Thursday Evening "Concerts at Home"

On a Thursday evening, at 8pm, in a village hall in deepest glorious Suffolk, a community choir meets each week. They've been going for over thirty years; they sing predominantly unaccompanied repertoire, and at the moment, they're all slightly stuck because of Covid-19.

​So, from now on every Thursday at 8pm, a short 'concert' will appear on this page - three pieces of choral music that the choir have performed, have been learning, or would like to perform. The most recent Thursday will always be at the top.
So grab a snack, pour yourself a glass of something delicious, sit back, press play, and enjoy!

​​Thursday 28th May

It's half term this week, so Claire and John are taking a little break!

So - why not take the opportunity to try something new? 

Where Desert Island Discs has one person choosing different pieces, BBC Radio 4's Soul Music has one piece, and different people talking about it. Click the button below to see the available episodes on BBC Sounds:
There are over 150 episodes, including these Suffolk Singer favourites:

​​Thursday 21st May

This week we look at music the Singers would have sung this coming weekend in their tour to Normandy.

It includes music by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, a choral arrangement of a piece with a curious compositional history, one of the greatest motets of the Tudor age, and as a treat and a memory, a piece sung by the choir in Belgium as part of their 2018 tour to Belgium.
​PS - we've heard from John, and he is fine...!
Bogoroditsye Dyevo (All-Night Vigil)
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943)
Composed in under two weeks, the All-Night Vigil (Op.37) premiered in Moscow in March 1915. It is often referred to as the Vespers, which is incorrect as the texts of Vespers form only part of the full Vigil.

The Vigil combines the three canonical hours of Vespers, Matins, and the First Hour in the same way it could be said Evensong combines the Latin services of Vespers and Compline.

This movement - possibly the most popular and recognisable - is a setting of the words from the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (known as 'Theokotos', or 'God-bearer) which in the Latin church is known as Ave Maria.

The Vigil is dedicated to the choir director and scholar of ancient Russian chant, Stepan Smolensky, who had died in 1909.

Smolensky became  professor of history and theory of church music at the Moscow Conservatory, and in 1901 choral director of the St. Petersburg Court Chapel, an institution dating back to 1479.
Богородице дѣво радѹйсѧ
Theotokos Virgin, rejoice,
ѡбрадованнаѧ Марїе
Mary full of grace,
Господь съ тобою
the Lord is with thee. 
​
благословена ты въ женахъ,
Blessed art thou amongst women,
и благословенъ плодъ чрева твоегѡ,
 and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, 
Якѡ родила еси Христа Спаса,
for thou hast borne Christ the Saviour, 
Избавителѧ дѹшамъ нашимъ.
the Deliverer of our souls.
Hymn of the Cherubim (Liturgy of St John Chrysostom)
Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)
This work set by Tchaikovsky, as well as by others including Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, and Grechaninov, has the most wonderful title - what is this hymn, what is this liturgy, and who was St John Chrysostom?

The Liturgy (i.e. a eucharistic service) of St John Chrysostom is the most celebrated divine liturgy in the Byzantine Rite, and is named after StJohn Chrysostom who was Archbishop of Constantinople in the 5th Century and remains an important figure in the Christian Church as an Early Church Father.

He refined the Liturgy further from 398 to 404AD, and it was used in the Church of Holy Wisdom which we now know as the Hagia Sophia, and thus became the usual divine liturgy used throughout the Byzantine Church.

Tchaikovsky composed his setting in 1878, the same period that includes the Fourth Symphony, the Violin Concerto, and the opera Eugene Onegin. Whilst primarily known as a composer of ballet and symphony, he had a deep interest in this liturgy, and his setting inspired other composers to do the same.

The Cherubic Hymn (originally known as the Cherubikon) is the considered one of the most important parts of the Liturgy, is one of the oldest parts, and "symbolically incorporates those present at the liturgy into the presence of the angels gathered around God's throne".
Иже херѹвимы тайнѡ ѡбразѹюще,
We who mystically represent the Cherubim,
и животворѧщей Троицѣ трисвѧтую пѣснь припѣвающе,
and who sing to the Life-Giving Trinity the thrice-holy hymn, 

Всѧкое нынѣ житейское отложимъ попеченіе.
let us now lay aside all earthly cares 
Ꙗкѡ да Царѧ всѣхъ подъимемъ,
that we may receive the King of all, 
аггельскими невидимѡ дорѵносима чинми.
escorted invisibly by the angelic orders. 
​
Аллилѹіа
Alleluia
Cantique de Jean Racine
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)
The fifth of six children and the only to display musical talent, Fauré was born in Pamiers in the south of France, where the family name dates back to the 13th Century. At the age of nine he started at the École Niedermeyer de Paris, and when Niedermeyer died in 1861, his post was taken by Camille Saint-Saëns, who became a life-long friend of Fauré. 

Fauré said of learning under Saint-Saëns: "After allowing the lessons to run over, he would go to the piano and reveal to us those works of the masters from which the rigorous classical nature of our programme of study kept us at a distance and who, moreover, in those far-off years, were scarcely known ... the immense admiration, the unceasing gratitude I [have] had for him, throughout my life"

Composed at the age of nineteen, and wining first prize at the École Niedermeyer de Paris, the Cantique is a setting of a 1688 hymn by Jean Racine which is itself a paraphrase of the Matins hymn ‘Consors paterni luminis’ by St Ambrose (340 - 397).
Verbe, égal au Très-Haut, notre unique espérance, 
O Word, equal of the Most High, our only hope,
jour éternel de la terre et des cieux; 
 eternal day of earth and the heavens,
de la paisible nuit nous rompons le silence, 
 we break the silence of the peaceful night:
Divin Sauveur, jette sur nous les yeux! 
Divine Saviour, cast Thine eyes upon us! ​
​
Répands sur nous le feu de ta grâce puissante,
Shed the light of Thy mighty grace upon us; 
que tout l'enfer fuie au son de ta voix;
et all Hell flee at the sound of Thy voice;
dissipe le sommeil d'une âme languissante,
dispel the slumber of a languishing soul 
qui la conduit à l'oubli de tes lois! 
that leads it to the forgetting of Thy laws! 

