Recorded live at the Medieval Sculpture Hall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 2012, the Choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine presents a program that spans hundreds of years and describes the story of the nativity.

Under the direction of Kent Tritle, the program includes settings of the "O Magnum Mysterium" text by T. L. da Victoria, Morton Lauridsen, and Francis Poulenc; works by Byrd, Biebl, and Hassler; as well as music by Eric Whitacre, Francis Poulenc, William Byrd and Morten Lauridsen. WQXR's Nimet Habachy hosts.

Program details:

Gregorian Chant: Veni, veni Emanuel

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611): Motet O Magnum Mysterium

Tomás Luis de Victoria: Missa O Magnum Mysterium

Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612): Verbum caro factum est

Franz Biebl (1906-2001): Ave Maria

Peter Philips (c. 1560-1628): O Beatum et sacrosanctum diem

Eric Whitacre (c. 1970): Lux aurumque (2000)

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963): Four Motets for the Christmas Season
I. O magnum mysterium
II. Quem vidistis pastores dicite
III. Videntes stellam
IV. Hodie Christus natus est

William Byrd (1674-1744): Senex puerum portabat [4 voice]

Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943): O magnum mysterium

Gregorian Chant: Conditor alme siderum

Benjamin Britten’s first published work was a setting of A Hymn to the Virgin that he wrote at age 17, beginning his lifelong passion for creating direct and powerfully communicative works for the human voice. This centennial celebration of Britten features the New England Conservatory Chamber Chorus, led by Erica Washburn, the NEC Brass Ensemble and the Back Bay Ringers. In addition to the Hymn to the Virgin, the program will highlight Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and other holiday works.

With the Thanksgiving weekend upon us, now is the time to reflect on the things we're grateful for: our families, our friends, our communities.   Today’s program features choral music that expresses gratitude.

We hear sacred and secular words of thanks, from J.S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn and Eric Whitacre. Also on tap are some excerpts from a Thanksgiving concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, honoring Andrew Carnegie’s commitment to organ and choral music in the U.S. and the U.K.

→ Most Elevating of Voices - The Musical Legacy of Andrew Carnegie: A Transatlantic Celebration

Playlist

Felix Mendelssohn: “Thanks be to God” from Elijah, Op 70

The Cathedral Choir, Chorale, and Choristers

The Oratorio Society of New York

The Manhattan School of Music Chamber Chorus

Kent Tritle, Organ

Malcolm Merriweather, Conductor

Live Recording at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine

for Most Elevating of Voices - The Musical Legacy of Andrew Carnegie: A Transatlantic Celebration

(November 20, 2013)

Charpentier: Deux Oratorios:

Filius prodigus, H 399 "Homo quidam duos habebat filios"

Last chorus: Gratias tibi

Les Arts Florissants

William Christie, Conductor

Harmonia Mundi Musique D'abord 195066

Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV 232:

Gratias Agimus tibi

Monteverdi Choir

English Baroque Soloists

John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Archiv Produktion (DG) 415514

John Tavener: Hymn to the Mother of God: No. 1, Hymn to the Mother of God

The Sixteen

Harry Christophers, Conductor

Collins 14052

John Rutter: For the beauty of the earth

The Cambridge Singers

City of London Sinfonia

John Rutter, Conductor

Collegium Records 514

Eric Whitacre: Songs of Faith (3): no 3, I thank You God for most this amazing day

Eric Whitacre Singers

Eric Whitacre, Conductor

Decca 001485002

Herbert Howells: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, “Collegium Regale”

The Cathedral Choir and Choristers

Raymond Nagem, organ

Michael Steinberger, tenor

Kent Tritle, Conductor

Live Recording at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine

for Most Elevating of Voices - The Musical Legacy of Andrew Carnegie: A Transatlantic Celebration

(November 20, 2013)

J.S. Bach: Canata, BWV 192

Nun danket alle Gott

Lob ehr und preis sei Gott

Bach Collegium Japan

Masaaki Suzuki, Conductor

Bis 1961

Beethoven: Christus am Ölberge, Op. 85

Welten singen Dank und Ehre

Berlin Radio Chorus

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Kent Nagano, Conductor

Harmonia Mundi 501802

Tudor Anthems

William Byrd: Ave verum corpus

Thomas Weelkes: Hosanna to the Son of David

The Cathedral Choir

Kent Tritle, Conductor

Live Recording at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine

for Most Elevating of Voices - The Musical Legacy of Andrew Carnegie: A Transatlantic Celebration

(November 20, 2013)

This week’s episode presents the choral sounds of the French baroque. We hear some of the best music from the 1600s and early 1700s and the artists who bring it to life for us today. The program is book-ended by the leading figures of the age – Lully and Rameau – and includes lesser-known composers like Campra and Gilles. 

Louis XIV ruled France for more than seven decades and consolidated his power at the Palace of Versailles, the most over-the-top palace in Europe. The music from the age of Louis XIV reflects the same aesthetic as Versailles: lavish, rich in detail, infused with the dances that were so central to courtly life.

Playlist

Jean-Baptiste Lully: Grand Motet; Exaudiat, LWV 77 no 15

Exaudiat te Dominus (Psalm 19):

I. Exaudiat te Dominus;

II. Tribuat tibi;

V. Gloria

Le Concert Spirituel

Hervé Niquet, Conductor

Naxos 8554399

Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Messe de minuit pour Noël, H 9; “Kyrie”

Les Arts Florissants

William Christie, Conductor

Erato 85820

Michel-Richard Delalande:

Regina ceoli; Quia Quem meruisti; Ressurexit; Ora pro nobis

Ex Cathedra Baroque Orchestra, Ex Cathedra

Jeffrey Skidmore

Musical Concepts 1216

André Campra: Messe de Requiem :

Introit & Kyrie

La Chapelle Royale

Phillipe Herreweghe, Conductor

Harmonia Mundi 901251

Jean Gilles: Requiem Messe des morts:

Agnus Dei; Post Communion

Les Elements Chamber Choir, Orchestre Baroque Les Passions

Jean-Marc Andrieu, Conductor

Ligia 202196

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie:

Overture; Chorus of the Nymphs and Entry of the Forrest Dwellers

Les Arts Florissants

William Christie, conductor

Erato 666305

Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Te Deum in D major, H 146

I. Prélude en Rondeau

II. Te Deum Laudamus: Te Dominum Confitemur

III. Te Aeternum Pater, Omnis Terra Veneratur

VII. Te Ergo Quasemus Famulis Tuis Subveni

XI. In te Domine Speravi: non Confundor in Aeternum

Maîtrise de Bretagne, Le Parlement de Musique

Martin Gester. Conductor

Naïve 30463

On this episode of the Choral Mix, host Kent Tritle gets “under the hood” of Handel’s masterpiece to understand its broad appeal. We hear key choral moments, learn how performance practices have changed over time and explore the Handel gems that usually get cut for time. And Kent knows his stuff: he conducts three Messiah performances and plays organ for two more each year!

When the Christmas season arrives, so does Handel’s Messiah: December is filled with everything from community sing-alongs to professional choral concerts. Unlike Handel's other oratorios, Messiah is performed every single year in virtually every major city of the Western world.

Playlist

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56:

Overture

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Choral Society

Sir Malcolm Sargent, Conductor

Chesky Records 106   

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56:

            Overture

            For Unto Us A child is Born

Chorus: Hallelujah

Academy of Ancient Music, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford New College Choir

Emma Kirkby, Soprano; Carolyn Watkinson, Mezzo Soprano; Paul Elliott, Tenor; David Thomas, Bass; Judith Nelson, Soprano

Christopher Hogwood, Conductor

L'oiseau Lyre  411 858-2

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56; Orchestration by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

            And he shall purify

            His yoke is easy, and his burden is light

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys

Concert Royal

John Scott, Conductor

St. Thomas Church in the City and County of New York

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56:

And the glory

Recitative and O thou that tellest

The Sixteen

Harry Christophers, Conductor

Coro 16062 

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56:

Surely, He hath borne our griefs

And with his stripes

All we like sheep

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Chorus

Robert Shaw, Conductor

Telarc CD-80093

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56:

Pifa

Glory to God

Arleen Augér, Soprano

Trevor Pinnock, Conductor
English Concert, English Concert Choir

Archiv Produktion (DG) 423 630-2

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56:

Their sound is gone out

The Lord gave the word

Unto which of the angels; and Let all the angels of God

All they that see Him; and He trusted in God

English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir

John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Philips 411 041-2

George Frideric Handel: Messiah, HWV 56:

            Worthy is the Lamb

Musica Sacra

Richard Westenburg, Conductor

RCA Read Seal RCD14622

On this week's episode of the Choral Mix, Kent Tritle takes you on a musical tour through the very Old World, with stops in medieval  Hungary, Germany, Italy and more. We hear anonymous works that have echoed through the ages, as well as pioneering choral masterworks from Palestrina, Praetorious and Tallis. 

Some of the best Christmas music comes from Europe in the medieval age and the Renaissance. Though you may never hear it piped into shopping malls starting right after Thanksgiving, the music from hundreds of years ago remains an open invitation to quiet the soul and still the mind.

