricism and restrained passion. The programme includes plainsong, Renaissance polyphony (composers include Jacob Handl, Victoria, Peter Philips, Palestrina, Guerrero, and Clemens non Papa), and pieces by Elgar (Ave Maria), Howells (Salve Regina) and Bruckner (Tota pulchra es Maria). Two contrasting pieces by Joan Cererols (1618–76) who was successively chorister, monk and director of music at the abbey of Monserrat, were new to me and are very welcome discoveries. A wonderful disc of superb music beautifully performed.
Christopher Maxim

** CHORAL EVENSONG FROM TEWKESBURY ABBEY
The Abbey School Choir, Tewkesbury/Carleton Etherington (organ)/Benjamin Nicholas · Delphian DCD34019
This recording of choral evensong (words as well as music) was made shortly before the closure of the Abbey School, Tewkesbury, whose choir had sung weekday evensongs at the abbey since the early 1970s. The pre-service voluntary is Master Tallis’s Testament; the introit is Tallis’s Sancte Deus; the responses are Heathcote Statham’s; and psalms 91 and 131 are sung to chants by Walter Alcock and Michael Peterson, the Abbey’s School’s first Director of Music. The canticles are Gabriel Jackson’s Howells-inspired Tewkesbury Service; the anthem is Vaughan Williams’s Valiant-for-Truth; and the hymn is ‘The day thou gavest’. The choir then sings the Te Deum to Howells’s Collegium Regale setting before the service is brought to a spine-tingling conclusion with Vierne’s Toccata in B flat minor. The singing and playing are of a very high order, complemented by the magnificent acoustic of Tewkesbury Abbey. Happily, as one era ended, another began and now the Schola Cantorum fulfils the role formerly performed by the choir of the Abbey School. Thus, this disc represents a comma rather than a full stop in the musical life of Tewkesbury Abbey.
Christopher Maxim

** AWAKE UP MY GLORY
Choral and organ music by Philip Moore · The Exon Singers/Jonathan Vaughn (organ)/Matthew Owens · Regent REGCD315
Philip Moore’s music is of a quality that deserves a survey such as this, which is sung and accompanied with sensitive expression and accomplishment. His style is very much of the late twentieth, early twenty-first century English cathedral type, but Moore’s voice is individual; though his musical language has emerged from a rich and distinctive tradition, he builds on that tradition rather than aping it. The disc opens with the anthem from which it takes its name. All wisdom cometh from the Lord, a piece of nearly ten minutes’ duration, has been recorded before and makes an impact within the programme. Thou are my life, commissioned by Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, is a haunting piece, while the Third Service uses plainsong to create a canticle setting of surprising gentleness. Some organ pieces are included: Three pieces for Withycombe for manuals only and an exuberant Dance-Rondo. This disc is warmly commended to listeners who enjoy contemporary choral and organ music.
Christopher Maxim

** REQUIEM: A THANKSGIVING FOR LIFE
Choral works by Sir Philip Ledger · The Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge/Sir Philip Ledger & David Rowland · Regent REGCD305
The music by Sir Philip Ledger featured on this disc is very accessible: tonal, tuneful and concise. Many listeners are sure to be charmed by its conventional (but not unimaginative) style; and there is much that choirs might like to explore for themselves, since none of it is especially difficult. The Requiem lasts a little under half an hour. It calls for flute, harp, cello, double bass and timpani in addition to the organ – instruments that a choir might assemble more easily than the sort of orchestral ensembles that other requiems demand. Some of the other tracks are carols, including settings of familiar texts: Adam lay ybounden, A spotless rose, Jesus Christ the apple tree and In the bleak mid-winter. There are also arrangements of familiar melodies (Good Christian men, rejoice; This joyful Eastertide) that are finely crafted and fresh. The choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge and the instrumentalists who accompany them perform with enthusiastic and polished musicianship.
Christopher Maxim

ORGAN MUSIC

WE RECOMMEND . . .

*** THE NEW AND THE OLD
Isabelle Demers plays the 1995 Marcussen organ of Tonbridge School · Acis (for availability see www.acisproductions.com)
‘Isabelle Demers at the organ is a force of nature – a diminutive dynamo . . .’ So proclaim the sleeve notes of this highly engaging disc. Recorded on the wonderfully clear-sounding Marcussen organ of Tonbridge School, the programme springs into action with an energetic – but not rushed – performance of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D BWV 532. The articulation is smart and there are some cheeky changes of manual in the fugue that bring out the humour of this virtuosic piece. Isabelle Demer’s own arrangement of movements from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet are exciting, expressive and successful, exploiting the range of colours offered by the Tonbridge organ. Does the artist see something of herself in The Young Juliet with its contrasting impetuous and pensive moods? Reger’s Introduction, Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme Op. 73 are profound and searching, and demonstrate the depth and breadth of Isabelle Demers’ musicianship. I should like to hear more of her playing.
Christopher Maxim

*** INSPIRATIONS FROM ENGLAND
Scott Montgomery plays the 2001 Mander organ of St Peter’s Church, St Louis, Missouri · Regent REGCD309
This disc showcases the impressive three-manual, mechanical action organ of St Peter’s Church, St Louis, Missouri and the exquisite chamber organ. Scott Montgomery’s dynamic, poised playing is a joy and the pieces on this excellent disc are a feast. The programme opens with Parade for Saint Peter by Sasha Johnson Manning: well worth getting to know. Music by Byrd and Sweelinck follow, played on the chamber organ. Back on the main instrument we are treated to Bach’s great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV 542, followed by Walond’s charming Voluntary in G. Mendelssohn’s mighty first Sonata comes next. The assurance of the rendition of the finale is very impressive. An Adagio in E by Frank Bridge makes an effective contrast, and Guilmant’s Caprice in B flat major prepares for a scintillating performance of Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster to round off the programme. Highly recommended.
Christopher Maxim

** THE DONCASTER SCHULZE IN ST GEORGE’S MINSTER, DONCASTER
Played by Paul Derrett · Amphion PHI CD 226
Paul Derrett explores the five-manual Doncaster Schulze via an unusual programme that, while including some well-known names (Merkel – Adagio in E, Liszt – Fantasia and Fugue ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’ and Bach – Shepherds’ Musicfrom the Christmas Oratorio, arr. Karg Elert), actually contains more music by lesser-known composers, several of whom have Schulze or Doncaster connections. Johann Gottlieb Töpfer (1791–1870), whose Variations on ‘Vivre Henri Quatre’ open the disc, collaborated with Schulze’s father. Wilfred Sanderson (1878–1935), composer of Allegretto in C, and Magnus Black (1930–98), composer of Pastorale in E, were both organists of St George’s; while David Rogers (b. 1957), composer of Toccata Jubilosa is a native of Doncaster and has a long association with its Schulze. Paul Derrett’s sympathetic and highly accomplished interpretations of all the pieces in his interesting programme make for a very engaging disc.
Christopher Maxim

MAKING MORE SENSE OF HOW TO SING
Multisensory techniques for voice lessons and choir rehearsals · Alan J Gumm ·
Meredith Music Publications/Hal Leonard 9781574631524
The biggest problem for writers offering advice on singing technique is the lack of connection between words on a page and a physical activity geared towards producing sound. Much contemporary thinking on the subject revolves around the use of external physical exercises to identify successful or problematic facets of the vocal mechanism, and Gumm's book is no exception. He offers specific exercises to teachers and choir directors to identify practice in, for example, breathing, larynx position and resonance. On breathing he is excellent and choir trainers could benefit immensely in using some of his ideas. On resonance his position is very traditional. Exponents of Jo Estill's vocal research will take issue with his assertion of the existence of only two vocal registers (head and chest) or that singers change resonance by consciously moving sound into their nasal cavities rather than altering their vocal mechanism. Although less useful for those hoping to branch out into different styles of singing, this book would be very useful for directors of traditional choirs looking for a way into broaching issues of technique with their singers.
Simon McEnery

THIS IS OUR SONG
Women’s hymn-writing · ed. Janet Wootton · Epworth Press: 216 pp. P/B · 9780716206552
Those interested in gender studies will be aware of the many articles about female writers for the church, but since Mrs Emma Pitman’s Lady Hymn Writers of 1892, this would appear to be only the third book published in the UK specifically about female hymn writers. Actually Mrs Pitman is not mentioned in the index but I suppose she may be referred to in one of the many references. Neither of the other two books is mentioned either, though one was also published by the Epworth Press.
Part One is a well-researched survey of the corpus of hymns by women writers from Heloise to the present day, written in a pleasing easy style, bed-time reading almost. Part Two contains ten portraits of contemporary women hymn-writers. Nine of these are contributed by the writers themselves, giving an interesting insight into their personal theology and writing philosophy. Their passion certainly comes through in these personal testaments. Janet Wootton was Congregational Minister at Union Chapel in Islington for seventeen years and is a prolific hymn-writer.
It worries me slightly when a publisher as long-established and well-esteemed as the Epworth Press fails to spot spelling and indexing problems. I’m not just referring to typos but to the names of famous people. Timothy Dudley-Smith is not hyphenated and is indexed as Smith, Ralph Vaughan Williams is indexed under ‘W’ not ‘V’, Marty Haugen and Erik Routley are re-christened Martin and Eric respectively and the contemporary John Tavener is given the spelling of his Tudor forebear. These are little things in themselves, but in a book that outwardly gives a scholarly appearance it makes me wonder what else might be inaccurate or a bit slapdash.
John Henderson

HEAR MY SONG
Pam Rhodes · SPCK Press: 152 pp. P/B · 9780281061938
With 20 years of experience on BBC Songs of Praise and a lifetime of personal faith, journalist, novelist and television presenter Pam Rhodes has considerable knowledge of Christian hymnody. She has no doubt shared the personal testimonies of many who have chosen hymns for that programme. In this delightful book she meditates on many of the situations and challenges of life, drawing comfort, strength and inspiration from the texts of some 160 hymns. Though the origin of many texts is explained, this is not a ‘hymn companion’ type of book, but a look at the joys and sorrows of human life reflected in familiar texts. It will bring comfort and joy to many, both musicians and non-musicians and is highly recommended.
John Henderson

THOMAS TUDWAY
Ian Spink · Church Music Society: 32 pp. P/B · 9780953036622
Thomas Tudway, organist of King’s College, Cambridge for 56 years and Professor of Music at Cambridge, is not a name to trip lightly off the tongue of many church musicians unless they have an interest in Restoration church music. This monograph from the Church Music Society is by Ian Spink, Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of London and the world’s greatest Tudway expert. The text of a 2009 lecture in Cambridge, it is probably the definitive biography and appreciation of a musician whose main importance was the six volume set of cathedral music by composers contemporary to himself as well as Tudor composers. Tudway was also a composer with some two dozen anthems and services to his credit. His works (respectable rather than inspired) are discussed briefly. It seems he was also a purveyor of puns – ‘his puns provoking grins and groans in equal measure’. He must have been quite a character, for 50 years after his death John Hawkins wrote that he ‘is yet remembered at Cambridge for his singular style in conversation’. Those interested in Restoration music and those of eclectic tastes will enjoy this booklet.
John Henderson

HEAVEN & EARTH IN LITTLE SPACE: The Re-enchantment of Liturgy
Andrew Burnham
Canterbury Press 228 pp. P/B 9781848250055
The author is a liturgist, musician and Bishop of Ebbsfleet, one of the Church of England’s ‘flying bishops’. In this book he writes perceptively about music for Eucharist, about plainsong and hymns. The chapter most concerned with music is followed by final chapters discussing the Divine Office and about the honour due to the Blessed Virgin Mary, chapters that will appeal to Catholics, Anglican and Roman. But readership among church musicians will have been restricted by the previous chapters concerning the calendar, fasting and much else that seem to set out, sometimes overtly and sometimes more covertly, a manifesto announcing what Anglicans might bring to future Personal Ordinariates within the Roman communion. Repeatedly the author argues for the restoration of aspects of pre-Vatican 2 usage, or ‘reform of the reform’ as its proponents like to call it, and aligns himself with what one understands to be Pope Benedict’s inclinations. The book’s appeal will be primarily to musicians working within Forward in Faith churches, which is understandable given the particular concerns of the moment. But the discussion of music, with useful historical summaries and a wide-ranging grasp of currently available resources in print and on-line, deserves wider readership. There are the seeds of an important book about music in the liturgy here, within the discussion of so much else: I hope that Bishop Andrew will have opportunity in the future to write it.
Julian Elloway

THE ADVENT SEQUENCE: Veni Emmanuel [M/E]
A carol service and resources compiled by David Ogden and Peter Moger
RSCM S0127
The evocative ‘Great O’ antiphons, beginning ‘O Sapientia’ (‘O Wisdom’) and concluding ‘O Emmanuel’, call on God under a number of scriptural titles to come as teacher and deliverer, and form the basis of this collection of Advent resources. On one level here is an Advent carol service with the traditional movement from west to east and from darkness to light. But it is also an anthology of ten Advent anthems (Jon Banks, Barnard, Guest, Lole, Mendelssohn, Moger, Ogden, Rizza, Shephard and Stanford), and a compendium of other Advent-related material, with the seven Advent antiphons in English and in Latin set to chant, scripture readings, a choral blessing of light, hymns, songs, prayers and canticles. It belongs on every church musician’s desk alongside Carols for Choirs 2 and Advent for Choirs when planning Advent services, and is particularly useful for its downloadable performing notes, instrumental parts, and a template for a congregational booklet.