O Christ, sois favorable à ce peuple fidèle
O Christ, be favourable unto this faithful people
pour te bénir maintenant rassemblé.
 now gathered to bless Thee. 
Reçois les chants qu'il offre à ta gloire immortelle,
Receive the hymns offered to Thine immortal glory, 
et de tes dons qu'il retourne comblé! 
and may it return full of Thy gifts. ​
Laudibus in Sanctis
William Byrd (c.1540 - 1623)
A setting of Psalm 150 that encompasses Byrd's masterful madrigalian skill, composed in 1591.

There is a great deal of word-painting - the trumpets, the syncopation of the timbrels, the altitude of the organs, the sharp-tuned strings, more syncopation for the cymbals, and so forth. The author of the text - a poetic interpretation of Psalm 150, is unknown, and suspected to be Byrd himself.

Even more so is a thing called 'eye-music' - a joke that is in the score and so only known to the singer. At 'canat tempus in omne Deo', the note length used on the word 'tempus' is called a tempus - it is a long note that also ends up applying the breaks on this, on of the greatest motets of the Elizabethan era. 

Further details by the Director of Music of St Paul's Cathedral, Andrew Carwood, are available here:
​https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/67568-B.pdf
Laudibus in sanctis Dominum celebrate supremum:
Celebrate the Lord most high in holy praises:
Firmamenta sonent inclita facta Dei.
Let the firmament echo the glorious deeds of God.
Inclita facta Dei cantate, sacraque potentis
Sing ye the glorious deeds of God, and with holy voice
Voce potestatem saepe sonate manus.
Sound forth oft the power of his mighty hand.

Magnificum Domini cantet tuba martia nomen:
Let the warlike trumpet sing the great name of the Lord:
Pieria Domino concelebrate lira.
Celebrate the Lord with Pierian lyre.
Laude Dei resonent resonantia tympana summi,
Let resounding timbrels ring to the praise of God,
Alta sacri resonent organa laude Dei.
Lofty organs peal to the praise of the holy God.

Hunc arguta canant tenui psalteria corda,
Him let melodious psalteries sing with fine string,
Hunc agili laudet laeta chorea pede.
Him let joyful dance praise with nimble foot.
Concava divinas effundant cymbala laudes,
Let hollow cymbals pour forth divine praises,
Cymbala dulcisona laude repleta Dei.
Sweet-sounding cymbals filled with the praise of God.
Omne quod aethereis in mundo vescitur auris
Let all in the world that feed upon the air of heaven
Halleluya canat tempus in omne Deo.
Sing Halleluia to God for evermore.
God is gone up
Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956)
And as today is also Ascension Day - the fortieth day after Easter Day.

Here is a piece used at Ascensiontide, set for choir and organ. It was sung by the Suffolk Singers on their tour in May 2018 to Belgium as the finale to their concerts in the cathedrals of Ghent and Ypres, and this time last year in Norwich Cathedral.

We met Finzi, the apple-picker and reformed vegetarian, two weeks ago - here he sets the twentieth Meditation of Edward Taylor (c.1646 - 1729) who, whilst of English origin, was a colonial American poet, pastor and physician.
[loud tuba noises]

God is gone up with a triumphant shout:
The Lord with sounding trumpets’ melodies:
Sing praise, sing praise, sing praise, sing praises out,
Unto our King sing praise seraphic-wise!
Lift up your heads, ye lasting doors, they sing,
And let the King of Glory enter in.

Methinks I see Heaven’s sparkling courtiers fly
In flakes of glory down, him to attend,
And hear heart-cramping notes of melody
Surround his chariot as it did ascend:
Mixing their music, making ev'ry string
More to enravish, as they this tune sing.

God is gone up with a triumphant shout:
The Lord with sounding trumpets’ melodies:
Sing praise, sing praise, sing praise, sing praises out,
Unto our King sing praise seraphic-wise!
Lift up your heads, ye lasting doors, they sing,
And let the King of Glory enter in.
​
[loud tuba noises and rude pedal note]

​Thursday 14th May

This week, Claire and John are feeling every so sleepy...

​Pop your pyjamas on, and join them as they listen to lullabies by Whitacre and Humperdinck, and a traditional Zulu lullaby.
The Seal Lullaby
Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
The Seal Lullaby was composed in 2008, and takes its lyrics from the 1893 story The White Seal by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936).

It tells the story of a rare white seal called Kotick who lives in the Bering Sea. After travelling everywhere to find somewhere safe, he eventually leads the seals away from the killing-grounds to beaches where no man has ever been.
Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.

​Where billow meets billow, then soft by thy pillow;
Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,
Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas.
Read Eric's words about how he came to set The Seal Lullaby.
Abendsegen from Hänsel und Gretel
Englebert Humperdinck (1854 - 1921)
The exquisitely named Englebert Humperdinck (no, not that one) was born in Siegberg, a few miles from Bonn; his parents wanted him to become an architect, but he went to study at the Cologne Conservatory at 18, and from there won a scholarship to study with Rheinberger (of Abendlied fame) in Munich. 