Playlist

Anonymous:

Antiphon: Ave spes nostra (Hail, Mother of god, our Hope)

Song: Mi Atyánk Atya Isten (Our Father, God the Father)

Alleluia: Veni domine (Come O Lord)

Anonymous 4: Marsha Genensky; Johanna Rose; Susan Hellauer; Ruth Cunningham, Soprano

Harmonia Mundi 3957139

Pérotin: Beata Viscera

New York's Ensemble for Early Music

Frederick Renz, Conductor

Excathedra Records EC-9001

Traditional: Noël nouvelet (Arranged by Ian Humphries, Joseph Jennings and Matthew Oltman)

Matthew Oltman, Tenor
Chanticleer

Teldec 85555

Anonymous: Il Est Né

King’s Singers

Aabaa Records 2007

Hans Leo Hassler:In dulci jubilo

Penalosa Ensemble

Carus 83396

Michael Praetorius:Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica: Missa gantz Teudsch - Gloria 

Gabrieli Consort and Players,

Paul McCreesh, Conductor

Archiv Produktion (DG) 439 250-2

Anonymous:Personent hodie

Theatre of Voices

Paul Hillier, Conductor

Harmonia Mundi 907079

Thomas Tallis: Missa Puer Natus Est Nobis: Sanctus

Tallis Scholars

Peter Phillips, Conductor

Gimell 34

Anonymous: Mervele Noght, Josep

NY Polyphony

AVIE Records 2141

Tomás Luis de Victoria:O Magnum Mysterium

The Boston Camerata

Joel Cohen, Conductor

Nonesuch Records 79134  

Giovanni Palestrina: O Magnum Mysterium

The Sixteen

Harry Christophers, Conductor

Coro

Anonymous: Stella Nuova

Folger Consort

Robert Eisenstein, Rebec, Vielle, Viol, recorder; Christopher Kendall, Lute, Harp, Mandora; Scott Reiss, Recorders, Percussion, Psaltery, Reed pipe, Bells;

with Julianne Baird, Soprano; Michael Collver, Countertenor; Frederick Urrey, Tenor; William Sharp, Baritone; and Peggy Marie Haas, Organ

Bard Records 097761890247

(Recorded by the Folger Shakespeare Library; Great Hall of the Folger Shakespeare Library on December 22, 1984)

On this week’s episode of the Choral Mix, Kent Tritle presents his most essential Christmas music from England. We hear medleys and settings by Holst and Williams, as well as selections by their predecessors Hubert Parry and Charles Stanford.

Much of the best Christmas music from England draws from the deep wells of folk melodies and carols.  Composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst and Gerald Finzi had a special knack for weaving together the different strands of their musical heritage and creating an unforgettable and distinctly English sound. 

Playlist

Holst, Gustav: Christmas Day, for chorus & orchestra, H. 109

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, City Of London Choir,

Hilary Davan Wetton, Conductor

Lydia Challen, Alto; Julia Doyle, Soprano; Julian Davies, Tenor; Simon Oberts, Baritone

Naxos 8572102

Stanford, Charles Villiers: Evening Service in G major, Op. 81: Magnificat

Choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge

Christopher Robinson, Conductor

Naxos 8.555794

Parry, Charles Hubert: When Christ was Born of Mary free

A Marian Christmas

St. Martin’s Chamber Choir,

Timothy J Krueger, Conductor

St. Martin's Chamber Choir Catalogue Number 1

Parry, Charles Hubert: Welcome Yule

Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum

Benjamin Nicholas, Conductor

Carleton Etherington, Organ

Delphian Records 34047

Finzi, Gerald: Et in Terra Pax, Op. 39;

And Lo the angel of the Lord came

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Choir of Winchester Cathedral,

David Hill, Conductor

Donald Sweeney, Bass; Libby Crabtree, Soprano

Decca 468807

Holst, Gustav:

In the Bleak mid-winter

Carol, H 133: no 3, Masters in this Hall

Christ Church Cathedral Choir

Stephen Darlington, Conductor

Nimbus 7021

Warlock, Peter: A Cornish Christmas Carol

Finzi Singers

Paul Spicer, Conductor

Chandos 9182

Warlock, Peter: Bethlehem Down

Voces8

Signum U.K. 291

Vaughan Williams, Ralph: Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Joyful Company of Singers, City of London Sinfonia

Richard Hickox, Conductor

Joseph Cullen, Organ

Roderick Williams, Baritone

Chandos 10385

Mendelssohn, Felix (Sosin, Donald, Arranger): Hark the Herald Angels Sing (in the style of Beethoven)

Jeffrey Biegel, Piano

Steinway & Sons 30005

Traditional: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Handel and Haydn Society

Harry Christophers, Conductor

Coro 16117

For many people, Christmas begins on December 25 and ends 12 days later with the festival of the Three Kings. But on the Russian Orthodox calendar, Christmas is just about to begin on January 7. On this episode of the Choral Mix, Kent Tritle presents an hour of music for Orthodox Christmas and other Russian exports.

We hear Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, Bortniansky’s angelic hymn, Kheruvimskie pesni, sacred works by Pavel Chesnokov and more. The cliche about Russia at this time of year is probably true: the Russian winter is harsh. The music that grew from that harsh environment can convey a real sense of desolation and unearthly calm, but there’s also a warmth and a joy to it that lights up the holiday.

Playlist

Rachmininov, Sergei: Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Op. 31

Slava Ottsu (Glory be to the Father)

Tebye Poyem (We Hymn Thee)

Kansas City Chorale, Charles Bruffy

Nimbus 5497/98

Chesnokov, Pavel: Sacred Choral Works, Op 43:

No. 1 Presvyataya bogoroditse (Blessed Virgin Mary)

No. 3 Miloserdiya dveri otvertzi nam (Mercy opened the door)

No. 4 Ne umolchim nikogda, Bogorodiste (Keep not silence, Virgin Mary)

St. Petersburg Chamber Choir

Nikolai Korniev, Conductor

Philips 289 454 616-2

Arvo Part: Rejoice, O Virgin

Kastalsky, Alexander: Shepherds of Bethlehem

Traditional Ukrainian carol (Arranger: Stetsenko, Kyrylo): The Angels Exclaimed

Traditional Ukrainian carol (Arranger: Stetsenko, Kyrylo): A New Joy

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Paul Hillier, Conductor

Harmonia Mundi 907410

Gretchaninoff, Alexander: Glory/Only Begotten Son

Chesnokov, Pavel: Cherubic Hymn

Sviridov, Georgy: A Wondrous Birth

Sviridov, Georgy: Christmas Troparion

Conspirare

Craig Hella Johnson, Conductor

Harmonia Mundi C122

Bortniansky, Dmitry: Kheruvimskie pesni (Cherubic Hymns) No. 7 of 7.

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Paul Hillier, Conductor

Harmonia Mundi HMU 907318

Gretchaninov, Alexander:

We praise the mother of God

Moscow State Academic Choir, Moscow State Choir, Musica Sacra

Andrej Koshewnikow, Conductor

K&K Verlagsanstalt KuK 23

Rachmoninov, Sergei:

Bogoroditse Dyevo (Rejoice O Ye Virgins)

Velichit dusha moya Ghospoda (Magnificat)

Choir of St Ignatius Loyola

Kent Tritle, Conductor

AMDG Recordings

Guest host Jeff Spurgeon presents music inspired by Epiphany, from the English Renaissance to modern-day Estonia.

The centerpiece of the program is Ascribe Unto the Lord by 19th-century English composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley, the grand-nephew of Methodism founder John Wesley.

On the Christian calendar, the Epiphany season begins January 6 and celebrates the belief, the realization, that Jesus was both man and God. The festivities focus mostly on three Biblical events: The visit of the three Kings, the Magi, to the baby Jesus; the changing of water into wine by Christ at the wedding in Cana; and his being immersed in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. All three of those events have inspired great choral music through the centuries. 

Playlist

Marenzio: Tribus miraculis

Salisbury Cathedral Choir

Dan Cook. Organ

David Halls, Conductor

Griffin 4054

Traditional: Lully, lulla, thow littel tyne child "Coventry Carol"

Lionheart

Koch International Classics 7562

Jacob Handl: Omnes de saba venient

Musica Sacra

Indra Hughes, Conductor

Launch Music International Ltdl

(Recorded at St Michael's Church, Remuera, Auckland on 22 & 23 June and 20 July 2007)

Mendelssohn: Christus, Op 97 (Sung in English): When Jesus, Our Lord; Say Where is He; There Shall be a Star.

Evensong For The Feast Of The Epiphany From Grace Cathedral

Grace Cathedral Choir San Francisco

John Fenstermaker, Conductor and Organist

Gothic Records 49106

Johann Sebastian Bach: Wei schon leuchtet der Morgenstern, Cantata No. 1, BWV 1

Coro Wie schon leuchtet der Mogerstern

Malin Hartelius, Soprano; Nathalie Stutzmann, Alto; James Gilchrist, Tenor; Peter Harvey, Bass

The Monteverdi Choir

The English Baroque Soloists

John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Soli Deo Gloria Records 118

Johann Sebastian Bach: Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65

Coro (Concerto) Sie wedren aus Saba alle kommen

Choral Die Kon ge aus Baba kamen dar

Peter Harvey, Bass; Sally Bruce-Payne, Mezzo Soprano; Magdalena Kozená, Mezzo Soprano; James Gilchrist, Tenor

English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir

John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Soli Deo Gloria Records 178

Samuel Sebastian Wesley: Ascribe unto the Lord

Julian Clarkson, Bass; Jon English, Tenor; Roy Rashbrook, Tenor; Christopher Royall, Countertenor; Huw Tregelles Williams, Organ

St. Paul's Cathedral Choir

John Scott, Conductor

Helios 55443

Arvo Part: Nunc Dimitis

Kaia Urb, soprano

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Paul Hillier, conductor

Harmonia Mundi 907401

Today, we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with choral music that celebrates struggle and liberation from oppression.