VERBUM CARO: Choral Music for Advent Lessons and Carols [mostly E]
Pack of 20 different choral leaflets
OCP / Decani 30101354
Here is a surprising collection of 24 pieces published in a pack of 20 octavo leaflets. The subtitle unequivocally says ‘Advent’, but less than half relate to Advent. The others are Christmas pieces including Richard Proulx’s Born on this day (SATB, organ, flute, oboe, cello), Christopher Willcock’s Coventry Carol (SAB unaccompanied), Andrew Wright’s arrangement of ‘Let all mortal flesh keep silence’ (unison/upper voice choir, descant and organ), an arrangement of ‘O come, all ye faithful’ (three verses, including ‘Yea, Lord, we greet ye, born this happy morning’) and an arrangement of an American eighteenth-century tune for ‘While shepherds watched their flocks’ (SSAATTB plus SATB soloists). The title piece Verbum caro, i.e. ‘the Word was made flesh’, is given in an anonymous fifteenth-century setting. Such is the range of texts, styles and musical forces. The ten Advent pieces, of which Colin Mawby’s Three Advent Carols are particularly distinguished, are for a similar range of voices and instruments. The pack is good value for money if you might use most of such a diverse collection. To check, look at the complete contents list at www.ocp.org/products/30101354 – there is also a CD of most of the pieces, available in the UK from Decani Music.

O ANTIPHONS [D]
Pawel Lukaszewski
Unaccompanied SATB with divisions
Chester Music
O Sapientia CH75174 £3.50
O Adonaï CH75845 £3.50
O Radix Jesse CH75889 £3.50
O Clavis David CH75856 £2.99
O Oriens CH75878 £2.99
O Rex Gentium CH75900 £2.99
O Emmanuel CH75867 £3.50
Łukaszewski’s reputation is growing fast, far beyond his native Poland, and boosted recently by enthusiastic UK and US reviews of last year’s Polyphonia recording of his Via Crucis. His style is related to the ‘holy minimalists’ of Górecki, Pärt and Tavener, but he couples this with driving ostinato rhythms reminiscent of the outer movements of Orff’s Carmina Burana and the sort of vocal techniques found in Penderecki’s St Luke Passion. It is a heady mixture that can be found in these separate settings of the Advent antiphons, written over five years for a number of different choirs and occasions. There is much divisi: O Oriens, written for Eric Ericson’s Chamber Choir, subdivides into sixteen parts. But there is also a distinctive ‘renewed tonality’ (the composer’s phrase) with harmonies and patterns that provide core reference points for pitching the music, whilst the scores are presented in a clear and friendly way, including keyboard reductions – this church music should not remain the possession only of professional chamber choirs.

THERE IS NO ROSE [ME]
Antony Baldwin
SATB with divisions
Banks Music Publications ECS 522
MARY AND THE ANGEL [ME]
Andrew Seivewright
2-part upper voices and piano
Banks Music Publications ECS 510
I SING OF A MAIDEN [D]
Graham Ross
SATB with divisions
Encore Publications
Here are three strikingly different Marian carols. Antony Baldwin has written a version of There is no rose that seems more conservative in musical language than first Britten and then Joubert in their imaginative settings well over half a century ago. But Baldwin’s music is always tasteful, and every harmonic suspension and resolution and every melodic nuance is carefully judged and often beautiful in effect.
More of a carol feel is found in Andrew Seivewright’s setting of the story of the Annunciation, strophic but with such invention that it sounds through-composed as each eight-bar verse takes us from A flat to E and back to A flat major again. The ending is expertly judged, depicting how ‘our Lady stood alone’ as the implications of what the angel’s message sink in.
‘I sing of a maiden’ was also set by Britten in A Ceremony of Carols (under the title ‘As Dewe in Aprille’) and settings by Hadley and Berkeley remain popular, but this new version by the prodigiously talented Graham Ross deservedly won the 2009 John Sanders Memorial Prize. It centres round the stillness of ‘he came al so still’, with a moment of utter immobility the final time those words are sing – out of which erupts the conclusion that ‘well may such a lady Goddes mother be’. This is a musical setting that heightens the familiar words so that they become charged with fresh significance.

ADAM LAY YBOUNDEN [M]
Matthew Martin
SATB with divisions
Faber Music 978-0-571-52080-0
ECCE CONCIPIES
Matthew Martin [M]
SSAATTBB
Faber Music 978-0-571-52135-7
Adam lay ybounden shakes off any shadows of Warlock and Quilter by the originality of its characterful treatment. Particularly striking is the distant haze of ‘Ave maris stella’ plainchant as the words move from the clerkes and their book to Our Lady as ‘heav’né queen’. The work ends with a canonic ‘Deo gracias’ gently hanging in the air that must sound wonderful in a resonant acoustic.
Ecce concipies looks more difficult than it is: what a pity that the publisher did not provide a keyboard reduction for this eight-part setting, nor indeed an English translation or any idea what it is about! The words are of the angel to Mary starting ‘Behold you shall conceive’ and ending ‘the Son of the Highest’. The music is quick and nervously obsessive, as though the angel is in a rush to blurt out the news – pulled together at the end by slower tenor and bass alleluias.
James L Montgomery

CAROL ANTHOLOGIES

WE RECOMMEND . . .

CHRISTMAS AT KING’S COLLEGE
46 carols, hymns and seasonal anthems for mixed voices from the choir of King’s College, Cambridge
selected by Stephen Cleobury
Novello NOV040073 £14.95
This is an important publication; and the attention of all who conduct/sing in accomplished choirs is drawn to it because it contains numerous pieces that have already become, or surely will become, Christmas choral classics. Many – but not all – of these pieces were commissioned for the King’s College carol services; and all have been sung at King’s carol services, or on the (more populist) television version, Carols from King’s. They include Philip Ledger’s Adam lay ybounden, Peter Wishart’s Alleluia, a new work is come on hand, Pärt’s Bogoroditsye Dyevo, Diana Burrell’s Christo paremus cantica, Carl Rütti’s I wonder as I wander (recommended), Judith Weir’s Illuminare, Jerusalem (a brilliant work, though neither the basses nor the organist have much to do), Lennox Berkeley’s In Wintertime, Tavener’s The Lamb, Peter Sculthorpe’s Morning Song for the Christ Child, Paul Edwards’s No small wonder (easy and effective), Richard Rodney Bennett’s Nowel, Bob Chilcott’s The Shepherd’s Carol (lovely), Roxanna Panufnik’s Sleep, little Jesus, sleep, Jonathan Dove’s The Three Kings (not easy, but well worth the effort), and Rutter’s What sweeter music. In addition there are some old favourites, including Warlock’s Benedicamus Domino and Elizabeth Poston’s Jesus Christ the apple tree; plus a number of arrangements by Stephen Cleobury and others, among them Ledger’s superb version of The Sussex Carol.
Stephen Cleobury has also included a number of his own arrangements of congregational carols, rivalling the ubiquitous versions (mainly by David Willcocks) that come from Carols for Choirs 1 and 2. It is a brave conductor/organist indeed who schedules Cleobury’s O come, all ye faithful instead of Willcocks’s, but these four-part harmony arrangements are refreshingly different. There is a little overlap between this book and 100 Carols for Choirs (which I suspect many church choirs have in their libraries), and the volume includes Patrick Hadley’s I sing of a maiden, which was in CFC 2¸ but omitted from 100 CFC. While one might lament the omission of certain pieces (for instance, I had hoped to find Thomas Adès’s Fayrfax Carol), this book really is a ‘must have’ for choirs that are of the requisite standard.
At the back of the book is a model service of Nine Lessons and Carol (much as one will find in some of the Carols for Choirs volumes), plus numerous suggestions of pieces from the book itself that might be sung after each lesson.  This is a very helpful feature.
Christopher Maxim

NOËL! 2 [mostly M]
43 carols and anthems for Advent, Christmas & Epiphany for mixed voiced choirs
Selected and edited by David Hill
Novello NOV310827
It is ten years since the publication of the first Noël! anthology, also selected and edited by David Hill, and therefore interesting to see what new pieces are included for a new decade. But most immediately striking is the number of ‘old’ pieces that never appeared in the first volume: Here for example are Riu, riu, chiu, Pearsall’s In dulci jubilo, Poston’s Jesus Christ the apple tree and Joubert’s Torches, and a useful version by David Hill of Bethlehem Down that combines Warlock’s solo voice (verses 1 and 3) and choral (verses 2 and 4) versions. New compositions that reflect different facets of the 21st century include Eric Whitacre’s flavour-of-the-month Lux Aurumque, Matthew Martin’s Adam lay y-bounden, Tarik o’Regan’s Threshold of Night and Tavener’s Rocking. Cecilia McDowall (Of a Rose) joins Poston and Carol Barratt (an arrangement of a Ukranian carol) in an otherwise all male line-up. Descants and last-verse arrangements are provided by David Hill for O come, all ye faithful and O come, o come, Emmanuel, by James O’Donnell for Once in royal and The first Nowell. This wide ranging anthology ends with the Advent ‘O’ antiphons with alternative chant transcribed from a Cistercian source. The whole is a tastefully selected and carefully edited treasure chest of refreshing repertoire.

ALAN BULLARD CAROLS [M]
10 carols for mixed voices
Alan Bullard
Oxford 978-1-19-336485-1
Bullard has a well-deserved reputation for the practicality of his writing, and his compilation of the Oxford Book of Flexible Carols showed how he can arrange and adapt for all sorts of forces. As well as that gift, seeing ten of his carols in a single volume one realizes how important are the words – the Christmas story here is not just an excuse to write music, but something that is alive and vital to interpret and re-present in each generation. Sometimes this leads Bullard to choose twentieth-century verse, such as Chesterton’s poem ‘And all the stars looked down’; at other times old carol texts are freshly re-examined, such as in Star of Wonder where the three kings’ thoughtful description of their gifts contrasts with the joy of the refrain. That is one of three carols that have been newly arranged for SATB for this collection; a further three are completely new.
Stephen Patterson

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

AWAY IN A MANGER [MD]
John Tavener
SATBB choir, S solo
Chester CH70686
THE CHRIST-CHILD [MD]
Gabriel Jackson
SATB with divisions, S solo
Oxford X514
Here are the fruits of two King’s College Christmas commissions, five years apart. Tavener’s Away in a manger is a beautiful new approach to these words, marked ‘with infinite tenderness, wonder and awe’, sentiments that disappear for the violent lowing of cattle and awakening of baby, but reappear for an ethereal solo in verse 3. Jackson’s setting of Chesterton, last year’s commission, is a winner: rich harmonies, rocking rhythms, and a sense of direction and movement to a climax at ‘the stars looked down’.

BALULALOW
Francis Pott
SATTB choir, S solo
Oxford NH72
Whether a respectful tribute from one composer to another, or simply unconscious memories of an earlier piece, this setting of Balulalow appears to take as its starting point Howells’s My eyes for beauty pine in melody, harmony, tonality and unhurried minim pulse. The music blossoms as a solo sings appassionato ‘that richt Balulalow’ but the choir remains a quiet backdrop into which the solo subsides – a quiet but rich E flat major.

TIDINGS, TIDINGS THAT BE TRUE [E]
Peter Aston
SATB and organ
Encore
This is a jolly, strophic setting with a carol-like feeling telling the tidings that ‘sorrow is past and joy doth renew’. The music dances along in 3/8, and the voices are carefully supported by the organ – straightforward, but original and effective.