He eventually became acquainted with Wagner, working at Bayreuth in the productions of Parsifal in 1880 and 1881, as well as becoming music tutor to his Wagner's son, Siegfried. He travelled through Italy, France and Spain, teaching at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu Conservatory before returning to the Rhine.

Fun fact: the singer we know as Englebert Humperdinck, born in Madras in 1936, is actually called Arnold Dorsey - he started using the name from 1965, although (as yet) has never changed it legally.

Hänsel und Gretel premiered in 1893 (the same year Kipling wrote The White Seal) in Weimar, conducted by Richard Strauss. At the end of the second act, the children are in the forest as night falls and they become scared as they see something coming towards them - it's the Sandman, who has come to help them sleep. Gretel reminds Hänsel to say their prayers, which forms this movement - the Abendsegen (Evening Prayer).

In the dream sequence that follows (traumpantomime) and closes the act, "fourteen angels come out and arrange themselves around the children to protect them as they sleep. They are presented with a gift. The forest is filled with light as the curtain falls"
Abends, will ich schlafen gehn,
When at night I go to sleep
Vierzehn Engel um mich stehn:
Fourteen angels watch do keep 

Zwei zu meinen Häupten,
Two my head are guarding 
Zwei zu meinen Füßen,
Two my feet are guiding 
Zwei zu meiner Rechten,
Two are on my right hand
Zwei zu meiner Linken,
Two are on my left hand
​
Zweie, die mich decken,
Two who warmly cover 
Zweie, die mich wecken,
Two who o’er me hover 
Zweie, die mich weisen,
Two to whom ’tis given
Zu Himmels-Paradeisen.
To guide my steps to heaven.
Thula Baba
Traditional Zulu Lullaby
This popular Zulu lullaby is sung by a mother to her child, as they await the return of their husband/father who has gone away to work.

This performance, like that of The Seal Lullaby above, is taken from the Suffolk Singers standing-room-only concert in Holy Trinity Blythburgh from 1st July 2017. 

You can view pieces from the concert by clicking here.
Thula thul, thula baba, thula sana,
Thul'ubab uzobuya, ekuseni.
Thula thul, thula baba, thula sana,
Thul'ubab uzobuya, ekuseni.
Kukh'inkanyezi, zi-holel' ubaba,
Zimkhanyisela indlel'e ziyak-haya,
Sobe sikhona ka bonke bashoyo,
Bayathi buyela. Ubuye le khaya.
Thula thula thula baba, Thula thula thula sana.
​
Hush, hush, hush-a-bye little man, be quiet baby,
Be quiet, Daddy will be back in the morning.
Hush, hush, hush-a-bye little man, be quiet baby,
Be quiet, Daddy will be back in the morning.
There's a star that will draw him home.
It will illuminate his path home to
Where we are. All will urge on,
They'll say, go back.
He returned to this home.
Hush, hush-a-bye baby Hush, hush-a-bye baby.
Sleep
Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
Composed in 2000/01, the story of Sleep is one of serendipity - originally Whitacre set out to write a piece using the words of Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, as a commission for the Austin ProChorus of Texas.

It turned out the words were still in copyright, so Whitacre turned to his poet friend Charles Anthony Silvestri (b. 1965), who had written the words for other works by Whitacre, including Lux Aurumque, to write something in the same metre that would fit the music already composed.

A day later Silvestri offered the poem 'Sleep' (taking up the theme from the end of Frost's poem), which Whitacre much preferred Silvestri's words and said "My setting of Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening no longer exists".

Click here to read Whitacre's words on writing Sleep.
The evening hangs beneath the moon,
A silver thread on darkened dune.
With closing eyes and resting head
I know that sleep is coming soon.
Upon my pillow, safe in bed,
A thousand pictures fill my head.
I cannot sleep, my mind’s a-flight;
And yet my limbs seem made of lead.

If there are noises in the night,
A frightening shadow, flickering light,
Then I surrender unto sleep,
Where clouds of dream give second sight,
What dreams may come, both dark and deep,
Of flying wings and soaring leap
As I surrender unto sleep,
As I surrender unto sleep.

Thursday 7th May

This week Claire and John introduce:
  • Elgar - Lux Aeterna
  • Gjeilo - Ubi caritas et amor
  • Victoria/Handl - Ave Maria á 4
  • Finzi - My spirit sang all day
  • Hutchings - A Salutation
  • Kern - The way you look tonight
'Nimrod', the ninth of the 'Enigma' variations composed by Sir Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934) in 1898-99, is a piece deeply rooted in the collective English/British consciousness. 
​
Elgar was 42 at the time of composing the Variations, and this movement is after his close friend and published August Jaeger ('Jaeger' translates as 'hunter' - Nimrod is 'the mighty hunter' and great-grandson of Noah). Indeed, after finishing the Variations, Elgar and Jaeger moved on to his next work - The Dream of Gerontius.

Understandably, this variation has been transcribed and adapted in many ways - one of the most popular is the setting of the Communion Antiphon from the Requiem Mass, 'Lux aeterna', made popular by the Choir of New College Oxford on the album 'Agnus Dei 2' in 1999.
Picture
The opening of the ninth Variation, in Elgar's manuscript, now at the British Library
Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine:
May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord, 
Cum Sanctis tuis in æternum: quia pius es.
with Thy Saints for evermore: for Thou art gracious. 
​
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine:
Eternal rest give to them, O Lord, 
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
and let perpetual light shine upon them: 
On 16th April we had the famous setting of the 'Ubi caritas' text by Maurice Duruflé - this week, we have the setting by Ola Gjeilo, composed in 1999 - a hundred years after Elgar's Nimrod. For Ola, the Duruflé setting was the first choral piece he sang in his high school choir.

