Notes from Geoffrey Whittington, choir member, relating to the pieces we’re performing on 13 December in Emsworth:
In this concert we will be presenting a selection of favourite carols and other Christmas pieces. These pieces are possibly of special interest.
Gibbons – ‘O Thou, the central orb’
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was a great English keyboard player and composer who died 400 years ago this year. He served as organist in the Chapel Royal for a long time. He kept to the contrapuntal tradition of Byrd and favoured morality-based texts. Gibbons wrote the verse-anthem O all true faithful hearts in 1619 to thank God for James 1’s recovery from an illness.
In this version, the words have been adapted to allow for more general use. For his publication of Gibbons’ works in 1873, Frederick Ouseley asked Henry Ramsden Bramley to supply a liturgical text to fit Gibbons’ music: Bramley provided his sonnet ‘O thou, the central orb’. The original accompaniment would have been for a viol consort, which makes for some intricate detail when transferred to the organ.
As usual with Gibbons, the organ part has a lot of detail and there is a wonderful amen with quaver runs in all parts. The alto solo is sung by Melissa Wingfield.
Sally Beamish – ‘In the stillness’
Sally Beamish (born 1956) is one of Britain’s leading composers. She has composed three major oratorios and several concertos. As a viola player she is still performing too. This quiet, soft piece written three years ago sets the scene before the birth of Christ in an accessible way.
John Merrick – ‘The Bee Carol’
John Merrick deservedly won the BBC Carol competition in 2018 with this lovely unusual new carol. Its sets the poem of the same name by Carol Ann Duffy. In it we get the feeling bees have about Christmas.
Adam – ‘Cantique de Noel’
Adolphe Adam (1803 – 1856) was a pioneer French opera composer, best remembered today for ‘Giselle’. This beautiful hymn dates from 1850 and has been arranged as a solo soprano line with a rippling piano accompaniment with two interjections from the choir for emphasis. One can imagine how Fauré was perhaps later inspired by it for his Cantique de Jean Racine 15 years later.
Traditional, arr. Yo-Yo Ma and Peter Gambie – Wexford Carol
Peter Gambie, our MD, writes: “One of our members, Vanessa McAll, studied traditional Scottish music at the Royal Conservatiore in Glasgow, and I knew she had experience performing folk music from both the Celtic and American traditions. I wanted to have a carol in our repertoire which reflected the diverse influences of early music from the British Isles, so I asked Vanessa to suggest some pieces which I might arrange.
“She sent me several such pieces, including the most beautiful version of this ancient Irish carol that I had ever heard, sung by Alison Krauss and accompanied by Yo-Yo Ma in an arrangement written by the cellist. I wrote to Yo-Yo Ma, asking him if I might use his arrangement as the basis for my own version, which he agreed to. So here we have it, but now with a violin part played by Vanessa’s daughter. In two previous concerts when the Wexford Carol has been included, it has stunned audiences with its beauty and peacefulness.”