We hear Handel’s take on the Exodus story, spirituals that echoed through the Civil Rights era, and music from the Eastern Bloc as it emerged from Soviet rule.

All of today’s selections affirm thatsinging in a chorus can be one of the ultimate expressions of freedom. We join together, lift our voices and out comes music, far greater than anything any one of us could make alone.

Playlist

Traditional: Go Tell it on the Mountain

Fannie Lou Hamer, Soloist

(from Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966 SFW 40084, 1997, recorded fall 1963, Greenwood, Mississippi)

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW CD 40194

Traditional (arranger William Dawson): Soon-Ah Will Be Done

The Fisk Jubilee Singers

Paul T. Kwami, Conductor

Curb Records D2-78762

Traditional (arranger Joseph Jennings): Keep your hand on the plow

Philip Wilder, Countertenor

Chanticleer

Joseph Jennings, Conductor

Warner Classics 60309

Veljo Tormis: Viru vanne (The Viru Oath), for chorus

Orphei Drangar Male Voice Choir

Bis 1993

Dmitri Shostakovich: Ten Poems on texts by revolutionary poets, Op. 88:

No. 3 Onto the Streets

No. 4 The Meeting in Transit to Exile

No. 5 To Those Condemned to Death

Chorus of the Academy of Choral Arts

Tatyana Kravchenko, Piano

Viktor Popov, Conductor

Brilliant Classics 9414

Aaron Copland: Canticle of Freedom

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Utah Symphony Orchestra

Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor

CBS Masterworks 42140

Henryk Mikolaj Górecki: Miserere, Op. 44:

Domine Deus noster-Poco piu mosso

Domine Deus noster-lento

Miserere nobis

Los Angeles Master Chorale

Grant Gershon, Conductor

Decca 001718402

Michael Tippett: Five Spirituals From A Child Of Our Time

Steal Away

Nobody Knows

Go Down, Moses

By and By

Deep River

Carys-Anne Lane, Soprano; Sally Bruce-Payne, Mezzo Soprano; Neil MacKenzie, Tenor; Robert Evans, Baritone

The Sixteen

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Harry Christophers, Conductor

Collins 14462

George Frideric Handel: Israel in Egypt, HWV 54

Part III Moses’ Song, Sing Ye To The Lord

Trinity Choir Wall Street

Trinity Baroque Orchestra

Julian Wachner, Conductor

Musica Omnia 404

Traditional (arranger William Dawson): Ain’a That a Good News

Derek Lee Ragin, Countertenor

The Moses Hogan Chorale

Moses George Hogan, Piano and Conductor

Virgin Classics 0946 363305 2 5

This week Kent Tritle surveys some of the best recent recordings. There are new arrivals of old and contemporary material, from conductorless ensembles to groups led by well-established maestros. We hear music from England, Estonia and even that far-off land of Los Angeles!

These days the classical music world is asking itself a lot of serious questions about its viability and endurance, but the growing number of new choral albums tell a different story: choral music is thriving.

Playlist

Songs of Olden Times: Estonian Folk Hymns and Runic Songs: Heinavanker

Traditional (arranger, Margo Kolar): Ammuste aegade laulud:

I. Haned kadunud / The old-time songs: I. Geese are gone

Heinavanker Ensemble

Harmonia Mundi 907488

The Phoenix Rising: Stile Antico

Thomas Tallis: Salvator mundi

Orlando Gibbons: O clap your hands

Stile Antico

Harmonia Mundi SACD HMU807572

(though love be a day) selected choral works of matthew brown: antioch chamber ensemble

Matthew Brown: Another Lullaby for Insomniacs

Antioch Chamber Ensemble

Joshua Copeland, Conductor and Artistic Director

Acis Productions 18719

Cantus: Song of a Czech - Dvorak and Janacek for Men's Voices

Three Male Choruses with Piano:

Grief

Strange Water

The Girl in the Grove

Cantus

Timothy Cheek and Sonya Kaye Thompson, Piano

Cantus Recordings 5638192667

Times go by Turns: New York Polyphony

Richard Rodney Bennett: A Colloquy with God

John Plummer: Missa Sine nomine: Kyrie

Gabriel Jackson: Ite missa est

New York Polyphony

(Steven Caldicott Wilson, Tenor; Geoffrey Dunstan Williams, Countenor; Christopher Dylan Herbert, Baritone; Craig Phillips, Bass)

Bis 2037

Johann Sebastian Bach: Matthäus-Passion

Johann Sebastian Bach: Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244:

Kommt, ihr Tochter

Fabio Trumpy, Tenor; Werner Güra, Tenor; Bernarda Fink, Mezzo Soprano; Topi Lehtipuu, Tenor; Konstantin Wolff, Baritone

Berlin RIAS Chamber Chorus, Academy for Ancient Music Berlin, Berlin State and Cathedral Choir

René Jacobs, Conductor

Bis 2037

To kick off Black History Month, Kent Tritle presents music by African-American composers and arrangers. We hear beloved spirituals as well as some lesser-known works by Florence Price, Aldolphus Hailstork and William Grant Still.

Choral music has long been a key part of the African-American story. From spirituals to art songs and beyond, composers have drawn on their own traditions, European classical music, jazz and much more to create something unique.

Playlist

Florence Beatrice Price:

Song for Snow

Moon Bridge

VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Chorus with Orchestra

Philip Brunelle, Conductor

Clarion 907         

R. Nathaniel Dett: Listen to the Lambs

The Nathaniel Dett Chorale

Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, Conductor

Marquis 81293 

Hale Smith:

In Memoriam - Beryl Rubinstein

I - Moderato

II - Poème D’Automne

III - Elegy

Kulas Choir and Chamber Orchestra

Robert Shaw, Conductor

Composers Recordings, Inc. (CRI) 860 

Adolphus Hailstork:

The Cloths of Heaven

Tyrone Clinton, Percussion; Tyrone Webb, Percussion; Aaron Paige, Percussion

The Atlanta Singers

David Morrow, Conductor

Aca Digital 20111

Traditional (arranger, Adolphus Hailstork):

Motherless Child

Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola

Kent Tritle, Conductor

MSR Classics MS 1144

William Grant Still:

And They Lynched Him on a Tree:

No.1. We’ve Swung Him Higher

No.2. Look Dere

No.3. Oh, Sorrow

No.4. He Was Her Baby

No.5. They Took Away His Freedom

No.6. They Left Him Hanging

William Warfield, Spoken Vocals; Hilda Harris, Mezzo Soprano

VocalEssence Ensemble

Leigh Morris Chorale

Philip Brunelle, Conductor

Clarion 905

Ulysses S. Kay:

A New Song - Three Psalms for Chorus: Sing Unto the Lord

Trinity Church Wall Street

Larry King, Conductor

David Hurd: Let the peace of Christ Rule in Your Hearts

Oregon Catholic Press Choir

Trinitas Publishing

Leonard De Paur: In That Great Gettin’ Morning

Leonard De Paur Infantry Chorus

Legacy/Columbia

Moses Hogan: Great Day

The Moses Hogan Singers

Barbara Hendricks, Soloist

Warner Classics                            

This week Kent Tritle brings new meaning to the expression, “wintry mix.” His mix includes five centuries of works celebrating snow, ice and wind. We hear the sound of falling snowflakes, the otherworldliness of a moonlit night and the icy bluster of a winter squall.

Winter has captured the imaginations of many composers including Francis Poulenc, Morten Lauridsen and Randall Thompson. The treasury of choral music that pays tribute to winter captures the tension between the beauty of the scenery and the cold and darkness we associate with this time of year.

Playlist

Caspar Othmayr: The Evenfall ‘tis Snowing

Taylor Festival Choir

Robert Taylor, Conductor

Album Name: Sing We Now of Christmas – A Celtic Festival

MSR 1292

Antony Le Fleming: Nocturnes: A Winter’s Night

Oxford Pro Musica Singers; St Cecilia Players

Michael Smedley, Conductor

Album Name: Some Shadows of Eternity: Choral Music By Antony Le Fleming

Meridian Records 84360 

Herbert Howells: Walking in the Snow

Rodolfus Choir

Ralph Allwood. Conductor

Album Name: Choral Music by Herbert Howells

Signum UK 190 

Francis Poulenc: Un Soir de Neige:

De grandes cuillers de neige

La Bonne neige le ciel noir

Bois meurtri

La nuit le froid la solitude

Tenebrae

Nigel Short, Conductor

Album Name: Figure Humaine

Signum UK 197 

Morten Lauridsen: Mid-Winter Songs

I: Lament for Pasiphaë

II: Like Snow

III: She tells her love while half asleep

IV: Mid-Winter Waking

V: Intercession in late October

The Singers “Minnesota Choral Artists”

Matthew Culloton, Conductor

Steven Swanson, Piano

Album Name: Lauridsen: Mid-Winter Songs

2010 The Singers - Minnesota Choral Artists

Raymond Murray Schafer: Snowforms, for chorus

Elektra Women’s Choir

Morna Edmundson

Album Name: Elektra Women’s Choir

Skylark 5637293877 

John Muehleisen: Snow (The King's Trumpeter), for chorus and trumpet

The Richard Zielinski Singers, Richard Zielinski

Album Name: American Voices

Richard Zielinski Singers 5637532349

Randall Thompson: Frostiana: No 6, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Dallas Wind Symphony; Turtle Creek Chorale

Dr. Timothy Seelig, Conductor

Album Name: Testament

Reference Recordings 49

It’s right around this time of year, when we’ve all had just about enough of winter, that Valentine’s Day comes around with a hint of spring. Inspired by all the love this week, Kent Tritle arranged a bouquet of romantic music written for chorus. We hear some of the oldest odes to love, some of the newest and the timeless love-song waltzes by Johannes Brahms.