Born in 1978, Ola is a Norwegian composer and has studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, The Juilliard School, and The Royal College of Music, London.
Some of the Suffolk Singers are 'Gjeilo Groupies', having taken up the great honour of being invited to perform at Carnegie Hall with Ola in April 2018, performing his Dreamweaver and Song of the Universal.
​
​You can read more about this wonderful experience here:
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Christ’s love has gathered us into one.
​
Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.
Widely attributed to Tomas Luis da Victoria (1548 - 1611), research in the past few years has revealed that this 4-part setting of the Archangel Gabriel's words to the Virgin Mary are by Jacob Handl (1550 - 1591), also known as 'Gallus'. The difficulty comes in that the source has been a book called Musica Divina, edited in 1863, and in a similar vein to the historical messing about of the Allegri Miserere, Pedrell then includes it in his 'complete edition' of works by Victoria.

​Ultimately, whoever the composer, the work alternates imitation with chordal sections. Much of the material, including the opening soprano melody, is based on the Antiphon at Second Vespers for the Feast of the Annunciation (25th March) as seen below..
​Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
Blessed are you among women,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
Holy Mary, Mother of God, 
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
pray for us sinners, 
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
now and at the hour of our death. 
Amen.
Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956) was a British composer and former vegetarian.

Born in London, his family moved to Harrogate during the First World War. He studied with Edward Bairstow at York Minster before moving to Painswick in Gloucester. Friends with Boult, Holst, Bliss and Vaughan Williams, he became a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. 

Some of his greatest works include Dies Natalis, and the large-scale anthem, Lo the full final sacrifice, of which the Amen is particularly beautiful.

​The Op.17 ‘Seven Poems of Robert Bridges’ of which this is the third, date from 1934 – 37, when Finzi had moved to Wiltshire to spend his time composing and growing apples. Robert Bridges (1844 - 1930) was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930.
My spirit sang all day O my joy.
Nothing my tongue could say, only My joy!
My heart an echo caught O my joy
And spake, Tell me thy thought,
Hide not thy joy.
My eyes gan peer around, O my joy
What beauty hast thou found?
Shew us thy joy.

My jealous ears grew whist;
O my joy Music from heaven is't,
Sent for our joy?
She also came and heard;
O my joy, What, said she, is this word?
What is thy joy?
And I replied, O see, O my joy,
'Tis thee, I cried, 'tis thee:
​Thou art my joy.
To hardcore Suffolk Singers fans, The Balaam Cycle needs no introduction. However, to those who are yet to become familiar with it, where to begin?!

It was commissioned by Michael Balaam, then Chairman of the Singers, in 2011, and then performed in Wickham Market that December.

​There are seven movements with texts selected by Michael, written by Donne, Rossetti, Blake, and St Teresa of Avila, whose "Let nothing worry you" prayer runs throughout the work as a thread.
Originally it was due to finish with a setting of the Magnificat, but this ending seemed to be 'final'. Instead, and completed seven days before the Balaam Cycle's premiere, John wrote a Magnificat using themes from the Cycle, and combined it with a Nunc Dimittis - this became 'The Suffolk Service', written in memory of the composer's father, and was first performed at The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy, where Michael had been a chorister.
I salute you!
There is nothing I can give you which you have not,
but there is much that while I cannot give, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it:
Take Heaven.
No peace lies in the future which is hidden in the present:
​Take Peace.
The gloom of the world is but a shadow;
behind it, within our reach, is joy:
Take Joy!
​
And so, I greet you with the prayer
that now and forever the day breaks,
​and the shadows flee away.
With words by Dorothy Fields (1904 - 1974) and music by Jerome Kern (1885 - 1945), The Way You Look Tonight was first heard in the 1936 film, 'Swing Time', winning an Oscar for Best Original Song.

Fields said "The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn't stop, it was so beautiful"

The song has been covered since many times, including by a 21 year old Billie Holiday (shortly after the movie was released), and also by Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra  1964, Clifford Brown, Tina Brooks, Johnny Griffin (with John Coltrane), Charlie Parker, Tony Bennett, The Lettermen, and even Rod Stewart and Gloria Estefan (separately, sadly for us).

BBC Radio 4 has a programme called 'Soul Music', and an episode about the song is available here:
Picture
Tony & Jan
Some day, when I'm awfully low
When the world is cold
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight.

Yes, you're lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft
There is nothing for me but to love you
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows
Tearin' my fear apart
And that laugh..wrinkles your nose
Touches my foolish heart.
​
Lovely ...
Never, never change
Keep that breathless charm
Won't you please arrange it? '
Cause I love you,
​just the way you look tonight

Thursday 30th April

This week Claire and John visit the music of Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt.
Arvo Pärt (born 1935) is an Estonian composer of classical and religious music.

​Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-invented compositional technique, tintinnabuli or tintinnabulation (not tintinnabulism, John). Pärt's music is in part inspired by Gregorian chant.
Christ is the morning star is Pärt's setting of the Prayer written above the tomb of St Bede in Durham Cathedral, a picture of which is above.
Christ is the morning star
who when the night of this world is past
brings to his saints the promise
of the light of life
​and opens everlasting day
The Deer's Cry was composed in 2007, and is a setting of the final part of St Patrick's Breastplate which is known as the deer's cry, and was supposedly written by St Patrick in the 5th Century.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in me, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me,
Christ with me.
This Latin setting of the Magnificat for unaccompanied choir was composed in 1989. The piece uses fixed one-note melodic lines around which other parts move. 
Paul Hillier, who directs the Estonian Chamber Choir in this recording, has said:

"many pieces [by Pärt] tend through length and repetition to establish a sense of timelessness or a continual present; the use of drones (which are in a sense a continuous repetition) reinforces this effect"
Additionally, Mrs Pärt (Nora), has said of tintinnabuli:

"The concept of tintinnabuli was born from a deeply rooted desire for an extremely reduced sound world which could not be measured, as it were, in kilometres, or even metres, but only in millimetres....By the end the listening attention is utterly focused. At the point after the music has faded away it is particularly remarkable to hear your breath, your heartbeat, the lighting or the air conditioning system, for example."
Arvo Pärt has said of it:

​"Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers – in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises – and everything that is unimportant falls away. Tintinnabulation is like this. . . . The three notes of a triad are like bells. And that is why I call it tintinnabulation"

"I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener"

"Tintinnabuli is the mathematically exact connection from one line to another.....tintinnabuli is the rule where the melody and the accompaniment [accompanying voice]...is one. One and one, it is one – it is not two. This is the secret of this technique."

Thursday 23rd April

Welcome to this week's edition of 'Concerts at Home', recorded 'live' from the comfort of John and Claire's homes!

This week we've a selection of jolly pieces, two of which are known by the Singers, another which will be familiar, and another which is, well, you'll see...
"Tea for Two" was composed in 1924 by​ Vincent Youmans, with lyrics by Irving Caesar. It is taken from the musical 'No, No, Nanette'.

The phrase 'Tea for Two' was originally shouted by hawkers on the streets of 18th Century England who wanted to attract business by lowering the price of a pot of tea from thruppence to tuppence
"The Teddy Bears' Picnic" was composed in 1907 by the American composer John Walter Bratton with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy.

Kennedy live at Staplegrove Elm in Somerset: legend has it that the woods there were the inspiration for the song.
"Down by the Riverside" is a spiritual; whilst its roots date back to before the American Civil War, it was first published in 1918. This arrangement is by John Rutter.

Because of its pacifistic imagery, "Down by the Riverside" has also been used as an anti-war protest song, especially during the Vietnam War.
We finish with a medley of madrigals and folktunes, sung by the Plumstead Ladies Male Voice Choir in a performance from 1975.

We are unable to verify whether this is fully representative of the talking that happens during the quiet bits in Suffolk Singers rehearsals...
We'd also like to admit that during the editing process, the wrong button was pressed, and for about two panicked minutes, this was going to be this week's introduction...

​Enjoy!

Before you watch this week's music choices...

Two of our Suffolk Singers, Alison and Marion, have been making scrubs for Ipswich Hospital.

If you are able to help with this to make more - hundreds are needed - further details and support are available in the "Sew Scrubs for Ipswich Hospital" Facebook Group (click the button below), or if you are not in Suffolk, search for your local hospital and its needs.​

Thursday 16th April

Welcome to this week's edition of 'Concerts at Home', recorded 'live' from the comfort of John and Claire's homes!

Today is we're looking at three pieces of music for the season of Easter.

[the video says 15th April, because John can't count 7 days from the 9th...]
Ubi caritas et amor
Maurice Duruflé (1902 - 1986)
Duruflé
The front of ​St Etienne-du-Mont, Paris
The interior, and extraordinarily intricate rood screen of St Etienne-du-Mont
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) was a chorister at Rouen Cathedral, where there was a strong emphasis on Gregorian chant. He moved to Paris at 17, and studied with the composers Tournemire, Gigout, and Dukas (of Sorcerer's Apprentice fame).

He became great friends with Louis Vierne, becoming his assistant at Notre-Dame cathedral; Duruflé took up the position at St Etienne-du-Mont (next to the Pantheon), married his assistant (Marie-Madeleine Chevalier) and the two became a popular concert-giving organ-duo. He taught at the Paris Conservatoire, and his pupils included Pierre Cochereau, Jean Guillou, and Marie-Claire Alain.

He was almost overwhelmingly self-critical as a musician, and as a result he published only fourteen works in his lifetime, and even from those there are a handful he refused to play.

This motet is one of four composed as a group in 1960, based on the Gregorian chant - they are called "Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens​". Compositionally it is very simple - the chant is accompanied by gentle harmonies, almost hymn-like.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
​Where charity and love are, there God is.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
The love of Christ has gathered us into one.
​
Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Let us exult, and in Him be joyful.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Let us fear and let us love the living God.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
And from a sincere heart let us love.
Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder (St Matthew Passion)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Bach in the Hausmann portrait, which features 14 buttons - if A=1, B=2, etc, then B+A+C+H = 14.
​The manuscript in his hand is a double mirror canon - it can be read backwards and upside down.
St Thomas, Leipzig
The interior of St Thomas, Leipzig
If I started writing about Bach and St Matthew Passion, I could quite easily keep going and this would become a very long page. What are the important factors?

The Lutheran Church had a tradition of the Passion being sung on Good Friday, with a sermon usually half-way through. For example, Heinrich Schútz, born a hundred years before Bach, and who studied in Venice with Giovanni Gabrieli, also composed a St John, a St Luke, and a St Matthew Passion.

Bach inherited this tradition in Leipzig and, combined with his dramatic cantata style which he had used throughout his compositional life, as well as his developed orchestral style from his time in Köthen immediately preceding his Leipzig appointment. He thus brought these strands together in his St John Passion in 1724, and his St Matthew Passion in 1727.