BILLESDON CAROLS
Gavin Bryars
SATB (and organ)
Schott ED 13214
Bryars may be best known for his experimental work (starting with his early collaborations with Cage, Cardew and John White), but here are two straightforward carols written in 2007 for the church in the village of Billesdon where he lives. New Prince, new Pomp (words by Robert Southwell) has seven verses, with odd-numbered and even-numbered verses each developing their own musical material during the piece. The Golden Carol of the Three Kings (‘We saw the light shine out afar’) takes us into Epiphany with music that sounds like a Victorian anthem gone awry – in a delightful and carefully composed way.
James L Montgomery

FESTIVAL SERVICE

ALL GOD’S PEOPLE
RSCM Young Voices Festival
Music book, CD and CD-ROM package
RSCM S0132
All God’s People is a service book of hymns, songs, readings and prayers all exploring the theme of diversity. The format is the familiar one for RSCM Young Voices Festivals with a conductor’s score in the book and then both in the book and on CD-ROM (and printable and photocopiable) all the singers’ music, prayers and readings. The CD-ROM also includes an order of service for the congregation, training notes, warm-up ideas, and an introductory session on the theme of diversity. Finally there is an extra CD with demonstrations of the music and backing tracks.
Any difference between song and anthem is blurred. The three designated ‘anthems’ are Marty Haugen’s song ‘We are a part of all creation’, Geoff Weaver’s arrangement of the Ghanaian song ‘Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love’, and Ken Burton’s three-part Change is coming. ‘Songs’ include a two-part arrangement by John Barnard of ‘When I needed a neighbour, were you there?’, Geoff Weaver’s two or three-part arrangement of the Nicaraguan song ‘Sent by the Lord am I’ and Chris Norton’s three-part ‘Come on, all you people’. David Peacock arranges ‘We worship God in harmony’ (tune of Auld Lang Syne) alas not in harmony but in unison only for the voices. Add to all those titles the hymns ‘Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation’ and ‘All creatures of our God and King’ and it is apparent how musically rich and varied is this resource pack.
Stephen Patterson

SIX VOLUNTARIES FOR ORGAN [M]
Samuel Felsted ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications
FUGUES AND OTHER PIECES FOR THE ORGAN (Books 1 and 2) [MD]
Benjamin Cooke ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications
Samuel Felsted, born in Jamaica c.1743 of English parents, became organist of Kingston parish church, Jamaica. These voluntaries, the only ones known by him, were published in London and comprise two-movement voluntaries, of which the first movements in numbers 1–5 are the customary slow Diapason movements, and in no. 6 is a Largo for full organ with dotted rhythms. The second movements in nos. 1–4 are for cornet, no. 5 is a dialogue between echo and flute and no. 6 for full organ and echo. These are attractive pieces, noteworthy being the very high L.H. accompaniment in no. 4 reaching treble E flat. Two bars in the cornet movement of no. 1 and the final bar of no. 4 will require the player to ponder a solution since the writing dips below the compass of the cornet.
Benjamin Cooke, organist at Westminster Abbey from 1762 until his death in 1793, left two short books of pieces that were published posthumously. Book 1 consists of a typically Handelian fugue in C minor with brief overture-like introduction, a cornet movement and echo in C major, and a more substantial slow movement followed by a lively movement with plenty of L.H. written-out arpeggios, and two-voice writing in octaves. A minuet-like binary form movement is followed by a lively, loosely fugal piece. Book 2 opens with a rhythmically varied prelude followed by a brisk allegro in C minor with much two-voice writing in octaves. The next two pieces are in C major, an andante in 3/4 for Swell and Choir leading into a fugue with a subject featuring a broken arpeggio figure that pervades the movement, an adagio cadence into B followed by a return to the subject in C and a short coda. Two further loosely imitative movements close this interesting collection. Many of the allegro movements are texturally and rhythmically varied, full chords in either or both hands appearing after two-part writing and there are extended passages of semiquaver passagework making some intense demands. There is more use of the pedals indicated in these pieces than in the Voluntaries by Russell and pedals will also be required in several other places to take notes below the modern compass.
David Patrick provides the usual concise editorial notes, including brief biography, performance practice and a critical commentary, in these well-printed comb-bound editions that provide music still fresh and interesting for today's player.
John Collins

FOUR SONATAS [M]
Giovanni Battista Pescetti ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications
These four one-movement sonatas are splendid examples of Italian baroque organ music: tuneful and spirited. Readers may know the three-movement Sonata by Pescetti that was published by OUP in an edition by Peter Hurford some years ago: the outer movements of that Sonata are similar to each of the four Sonatas here. Nimble fingerwork is needed for the mostly two-part manual writing; pedals are confined to a few long pedal points. The preface includes a brief but excellent introduction to the registration of Italian music of the period and the specification of a Nacchini organ that may have been known to Pescetti.
Duncan Watkins

PSALM PRELUDE NO. 2 (Psalm 42) [M]
Stephen Burtonwood
fagus-music.com
Memories of Herbert Howells automatically spring to mind with the title ‘Psalm Prelude’. This one is very much in the traditional style, with the dynamic characteristics of a gradual crescendo from a quiet start to full organ and then back to a quiet end. The chief features are the stately Sarabande rhythm, the rich harmonic structure, and the feeling of inevitability throughout the development of the initial simple melodic idea. This is a noble piece which captures the spirit of the text and which, whilst needing a reasonably large instrument preferably well-equipped with playing aids, is not at all difficult. The score is printed on single-sided card, and the piece lasts for just over five minutes.

FESTIVAL POSTLUDE [M]
ACCLAMATIONS [M]
Alastair Johnston
fagus-music.com
The invigorating Postlude is full of rhythmic surprises to keep both listener and performer wide awake. There are no particular technical problems, and a standard two-manual instrument would be adequate for a convincing performance. The D minor opening section leads to one marked ‘More dance-like’, which in turn returns to the opening theme, with the whole ending with a D major development of the dance section. It would be a good item to have at the conclusion of a service or recital.
Acclamations is unmistakably by the same composer as Festival Postlude. The main theme has definite plainsong ring to it. Again there are no particular playing problems to overcome, although the right hand chords from bars15 to 23 and later may be cause for a little extra thought. The pedal part is simple, the greatest activity coming with a top end of the board statement of the main theme in quavers at one point, and a similar statement in octaves at the end, though here the metronome mark is down to 45 crotchets per minute.

ASPECTS OF ‘BUNESSAN’: 3 Preludes for Organ [M]
Robin Erskine
fagus-music.com
I wonder how many jobbing organists can view the appearance of Bunessan on a service sheet without experiencing a sinking feeling. However, if you long for something which, whilst it cannot take the taste away, will give you something to get your teeth into, then these are the preludes to try. Each one presents a totally different and unconventional view of this over-worked tune. The first has a gentle flute accompaniment in semiquavers for the manuals with the tune in the pedals registered on 16 and 4 foot stops. It is not a particularly comfortable melody to play with the feet, especially as it is in C major, though the metronome mark of crotchet = 90–100 helps. The second also keeps the theme in the pedals, with a tranquillo manual part which alludes partially to the theme in an inverted form. The final Prelude has a fragmented theme shared between hands and feet. How well these pieces will go down in the weddings and funerals in which Bunessan so regularly appears I could not guess, but it might be worth a try. They will at least bring some relief from boredom for the organist.

SUITE OF OLD DANCES [M]
Geoffrey Atkinson
fagus-music.com
Don't be misled by the title: these are not arrangements, but are two compositions with an antique flavour and a third marked ‘Homage to Alfred Hollins’. The first is a ‘Siciliana: greetings to Gerald Finzi’, an attractive D major–A major–D major piece with a goodly number of modulatory diversions. The tune is a pleasant one, and the whole piece lies comfortably under hands and feet.
The following ‘Pavane’ has more of the old dance feel, a solemn composition in G minor, essentially homophonic in style. The concluding ‘Trumpet Minuet’ is no pastiche of the celebrated Minuet by the Hollins, but a robust item, with a majestic C major main theme with excursions to E minor, and a G minor middle section. The suite will serve well as individual items or as a whole for a recital.

TOCCATA IN F MINOR [M]
Ralph Driffill ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications
Ralph Driffill, who died in 1922 is one of those composers from a most prolific period in English organ music whose work has been entirely forgotten. Working in New Barnet in the 1890s, he had been a prize-winning student at the Royal Academy of Music and was well known in the south of England as a recitalist and teacher and for his many compositions. This toccata was very popular in the 1920s along with the Romance from the Suite Op.14, and is apparently now popular in the USA.
The activity is confined to the right hand, except for the lengthy middle section where the style becomes that of a chorale. This is a pleasant showpiece, sounding harder than it really is, and will be worth the necessary practice time.

NOËL PARISIEN (Toccata) [M]
Charles Quef ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications
Quef (1873–1931) followed Guilmant at La Trinité, Paris, and was well known in Britain as a recitalist. His list of compositions for organ is long, and this Toccata is from his Op. 26, a collection of four Noëls. The arpeggiated manual figure alternates between the hands and, in true French toccata tradition, the main theme comes in the pedals. Playing it one soon discovers the reasons for its popularity. Since the tune will not be known here, its use need not be confined to Christmas.

MARCHE ET THÊME VARIÉ [MD]
Aloÿs Claussmann
ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications>
Claussmann (1850–1926) was a pupil of Gigout and became organist of Clermont-Ferrand cathedral and Director of the conservertoire there. A prolific composer – there are some 350 pieces for organ – Dr Henderson in his Directory says ‘many of Claussmann’s pieces . . . are best left forgotten’. These two are good examples of the composer at his best. The Marche is a lively and generally attractive piece, not without its difficulties, i.e. not something to be put together hastily just before being wanted as a voluntary. The Thême is a very pleasant piece, with a continuous succession of six variations. Both items will be handy additions to the music library.

ARIA AND VARIATIONS IN D for mandolin [M]
Ludwig van Beethoven arr. Darius Battiwalla
Banks Music Publications
Here is something quite different, a light-hearted Air and Variations which transfer remarkably well from the evanescent and brittle tone of the mandolin to the sustained sound of the organ. The arranger recommends bright and clear registration ‘but not too loud or heavy’. The theme is very simple (and tuneful) and Variation 1 calls for some careful arpeggio playing in the right hand. The second is virtually a duet for pedals and right hand, with just the occasional left hand chord, whilst three is more of a trio sonata in texture. Four gives the arpeggio work to the left hand, and the final fifth variation returns the tune to the right hand with what might inelegantly be termed an oompah accompaniment. This is definitely a ‘fun’ piece, excellent as an encore.

ALBUM FÜR ORGEL [D]
Henry Purcell trans. Andreas Kempin
Dr J Butz Musikverlag BU2195
Apart from what might perhaps rashly be called two ‘potboilers’ (the Rondeau from Abdelazer and ‘When I am laid in earth’) this collection consists of pieces not normally found in arrangements of Purcell’s music. Chaconnes from King Arthur and The Fairy Queen plus the Overtures to The Gordian Knot, and King Arthur together with a Prelude from Dioclesian and a fugue from Bonduca make this a very interesting book. However, the drawback is that the pedal parts are often quite difficult, always a problem when it comes to making transcriptions. If you are prepared to brave these problems then there is much pleasure to be had from an enterprising selection.

ORGAN CONCERTO NO. 13 in F HWV295 [MD]
G F Handel arr. Klemens Schnorr
Dr J Butz Musikverlag BU2285
This is a most playable transcription for organ solo of the concerto known as ‘The Cuckoo and the Nightingale’. The arranger writes that ‘this arrangement was created in connection with a concert entitled “The Organ and the World of Birds” in Munich in 2006. Whilst the sections for orchestra were arranged, the solo organ passages were left unchanged. The result is an exceptionally clear and playable version for solo organ. The parts are all uncluttered and even the pedal part in the orchestral sections is completely playable without one wishing for three feet. Two manuals and pedals are needed.

EASY ORGAN WORKS [E]
Adolf Hesse ed. Jochen Riehm
Dr J Butz Musicverlag BU2254
TWO EASY ORGAN CYCLES [E/M]
Jacques Nicolas Lemmens
ed. Tobias Zuleger
Dr J Butz Musikverlag BU2207
Called by Berlioz ‘a giant at the organ’, Hesse (1809–63) was a promoter of Bach’s organ music, the first internationally acknowledged German travelling organ virtuoso, and the author of some 300 organ works. There are 29 pieces in this book, mostly about two pages long, and mostly of good musical interest. They will be of use in a variety of ways: as last-minute voluntaries or even gap-fillers for those who are improvisationally challenged; as teaching pieces or for sight-reading exercises; for transposition exercises, and for practice in choosing and implementing registration changes.
Lemmens (1823–81), a pupil of Hesse, had immense influence on the world of organ playing and teaching, particularly his style of legato playing and his pedal technique, and his published teaching method was widely used. These pieces are more ambitious than those of his teacher, but can serve much the same purpose. Pedals are optional in many of them, not printed on a separate stave, and it has to be said that musical interest is of a variable quality. Nonetheless the pieces, subtitled ‘Dix improvisations pour Orgue’ are worthy of use.

