S2,E61.In praise of Choral Music - Parry, Stanford, Tallis Purcell, Boelmann, Bach,

Welcome back to Perfect Pitch with Nick Healy Hutchinson and his fresh approach to the world of classical music. Whether you're an expert or a beginner, old or young, Perfect Pitch has something for everyone.

Choral music of the sacred kind may not obviously fit the brief of this podcast, but almost any composer you can name has at some point turned his or her skills to the music of the church. At the foot of many of his compositions, Johann Sebastian Bach would add the initial S D, standing for Poly Deo Gratia, for the glory of God alone. About three-quarters of its enormous output was written for the church, the minimum requirement for which was to produce a new cantata of about 20 minutes every Sunday for three years. This could involve writing out the parts of up to a dozen voices and several instruments, all without the luxury of a printer. And then, of course, to have it ready in time for some kind of rehearsal beforehand every single Sunday. It's a wonder if he got anything else done at all. But plenty of composers have had more complicated relationships with Christianity. And yet it does not stop them from creating the metallic music. But having one of the country's most magnificent cathedrals actually makes it a small city. The format has changed little since the establishment of the Book of Common Prayer after the Reformation some 500 years ago. Prayers and readings are interspersed by four immovable song pieces. Then the magnificent piece reflecting praise from the Lord by the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. Fulfilling a similar statement that he could not die without seeing the Lord, which happened forty days after his birth. And finally, I have shared these forty or so minutes with a number of people who don't normally set foot in a church. And without exception, each has come away enriched and not a little envious that I had this result so close. It's a wonderful way to bring the day to its close, and I want to share a sample of each with you today. The words used in one of the movements of Brahms' Requiem set here to music by Hubert Parry. After a reading from the Old Testament, the choir then sings The Magnificat. Bach wrote one, naturally, and it's one of those standout pieces in the whole choral repertoire that lasts the best part of half an hour. So it's more likely to feature on the concert platform than in any liturgy. So let's listen to another British composer whose music we've also listened to in the past. Charles Stanford. It's magnificating B-flat. It's an emphatic, no nonsense, a statement of praise. It's followed by the Lunctis, also set by Stanford. Sung by the choir of Durham Cathedral, with Keith Wright on the organ, and directed by James Larcelot. Picking one here is an impossible task, but I'm going to stick with Hubert Parry, because My Soul That Is a Country from His Tales of Farewell was sung very recently at the cathedral, and so it's fresh in my head. The anthem is sung here by Tenebrae, directed by Nigel Shorty. Both of them deeply reflective. The first is If ye love me, keep my commandments, words taken from St. John's Gospel and set to music by Thomas Talant in the mid-sixteenth century. The second is Knowest Lord The Secrets of Our Hearts written by Henry Purcell in 1694 for the funeral of Queen Mary. Each has a particular purity, giving them a profound meditative quality. The Talit is sung by the Cambridge Singers, directed by John Rutter. The Purcell by the choir of Guilford Cathedral, directed by Barry Rhodes. I hope you've enjoyed this brief exploration into the realms of choral music and can see the solid it brings. It would be remiss in, I think, to conclude without some organ music. I love to play some modern stuff, especially some Herbert Howells, an unfortunately a full file copyright. The Gothic suite, or to give it its proper title, The Suite and Gotique, is a four-part piece written by the little known Frenchman Leon Bellman in 1895. Here is the ever so slightly menacing Doc Carta, which nevertheless ends on a major chord at that device we have heard before, the so-called Picardy Third. Olivia Latri is the organist stomping the pedals on the organ of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. In the same way that I was unable to resist adding a couple of extra anthems earlier, there isn't a more apt episode than this one in which to include what is surely the most famous and familiar organ piece ever written. The thing about the organ is that the player, and I speak from a very modest art experience, has an enormous array of different sounds at his or her disposal. This means that you'll find multiple versions of this piece. But the one common feature is that most take the opportunity to belt it out, quite literally by pulling out all the stops. So it was a really refreshing surprise to find this recorded by Simon Presson, one of this country's most preeminent church musicians, who died in 2022. Everybody will be familiar with its iconic opening. But what I like about this version is that it's overwhelmingly light. Almost delicate. It's another example of how even though it's familiar and sound different and new.