The St Matthew is a grander work than the St John: not only does it have double choir and double orchestra, and is much longer, it also has a 'ripieno choir', which sings the chorale (Lutheran hymn tunes) melodies in some of the choruses, particularly at the start and end of the first part.

This movement, the final within the work, is similar to 'Ruht Wohl', the penultimate movement in the St John: a 3/4 almost-lullaby in C minor, with the choir in unison save for occasional echo responses. 
Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder
We sit down in tears
Und rufen dir im Grabe zu:
And call to thee in the tomb:
Ruhe sanfte, sanfte ruh!
Rest softly, softly rest!
Ruht, ihr ausgesognen Glieder!
Rest, ye exhausted limbs!

Euer Grab und Leichenstein
Your grave and tombstone
Soll dem ängstlichen Gewissen
Shall for the unquiet conscience
Ein bequemes Ruhekissen
Be a comfortable pillow
Und der Seelen Ruhstatt sein.
And the soul's resting place.
Höchst vergn¸gt schlummern da die Augen ein.
In utmost bliss the eyes slumber there.
Haec dies á 6
William Byrd (c.1539 - 1623)
William Byrd
The Children (choristers) of the Chapel Royal, 1603
The Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal, 1603
This joyous motet was published in the second volume of Byrd's Cantiones Sacrae 1591 when Byrd was at the Chapel Royal The volume consists of motets for either 5 or 6 voices. From this group, Haec Dies sticks out as it is a) not miserable, and b) follows the growing trend for madrigal writing, and after 1591 Byrd wrote very few non-liturgical motets.

Andrew Carwood, Director of Music at St Paul's Cathedral, writes:
​
"Haec dies is a riot of energy and with its use of triple metre and close imitation it belongs more to the world of the madrigal than the motet.
This text is most often used at Easter and the setting which Byrd has produced is perfect for this season.
It was also widely believed that these were the final words of the Jesuit Father Edmund Campion who was tortured and executed having arrived from the Continent to minister to the Catholic community in England.
Byrd’s setting for six voices could stand in direct opposition to his other Campion-inspired piece, Deus venerunt gentes (1589), and represent Campion’s arrival in heaven rather than his painful departure from earth."
The text is the 24th verse of Psalm 118, and is used for the Gradual for Mass and Antiphon for Vespers of Easter Sunday
Haec dies quam fecit Dominus.
This is the day which the Lord hath made.
Exultemus et laetemur in ea.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Alleluia.

Thursday 9th April

Welcome to this week's edition of 'Concerts at Home', recorded 'live' from the comfort of John and Claire's homes!

Today is Claire's birthday, so she's chosen four of her favourite pieces, so we have quite a special introduction video this week!
O Radiant Dawn
Sir James MacMillan (b. 1959)
The Strathclyde Motets are communion motets setting propers of the mass for various Sundays and feasts. This piece is an antiphon for 21st December, the text (in English) is one of the "Great O" antiphons which are used on the seven days approaching Christmas.

Paul Spicer (conductor, composer, writer, lecturer,  and broadcaster) said:
​"O Radiant Dawn is built from simple separated phrases, and is particularly effective because of its straightforward nature which delivers its message unambiguously; a beautiful, rocking Amen concludes this lovely piece"

This motet was premiered in February 2007 at St Columba's, Maryhill, Glasgow, performed by St Columba's Church Choir. It has been sung recently by the Suffolk Singers in the cathedrals of Ghent, Norwich, and Ypres.
O Radiant Dawn, Splendour of Eternal Light, Sun of Justice.
Come shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
Isaiah had prophesied, 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great Light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone'
O Radiant Dawn... 
Amen
The Snow
Sir Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934)
This is a setting by Elgar of words by (Caroline) Alice Elgar. A published novelist and poet, in her late thirties she was living near Worcester with her elderly widowed mother. She took up violin lessons with the violin teacher at Worcester High School, one Mr Edward Elgar. They were married at Brompton Oratory three years later, exchanging wedding gifts - he gave her 'Salut d'Amour', and she gave him the poem 'The Winds at Dawn'.
​
In 1894 Edward set her poem "The Snow" for choir with piano and two-part violin, which he later orchestrated in 1903. The musicologist Michael Kennedy has said "The Snow, an andantino, opens in E minor, moves into E major for the warmth of the earth, and builds to an impassioned G major climax before returning to E minor and the violins' falling semiquavers. It is a lovely setting, epitomising Elgar's secret way of undermining our emotional defences."
​Alice can be found in Edward's Enigma Variations (1899), as the first movement, titled 'CAE'.
​O snow, which sinks so light,
Brown earth is hid from sight
O soul, be thou as white as snow,
O snow, which falls so slow,
Dear earth quite warm below;
O heart, so keep thy glow
Beneath the snow.
​
O snow, in thy soft grave
Sad flow'rs the winter brave;
O heart, so sooth and save, as does the snow.
The snow must melt, must go,
Fast, fast as water flow.
​Not thus, my soul, O sow
Thy gifts to fade like snow.

​O snow, thou'rt white no more,
Thy sparkling too, is o'er;
O soul, be as before,
Was bright the snow.
Then as the snow all pure,
O heart be, but endure;
Through all the years full sure,
Not as the snow.
Abendlied
Josef Rheinberger (1839 - 1901)
Rheinberger is one of the few composers to have been born in Liechtenstein. He lived in Germany for most of his life, and sported the most excellent facial hair. He was a prolific composer - two operas, two symphonies, twelve masses, a Requiem, a Stabat Mater, besides much more - and found time to teach many pupils including Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Engelbert Humperdinck (no, the other one).