CONTRASTS [M]
Robert Jones
Dr J Butz Musikverlag BU2187
In this splendid, contemporary group of six pieces, all have in common an approachability and appeal which should guarantee a wide audience. The composer explains that all are ‘influenced largely by the French romantic idiom’. Beginning with a stirring ‘Marche Triomphale’ there follows ‘Rêverie’ and then ‘Trompette galante’ for which the composer would like a reed with ‘bright tone and lively attack’. The mood changes with ‘Air sentimental’and ‘Pièce lyrique’. The book ends with ‘Carillon-Fanfare’, which, the composer explains, was the first to be written, being given its premier on the world’s largest outdoor organ at San Diego, California. This is a textbook French toccata in the style of Mulet’s ‘Tu es Petra’ but fortunately not as hard.

VARIATIONS ON ‘FRÈRE JACQUES’ [MD]
Hans Uwe Hielscher
Dr J Butz Musikverlag BU2235
Sometimes in the review parcel there is something to which one is drawn back regularly, and this was the one for me. This is a glorious romp through the French song, though I was puzzled to read that the composer says it is sometimes known in English as ‘Brother John’ or ‘Brother Peter’. Generations of children have toiled through this in recorder classes or in piano tutors, not to mention the now virtually defunct class singing periods, and now it gets its come-uppance. The Introduction and seven of the Variations are reconstructions of an improvisation and the rest are new. All are quite short, some easier than others. The harmonies are crunchily modern whilst thoroughly approachable and intelligible. The blood-curdling seven-bar introduction gives way to a comparatively demure statement of the tune, which soon becomes harmonically twisted yet remains perfectly recognizable. The short Variation 2 is very slow and atmospheric, whilst no. 3 is an apparently ordinary trio for most of the time, until the wayward harmonies begin to intrude. Vivace, no.3, takes us to a Larghetto (no. 4), and no.5 puts a slow minim tune in the pedals under sextuplet semiquavers. No. 6 gives the work to a lento left hand beneath colourful semibreve chords, whilst 7 is a brief minor episode. No. 8 is a jazzy 5/8 exercise and 9 slows down again before launching into the con brio no.10 as the finale, an exciting movement which ends all too soon.
As the whole is not over difficult and responds readily to practice without evaporating between sessions, it is a piece well-worth learning. The composer, born in 1945, would seem to be little known in this country, so it is to be hoped that this set of Variations, apparently dating from 2009, will help to make his music better known. Two other pieces are listed, 10 Miniatures and California Wine Suite.
Trevor Webb

ORGAN MUSIC

*** SPRINGS OF GENIUS: Works by Bach and composers who influenced him
Margaret Phillips plays the 2004 Aubertin organ of Saint-Louis-en-L’Île, Paris
Regent REGCD300
Even if the towering edifice of Bach’s organ music is unmatched by any other composer for the instrument, the foundations upon which it was built are themselves magnificent. There is much that is truly great within the œuvre of Bruhns, Kerll, Pachelbel, Froberger, Böhm, Reincken and Buxtehude, as Margaret Phillips amply and elegantly demonstrates on this fine CD. There is so much variety between pieces, from the intimacy of Buxtehude’s affecting chorale preludes, to the virtuosity of the various preludes and toccatas. Importantly, Margaret Phillips brings to her performances the sense that she loves and values every piece and its composer, rather than regarding them as merely precursors to Bach. Indeed, her choice of Bach, the Toccata in E, BWV 566, is significant because is it a multi-sectional work, very much in the manner of the North German School. A fascinating CD, beautifully played on a superb organ.
Christopher Maxim

*** CPE BACH ORGAN WORKS
Thomas Trotter plays the Mitterreither (1773)/Flentrop (1973) organ of Eton College School Hall
Regent REGCD314
C.P.E Bach’s exploitation of the empfindsamer Stil (Expressive Style) is abundantly evident on this disc, yet the spirit of his father is also present. Such rhapsodic and sensitive music calls for a player who can allow the emotional switches the freedom they demand, while also ensuring that the argument hangs together. Thomas Trotter is such a musician: he brings cogency and freedom to his performances.
The organ of Eton College School Hall is very well suited to the repertoire. It was built in 1773 for a church in Rotterdam. Having been significantly altered when installed at Eton in the early twentieth century, in 1973 Flentrop recreated it in its original style. Its two manuals facilitate the frequent loud-soft alternation in the music, and the voicing has a clarity and liquidity that are ideal for CPE Bach’s textures and elegantly gallant melodies. A very enjoyable disc.
Christopher Maxim

ORLANDE DE LASSUS

** COEPERUNT LOQUI
Lassus, Tallis, Cheppard, Phillips and Praetorius/Cheltenham College Chamber Choir/Alexander Ffinch
Herald HAVPCD 351
Some school choirs are superb while others might best be described as 'doing their best'. Listening to this CD of continental and English Renaissance polyphony, I had to pinch myself to remember that I wasn't listening to a university chamber choir, but an ensemble of twenty or so very well balanced sixth-form singers. The choir was founded by Alexander Ffinch, the College Organist, in 2007, with (according to a choir member's reflection in the CD notes) the 'purpose of performing demanding unaccompanied music'. That purpose is well followed here, and none of the music is easy. Lassus is giving a good airing with his Missa Venatorum and Magnificat primi toni, as is Thomas Tallis with his O sacrum convivium and seven-part Pentecost anthem Loquebantur variis linguis. On this excellent recording, made in Cheltenham College Chapel, the singing is effortless and lyrical, and performed with understanding and affection for music of this period.
Stuart Robinson

** LASSUS: Great Choral Works
The Girl Choristers and Gentlemen of York Minster Choir/John Scott Whiteley
Regent REGCD297
There have been girl choristers at York for fifteen years, and this CD of music by Lassus is testament to the prominent part they play in the musical life there. Like the Cheltenham CD reviewed above, Lassus's Missa Venatorum is included, though with the Gloria placed after the Agnus Dei. Other works include Lassus's Veni Creator Spiritus and his Magnificat septimi toni, along with eight motets. There is some wonderful use of phrasing and dynamics. The girls and men revel in the resonant acoustic of the Minster Chapter House: the girls' voices in particular soar around this superb space. Alas, that is also the problem. There is nothing wrong of course with recording in a large acoustic – it can add much to the performance of sacred music. But to my mind more definition is needed; some of the choir microphones could have been a little closer to their source, but that shouldn't detract from the splendid musicianship that is apparent here.
Stuart Robinson

CHORAL WORKS

*** J.S. BACH: ST MATTHEW PASSION
Ex Cathedra Choir & Baroque Orchestra/Jeffrey Skidmore
Orchid Classics/ORC100007
If you want an historically aware performance at 'Baroque' pitch and on 'authentic' instruments, but sung in English rather than the original German, this two-disc set is sure to fit the bill. Recorded live at Symphony Hall in Birmingham on Good Friday 2009, the performance is spirited and moving, with a lightness of touch that gives the textures transparency and brings out the dance-like quality of so much of Bach’s music – even in this most sombre and devout work. The soloists perform a dual function, singing also within the choruses. From this fact you may deduce something of the quality of their clear, sweet voices. The first-class choral singing is matched by the instrumental playing. It must have been an electrifying concert (the applause at the end confirms this) and, with no extraneous noise from the audience to spoil the recording, this is a highly recommended release.
Christopher Maxim

** ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI
Missa Breve, Six Motets; Domenico Scarlatti: Stabat Mater/The Choir of Christ's College, Cambridge/David Rowland
Regent REGCD283
The quality of the music of Alessandro Scarlatti and his son, Domenico, is matched in the performances on this disc. The Missa Breve was composed for the magnificent church of S Maria Maggiore in Rome, and, rather like a Baroque concerto grosso, is scored for a group of soloists, chorus and continuo. It is lively and charming, well suited to liturgical performance. The various motets by Alessandro included on the disc are in a more restrained style than the mass. They look back to the late Renaissance, exploiting imitative and declamatory/homophonic textures. Domenico's Stabat Mater is scored for a ten-part choir and, although having a continuo part, is perhaps most easily understood as being stylistically between the motets and the mass. Somewhat conservative in idiom, it is nevertheless an expressive and moving piece.
Christopher Maxim

** ASCRIBE UNTO THE LORD: Large-scale anthems from the Victorian Era
Exeter Cathedral Choir/Paul Morgan(organ)/Andrew Millington & Stephen Tanner
Herald HAVPCD 347
2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of SS Wesley and two of his extended anthems, Ascribe unto the Lord and To my request and earnest cry, are included on this disc. The other composers represented are Goss (The Wilderness), Ouseley (It came even to pass), Walmisley (If the Lord himself) and Stainer (I saw the Lord). The boys and girls carry the treble parts in three works each, though the boys, who are directed by Andrew Millington, sing the three longest anthems. There is much verse-work, the lion's share of which is performed by Lay Vicars, affording opportunities to enjoy some good solo singing. The musical highlight is the dark-hued Walmisley. While this repertoire will not be to everyone’s taste, and even enthusiasts might concede that there are passages that are longer than their musical substance can support, these are melodious, expressive and occasionally dramatic pieces, sung with conviction and breadth.
Christopher Maxim

** THE FARRANT SINGERS COLLECTION
The Farrant Singers/Colin Howard
VIF Records VRCD064
Richard Lloyd receives an FRSCM this year. In 1958, when he was Assistant at Salisbury Cathedral, he founded the Farrant Singers, and over 50 years later, his legacy remains: this CD from a mixed choir of thirty-five singers marked their golden anniversary. Lloyd's popular View me Lord opens an enjoyable mix of sacred and secular. Stanford's Latin motets are followed by Vaughan Williams's Three Shakespeare Songs. A landmark is 'The Farrant Singers Collection', a sequence commissioned from composers with Salisbury connections. Again secular and sacred are juxtaposed: Howard Moody's suggestive Nonino contrasts with anthems from Richard Shephard, David Halls and Richard Lloyd himself. The choir shows a slightly stronger affinity with the sacred pieces, after all its raison d'être, but all is superbly sung and excellently recorded. Philip Lawson's Sing a new song provides a joyful, optimistic finish: a fitting metaphor for the next 50 years!
Stuart Robinson

WE RECOMMEND . . .

MUSIC AND VITAL CONGREGATIONS: A practical guide for clergy
William Bradley Roberts
Church Publishing: 133 pp. P/B
978 0 89869 623 3
We sometimes receive books from American publishers for review in CMQ that are not entirely relevant outside North America. On reading the title of this book and the sub-title, I was not optimistic about the contents. How wrong I was for, right from the start, I was struck by the common sense and pragmatic outlook of the author, who is both an ordained priest and a trained musician.
Published by Church Publishing, the publishing arm of the Episcopal Church in America, there is much here that will resonate with British church musicians. Yes there are a few areas, especially to do with finance, which are not relevant here, such as health care provision and pensions, but most of the book supports and encourages his basic tenet that ‘Congregations that are alive and vibrant have vital music programs.’ Some of the chapter headings give an idea of the breadth of his canvas – ‘Music belongs to everyone’, ‘Clergy-Musician relationships’, ‘Classical Music vs. Popular Music: A war over nothing’, and ‘Music ministry with children’.
One of the most useful chapters, ‘Music for funerals and weddings’, should be compulsory reading for all. My own work for the RSCM around my diocese has made me more aware and concerned for the role of music at weddings and funerals. The music requests are becoming more secular and sometimes bizarre. Increasingly neither musicians nor clergy insist on applying standards, and families see it as their right to turn worship into entertainment. This problem is clearly the same in the USA and Roberts itemizes guidelines that would forestall the difficulties of saying no to relatives who are grieving their loved ones. He also recognizes that at weddings and at funerals there are gathered in church a large number of people who are not regular worshippers. This is a mission moment not to be missed.
John Henderson

ROYAL AND PECULIAR
Humphrey Clucas & Anne Middleton
Lewin Press: 67 pp. P/B
978 0 9550470 2 2
Humphrey Clucas, former Lay-Clerk at Winchester Cathedral and Lay Vicar at Westminster Abbey, English teacher, poet and composer, has turned his hand to the writing of fiction. Seen through the eyes of one Peter Malcolm, a chaplain at Westminster Abbey, here is a short story in three parts of misdoings at the Abbey which include murder, theft and a lost Purcell manuscript. Short enough to be read at one sitting, this is an enjoyable, though slightly sad tale. I wonder if the musicians at the Abbey are really as diversely eccentric as portrayed here?
Anne Middleton was the wife of a Canon at Westminster during the time Clucas was singing there and her eleven poems ‘Some Westminster Women’ are based on female persons with Abbey connections. The media publicity proclaims them to be ‘sensitive, witty, historically informed and gently subversive’. Media publicity may sometimes be just hype but in this case they are indeed exactly that. Buying presents for organists and singers can be difficult: why not try this?
John Henderson