Playlist

Randall Stroope: Amor de Mi Alma

North Texas Chamber Choir; University of North Texas A Cappella Choir

Jerry McCoy, Conductor

Album Name: Musicks Empire

2008 GIA Publications, Inc.

Clemént Janequin: L’amour, la mort et la vie, M 3 no 87

Claude Debôves, Lute; Antoine Sicot, Bass; Philippe Cantor, Baritone; Michel Laplénie, Tenor; Dominique Visse, Countertenor

Clément Janequin Ensemble

Dominique Visse, Conductor

Album Name: Les Cris De Paris - Chansons de Janequin & Sermisy

Harmonia Mundi Musique D’abord 1951072

Claude Debussy: Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orleans

Dieu! qu’il la fait bon regarder

Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin

Karin Van der Poel, Alto

Netherlands Chamber Choir

Ed Spanjaard, Conductor

Album Name: French Choral Music

Globe 5215

James Mulholland: A Red, Red Rose, from Four Robert Burns Ballads

Kansas City Chorale; Fern Hill Orchestra

Patricia Higdon, Piano

Charles Bruffy, Conductor

Album Name: Fern Hill - American Choral Music

Nimbus 5449

John Clements: Flower of Beauty

Westminster Choir College

Joe Miller, Conductor

Album Name: Flower of Beauty

Westminster Choir College 909

Johannes Brahms: 18 Liebeslieder Walzer, Opus 52

Michael Leuschner, Piano; Martin Galling, Piano

Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart

Helmuth Rilling, Conductor

Album Name: Brahms: Love Song Waltzes

Acanta/Pilz 233495

Eric Whitacre: Five Hebrew Love Songs

1. Temuna

2. Kala Kalla (Light Bride)

3. Larov (Mostly)

4. Eyze Sheleg! (What snow!)

5. Rakut (Tenderness)

Eric Whitacre Singers

Eric Whitacre, Conductor

Album Name: Light and Gold

Decca 001485002

Healy Willan: Rise up, my love, my fair one, B 314

Trinity College Choir, Cambridge

Stephen Layton, Conductor

Album Name: Beyond All Mortal Dreams

Hyperion 67832

Johannes Brahms - Paul Heyse; arr. The King’s Singers:

Dein Herzlein mild (Your Gentle Heart)

The King’s Singers

David Hurley, Counter-tenor; Alastair Hume, Counter-tenor; Bob Chilcott, Tenor; Bruce Russell, Baritone; Simon Carrington, Baritone; Stephen Connolly, Bass

Album Name: Chansons d’amour

RCA Victor 09026-61427-2

Alice Parker is a living legend among choral music fans and this week’s show is dedicated to her music. We hear her work as a composer, arranger and conductor and the different ways in which she employs the human voice.   

The centerpiece of the show is SongStream, a series of songs based on the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Inspired by the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes, Parker wrote the song cycle for mixed choir and piano accompaniment.

Someone once asked Alice Parker how she’d like to be remembered some day and she said, “as a craftsman, one who understands the voice and the setting of words, and who brings pleasure to players and listeners.” 

Playlist

Alice Parker: Hark, I hear the harps eternal

Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola

Kent Tritle, Conductor

Album Title: Cool of the Day

MSR Music MS 1374

Alice Parker: Durme, Durme

Elektra Women’s Choir

Album Title: Sacred Places

Skylark Music 2006

Arr. Alice Parker and Robert Shaw:

Down by the Sally Gardens

Lowlands

The Men of the Musicians of Melodious Accord

Alice Parker, Conductor

Album Title: My Love and I

Gothic Records 49213

Alice Parker: Play Party Songs

Jennie Jenkins

Kitty Alone

Turkey in the Straw

Musicians of Melodious Accord

Alice Parker, Conductor

Album Title: Transformations

CD Baby

Alice Parker: Eight American Mountain Hymns

New Concord

Resignation

Foundation

Gloriae Dei Cantoris

Elizabeth C. Patterson, Conductor

Album Title: Appalachian Sketches

Gloriae Dei Cantoris GDCD 031

Alice Parker: SongStream, for chorus & 2 pianos

To Kathleen: Still must the poet as of old

Mariposa: Butterflies are white and blue

The Philosopher: And what are you, that wanting you

The Spring and the Fall: In the spring of the year

Nuit Blanche: I am a shepherd of those sheep

The Merry Maid: Oh, I am grown so free from care

Thursday: And if I loved you Wednesday

Passus mortuus est: Death devours all lovely things

Lethe: Ah, drink again

The Musicians of Melodious Accord

Alice Parker, Conductor

Album Title: Angels and Challengers - American Woman Poets

Melodious Accord 5638022173

Arr. Alice Parker and Robert Shaw: L’Amour de Moy

Chanticleer

Album Title: Wondrous Love

Teldec 16676

Traditional / Arr. Alice Parker and Robert Shaw:

What Shall we do with a Drunken Sailor

Robert Shaw Chorale Male Chorus

Album Title: Sea Shanties

RCA Victor Living Stereo 63528

Samuel Stennett / Arr. Alice Parker:

How Soft the Words my Savior Speaks

The Musicians of Melodious Accord

Alice Parker, Conductor

Album Title: Sweet Manna

GIA Music CD434

The one-two punch of words plus music gives choral music its power. And when the words come from William Shakespeare, the music is all the more inspired.

Today’s program focuses on how Shakespeare's plays and poetry have inspired composers from around the world – from his native England, to Germany, to Finland, to the U.S. We hear the different ways composers have tried to bring his words to life in music, with a special focus on texts from The Tempest and A Midsummer’s Night Dream.

Playlist

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs for Chorus

No. 1 Full Fathom Five

No. 2 Cloud-Capp’d Towers

No. 3 Over Hill, Over Dale

Holst Singers

Stephen Layton, Conductor

Album Title: Vaughan Williams: Over Hill, Over Dale

Hyperion 66777

Emma Lou Diemer: Three Madrigals

O mistress mine, where are you going

Take, o take these lips

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more

University of North Texas Chamber Choir and the University of North A Cappella Choir

Jerry McCoy, Conductor

Ling Yu Kan, Piano

Album Title: Musicks Empire

GIA Publications (ChoralWorks Series) CD-710

Amy Marcy Beach: Three Shakespeare Choruses, Op. 39

I Over hill, over dale

II Come unto these yellow sands

III Through the house give glimmering light

Etherea Vocal Ensemble

Derek Greten-Harrison, Conductor

Album Title: Hymn To The Dawn

Delos 3431

Jaakko Mantyjarvi: Four Shakespeare Songs:

Come away, come away, death

Lullaby

Double, double toil and trouble

Full Fathom Five

Phoenix Bach Choir

Charles Bruffy, Conductor

Album Title: Shakespeare in Song

Chandos CHSA 5031

Frank Martin: Songs of Ariel from Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempset’

Come unto these yellow sands (Ariel’s Song)

Full Fathom Five

Before you can say, ‘Come,’ and ‘Go’

You are three men of sin

Where the bee sucks, there suck I

Berlin RIAS Kammerchor

Daniel Reuss, Conductor

Album Title: Martin: Messe pour double choeur a cappella

Harmonia Mundi 1951834

Johannes Brahms: Lied von Shakespeare

Monteverdi Choir

John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Album Title: Brahms: Choral Works

Philips 666902

George Shearing: Songs and Sonnets

I. Live with me and be my love (Sonnet)

VII. Hey, ho, the wind and the rain (from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’)

The Cambridge Singers

John Rutter, Conductor

Malcolm Creese, Double bass

Wayne Marshall, Piano

Album Title: John Rutter: Feel The Spirit

Collegium Records 128

Nils Lindberg: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Phoenix Bach Choir

Charles Bruffy, Conductor

Album Title: Shakespeare in Song

Chandos CHSA 5031

The season of Lent is a time when Christians prepare for Easter Sunday. And it’s inspired countless composers over the centuries. 

For this week’s Choral Mix, Kent Tritle presents an hour of choral works for Lent and Holy Week. We hear two versions of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, a choral rarity by Pablo Casals and a late Renaissance work for Ash Wednesday, so heavily guarded by the Vatican that it took a boy genius to smuggle it out.