His 'Abendlied' is listed as the third of his Op.69 'Drei geistliche Gesänge für gemischten Chor' (Three sacred songs for mixed choir) published in 1873; however, he composed it much earlier, just two weeks before his 16th birthday, revising it at the age of 24. It has become his best-known work.

The text is the 29th verse from the 24th chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke, which details the appearance on the Road to Emmaus.
Blieb’ bei uns, denn es will Abend werden;
Stay with us, for evening shadows darken,
Und der Tag hat sich geneiget.
And soon the day will be over.
O blieb’ bei uns, denn es will Abend werden.
O stay with us, for evening shadows darken.
Libera me, Domine (Messa da Requiem, 1874)
Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)
When Rossini died in 1868, at Verdi's suggestion a number of Italian composers put together a Requiem, with each taking a movement. This included the largely-forgotten composers Buzzolla, Bazzini, Pedrotti, Cagnoni, Ricci, Nini, Boucheron, Coccia, Gaspari, Plantania, Rossi, and Mabellini. Verdi took the final movement - the Libera me, Domine.

The work, scheduled for November 1869, was abandoned nine days before the premiere. Verdi blamed Mariani, the scheduled conductor. The Libera me, Domine was momentarily shelved.

Also in 1868 Verdi met the writer and humanist Manzoni, whom Verdi admired greatly. Manzoni died in May 1973, and so Verdi took his Libera me, Domine, moved to Paris, and from his original sketch created his own full Requiem.

In May 1874, a year after Manzoni's death, the Requiem received its premiere at San Marco in Milan, followed by performances at La Scala; Verdi conducted, and the soloists were used from the 1872 European premiere of Aïda.

The Libera me, Domine (scored for soprano solo, choir, and orchestra) begins with a dramatic solo for the soprano about the fear of the Day of Judgement: "When the heavens and the earth shall be moved: When Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. Dread and trembling have laid hold on me" 

The choir and orchestra enter with the most famous section of the Requiem, the Dies Irae - "that day of wrath, of sore distress and of all wretchedness". This gives way to an unaccompanied setting of the Requiem text, with the falling triad that opens the whole work: with the quiet pleas for rest and peace, the soprano finishes on a top B flat.

The final part of the Libera me, Domine repeats the earlier text, with the choir singing in fugue, with panicked interjections from the soprano, with sudden crescendi and subito hushed sections: all comes together for the terror-stricken "When Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire", and tutti "Free me from eternal death", with a cataclysmic cadence in C minor. The energy dissipates as the final 'free me' is repeated over quiet chords of C major.
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death
in die illa tremenda;
on that awful day,
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra:
when the heavens and the earth shall be moved:
dum veneris judicare saeclum per ignem.
when you will come to judge the world by fire.

Tremens factus sum ego et timeo,
I am made to tremble, and I fear
dum discussio venerit atque ventura irae,
the judgment and the wrath to come,
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra.
when the heavens and the earth shall be moved.

Dies irae, dies illa calamitatis et miseriae;
The day of wrath, that day of calamity and misery;
dies magna et amara valde.
 a great and bitter day, indeed.

Requiem aeternam, dona eis, Domine, 
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
et lux perpetua luceat eis. 
and may perpetual light shine upon them.
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death
in die illa tremenda;
on that awful day,
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra: 
when the heavens and the earth shall be moved:
dum veneris judicare saeclum per ignem. 
when you will come to judge the world by fire.

Thursday 2nd April

Welcome to this week's edition of 'Concerts at Home', recorded 'live' from the comfort of John and Claire's homes!

This week's focus is on pieces sung by the Suffolk Singers at the Choir of the World final at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.
Richte mich Gott (Psalm 43)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Richte mich Gott (Op.78, No.2) was composed in 1844 by Mendelssohn when he was 35, and is a setting of Psalm 43. 1844 was a year in which he made his eighth visit to Britain, including conducting concerts with the Philharmonic, and meeting with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

"Following the stern contours of the D minor opening section, characterized by the male voices in unison alternating with the female choir in four-part harmony, the move to the relative major (F) at the words ‘Sende dein Licht’ soars away to uplifting effect.
The following 3/8 Andante reverts to the atmosphere and textures of the opening section before the final verses resolve former tensions in the warm glow of a D major chorale."
​
(notes by Julian Haylock, 2006)
Richte mich, Gott, und führe meine Sache
Do me justice, O God, and fight my fight
wider das unheilige Volk
against a faithless people;
und errette mich von den falschen und bösen Leuten.
from the deceitful and impious man rescue me.
Denn du bist der Gott meiner Stärke;
For you, o God, are my strength.

Warum verstößest du mich?
Why do you keep me so far away?
Warum lässest du mich so traurig geh’n,
Why must I go about in mourning,
wenn mein Feind mich drängt?
With the enemy oppressing me?

​Sende dein Licht und deine Wahrheit,
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
daß sie mich leiten zu deinem heiligen Berge,
they shall lead me on and bring me to your holy mountain,
und zu deiner Wohnung.
to your dwelling place.
Daß ich hineingehe zum Altar Gottes,
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
zu dem Gott, der meine Freude und Wonne ist,
the God of my gladness and joy;
und dir, Gott, auf der Harfe danke, mein Gott.
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp, my God.

Was betrübst du dich, meine Seele,
Why are you so downcast, o my soul?
und bist so unruhig in mir?
And why do you sigh within me?