REPRISE: An Irish Church Musician Looks Back
Harry Grindle
217 pp. P/B
Published by the author: 217 pp. P/B
Available from The Good Book Shop, 61-67 Donegall Street, Belfast BT1 2QH
In recent years there has been a spate of cathedral organist and composer autobiographies and I have lost count of the number which I have reviewed for CMQ. Each time I wonder whether another listing of places, events, dates and people (many of whom one has never heard of) will be interesting enough to warrant self-publication, for most of them are indeed self-published. Well yet again the answer is yes. Harry Grindle MBE (b.1935), one of Ireland’s most illustrious church musicians and former organist of Belfast Cathedral, has given us not only a full account of his own life and career, but also a good feel for musical life in and around Belfast over the last 45 years. This is a well-crafted book, very readable and highly recommended.
John Henderson

MUSIC FROM THE USA

MY SONG IN THE NIGHT: FIVE AMERICAN FOLK-HYMNS [M]
Mack Wilberg
SATB and organ/piano
OUP 9780193804999
Mack Wilberg’s arrangements tend to be well-crafted, appealing and accessible to amateur choirs; the pieces in this volume are no exception. The five hymns range from two familiar favourites, ‘Amazing grace’ and ‘Down to the river to pray’, to the less well-known ‘His voice as the sound’, ‘My God, my portion and my love’, and ‘My song in the night’. Wilberg is Music Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir – a very large chorus – and a number of the arrangements would be best suited to large choral forces rather than a small church choir. Although the arrangements are relatively straightforward and eminently singable, several require a significant amount of divisi. For this reason most would work best in a festival service or choral society concert, rather than a standard church service. Orchestral parts are also available to hire for each piece.
Esther Jones

A MARTY HAUGEN SONGBOOK [E]
Marty Haugen ed. Stephen Dean
Decani Music 9781900314183 Whenever I come across a songbook by a single composer, I always silently thank hymnbook compilers for their hard work in trawling through such volumes and sifting out the best repertoire to publish. This songbook is a case in point: it contains 85 pieces by Marty Haugen. As with many such books, it includes a number of real gems – many of which are already in widespread use – some useful but more functional pieces, as well as music of lesser appeal. The problem is that it takes time and energy to explore such a volume and identify what is what.
On the other hand, a book like this provides an overview of a composer’s output, and demonstrates the scope of their work. Haugen’s popularity is well-deserved: he is a gifted melodist and his hymn and song words often have a wonderful simplicity and freshness. He has made a significant contribution to church music since the liturgical reforms of recent decades, and his music reveals a great understanding of and sensitivity to the liturgy.
Alongside hymns and songs, the Marty Haugen Songbook includes a range of psalm settings, litanies, ostinato chants and prayer responses. (Haugen’s mass settings are not included but may appear in a second volume.) Many pieces have congregational refrains with verses designed to be sung by choir or cantor. Although some of the music is in four-part harmony, a substantial number of pieces are in unison or two parts. For this reason his music is particularly valued by smaller churches with limited musical resources. His music encompasses a range of styles but, to my mind, he is at his best when writing in a folk idiom – such melodies have a timeless quality that do not date in the same way as those influenced by Gospel and rock.
Haugen’s music has much to recommend it, but it is hard to imagine any church making use of anything but a small proportion of this volume: some of us will prefer to rely on those hard-working hymnbook compilers to separate the wheat from the chaff and then share their findings with us.
Esther Jones

SONGS FROM AFRICA

ZIMBE! Come, sing the songs of Africa! [M]
Alexander L'Estrange
SATB, semichorus, children's choir, jazz quintet
Faber Music 9780571533244
This 40-minute piece, which traditionally would have been called a cantata, qualifies for review in a church music magazine by virtue of the number of movements within it based on African gospel music, and its recent, successful performances in sacred venues, including Lichfield and Ely cathedrals where the cathedral choristers joined adult singers and children from local primary schools. The writing for the children is particularly skilful: the African melodies are easily learnt and then fit easily into the surrounding musical texture. The songs include the Methodist sacred song 'Singabahambayo Thina&', wedding songs from Zimbabwe and South Africa, and among four other South African songs the ubiquitous Siyahamba, 'We are marching in the light of God', in an uplifting, spirit-stirring arrangement. If you have an opportunity to combine adult singers and local schools, do look at the whole work. Equally, I look forward to hearing individual movements enriching worship as I am sure willhappen once singers experience this infectiously-tuneful collection of pieces.
Stephen Patterson

JOHN TAVENER

CHORAL MUSIC FOR UPPER VOICES [D]
John Tavener ed. Barry Rose
SSA divisi and organ
Chester 9781849382571
This anthology includes arrangements by Barry Rose of some of Tavener's best-known works, from The Lamb (scored for SSAA) to Song for Athene (which breaks into seven voice parts during the climactic final section), as well as less familiar works. There is a mix of a cappella and accompanied repertoire, with the organ either supplying the missing voice parts from the SATB versions or sustaining a pedal note – a characteristic feature of many of Tavener's compositions.
Among the most demanding pieces is the Ikon of Saint Hilda, originally commissioned for Louise Marsh and the Girls' Choir of Wakefield Cathedral. It is in a Byzantine style, opening and ending with a rhythmic unison chant, and featuring a demanding soprano solo in the upper register accompanied by an eight-part choir in the dramatic middle section.
Although these pieces will challenge even the most capable of upper-voice choirs, this anthology offers some welcome additions to the repertory.
Esther Jones

EX MARIA VIRGINE [D]
A Christmas Sequence
John Tavener
SATB and organ
Chester 9781849381994
Score and CD 9781849382038 One does not expect to see Christmas carols reviewed in June, but this is a 35-minute sequence which church choir directors may well want to spend longer than normal assessing and preparing. A 'sequence' it is, since the carols are all linked by an expanding and contracting phrase ‘Ex Maria Virgine’, but each of the nine pieces is suitable for performance individually, and indeed four of them were commissioned and first performed as separate pieces.
Most of the words are of well-known carols: ‘Ding! Dong! Merrily on high’, ‘Rocking’, ‘Unto us is born a Son’, etc., but the vocal treatments are anything but expected. Choirs and audiences who experience ‘This did Herod sore affray’, marked ‘With sudden terror!’ are unlikely to forget it. Throughout this collection it is the vividness and originality of Tavener’s musical imagination that is particularly apparent, whether the merrily ringing bells in ‘Ding! Dong!’ or the haunting sadness of ‘Remember O thou man’. The vocal writing, with its juxtapositions of extremes of emotion depicted in the music, is difficult. It is superbly sung by the choir of Clare College, Cambridge under Timothy Brown on the CD included in the inexpensive score and CD package.
James L Montgomery

RESTORATION ANTHEMS

PRAISE THE LORD, O JERUSALEM [E]
Jeremiah Clarke ed. Geoffrey Webber
SATB
Church Music Society 9780193950252
GOD IS OUR HOPE AND STRENGTH [MD]
John Blow ed. Geoffrey Webber
SSAATTBB and organ
CMS 9780193950221
THE WAYS OF ZION DO MOURN [ME]
Michael Wise ed. Kerry Dexter
SATB and organ
CMS 9780193950238
HOW DOTH THE CITY SIT SOLITARY [ME]
Matthew Locke ed. Kerry Dexter
SSATB and organ
CMS 9780193950245
MY SOUL TRULY WAITETH STILL UPON GOD [D]
William Turner ed. Geoffrey Webber
SSAATB
CMS 9780193950269
Previous published by the Church Music Society in two anthologies (welcomed by John Henderson in CMQ March 2008), these five offprints contain some most attractive music and all could be useful in church services today. The pieces requiring larger forces, such as Blow’s eight-part God is our hope and strength, are among the most impressive musically. Editorial transpositions have been made of a tone or semitone to suit modern voice ranges. The prefaces to the two original anthologies are available to download from the CMS website at www.church music.org.uk/commentaries.asp – and it is essential to consult these for performance advice, especially on the use of the organ. Jeremiah Clarks’s Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, in SATB with no divisions and no verse sections is straight-forward and lyrical; written for the coronation of Queen Anne it would be a good choir item for ceremonial services and concerts where large vocal forces are not available.
James L Montgomery

RESPONSORIAL PSALMS

SINGING PSALMS [E]
Responsorial Psalms set to simple chants
Alison Cadden and Peter Thompson
The Columba Press Year B
9781856076418
Year C 9781856076791
Anne Harrison, discussing ways of singing the psalms in Recovering the Lord's Song (Grove 2009), points out that the principle of a sung response sung by all with a soloist or group singing the verses is not a recent discovery but accords with accounts of Christian worship in fourth-century Jerusalem. There have been many recent publications of such settings, notably from Mayhew and McCrimmon, as well as the inclusion of examples in hymn and song books (such as at the end of New English Hymnal and New English Praise). Here is another addition to this crowded market, and one that deserves serious consideration where responsorial psalms are used. There is a particularly helpful Introduction and Performance Notes that could usefully be read by anyone using these or any other responsorial settings.
The settings were written for use in the Church of Ireland, but follow the Revised Common Lectionary and should be of much wider interest. The music for each psalm is attributed either to Alison Cadden or to Peter Thompson and the two composers take very different approaches to the chants, with mostly different performance notes applying to each: either this is confusing or it provides welcome variety of approach – you must decide! Years B and C have been published first, with year A to follow.
Stephen Patterson

ORGAN TUTORS

THE COMPLETE CHURCH ORGANIST Level One
ed. Daniel Moult
RSCM N0801
This is the first in a series of books to accompany the RSCM’s Church Music Skills programme, which is based on ‘distance learning through written materials, combining private study with practical experience in the student’s own church’. The books, which will eventually go through to Level III, cover basic instruction in playing and include the set repertoire from the course.
After some basic exercises, some of which are interestingly taken from Stainer’s tutor, there is a long section on hymns, progressing from good and perfectly useable two-part arrangements to three parts, without pedals. Much excellent advice is given on this difficult and too often neglected aspect of the church organist’s work; each of the eleven examples includes suggestions for the registration of each verse. A section on worship songs follows, with useful tips on how to achieve the difficult task of making them sound musical on the organ, especially where the melodies have long notes and empty bars.
The next part covers a selection of the anthems and settings set for the course, again with useful comments on accompaniments. The book ends with a number of solo pieces, also with comments on performance.
Various further resources are listed. The reminder that ‘the material included here is only a fraction of what will be needed’ is a timely one. I would add to the list the excellent The Church Organist by Christopher Tambling (Mayhew, reviewed in CMQ, December 2009), which is packed with instruction on hymn playing as well as repertoire, and also, if you can find them, Jeannette Cooper’s ground-breaking books for those who were then known as Reluctant Organists.

GETTING STARTED ON THE ORGAN TWO
Corinne Hepburn
animus
This and its first book could well be added to the list in the RSCM tutor. Two is a comprehensive collection of original pieces for beginner organists, covering a wide variety of styles. There are suggestions for related listening and ideas for improvisation. The pieces themselves, of which there are 21, are generally interesting and have very easy pedal parts; suggestions for pedalling and fingering are given. This is undoubtedly a very useful addition to the library of music for organists in the early stages of learning. Given the difficulty of finding material for the beginner organist which is both interesting and of use in public playing, this book is to be welcomed.
Trevor Webb

ORGAN MUSIC

OVERTUR IN ARTAXERXES [M]
Thomas Arne ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications
Thomas Arne left no solo organ music apart from a few movements in his six concerti, but arrangements for keyboard of opera pieces were prolific in the later eighteenth century. This example is in three movements, all in D major; a lengthy opening marked Poco più Andante offers varied rhythms and dynamics together with syncopations and texture ranging from single notes in each hand to full repeated chords in a typically galant manner, being followed by a short melodic Larghetto that leads directly into a lively Gavotta.
David Patrick has realized the figured bass and offers helpful suggestions about the registration. This is another interesting addition to the increasingly available eighteenth-century English repertoire and would make a change from the voluntaries of the period. It is not over difficult, although repeated quaver triplets in the left hand will need care.