Playlist

Thomas Tallis: Lamentations of Jeremiah I

Chapelle du Roi

Alistair Dixon, Conductor

Album Title: Lamentations of Jeremiah

Brilliant Classics 936212

Anton Bruckner: Christus factus est in D minor, WAB 10

Netherlands Chamber Choir

Uwe Gronostay, Conductor

Album Title: Anton Bruckner, Max Reger, 7 Motets and 8 Geistliche Gesange

Globe 5160

Johannes Brahms: 2 Motets, Op. 29:

No. 2. Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein rein Herz

Danish National Radio Choir

Stefan Parkman, Conductor

Album Title: Works for Unaccompanied Choir

Chandos 9671

Pablo Casals: O vos omnes

Sospiri

Christopher Watson, Conductor

Album Title: Lamentations Through The Ages

Naxos 8573078

Mauersberger, Rudolph: Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst (How desolate lies the city)

Sospiri

Christopher Watson, Conductor

Album Title: Lamentations Through The Ages

Naxos 8573078

Gregorio Allegri: Miserere (with embellishments)

Tallis Scholars

Peter Phillips, Conductor

Album Title: Allegri: Miserere; Palestrina

Gimell 41

Calvin Hampton: Faithful Cross

Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola

Kent Tritle, Conductor

Album Title: Wondrous Love

MSR Classics MS 1144

Kevin Oldham: Boulding Chorale: My Lord, thou art in every breath I take

Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola

Kent Tritle, Conductor

Album Title: Wondrous Love

MSR Classics MS 1144

Maurice Duruflé: Ubi Caritas

Voices of Ascension Chorus

Dennis Keene, Conductor

Album Title: Mysteries Beyond

Delos 3138

This week’s edition of the Choral Mix is a survey of the vast musical landscape of Canada, from early music ensembles to modern masterpieces. We can’t hear it all, but you get a sense of the composers and ensembles that have made Canada such a rich source of choral music and musicians.

Canada has produced an amazing array of choral talent – composers, conductors, singers, accompanists – but most of them aren’t known outside of their home country. Yet.

Playlist

Harry Somers: Northern Lights

Elektra Womens Choir

Morna Edmunson, Conductor

Album Title: Legacy

Centrediscs

Bruce Sled: Ice

Musica Intima

Album Title: Into Light

ATMA Classique 2613

Faure: Messe Basse

Sanctus

Benedictus

Agnus Dei

Vancouver Chamber Choir

CBC Vancouver Orchestra

John Washburn, Conductor

Album Title: Missa Brevis

CBC

Raminsh: Ave Verum, Corpus

Musica Intima

Album Title: Into Light

ATMA Classique 2613

Willan: How They So Softly Rest

Elora Festival Singers

Noel Edison, Conductor

Album Title: In the Heavenly Kingdom

Naxos 8557734

Bach: Der Geist hilft

Tafelmusik Chamber Choir

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

Ivars Taurins, Conductor

Album Title: Bach Motets Bwv 225-230

CBC

R Murray Schafer: Three Songs from the Enchanted Forest:

I. Sweet Clover

II. Ariane’s Lament

III. Lu-li-lo-la

Vancouver Chamber Choir

John Washburn, Conductor

Album Title: Imagining Incense: The Choral Music R Murray Schafer, Vol 3

Grouse Records #106

Eleanor Daley: Requiem: In Remembrance

Choir of St. John’s Elora

Noel Edison, Conductor

Album Title: Hear My Prayer: Hymns and Anthems

Naxos

Ruth Watson Henderson: 2 Love Songs:

The Passionate Shepard to His Love

The Nymph’s Reply

Elmer Iseler Singers

Lydia Adams, Conductor

Album Title: Watson Henderson: Choral Music

CBC

This edition of the Choral Mix is an exploration of how choral composers have welcomed spring. We hear the sweeping melodies of Rachmaninoff, the lyricism of Vaughan Williams and the elegance of Haydn – all music bursting with hope and optimism.

It’s officially springtime – and not a moment too soon! Just when we’ve all had enough of the snow, the cold, the grey, along comes a break in the weather and the promise of new life.

Playlist

Edvard Grieg: 12 Songs, Op. 33, No. 2: Varen “Last Spring” (arranged for choir)

Norwegian Soloists Choir (Det Norske Solistkor)

Grete Pedersen Helgerod, Conductor

Album Title: Grieg: Choral Music

Bis 1661

Ernest John Moeran: Songs of Springtime

No. 1. Under the Greenwood Tree

No. 2. The River-God's Song

No. 3. Spring, the Sweet Spring

No. 4. Love is a Sickness

No. 5. Sigh no more, Ladies

No. 6. Good Wine

No. 7. To Daffodils

The Finzi Singers

Paul Spicer, Conductor

Album Title: Moeran: Songs of Springtime

Chandos 9182

Vaughan Williams: Folksongs of the Four Seasons; Spring:

Early in the Spring

The Lark in the Morning

May Song

Choir of Clare College

Dmitri Ensemble

David Wilcocks, Conductor

Album Title: Folk Songs of the Four Seasons

Albion 10

Sergei Rachmoninov: Spring Cantata

The Philadelphia Orchestra

Charles Dutoit, Conductor

Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia

Sergei Leiferkus, Baritone

Album Title: The Bells, Spring, 3 Russian Songs

Decca 440355

Franz Joseph Haydn: The Seasons, H 21 no 3

Komm, holder Lenz

Ewiger, machtiger

Stuttgart Gachinger Kantorei

Helmuth Rilling, Conductor

Album Title: Haydn: The Seasons

Hänssler Classic 98982

Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: 6 Sanger: No. 4 (Varsang II) Spring Song II

Uppsala University Chamber Choir

Stefan Parkman, Conductor

Album Title: A Musical Portrait

Musica Sveciae 908

On this Season Finale of The Choral Mix, Kent Tritle wraps up with an hour of French Masterworks, and a heavy focus on choral music plus organ.

Playlist

Gabriel Fauré : Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11

Accentus

Maitrise de Paris, National Orchestra d'Ile de France

Christophe Henry, Organ

Laurence Equilbey, Conductor

Album Title: Fauré: Requiem

Label : Naive 5137

César Franck : Rédemption: Part Two ; IX. Chœur général: "Seigneur, Seigneur, oubile"

Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse

Orféon Donostiarra

Michel Plasson, Conductor

Album Title: Franck: Redemption

Label : EMI 55056

Charles Gounod: Tobie: No. 1 Introduction

University of Paris-Sorbonne Orchestra & Chorus

Orchestra of Paris-Sorbonne

Jacques Grimbert, Conductor

Album Title: Tobie

Label : Marco Polo 8.223892

Camille Saint-Saens: Messe Opus 4 : Kyrie

Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne

Marie-Claire Alain, Great Organ

André Luy, Choir Organ

Michel Corboz, Conductor

Album Title: Mass Op 4 in A

Label : Erato 2292-45355-2

Hector Berlioz: Te Deum, Op. 22: Judex Crederis

Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra

Young Singers of Pennsylvania

Mark Kruczek, Organ

Dennis Keene, Conductor

Album Title: Berlioz: Te Deum

Label: Delos DE 3200

Maurice Duruflé’: Intro + Kyrie; Sanctus

Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola

Nancianne Parrella, Organ

Kent Tritle, Conductor

Album Title: Duruflé: Requiem

Label: MSR MS 1141

Choral Music hits a high point come Easter time: For more than a thousand years, this point in the Christian calendar has inspired composers to write music that is both joyous and contemplative. On this special edition of The Choral Mix, Kent Tritle shares his musical guide of Easter in Old Europe.

To celebrate Easter Sunday, we sample some of the most ebullient and transcendent works for choir. Making stops in Germany, England and Italy, this episode spends time with sacred music of the Renaissance and medieval age. Truly old Europe!

Playlist

Léonin: Alleluya Pascha nostrum

The Early Music Consort of London

David Munrow, Conductor

Album Title: Music of the Gothic Era

Label: Archiv Produktion (Dg) 471731

Giovanni Palestrina: Ad cenam Agni provide

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers

Album Title: Palestrina, Volume 3

Label: Coro 16106

Giovanni Gabrieli: Exultet iam angelica turba a

Ex Cathedra

His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts

Concerto Palatino

Jeffrey Skidmore, Conductor

Album Title: Gabrieli: Sacred Symphonies

Label: Hyperion 67957

Heinrich Schütz: Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi:

Surrexit Pastor Bonus

Weser-Renaissance

Manfred Cordes

Album Title: Heinrich Schütz: Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi

Label: CPO 777-027-2

John Taverner: Dum transisset sabbatum

Alamire

David Skinner, Conductor

Album Title: Imperatrix Inferni

Label: Obsidian Records 707

James MacMillan: Christus vincit

Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola

Kent Tritle, Conductor

Album Title: Wondrous Love

Label: MSR 1144

Tomás Luis de Victoria: Surrexit Pastor Bonus

La Grande Chapelle

Albert Recasens, Conductor

Album Title: La fiesta de Pascua en Piazza Navona

Label: Lauda 12

Tomás Luis de Victoria: Vidi Aquam

St. Clement’s Choir, Philadelphia

Peter Richard Conte, Conductor

Album Title: Music of Tomas Luis de Victoria

Label: Dorian Discovery 80146

Johann Sebastian Bach:

Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4

Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg

English Baroque Soloists

Monteverdi Choir

John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Album Title: J.S. Bach: Cantatas, Volume 22

Label: Soli Deo Gloria Records 128

This week's From the Top, from Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University, celebrates the 75th anniversary of the American Boychoir. You'll hear them perform all show long and also meet two outstanding teenage strings players, who will perform Gabriel Fauré and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Additionally, four members of the American Boychoir join forces to sing "I Love That Old Barbershop Style" by Einar Pederson.

Program details:

The American Boychoir from Princeton, New Jersey, performs "Ubi Caritas", from "Four Motets on Gregorian Themes," Op.10, No.1 by Maurice Duruflé. Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, music director.

The American Boychoir Barbershop Quartet performs "I Love That Old Barbershop Style" by Einar Pederson.