Harre auf Gott! Denn ich werde ihm noch danken,
Hope in God! Then I will again give him thanks,
daß er meines Angesichts Hülfe, und mein Gott ist.In the presence of my Saviour and my God.
Antiphon of St John the Baptist
Jamie John Hutchings (b. 1980)
Hildegard of Bingen (1098 - 1179) was an abbess, polymath, mystic, and composer, amongst other things!

Hildegard took the idea of plainsong and extended it, often making it virtuosic with flourishes, and particular intervals - usually a rising fifth or sixth, which JJH has in part emulated in this piece. The opening 'mirror' sees the voices reflect each other in step, before opening into a larger chord.

He composed the set of three Antiphons around ten years ago after first witnessing Claire and the Suffolk Singers in action, and wanted to create a trio of pieces that weren't just good to sing, but contained some challenges for singers, including listening, tempo changes, difficult harmonies etc.

​The words are in translation from the original Latin, which are included below for interest.
​In 2003 JJH went on a university choir tour to Salzburg and then Rudesheim, where the modern abbey of Hildegard is based, opposite Bingen, and occasionally goes out to the Rhineland to visit the nuns, hear them sing, and drink their Riesling!
​The first abbey was built by Hildegard in 1165 in Bingen, and dissolved in 1804; a railway was built over the ruins. A hundred years later a new community was built on the other side of the Rhine, at Rudesheim.
O speculum columbe castissime forme,
O mirror of the dove of most chaste beauty
qui inspexisti misticam largitatem in purissimo fonte:
You looked upon the majestic breath in the purest source

O mira floriditas
O wondrous flower
que numquam arescens cecidisti,
You never withered nor wilted
quia altissimus plantator misit te:
because the highest gardener planted you.

O suavissima quies amplexuum solis:
O sweetest rest in the sun's embraces
tu es specialis filius Agni
You are the special son of the Lamb
in electa amicicia nove sobolis.
in the chosen friendship of a new generation.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Harold Arlen (1905 - 1986)
With words by Yip Harburg (1986 - 1981), Arlen's music from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, has to be one of the most popular pieces of music in the world.

The song was originally deleted from the first viewing of the film as MGM chief executive Louis B. Mayer said it slowed the action down; fortunately other characters involved in the film fought to have it reinstated, to great success.

In the film, the cue for this song is that Aunt Em tells her to "find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble". This prompts Dorothy to walk off by herself, musing to her little dog Toto, ​"Some place where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat, or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain..."
This version is taken from the Oxford University Press 1995 publication, "In the Mood", edited by Andrew Carter and David Blackwell

Thursday 26th March

Welcome to Thursday evening 'Concerts at Home', designed to offer choral music to those who sing it,  those who just like it, and those who'd like to discover something new.
​
From the comfort of their own homes, Claire and John introduce this week's selection of unaccompanied choral music (and only give into giggles once):
Miserere mei, Deus (Psalm 51)
Gregorio Allegri (1582 - 1652)
"John, they definitely want the Allegri"
"Yes Claire"

We begin with one that we think we all know, but as it turns out, those top Cs were due to a copyist misreading a clef, and the plainsong is wrong - there's such a history to it that The Sixteen have released a recording called 'Miserere - Evolution', which uses a different section from the piece's history to build the whole. A full history by the brilliant Ben Byram-Wigfield can be found here:
​https://ancientgroove.co.uk/essays/allegri.html

But here we have the first few verses, sung by the highly regarded choir Tenebrae, directed by former King's Singer Nigel Short, recorded in the church of Great St Bart's in Smithfield London - a venue you might recognise from several films.
Os justi meditabitur
Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896)
"And I really want Os justi"
"Yes, Claire"

Anton Bruckner was both a master symphonist and also an organist and choirmaster. Based in Austria, his music-making was mostly around Linz (in both its Old and New cathedrals) and the Abbey of St Florian.

Written in 1879, it combines 8-part choral writing with fugato, plainsong, and some of the most thrilling chords in choral music.

Os Justi meditabitur sapientiam,
The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom,
et lingua ejus loquetur judicium.
and his tongue talketh of judgement.
Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius
The law of his God is in his heart
et non supplantabuntur gressus ejus.
none of his steps will slide.
This performance is given by The Monteverdi Choir, directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. 
Ne irascaris, Domine - Civitas sancti tui
William Byrd (c.1539 - 1623)
"aaaaaaaand I'd like Ne irascaris"
"Oh that's an excellent choice, Claire"

William Byrd was organist of Lincoln Cathedral and a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and finally settled down in Stondon Massey in Essex.

He trod the line between successive Protestant and Catholic Tudor monarchs. Himself a Catholic, when Protestant laws were brought into England he felt very much the pain of what had been lost. There was a practice amongst Catholic composers to put this pain into their music, and often they would equate it to the fall of Jerusalem and exile to Babylon.

Here as part of the Liber Sacrarum Cantionum of 1589, is a 5-part setting of a 'persecution' text - verses from 137, which starts 'By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept'. The first half, Ne irascaris Domine, sets out his stall in chordal and then imitative polyphony; it's in the second half that his sadness shows - Sion, sounded in the low voices like solemn trombones, is laid to waste and made a wilderness; then, with repetition after repetition, 'Jerusalem' is implored to return to God.

Part One
Ne irascaris, Domine, satis et ne ultra memineris iniquitatis nostrae.
Be not angry, O Lord, still, neither remember our iniquity for ever. 
Ecce, respice, populus tuus omnes nos​
Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

Part Two
Civitas sancti tui facta est deserta. 
The holy cities are a wilderness.
Sion deserta facta est, Jerusalem desolata est.
Sion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
This performance is by the Choir of Ely Cathedral, recorded in the Lady Chapel. ​