TOCCATINAS, PRELUDES, CAPRICES [D]
Gottlieb Muffat ed. Rudolph Walter
Doblinger, Diletto Musicale DM1362
This volume is a collection of shortish pieces by the youngest son of Georg Muffat, taken from a manuscript collection now in Vienna. The three Toccatinas and two of the three Preludes contain lengthy passages in semibreves to be arpeggiated, interspersed with highly virtuosic runs in semi and demisemiquavers. The remaining Prelude is far more reflective and sequential with some chromatic movement. Of greater substance and variety are the five Caprices, of which three contain further demisemiquaver runs; they share a kinship with the Capriccios from the set of 24 Toccatas and Capriccios.
All are playable on a small instrument but there is no table of ornaments to help the player unfamiliar with Muffat's signs, and no assistance with how to interpret the arpeggiated passages; a brief comment referring the player to Frescobaldi is surely anachronistic. These pieces are most difficult to bring off well, and integration of the many ornaments requires care and patience: even semiquavers carry ornaments, which does offer a guide to tempo. Perhaps they will stimulate exploration of other pieces by this quirky composer that are also available from Doblinger.
John Collins

A PORTRAIT OF MICHAEL KIDD Vol. 3 [M]
animus
Subtitled 'from another angle', this collection follows very much the lines of the earlier books. There are six varied pieces, generally light in style and content, eminently suitable for family-worship style services or weddings. There is a general air of inconsequential pleasantness, making the items easy to listen to and, for the most part, playable without the expenditure of a great deal of practice time. I liked particularly Chaffinch and Somerset Scherzo. Patriarch, written to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Sir Winston Churchill, is suitably pompous, and Desert Shield, written at the end of the Gulf War for inclusion in a service of thanksgiving at Glasgow Cathedral is something of an oddity, beginning as it does with a theme that the composer describes as 'belly-dance music'.

FESTIVE VOLUNTARY [MD]
John Ellis
animus
Festive Voluntary was composed in 2008 for Stephen Carleston and the rebuilt organ of Bolton Parish Church. This is a striking piece of some length, needing a substantial instrument for effective performance. The dissonant style will not be to every listener's or player's liking. However, hard work will surely bring rewards, though most audiences would need to hear it more than once to appreciate it.

ELEGY FOR ORGAN [ME]
Stephen Burtonwood
animus
Comfortingly diatonic after Festive Voluntary,this is quite moving and would be a useful extended voluntary for a funeral or memorial service. The writing is simple but dignified and impressive. It is based on verse four of Psalm 23 ('Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .') and captures the spirit of that verse admirably, especially in the triumphal Maestoso section. This is a piece well worth adding to the repertoire.

THE NATIONAL ANTHEM: Variations on God save the King [M/MD]
Samuel Sebastian Wesley
animus
It always surprises me how many times the National Anthem has been used as the basis for variations, though this set is new to me. There are seven variations in all, of varying degrees of interest. No. 3 makes demands on one's pedal technique and No. 4, with its fanciful flights of Chopinesque decoration and flourishes, demands considerable manual dexterity. Pride of place must go to the concluding seventh variation. After a melody accompanied by sextuplet semiquavers – I wonder if this is not in fact the seventh variation – comes a splendid fugue: is this really number 8? The greater part of the fugue is for manuals only, not always easy at the suggested metronome mark. Beware particularly of the right hand octaves which abound from bar 190 on. As organists we rarely come across this sort of thing, and these bars, from 190 to 219, can sorely try one's technique. Either the upper or the lower notes could be left out, but perseverance will bring its own reward.
The whole thing would be a fine conclusion to a recital, whilst the fugue would stand as a voluntary in its own right. I hope to unleash it on an unsuspecting congregation in due course, though whether they will remain standing throughout remains to be seen.

FOUR EXPRESSIONS [M]
Ian W Seeley
animus
The four pieces are Grand Jeu, Tonada, Meditation and Serenata. The allegretto vigoroso of the first item is a solid example of its kind, with impressive chords and harmonies. 'Tonada' is described by Grove Music Online as a 'short secular or sacred solo song' in seventeenth-century Spanish music or, in Chile and Argentina, a love song or duet. I suspect the second interpretation is more appropriate here, because of the haunting and expressive melody and the rich harmonies. Meditation is short but in many ways the best of the set. Strongly melodic and resolutely diatonic, it has an immediate appeal, whilst the concluding Serenata has a distinct 'Derek Bourgeois' feel about it: marked andantino piacevole it has a light-hearted swing to its catchy melody.

TWELVE FUGUES [M]
William Crotch ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications
These fugues are subtitled 'The subjects based on Anglican Psalm Chants'. Each begins with a slow introduction followed by the fugue proper, with the various sections of the chant indicated. The subjects are listed in David Patrick's introduction and the chants themselves appear, usually in full, at the end of most of the fugues. Normally I am an addict of the organ music of this period, and an admirer of Anglican chant which, in its best manifestations, can be a microcosm of subtle composition. However, my patience was tried by these fugues. Even given the decreasing likelihood today of a congregation being familiar with the subtleties of Anglican chant and chanting, there seemed to be little musical interest in this music. Indeed, its performance would probably lead to a rapid exit when used as a final voluntary, or pronounced somnolence if played before the service. Alas, this collection is more interesting as a curiosity and as a gap-filler in one's editions of Crotch, than as music to listen to with enjoyment.

ELÉVATION Op. 22 [M]
Pierre Villette
United Music Publishers 9790224407921
I am indebted to John Henderson's Directory for the information that Pierre Villette (1926–98) was director of conservatoires in Besançon and Aix-en-Provence and that this is his only organ publication. On the evidence of this one piece it is a shame there is not more. Its 49 bars are characteristically French, reminiscent of Bonnal. There is a quiet serenity about the music, which is very chromatic and abounds in unusual harmonies. It is not at all difficult to play, but will benefit from a sympathetic acoustic. A modest instrument should suffice.

TOCCATA ON 'OLD HUNDRETH' [M]
VARIATIONS ON SLEEPERS, WAKE! [M]
Robert Lau
Paraclete Press
PPM0942
Robert Lau can always be relied upon to produce interesting and approachable music, and these two items are no exception. The Toccata is very much a free improvisation, the lines of the tune being interspersed with largely scalic flourishes. Being quite short it would serve well as a recessional for the choir and clergy on a suitably grand occasion
'Sleepers, Wake' has four variations, the first of which is a reharmonization of the tune. The second is a gentle largo, in which the tune is clearly defined in mostly crotchet movement, whilst the third, although keeping the tune quite prominent, gives it a more decorative treatment. The star of the set is undoubtedly the last variation, a lively movement in which the tune is still quite obvious but presented in an almost bewildering display of varied time signatures. The beginning, for example, gives us 7/8, then immediately 5/8, next 2/4, then 5/8 again, then 6, 7, 6, 7, 5 (two whole bars!), then 6, all in the space of some eleven bars. And that is not the end of the story. All in all this is a glorious variation which is worth playing on its own.

FOUR SERVICE PRELUDES [M]
Don Michael Dicie
OUP 9780193805231
The composer (b.1941) is organist and Church Music Director at Trinity United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tennessee. The first prelude is a noble allegro on Westminster Abbey, the second a lento on Aberystwyth, the next on Slane, and the last on Middlebury. With the possible exception of Middlebury, all are well known this side of the pond, are eminently playable and should please listeners and players alike. The last tune is from The Southern Harmony of 1835, and is a jolly folksy affair, perhaps a Shaker melody, catchy and fun to play. Beware the section near the end when the lively tune ends up in the pedals: nimble feet are needed. This is definitely another piece to be acquired for the music cupboard.
Trevor Webb

HOLY WEEK LAMENTATIONS

** THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH
Tallis, Ferrabosco the younger, Parsley, Byrd, John Mundy
Lay Clerks of St George’s Chapel, Windsor/Timothy Byram-Wigfield
Delphian DCD34068
John Mundy was organist at St George’s Windsor for at least 45 years until his death in 1630 and it is appropriate that it is from Windsor that we have this first recording of his Lamentations setting. One partbook is missing and has been reconstructed by Jeremy Filsell, one of the St George’s altos. The music is intense and anguished, and exploits the extremes of range of the male voices, notably in the bass. Texts come from Lamentations, Zephaniah and surprisingly Psalm 122 (‘O pray for the peace of Jerusalem’). Also on this CD are Lamentation settings by Tallis, Byrd and Parsley, and the first recording of a less austere one by Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger. The singing is excellent and the acoustic of Windsor Castle’s Albert Memorial Chapel adds a splendid resonance. James Weeks writes the CD liner introduction putting the tradition of choral Lamentation settings in its musical and liturgical context.
Judith Markwith

*** SACRED HEARTS + SECRET MUSIC
Palestrina: Lamentations for Holy Saturday and Missa Veni sponsa Christi; Cipriano de Rore: Magnificat sexti toni
Musica Secreta/Celestial Sirens/Francis Kelly (harp)/Claire Williams (organ)/Kinga Gáborjáni (bass viol)/Deborah Roberts
Divine Art DDA 25077
Here is a contrast with the CD reviewed above, and indeed with almost every other CD of sixteenth-century music: these Lamentations and all the other music on the disc is sung by an all-female chamber choir. What music would nuns have sung at that time in their convent liturgy? Perhaps only plainsong, or perhaps works written for female voices all of which have been lost, or, and more likely, perhaps the same repertoire as sung by male choirs, transposed, ornamented and arranged as required. The liner notes describe the recreation of these performances as ‘a combination of educated guesswork and practical musicianship’. It is also a magnificent success. The music sounds new and fresh, as if originally written for the upper voices – one enjoys it on its own terms and not as a comparison or contrast – and the ornamentation sounds natural and right for the music. As well as the main works listed above there are motets by Palestrina and de Rore and chants for the Feast of St Agnes. The CD is at one level a soundtrack to accompany Sarah Dunant’s book Sacred Hearts. At another it is a tribute from her fellow singers to the soprano Tessa Bonner, a founder member of Musica Secreta who died shortly before the recording was made.
Judith Markwith

NEW HORIZONS

** NEW HORIZONS: Contemporary British Sacred Choral Music
The Ebor Singers/Paul Gameson
Boreas BMCD901
The Ebor Singers’ first recorded exploration of contemporary British sacred music, Dusk Songs, was reviewed and recommended in CMQ (June 2008). In this second instalment we are more aware of an evolving tradition. There is one ‘early’ piece, Howells’s Salve Regina published in 1915, with the influence of Renaissance polyphony particularly felt. Howells forged his own idiom and in turn influenced much that came after, particularly on this disc the five-movement Pilgrimage of Philip Moore. Two motets by Tarik O’Regan and Jonathan Dove’s setting of Dorothy Sayers’ The Three Kings also sound as if watered by this fertile stream as well as showing the originality and distinctiveness of both composers. Other traditions appear in Michael Finnissy’s Ave regina coelorum which seems to hark back to plainsong and indeed folk-song. Moore’s pilgrimage was commissioned by the choir, as was Kerry Andrew’s York Mass. Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei are set using wide-ranging vocal techniques – the sound worlds are certainly more Berio than Howells, but the music, however creative, is always the servant of the words. It would be good to hear this powerful and expressive Mass setting sung in the liturgy.
Judith Markwith

* DAVID BEDNALL: REQUIEM and other choral works
Chamber Choir of St Mary’s Calne/Philip Dukes (viola)/Davied Bednall (organ)/Edward Whiting
Regent REGCD327
David Bednall is another composer who has picked up the tradition of Howells and takes it towards new horizons, in this case mingled with twentieth-century French harmonies and timbres. It is frequently restless music, searching and striving, not least in the uneasy ‘Libera me’. But the following ‘In paradisum’ is all the more of a contrast as the vocal ‘chorus angelorum’ is led by solo viola to eternal light and peace. The musical techniques used are traditional but applied with skill and an emotional sincerity that results in a disturbing and rewarding piece. The chamber choir of St Mary’s Calne, 43 girls between 14 and 18, should be hugely proud of the vivid sound and mature musicianship they display.
Judith Markwith

WE RECOMMEND . . .