Violinist and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Gallia Kastner, 16, from Arlington Heights, Illinois, performs the Waltz-Scherzo, Op.34 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The American Boychoir performs "When I'm 64" by The Beatles), arr. Deke Sharon. Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, music director.

Cellist Julia Rosenbaum, 17, from Potomac, Maryland, performs "Elegy" by Gabriel Fauré.

The American Boychoir, violinist Gallia Kastner, cellist Julia Rosenbaum, and organist Kerry Heimann perform Versus II and III of "Christ Lag in Todes Banden", Cantata No.4 by Johann Sebastian Bach. Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, music director.

The American Boychoir performs The Stars & Stripes Forever by John Phillip Sousa, arr. John Kuzma. Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, music director.

As we enter the final week of our My Daily Bach download series, we are featuring one of Bach's signature chorale pieces – the Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring performed by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, BWV 147
Johann Sebastian Bach
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Available at Arkivmusic.com

This is another signature work of Sebastian Bach, but if we’re to give full credit to the creators, we have to include two other people. This is one of Bach’s most famous chorale settings – but it’s a setting. The chorale – the hymn tune – was composed by Johan Schop, about a century before Bach got ahold of it. And the original words that we know in English as Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, were written by another fellow before Bach’s time, a guy named Johann Rist. The chorale words and melody were well-known to Bach’s congregation; the decorative counter-melody was Bach’s contribution. Sebastian got into trouble with some of his employers for “mingling strange tones” into chorales when he played them on the organ for congregational singing. But if it weren’t for Bach’s strange tones, most of us wouldn’t know Schop’s melody or Rist’s words at all. Here’s the chorale in Bach’s setting, BWV 147, played by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

This and all episodes of the Daily Bach podcast are no longer available for download. You may follow our new show My Classical Podcast instead.

This winter, starting Monday, Dec. 1 at 8 pm, we're launching Vocal Chords – a new weekly hour-long destinationcelebrating the bewitching spectrum of 21st-century music for choral and vocal ensembles.

The kick-off episode spotlights a live recording of the world premiere of Fjoloy by Qasim Naqvi, best known as the drummer for Dawn of Midi, recorded at Issue Project Room on April 20, 2014. 

For many classical music fans, singing in a choir – community, school or religious – was the first exposure to hearing and performing classical music. And yet, with the exception of a handful of works by superstars such as Arvo Pärt and the late Sir John Tavener, many works of contemporary classical music for voice still remain under-appreciated.

Vocal Chords will be our attempt to honor this diversity of new music, including the breakthroughs of Meredith Monk and David Lang, the innovation-minded younger ensembles including Roomful of Teeth, Tune-Yards and Dirty Projectors, and the broad, awe-inspiring swathe of today's composers who bring their unique sensibilities to writing and redefining music for the human voice.  

We always want to hear from you though! What are your favorite pieces for voice, or the works which point to the most exciting future of the genre? Let us know in the comments section below.

Here are some of our favorite video clips concerning new music for voice, including Björk interviewing Arvo Pärt:

Meredith Monk's Woman at the Door:

The Dirty Projectors demonstrating the process of hocketing:

Caroline Shaw's Passacaglia at Mass MoCA in 2009:

Popular choral composer and conductor Eric Whitacre shares Christmas favorites with co-host Brian Newhouse. In this one-hour program, he introduces the music and describes the often-colorful backstory of how each piece came to be.

Program playlist:
Whitacre: Little Tree
— Brigham Young University Singers; Ronald Staheli, conductor

Whitacre: Glow
— Eric Whitacre Singers; Eric Whitacre, conductor

Whitacre: Winter
— The Choral Project

Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium
— Polyphony; Stephen Layton, conductor

Poulenc: Hodie
— Polyphony; Stephen Layton, conductor

Whitacre: Lux Aurumque
— Eric Whitacre Singers; Eric Whitacre, conductor

Whitacre: Lux Aurumque (wind band version)
— North Texas Wind Symphony; Eugene Corporan, conductor

Whitacre: Lux Nova
— Eric Whitacre Singers; Eric Whitacre, conductor

Whitacre: The Chelsea Carol
— Eric Whitacre Singers; Eric Whitacre, conductor

O Magnum Mysterium (O Wondrous Mystery)
Arr. by Morten Lauridsen
Choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Conducted by Kent Tritle

The nativity scene is one of the oldest and richest images of Christmas: Mary and Joseph with the newborn baby Jesus, whose maternity ward was a stable, because all the hotels in Bethlehem had their “no vacancy” signs out. And of course there are animals in that stable – a very unusual royal court for a very unusual king.

That is the image that has been contemplated literally for centuries in the monastic chant, O Magnum Mysterium– "O great mystery and wonderful sacrament" – that animals should see the newborn Lord lying in a manger. The words have been set by many choral composers, but one of the newest settings, from the early 1990s, is by composer Morten Lauridsen. The mystery and wonder of this nativity picture appear in the first chord the chorus sings, and the music has that particular quality of making time seem to stop. It’s terrific for a moment of contemplation, and it’s performed here by the Choir of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, conducted by Kent Tritle.

Episodes of My Classical Podcast are available for download through the WQXR App. Download it for IOS and Android Devices.

• How to use the WQXR App.
• This recording was made by WQXR for a Live Broadcast

Once in Royal David’s City by Henry John Gauntlett
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
directed by David Willcocks
Available on ArkivMusic

It’s one of the most famous annual events of the holiday season, but it started as a way to keep men out of taverns on Christmas Eve. The year: 1880. The place: Cornwall, England. A bishop there came up an idea for a special late-evening church service on December 24, to keep men from just going out to drink that night.

Twenty-eight years later, the sequence of music and scripture readings in that service was adopted by the dean of King’s College, Cambridge, for use in the chapel there, and thus was born the famous Christmas Eve service known as the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. For nearly a century, that service has begun with single boy chorister singing the carol, “Once in Royal David’s City,” and since 1928, it’s been broadcast on the radio. This recording features the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, directed by David Willcocks.

Episodes of My Classical Podcast are available for download through the WQXR App. Download it for IOS and Android Devices.

• How to use the WQXR App.
• This recording is provided courtesy of Warner Classics/Erato

Karl Jenkins's talent for mixing different types of sounds—including world music, folk, new age and classical music—has helped to make him one of today's most-performed living composers. 

The Welshman’s 40-minute choral cantata The Armed Man, inspired by the Kosovan conflict, has been performed in concerts, festivals and at ceremonial events since its premiere in 2000. His works regularly sit high on Classic FM's annual listen poll and he has composed at least two definitive TV commercial themes of the 1990s: Palladio, used by diamond merchant De Beers, and Adiemus, the ethnic-classical fusion used in a Delta Airlines advertisement.

With his distinctive, trademark mustache, Jenkins appeared at WQXR in advance of a concert of his choral works Monday night at Carnegie Hall, featuring his multi-lingual work, The Peacemakers. The piece draws texts from Mother Theresa, The Dalai Lama, and Gandhi, among others, and like The Armed Man, is a tribute to lives lost in armed conflict.

As we hear in this interview with Jeff Spurgeon, Jenkins’s career has been unusual in its genre-straddling diversity, from studies at London's Royal Academy of Music to a stint in the jazz-rock fusion band Soft Machine. 

Listen to the full interview at the top of this page. Below, enjoy a free download of the St. Francis Prayer for Peace from The Peacemakers:

The Young Artists Showcase this week presents music and musicians from China to celebrate the Asian Lunar New Year. The program beings with a pair of Debussy preludes performed by pianist Shuang Yu from Chengdu Province, who we introduced from the Mannes Sounds Festival last month on the Showcase. Pianist Haodong Wu follows with a Scriabin sonata, also recorded at the Mannes College The New School for Music.

Then we’ll dip into the archives for a 1987 broadcast of the National Children’s Centre Chorus of Beijing on host Bob Sherman’s former WQXR series, The Listening Room. The chorus performs a traditional Chinese folk song, as well as an American charity single that had been released just two years prior, "We Are the World."

Our salute to the Year of the Sheep closes with a piano version of the famous Butterfly Lovers' Concerto, with a reading of the ancient Chinese legend by our host.

Program playlist:

Debussy: Two Preludes, Brouillard and La Puerto del Vino
— Shuang Yu, piano.

Scriabin: Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor
— Haodong Wu, piano.

Traditional Chinese folk song: The Sun Ripens the Apples
M. Jackson and L. Richie: "We Are the World"
— Children’s Chorus of the Beijing Children’s Center; Yang Hongnian, conductor.

Chen Gang: Butterfly Lovers' Concerto
— Chen Jie, piano; Orchestra of New Zealand; Carolyn Kuan, conductor.

Europe may be divided over Greece and the euro, but a new report by the Voice Project and coordinated by Germany’s European Choral Association (Europa Canta), points to one harmonious note rising above the cacophony: Choral singing, which has roots in Europe dating back to the fourth century, is gaining popularity with amateur and professional singers alike.

In a pilot project called "Singing Europe," the consortium claims that the European continent, including Russia, is home to 37 million people involved in collective singing (22.5 million in the EU). That's 4.5 percent of the total European population. The study offers the first common statistics on the popularity of group singing.

The study, which was conducted from June 2013 to May 2015, was concerned with a broad range of collective singing including professional choirs, church choirs, chamber choirs, vocal ensembles, a Capella ensembles, barbershop quartets, pop vocal groups and jazz vocal groups.

According to the research, there are about 625,000 choirs or ensembles in the EU and one million on the whole European land mass. The researchers also found that the size of the average group is 36 singers (this number is rather imprecise as it represents a diverse mixture of ensembles).

The research looked at specific reasons for the popularity of European choral singing. Wealth is a key indicator in many countries. In the Netherlands, for instance, where the annual GDP is $51,373, nearly 11 percent of the population was involved in choral singing; in Romania, which has a per capita GDP of $10,035, just 3 percent of residents sang in choruses.

There are also correlations with education level, gender, available free time and access to musical education. This information was gathered from two sources during the same period: existing regional/national data and a multilingual online survey for choir members. The presence of choral singing was widely underestimated in most European countries.

The Voice Project, a multi-annual project organized by the EU, is intended to raise awareness of singing while encouraging policy makers to support and foster the artistic activity. The cooperation also wants to embolden singers to be more “vocal” about their influence and push for more detailed research into collective singing.

Below is a map of the Voice Project's constituent groups.

The English conductor, composer, organist and choral director David Willcocks died on September 17. He was 95 years old. 

In 17 years as director of music at King's College, Cambridge, and 38 years in charge of the Bach Choir in London, he is widely credited with putting English choral music on a global musical map, while raising the standards of choral performance and teaching. 

Willcocks drew particular acclaim for his plush choral arrangements of Christmas carols, many of which he created for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College Cambridge. The annual Christmas Eve service is broadcast globally through the BBC and public radio stations (including WQXR) and has been spun off on numerous recordings.

Below: The Sussex Carol.

Willcocks also served as director at the Royal College of Music, from 1974 to 1984, and organized the music for Prince Charles's wedding to Diana Spencer. He received a knighthood in 1977.

From 1960 to 1998 Willcocks directed the Bach Choir, a popular amateur choir in England, giving frequent premieres of contemporary British composers. On tour, they delivered the first performance of Britten's War Requiem at La Scala, then in Japan, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Willcocks is also one of the few choirmasters to have made the pop charts: he conducted the Bach Choir's contribution to the Rolling Stones' 1969 hit "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

In the early 1990s, Willcocks made an acclaimed recording of Handel’s Messiah with the (all-male) King's College Choir and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields for EMI. Over his career, he also championed and recorded music of Haydn, Byrd and John Tavener, as well as masses by Palestrina, Charpentier and Vaughan Williams.

In an appreciation in The Telegraph, music critic Ivan Hewitt noted that Willcocks’s aesthetic bore "an old-fashioned concept of musicality and craftsmanship" and yet his carols have come to define the sound of Christmas for millions. "It's hard to think of 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful,'" he writes, "without the famous descant (the extra high part), composed by Sir David, which sails gloriously above it.”

King's College has posted a webcast of Willcocks's 1967 recording of the Fauré Requiem.

Celebrate Valentine's Day with the male vocal ensemble Cantus, as it presents an evening of music exploring the complexities of love. Watch the archived video webcast of the intimate concert from the Greene Space.

The ancient Greeks spoke of four different kinds of love — romantic, familial, friendly and unconditional — and Cantus' program honors these "four loves" in works by Poulenc, Grieg, Beethoven and Kurt Elling, paired with newly commissioned pieces by David Lang, Joseph Gregorio, Ysaye Barnwell and Roger Treece.

Working without a conductor, the nine-member ensemble explores music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. WQXR's Elliott Forrest hosted the webcast.

Program playlist:

Grieg: Brothers, Sing On!
Treece: Philia
Beethoven: Abschiedsgesang (Farewell Song)
Jenkins: Sim Shalom
Poulenc: Four Small Prayers of St. Francis of Assisi:  III Lord, I pray you
Traditional Hymn: Wondrous Love
Elling: Those Clouds Are Heavy, You Dig?
Barnwell: Tango With God
Gregorio: To My Brother
Barnwell: Wanting Memories
Lang: Manifesto
Rahman: Wedding Qawwali

"I am sick with love." These five words say so much. Love is like a sickness and it affects the entire human race.

This line comes from the Hebrew Bible as part of a collection of poems known as "the Song of Songs." And they are words that still speak to us today. The Song of Songs confounds and tantalizes the faithful. It seduces composers, inspiring works by Monteverdi, Bach and contemporary composer Nico Muhly. In fact, there are dozens of musical settings, each dancing between earthly pleasures and heavenly aspirations.

Tune in at 9 pm on Friday, Feb. 12, when stage and screen star Jessica Hecht ("Fiddler on the Roof," "Breaking Bad," Dan in Real Life," "Sideways") hosts "The Bible’s Great Romance: The Song of Songs," a one-hour special of this sensuous verse married with choral music. An encore presentation of this program will air at 8 am on Sunday, Feb. 14.

Program playlist:

Marc Lavry: Song of Songs Oratorio, Op. 137, Overture
Kol Zion Lagola Choir (The Broadcasting Service Choir)
Kol Israel Symphony Orchestra (The Broadcasting Service Orchestra)
Marc Lavry, conductor
Courtesy of the Marc Lavry Heritage Society

Edward Bairstow: “I Sat Down”
Choir of All Saint’s Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills
Dale Adelmann, conductor
Gothic Records

Anonymous: “Laeva eius”
Stile Antico
Harmonia Mundi

Pablo Casals: “Nigra sum”
Choir of Jesus College Cambridge
Mark Williams, conductor
Signum Classics

Giovanni Palestrina: Missa de Beata Virgine
“Nigra sum”
Escolania de Montserrat; Capella de Música de Montserrat
Dom Ireneu Segarra, conductor
Koch

Healey Willan: “Rise up My Love”
The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge
Stephen Layton, conductor
Hyperion

Dietrich Buxtehude" “Ich suchte des Nachts in meinem Bette”
Gerd Türk, tenor; Stephan Schreckenberger Bass
Cantus Cölln
Konrad Junghänel, conductor
Harmonia Mundi

Dov Carmel/Yehezkel Braun: “Uri Tzafon”
Chicago a cappella
Patrick Sinozich, conductor
CAC

Howard Skempton: "How Fair is They Love”
Choir of Jesus College Cambridge
Mark Williams, conductor
Signum Classics

Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata 140, BWV 140
“Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme”
Arnold Schonberg Choir; Conceptus Musicus Vien
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

Hildegard of Bingen: “Favus distillans”
Sequentia
Benjamin Bagby, conductor
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

William Billings: “I Am Come into My Garden”
The Western Wind
Western Wind Records

Marc Lavry: Song of Songs Oratorio, Op. 137
Aria: “I am black and comely”
Nurit Goren, Soprano
Kol Zion Lagola Choir (The Broadcasting Service Choir)
Kol Israel Symphony Orchestra (The Broadcasting Service Orchestra)
Marc Lavry, conductor
Courtesy of the Marc Lavry Heritage Society

Anonymous: “Iam hiems transiit”
Stile Antico
Harmonia Mundi

Edward Bairstow: “I Sat Down”
Choir of All Saint’s Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills
Dale Adelmann, conductor
Gothic Records

Martin de Rivaflecha: “Anima mea”
Choir of Jesus College Cambridge
Mark Williams, conductor
Signum Classics

Howard Skempton: “My Beloved Has Gone Down”
Choir of Jesus College Cambridge
Mark Williams, conductor
Signum Classics

Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine, SV 206
“Pulchra es”
Ann Monoyios, Marinella Pennicchi, sopranos
English Baroque Soloists
John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
Archiv

John Dunstable: “Quam pulchra es”
The Hilliard Ensemble
John Hillier, conductor
EMI

Orlando de Lassus: “Veni, dilecte mi”
Stile Antico
Harmonia Mundi 807489

“At the time your and our politics are so fractured, when the world is such a terrible place, anything that lets thousands of people make new friends, brings all communities together, must strengthen the city in every possible way,” the British choral conductor Simon Halsey said recently.

Halsey is part of a project aiming to do just that this summer. On Aug. 13, he will lead approximately 1,000 singers from across New York City when he conducts the premiere of a new David Lang work written for that number of voices called the public domain. The work was commissioned by Lincoln Center for the 50th anniversary of the Mostly Mozart Festival, and it is the second of two large choral projects for amateur singers this summer that are tapping into the unifying qualities of vocal music.

The first, on Monday at 7:30 pm at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, is the New York Choral Consortium’s Big Sing, the sixth since it was inaugurated in 2011. Sixty-five choruses — professional, amateur and combinations of both — make up the consortium. The program celebrates the centennial of the birth of Robert Shaw, one of the country’s greatest choral conductors, as well as the 90th birthday of Alice Parker, Shaw’s colleague and a choral composer, conductor and teacher, who plans to be present.

The Big Sing is “meant to be a musical and social gathering,” said Kent Tritle, director of cathedral music and organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, a founding member of the consortium and music director of both the Oratorio Society of New York and Musica Sacra. “You can jump into the wading pool of great music and enjoy meeting other choral singers.  People sit next to people they’ve not met before.”

It is also, he added, “made to order for people who are new to town, who work so hard at their job, aren't currently singing anywhere and want to connect — this is your chance. And the artistic police won’t be there to do their job. It’s much more about being interested in people, people connecting with each other.”

As has been the case at previous Big Sings, participants only have to show up at the cathedral when the doors open at 7 pm; singing begins a half hour later. The sheet music, which can be downloaded from the event’s website, will feature 13 selections from the “Centennial Choralfest” booklet Shaw prepared for the hundredth anniversary of Carnegie Hall in 1991; these include the central movement of Brahms’ German Requiem and “He Watching Over Israel,” from Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Ten conductors — including Deborah Simpkin King, the organization’s chair, and Tritle — will oversee the performance.