THE VOICE FOR LIFE CHORISTER’S COMPANION
RSCM: 208 pp. P/B
G0021
It is the wrong time of year to suggest the perfect Christmas present for every chorister, but this is also a good birthday or choir-admission present. Whatever the pretext, every chorister should have this pocket-sized encyclopedia. Lindsay Gray provides an Introduction, Aled Jones a Foreword, Harry Bramma a brief history of the singing church, Leah Perona-Wright a biblically-based overview of the role of the chorister and Peter Moger an exceptionally good and ecumenical description of the Church and its worship. There are sections about the organ, what to look for inside a church, and church music composers. Important sections about music are taken from Voice for Life publications, making this particularly useful for anyone progressing towards Voice for Life levels and awards, or indeed learning about music in school classroom or instrumental lessons.
Stephen Patterson

IN TUNEFUL ACCORD: The Church Musicians
Trevor Beeson
SCM Press: 246 pp. Hardback
978-0-334-04193-1
This fascinating survey of music in the Church of England over the last two centuries chooses key musicians and through them examines events, places, organizations and movements. Some connections are obvious: Sydney Nicholson for the RSCM, Frederick Ouseley at St Michael’s, Tenbury, John Stainer at St Paul’s, and Frederick Bridge at Westminster Abbey. York Minster is seen in terms of the succession from Bairstow to Jackson to Moore. The story starts with John Goss, ‘The last of the old wine’, and S S Wesley ‘The beginnings of reform’, covers nineteenth-century hymn writers and composers and also parish church choirs, and moves into the twentieth century around Edward Elgar, ‘The revival of English music’. The author is not insular and finds space for Schönberg, Fauré, Messiaen, Poulenc, Duruflé and Langlais as well as Walton, Lennox Berkeley, Tippett, Leighton, Britten and Howells. Harvey and Tavener are paired as a contrast and the survey is brought up to date with Górecki, Pärt, Bingham, MacMillan, Weir, Panufnik, Dove, Pott, O’Regan and Gabriel Jackson in one chapter, and Archer, Rutter, Goodall, Chilcott and ‘the music of Taizé’ in another. Other twentieth-century topics include the hymnody revival, cathedrals and the ‘rediscovery of the counter-tenor’ and Oxbridge choirs. Much information is presented with a light touch and very readably. The author writes that of all the books he has written over 50 years, this has given him the most pleasure: it will do the same for many readers.
Julian Elloway

COME CELEBRATE: Contemporary hymns from leading writers
edited by Michael Sayward
Canterbury Press: 306 pp. P/B with CD ROM
978-1-85311-993-4
That this resource book of 291 less-familiar hymn texts by living writers is a bit of a curate’s egg is not surprising given how it came into being. The twenty authors all have hymns included in widely-used hymn books. Each writer was allowed to present the texts in full of up to sixteen of their own hymns that they consider their favourites, excluding those most widely known. The aim was to combat the way a small number of hymns by living writers, mostly written before 1980, are widely used to the neglect of more recent texts. Graham Kendrick’s contributions differ noticeably from the rest with only two in a regular metre and several that are already well known, such as ‘Like a candle flame’, ‘Come and see’ (We worship at your feet) and ‘Restore, O Lord, the honour of your name’. In contrast are writers such as Graham Deans, Marjorie Dobson and metrical psalm writers Emma Turl and David Preston with whose work this collection will be the first encounter for many readers. Looking at the others, one is grateful in most cases for the authors’ own selections, not least in the case of Timothy Dudley-Smith who selects 15 out of his 378 (at the last count) and includes two Christmas hymns, ‘Light to the world, a child is born’ and ‘Stars of heaven, clear and bright’. Unlike the original curate’s egg where the good parts are entirely spoiled by the bad, there is much to recommend here, and with the added bonus of good biblical and metrical indexes, and a CD-ROM of the texts for copying under a CCLI licence.
Stephen Patterson

THE WESSEX PSALTER: The Psalms of David as set by the Book of Common Prayer
pointed and edited for Anglican Chant by J D Riding and N J Hale
The Phoenix Press: 306 pp. Hardback
978-0-9563573-0-4
This psalter is published by the aptly named Phoenix Press, as it was from the ashes of a disastrous fire in St John the Baptist, Devizes in 2006 that the idea for this book arose. The joint editors, Jon Riding and Nick Hale, have produced a psalter which is not only clearly laid out, but has the bonus of explanatory textual notes to satisfy both the curious chorister and the more serious scholar. For example, younger singers especially will appreciate the entry for psalm 74, verse 12, ‘Why withdrawest thou thy hand: why pluckest thou not thy right hand out of thy bosom to consume the enemy?’ which reads ‘Why are you pulling your punches God? Deck him with a right hook!’ As the editors state in the preface, ‘To sing psalms well it is essential to understand the story being told.’ This volume with its pointing sensitive to the text, enhanced by straightforward and well-chosen chants, will be a worthy addition to any parish or cathedral choir library where traditional psalmody is held in regard.
Trevor Jarvis

THE ANGLICAN PSALTER: The Psalms of David
pointed and edited for chanting by John Scott
Canterbury Press: 352 pp. P/B
978-1-85311-988-0
This is a renamed version of the New St Paul’s Cathedral Psalter of 1997, with a few corrections and updated composer biographies. Among the notable features of the original were the range of chant composers with lots of sixteenth and twentieth-century examples, the high ‘cathedral’ pitch of several of the chants, and the careful pointing that frequently omits chords from the chant in particular verses to achieve the most flowing verbal accentuation. The new title reflects the way the book has become used in non-cathedral churches. But caveat emptor, these settings, often at high pitch and with ‘chant surgery’ in specific verses, would not be suitable where an unrehearsed congregation sings with the choir. But they are highly recommended for choir use, and every director of a psalm-singing choir should have a copy at least to consult, and to read the excellent Prefaces by Bishop Christopher Hill and by John Scott with fascinating examples of how chants evolved over the years.
Stephen Patterson

SACRED SONGS [M]
Karl Jenkins
SATB and keyboard
Boosey & Hawkes ISMN 979-0-060-12008-4
Jenkins’s The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace is still firmly in the Classic FM Hall of Fame top ten and its success must tempt many church choirs to try individual movements in worship. This collection includes the popular Benedictus and Agnus Dei from that work along with the ‘Pie Jesu’ and ‘In paradisum’ from his Requiem, and three sections from his Stabat Mater: ‘Ave verum corpus’, ‘Virgo virginem’ and ‘And the Mother did weep’ with its central section in Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic and Greek (a pronunciation guide would have been useful). The enjoyable choral writing is within the capabilities of most four-part choirs. More tricky at times is the keyboard part, marked ‘organ’ throughout the score but mostly clearly written as a piano part and in need of adaptation to work on the organ.
James L Montgomery

MAY THE MYSTERY OF GOD ENFOLD US [E]
SATB and organ
A LIVING STONE [M]
SATB
Simon Lole
Encore Publications
Here are two very different aspects of the same composer. May the mystery of God enfold us sounds like a Celtic blessing but is in fact from Aotearoa, New Zealand, with English words by Joy Cowley and subtitled ‘Arohanui blessing’. Arohanui is one of those Polynesian words with no direct translation into western languages, but is concerned with love, or ‘big love’, or indeed God’s love. The music seems to be following paths well trodden by other Celtic and Gaelic blessings, but then turns into a new and distinctive area for the heart of the piece: ‘May the wonder of God renew us . . . May the moving of God bring us peace.’
In contrast, A living stone is declamatory and resolute until the final ‘acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’. With words from 1 Peter, this could be a stirring introit for a Dedication Festival or confirmation or ordination or almost any saint’s day – I look forward to hearing it on lots of occasions!
James L Montgomery

WHATSOEVER THINGS [E/M]
O COME LET US SING [E]
Paul Fisher
SATB
available from the composer at www.paulfishermusic.co.uk
Paul Fisher is a musician and retired Anglican priest living in Yorkshire. Some of his organ compositions have been recorded by Kevin Bowyer at Blackburn Cathedral and his website includes music which can be downloaded. A member of the RSCM Bradford Area Committee, he composed these two unaccompanied anthems for Area Festivals in 2008 and 2009.
Whatsoever Things sets the well-known text from Philippians 4. The style is melodic, with some surprises in the harmony but each voice part is singable; with practice, a choir capable of singing in four parts unaccompanied would enjoy this gentle and atmospheric anthem. The composer’s ability to write successfully for voices is also apparent in O Come let us sing. The text, from the opening of Psalm 95, would make a very appropriate introit. Within 31 bars a pianissimo start builds to a climax and then dies away, leaving a sense of expectancy for the service to follow. The basses have a two octave range from low E, but some of their high notes could be avoided by a little judicious swapping of parts with the tenors.
Both pieces are accessible for church choir singers and it is good to commend music dedicated to the Bradford RSCM Area which deserves to be known in other places.
Gordon Appleton

SONG OF MARY and SONG OF SIMEON [E]
Margaret Rizza
SATB (or 2-part mixed voices) and keyboard
RSCM C0773
AVE MARIA [M]
Philip Wilby
Double SATB
RSCM A2272
‘All of my music is underpinned by prayer – which can consist of doubts, anxieties, desert stones . . . but also deep joy and gratitude’ – so said Margaret Rizza in a CMQ interview in 2002, before describing how she tries through music to share her prayer life. And the prayer life of the universal church has always been centred, evening and night, around the Gospel canticles of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, found here in Mary Holtby’s poetic paraphrases. The music is simple – folksong-like in the Song of Mary and more chant-like in the Song of Simeon, and with English verses interspersed with a Latin refrain. The composer’s introductions urge the singers to say the words first, so that an understanding of them affects how the music is sung.
Philip Wilby’s Ave Maria is a beautiful, haunting setting with the spaciousness of Bruckner, but without the difficulty of that composer’s setting of the same words. Wilby’s setting looks difficult, especially with several pages set out in eight-part open score and no keyboard reduction, but it is much simpler than a first glance at the spacious layout might suggest. The piece is framed by a little floating soprano solo which can be sung at a distance from the rest of the choir.
James L Montgomery

VENITE COMEDITE [E/M]
Robert Sharpe
SATB
Encore Publications
A slow and contemplative communion anthem with a feel of Arvo Pärt but a warm harmonic language all of its own, this striking setting of Proverbs 9.5 will leave a powerful impression, especially in a resonant acoustic.
James L Montgomery

JESU, THE VERY THOUGHT OF THEE [M]
WE BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER [E]
Harry Grindle
SATB
Encore Publications
Harry Grindle sets Caswall’s much-sung English text of ‘Jesu, the very thought of thee’ with outstanding sensitivity to the words – from the opening repetitions of the ‘thought’ name of Jesu and the change of key on the ‘thought of thee’ itself, through to the real repose on ‘in thy presence rest’. The music journeys from G major to D flat major in parallel with the progress of thought in the text.
‘We believe in God the Father’ is Timothy Dudley-Smith’s paraphrase of the Apostles’ Creed authorized in Common Worship for liturgical use. It does not have a single established tune. The author published it with the recommendation it be sung to Abbot’s Leigh or Lux Eoi, but the music edition The Voice of Faith, edited by the author with William Llewellyn suggests neither of those but Everton or Blaenwern or Hyfrydol. Here is a sixth alternative – a new tune by Harry Grindle, Bangor Abbey, presented with four-part harmony for the first two verses, a splendidly reharmonized organ part for the third, and a descant for the final four bars.
James L Montgomery

ANTHEMS FOR PENTECOST

VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS [M]
Howard Goodall
SATB with divisi
Faber Music 978-0-571-53252-0
IF YE LOVE ME [E/M]
Stanley Vann
SATB
Banks Music Publications ECS 513
LITANY TO THE HOLY SPIRIT [E/M]
Philip Lawson
SATB and organ
Encore Publications
Goodall’s setting of the Pentecost sequence (in Latin) is a serious work, a true invocation of the power of the Spirit, concluding in a torrent of spirit-infused alleluias. Commissioned for performance by a school choir, it is not particularly difficult – highly recommended.
Stanley Vann’s setting of If ye love me is an excellent demonstration of the fine craftsmanship and gentle nature described in this month’s (March 2010) CMQ. Vann alludes to Tallis and Howells, somehow combining them into something altogether different, yet part of that tradition.
If you enjoy Peter Hurford’s Litany to the Holy Spirit, but want something more extended, take a look at Philip Lawson’s similar approach, but which has more variety between the different verses and a ravishing conclusion ‘Sweet Spirit, comfort me.’
James L Montgomery

SERVICE MUSIC

GOD OF THE EMPTY SPACE [M]
John Pantry
SATB, congregation, piano/guitar
RSCM D0231
‘Modern day church service music for choir and congregation’ is the subtitle of this collection of seventeen new songs and choral pieces. Successful songwriter and Anglican priest, John Pantry presents ‘Inspirational Breakfast’ on Premier Christian Radio. This is the sheet music of his album God of the Empty Space that you may already have downloaded onto your MP3 player. Although not labelled as such, there is a complete Mass setting from Kyrie through to Agnus Dei, canticles for morning and evening prayer, a benediction and a grace, and the song ‘God of the empty space’ itself. Texts are sometimes as in Common Worship and sometimes free paraphrases as in the memorable Nunc dimittis which ends with a reminder to Mary, ‘but a sword will piece your own heart too.’ The music is presented twice, firstly for choir and secondly for congregation with permission to reproduce words and music under a CCLI licence. The fresh musical style feels of today yet also timeless, of eternity perhaps – these songs are well worth exploring.
Stephen Patterson

MISSA JAZZIS (A Jazz Mass) [M]
Joe Utterback
SATB, soloists, trumpet, piano
available from www.jazzmuze.com
CMQ reviewers have often been enthusiastic about Joe Utterback’s jazz-inspired organ compositions. Here is a chance to experience the same style in a choral mass setting (with highly abbreviated words in the Gloria) with a Lacrimosa for use in a Requiem and an Alleluia movement. You will need a good organist, brilliant trumpet player, and musicians happy to swing the exciting rhythms. If you might be interested, go to www.jazzmuze.com and click on ‘Missa Jazzis’ – there you can hear each movement and decide. See also the review of the organ version under 'Reviews of printed music - Organ', below.
Stephen Patterson

WAR REQUIEM

BLACK LIGHT: A War Requiem [D]
Paul Fisher
www.paulfishermusic.co.uk
In Ripon Cathedral in February 2010 there was a temporary work of art called ‘6 Million Plus – Every Person Counts’, commemorating those who died in the holocaust and more recent genocides. It comprises six million buttons (one for each person who was killed), created by Kirklees Museums & Galleries working in partnership with artist Antonia Stowe.
Paul Fisher's war requiem, Black Light, would be a perfect adjunct to this art work. Its music is bleak and passionate as befits the theme of inhuman violence through war and suffering. Although a work of intense passion and sorrow, there are occasional shafts of sunlight as we yearn for healing and redemption through some of the text of the Requiem Mass. The libretto also includes a traditional lament from Skye, deeply felt poetry by Nancy Wood, priest-poet David Lockwood and additional texts by the composer. Paul Fisher, a retired priest and musician living in Yorkshire, dedicates this work (which lasts about 45 minutes) to ‘all those who, throughout the ages, grieve for loved ones killed through war, battle, conflict and man’s inhumanity to man’.
It is musically challenging for chorus (sometimes singing in eight parts), chamber choir and soloists, accompanied by organ. All singers need a secure grasp of pitch, rhythm and intonation as well as confidence to overcome the technical difficulties. A professional choir, or choral society of that standard, looking for music on this theme, may well find Black Light – A Requiem a moving work to perform.
Gordon Appleton

MANUALS ONLY

TWELVE VOLUNTARIES [E]
William Goodwin
SIX VOLUNTARIES [M]
Jacob Kirkman
ed. David Patrick
Fitzjohn Music Publications
William Goodwin (son of Starling, whose two sets of voluntaries are already published by David Patrick) left one set of twelve organ voluntaries, most of which are in the traditional two-movement form, including one for Cornet or Flute, three for Trumpet and echo, one for Swell (i.e. Oboe) and Vox Humana and four preludes and fugues of which no. 9 in A minor contains a rare example of crossed hands. The other one-movement pieces include one for Choir and Swell, one contrasting full organ and Swell, and the final piece for full organ, with full chords, vigorous dotted rhythms and triplets; it would work well as an extra movement to no. 8 or 9. Not technically over-demanding, these pleasantly tuneful pieces expand in particular the repertoire of pieces for solo stops by the contemporaries of Stanley.
Jacob Kirkman left only six Voluntaries in his set published in 1789, after he had succeeded John Keeble at St George’s Hanover Square. Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 6 are loosely constructed fugues of which nos. 1, 4 and 6 are preceded by a short full-chorded prelude; in fugue no. 1 the subject first appears in the bass and nos. 1 and 4 conclude with several bars of chordal writing marked Adagio (qualified by ad lib in no. 2), implying much freedom that could also be applied to the preceding bars of chords in no. 4. Nos. 2 and 5 are in one movement; no. 2 is a dialogue between Swell and Choir and contains much galant writing in demisemiquavers, warning against too fast a tempo, and no. 5 is between Great Diapasons and Swell. Both have places for the improvisation of an appropriate cadenza.
David Patrick provides the usual concise editorial notes, including brief biography, performance practice and a critical commentary, in these well-printed comb-bound editions.
John Collins

WITH PEDALS

IMPRESSIONS OF PARIS: Suite for Organ [M]
Alastair Johnston
fagus-music.com
This attractive Suite has five movements, each based on an aspect of Paris. The first, Gargoyles, conveys a sense of the grotesque in its dotted rhythms and quirky harmonies. Berceuse describes a meeting between two insomniacs, Franck and Vierne, and Summer Rain over the ‘Jardin du Luxembourg’ captures the scene perfectly. Nightscape from Sacre Coeur is in the form of a gentle melody, with a central section built round sustained chords. The concluding movement, Sunday Morning, is a spirited toccata in the traditional French idiom, effective in its simplicity and unconstrained by a desire to conform to a conventional pattern. This suite is a pleasure to play, and I can see it in a recital being accompanied by appropriate pictures. My only little quibble is that the titles and associated descriptive comments come at the end of each movement so if, like me, you plunge in at the beginning without looking, the imagination has to work hard.
Trevor Webb

THREE CHARACTERISTIC PIECES [M]
Gordon Lawson
fagus-music.com
The first is Meditation on Psalm CXXI, a gentle piece and a good introductory voluntary with its restful, predominantly quaver movement and pleasantly chromatic harmony. An Old World Minuet is not quite what the title suggests, not a pastiche but instead it captures a hint of an older style which manages to remain modern: something of a (pleasant) paradox. The concluding piece, A Tuba Tune (In appreciation of C S Lang) has just sufficient reminders of that favourite outgoing voluntary, with plenty of activity in a strong tune. These pieces all make good voluntaries or recital items.
Trevor Webb

AN ORKNEY SUITE [E]
Evelyn Stell
fagus-music.com
Subtitled 6 Easy Pieces for Organ, these useful pieces have only simple pedal parts and would be ideal for the pianist-turned-organist drafted in to help out. Prelude is for manuals only, but Landscape is a little more ambitious, requiring just a few pedal notes, as does The Flow. Elegy and Sunset continue the same plan. These characteristics make them useful teaching and sight-reading items, but the more advanced player should find plenty of interest too.
Trevor Webb

THE FAGUS COLLECTION OF INTERLUDES AND OFFERTORIES [M]
fagus-music.com
There are 40 short pieces in this book, mostly a couple of minutes or less long, but often adaptable in length. The collection is thus invaluable for those of us whose improvisatory skills leave something to be desired – it will certainly be a permanent occupant of my music case – and ideal for filling in those awkward gaps when the offertory hymn or communion administration finish too soon. Inevitably the majority are based on hymn tunes. A wide range of composers is represented, with such stalwarts as Gwilym Beechey, Humphrey Clucas, Brian Daniels, Paul Edwards, Geoffrey Atkinson – space precludes mentioning them all, but if you have any fagus publications in your library you will know who (and what) to expect: good quality and very playable and approachable music.
Trevor Webb

THREE IMPROVISATIONS ON AMERICAN FOLK HYMNS [M]
Geoffrey Atkinson
fagus-music.com
The first, on the tune Wondrous Love, is given a simple, quite plain treatment as suits the tune. Improvisation on ‘Poor Wayfaring Stranger’ is in similar style but with an extended treatment – the piece lasts almost four minutes. Both are pleasant, quiet voluntaries, with no technical problems. Improvisation on ‘Can I Keep from Singing’ is a lively, entertaining postlude on a catchy tune which would make a popular appearance in British hymnals (if it has not already done so). Marked ‘jauntily, very rhythmic and clearly articulated’, this is the best of three good pieces. One of my criteria when looking at new music is to ask if I would like to engage in real practice on a piece, and the answer for this last one is decidedly ‘yes.’
Trevor Webb

PSALM PRELUDE (Psalm 23) [M]
Stephen Burtonwood
fagus-music.com
This is an extended composition with echoes of Howells but not so difficult. The only likely problems occur in the central section where, briefly, there are some fairly complex chords. How far the music reflects the text is something the player/listener will have to decide, but keeping the text in mind certainly helps with interpretation. The music compels attention and merits more than one hearing. The printing is on separate card sheets, one side only: beware a drafty console!
Trevor Webb

RONDINO IN D FLAT and BARCAROLLE [MD]
William Wolstenholme
Fitzjohn Music Publications
Wolstenholme, who died in 1931, was a celebrated blind organist, a close friend of that other famous blind organist Alfred Hollins, and was taught the violin by Elgar. The list of his compositions is formidable, the style totally characteristic of the period – well crafted, elegant melodies, harmonically and rhythmically adventurous, but all in the best possible taste. Whilst sometimes long-winded, the pieces are usually worth resurrection.
Rondino (1922) has a lively main theme in D flat, whilst the others are much more chromatic, wandering into remote keys. The conclusion is interesting, in that by then the main theme has moved into D major, where it stays for 46 bars. Wolstenholme’s solution to the problem of getting back home is to have three full bars’ rest, and then two bars back in D flat. Barcarolle begins with a harmonically wandering introduction before settling down to a typical tune in thirds on the flute stop. This, for me, demands practice and eventual release on what I hope will be an appreciative congregation.
Trevor Webb

THREE PIECES [M/MD]
David Halls
Paraclete Press PPMO924
These pieces from a distinguished British cathedral organist are well worth a look. Salisbury Fanfare needs a good solo reed, and would be ideal for a grand occasion. Meditation is a pleasant reflective piece; Impromptu calls for neat finger work and is by far the longest and most difficult item. In all three pieces the pedal part is easy.
Trevor Webb

TOCCATA ON ‘OLD HUNDRETH’ [M]
Robert Lau
Paraclete Press PPMO942
Robert Lau is no stranger to these pages and this toccata is well up to his usual high standard. Written for the American Guild of Organists and their 2009 convention, it is a stirring composition. A large organ is needed to do it justice. Appearances of the tune are interspersed with recitative-style passages, the whole coming together with dramatic effect.
Trevor Webb

COMPLETE ORGAN WORKS vol. III [D]
Gerard Bunk
Bärenreiter BA9283
Gerard Bunk (1881–1958) was organist of St Reinoldi in Dortmund, a virtuoso player and the composer of large-scale works for organ. His music is largely unknown here, and I hope that the first publication of his complete works will make him more widely known. Volume III contains the Introduction, Variations and Fugue on an Old Dutch Folksong, which the Preface says was highly regarded by Widor, Schweitzer and Bossi, the Sonata in F minor, and the Passacaglia in A minor. These three massive compositions were written when Bunk was in his early 20s and make great demands on player and instrument. A glance at the stop lists of the organs in Berlin and Dortmund will tell one much.
This edition has a comprehensive critical account of the composer, his music, and the two instruments which influenced him most in Berlin Cathedral and St Reinoldi. The former was damaged in 1944 but restored in 1993; The St Reinoldi organ, a magnificent five-manual instrument, sadly was destroyed in air raids in 1943/44, when Bunk also lost his entire collection of organ music and the Bach Society’s collection in the church. Of the music itself, probably the most immediately useable are the two Intermezzi in the Sonata. The second of these was also arranged by Bunk for violin and organ; the violin part is included. The price may be a deterrent, but well worth paying for such an absorbing volume.
Trevor Webb

CHORALVORSPIELE OP. 57 VOL. III [M]
Karl Hoyer
Bärenreiter BA 9218

Hoyer (1891–1936) was a pupil of Reger and Straube, and organist of St Nicolas Church in Leipzig. His large list of compositions contains many in choral prelude form. There are 23 preludes in this volume, on tunes very few of which will be familiar in English-speaking countries. Gelobt sei Gott appears in most hymn books, as well as Schmücke dich and O Haupt voll Blut und Wunde, but the remainder will be useful voluntaries. There is not much excitement, unfortunately; the preludes are well-written in a solid and rather dull way, serviceable, mostly a couple of pages long, and sight-readable.
Trevor Webb

JAZZ FOR ORGAN

JAZZ MEDITATIONS [MD]
Liselotte Kunkel
Bärenreiter BA 9256
This book contains six chorale arrangements, described by the composer as 'ecumenically common hymns: leisurely tempi, soft tone colours, and forms such as Ostinato or variation lend them their meditative character and provide a setting for reflecting on the words.' Using classical swing jazz these interesting pieces will provide a welcome change from more traditional chorale-based compositions – there is even a Waltz, and a Blues on Lobet den Herrn. The composer's Preface gives useful hints on performance. If you have enjoyed Bärenreiter's previous jazz publications you should enjoy this one.
Trevor Webb

JAZZ MASS FOR ORGAN [M]
Joe Utterback ed. Bill Todt
Jazzmuze 2009-313
available from www.jazzmuze.com
Utterback's name guarantees good music, playable and eminently approachable. This Jazz Mass has seven movements, all of which can be used separately. The composer's 'Special Notes' explain the origins of the work, and suggest visiting www.jazzmuze.com to hear each movement of the choral work on which it is based. Entrance is ashort trumpet solo, Kyrie a gentle clarinet piece whilst Sanctus is suitably much bolder. Gloria, marked 'bluesy' – there are four 12-bar blues choruses – would be a good concluding voluntary. Trail of Tears is quite simple, marked 'plaintive, poignant', followed by Agnus Dei. The Massends witha splendid Alleluia; the instruction over the final bar sums it up: 'loud, exciting finale'.
Trevor Webb