Tritle said he helped bring the Big Sing to the cathedral from the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle in Manhattan because the cathedral’s “mission has been to be the center of the community, and this felt like a natural.”

He described the logistics of the event as quite simple, mostly moving some chairs around; singers will perform in the cathedral’s great choir and stalls, accompanied by its organ and concert grand piano. He and King estimate between 350 and 700 singers will participate.

The public domain is a far more complicated endeavor. Composed by Lang, a Pulitzer Prize­–winner, it is the second of two works he has written for 1,000 voices. The previous work, Crowd Out, had its world premiere in Birmingham, England, in 2014, and has subsequently been performed in London and Berlin. Jane Moss, artistic director of the Mostly Mozart Festival, commissioned it, in part, she said, to replicate “the founding DNA of the festival, to attract new audiences to classical music” through a casual environment and low ticket prices (registration to participate and attendance at the performance is free). 

In order to accomplish this ambitious project, the organization hired Anne Tanaka, a veteran Broadway producer who has also worked on Olympic ceremonies, to produce it.

This is no small task. After recruiting singers — 1,000 already have signed up and Lincoln Center has created a waiting list for others in case of drop outs — organizers are dividing them up into what Lang calls five “strands,” each a different color: green, blue, red, yellow or orange. Each strand will be subdivided into smaller groups. They will begin rehearsing June 20, at three locations in Manhattan and one each in Brooklyn and Queens. There will be a minimum of three rehearsals before Aug. 2, including one movement rehearsal at which participants will learn the choreography by Annie-B Parson, which Tanaka called “simple, to enhance the experience”.

Tanaka said the five strands will flow into the plaza “in a way that it’s not just like an army of 1,000 pushing forward. Every strand will be broken into groups.” She continued: “Thankfully, it’s a pretty straightforward piece. Its beauty is its simplicity, just human voices, no orchestra or costumes.”

The hours of preparation for this ambitious project are worth it, Halsey said: “When you do something and do it well, put a lot of your heart and soul in it, it becomes like a drug and you want more of it.  That’s why every community has choirs and theater programs. It gives people a sense of community outside their work, a real feeling of achieving something different outside your daily grind.”            

In addition to his chiseled jawline and flaxen locks, dreamboat conductor Eric Whitacre is best known for his ethereal choral compositions. Works like the The Seal Lullaby have made him a go-to for listeners looking to create a serene atmosphere, and his 2010 album Light & Gold won him a Grammy. In 2010, Whitacre used his talent and charm to unite singers all across the globe with his innovative Virtual Choir. The Los Angeles-based conductor led 185 voices from 12 different countries in a stirring arrangement of his Lux Aurumque. It proved wildly successful and landed Whitacre on the TED Stage. He talked about creativity and his own musical journey — although some in attendance surely missed this, as they were too busy focusing on the physical presence of the Adonis drawing their energy to the front of the room. Whitacre also unveiled Virtual Choir 2.0, this time featuring over 2,000 voices from 58 countries, performing his composition Sleep.

Recently, a young composer and producer named Jaron Davis took a crack at recreating that Whitacre magic. Davis’ projects mainly center on a capella covers of pop songs and video game music, but he recently shared an arrangement of Whitacre’s Alleluia. Give it a listen, and keep it in your rotation for quick access on those particularly stressful days.

Music and science have long enjoyed a close relationship. Scientists like the astronomer William Herschel and physicist Albert Einstein were no strangers to the oboe and violin, respectively; and Neil deGrasse Tyson has deeply explored the science behind what we hear. And then there are the many compositions that science has inspired in some way — from Haydn’s comic opera Il Mondo della Luna to Paola Prestini’s virtual reality-infused Hubble Cantata. So when a project like Gordon Hamilton’s Who We Are comes along, it fits perfectly into this interplay.

Who We Are is a choral setting of a quote from astronomer Carl Sagan’s 1980 book Cosmos:

“We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.”

As it turns out, it also has one of the coolest music videos we’ve seen in awhile. It’s performed by the vocal ensemble Australian Voices, under the direction of the composer himself. In the video, a set of hands writes out the score in time with the music. Marvel at the sublime music and calming atmosphere it produces. Meditate on Sagan’s words. Or be inspired to get really into video production. We’ll be watching it all day, and you just might be, too.

On Good Friday 1731, congregants settled into Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church anticipating the performance of a new Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. Seven years before, in 1724, Bach had composed the St. John Passion; three years later, Leipzig heard the first performance of the St. Matthew Passion. So when worshippers filled the church on that solemn day in 1731, one might assume that Bach blessed their ears with his new St. Mark Passion. We say “assume” because no one knows what that Passion sounds like — it has since been lost, counted among the casualties of time.

Music historians, critics and listeners alike love to lift up Bach’s two extant Passions — musical settings of the Gospel accounts of the final days of Christ — as some of the best music ever written. This exalted status makes the prospect of a mystery passion* all the more frustrating. At the end of the day, we want to believe it’s just as good as the Passions we already know — and it’s upsetting to think we’re missing out.

We aren’t too sure exactly how the music was lost, but here’s an idea: blame it on the kids. When Bach died in 1750, he wasn’t exactly a celebrity — seriously, the man was buried in an unmarked grave. At his death, he wasn’t “Johann Sebastian Bach, Lord Commander of Counterpoint.” Instead, he was “Johann Sebastian Bach, the guy that writes a lot of church music because that is his job.” Hindsight may be 20/20, but given the time it’s somewhat understandable that his employers at St. Thomas Church were in no rush to secure and preserve his massive body of sacred music. Before he died, Bach (with the understanding that his work held some monetary value) likely divided his musical estate amongst his wife, Anna Magdalena, and three of his sons. Anna Magdalena and the middle son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, generally ensured the protection of their share of Bach’s music. But much of the music that went to Johann Christian Bach and his older brother Wilhelm Friedemann, however, is now lost. Wilhelm had a pretty tough go at life and resorted to selling some of his father’s music to make ends meet. Johann Christian wasn’t super fond of dad's music to begin with and sold some of father Bach’s works to pay for a trip to Italy, where he converted to Catholicism — a move that would have been rather awkward while his staunchly Lutheran father was still alive. So, it’s not too much of a stretch to think that the music for St. Mark wound up in the hands of one of those two sons. The best guess is that Wilhelm Friedemann was the likely steward of St. Mark, since he inherited most of his father's vocal music that did not go to his more orderly brother C.P.E. But even though the music is gone, the libretto (by top-Bach collaborator Picander) lives on, a fact that gives many Bach-enthusiasts hope.

So here’s what we know about the St. Mark Passion: It was first performed in 1731, Picander’s libretto is still hanging around and it contains large sections of recycled work — a process called parody. Unfortunately, “parody” in this context is embarrassingly less funny than contemporary connotations of the word, but it was nevertheless a widespread composition practice. And Bach was totally justified in using it. Remember that part earlier about composition being his actual job? That’s no joke — Bach was responsible for the church’s music every Sunday. Like most of us, sometimes deadlines got the best of him, and Bach probably reasoned, “Eh, why don’t I take this old music I wrote, throw some new lyrics on it, and call it a day?” Perhaps Lent 1731 was hectic enough for Bach to dip into the old well, and repurpose it as a “new” passion. Music historians are fairly certain that the passion uses much of his Trauer Ode (BWV 198), a funeral ode for a Polish Queen; and arias from Widerstehe doch der Sünde (BWV 54). In a bit of a reverse, we also know that Bach reused some of the St. Mark choruses in his later Christmas Oratorio — which is pretty weird, given that Christmas gives you all those awesome warm feelings and Good Friday is literally a day of mourning turned up to 11.

Composers and musicologists have used this information to reconstruct the lost work. Because there is so much uncertainty, each version is a little bit different. In addition to relying on the Trauer Ode and Widerstehe doch der Sünde, Reinhard Keiser’s St. Mark Passion is also seen in play. Keiser was a contemporary of Bach, and it is known that the latter conducted several performances of it. In a 2014 interview with the Oregonian, conductor Matthew Halls said he used the Trauer Ode as the “central source,” and furiously studied Bach’s chorales and harmonizations in order to write the recitatives and chorus parts. Some approaches are a bit more bare bones — Michael Alexander Willens’ reconstruction focuses mainly on the austere nature of the text, and the recitatives are spoken, not sung. And then there’s Ton Koopman, who fully embraced the project by imagining that he was a student of Bach, as he reveals in his liner notes. “Here is a libretto; set it to music using anything you find in the works I have written up to now (1731). What you do not find, compose yourself.” Koopman is a bit more cavalier: He composes his own recitatives and doesn’t use the Trauer Ode, Widerstehe doch der Sünde or Keiser’s Passion. Instead, he draws on his own immense knowledge of Bach’s music, using some choice deep cuts to get the job done.

All this is to say that there is no definitive way of knowing exactly what Bach’s lost Passion sounded like. It’s a massive undertaking for any composer, and with all the complexities and high expectations that go along with it, it’s understandable why one would opt for a performance of St. Matthew or John instead. But if you ever get the chance to attend a performance, or choose to listen to a recording, don’t let yourself get hung up on the pursuit of history. Really admire the fact that Bach left behind so much music that we can use it even try to fill in the blanks and even have this discussion at all. Make your peace with the known unknowns — or hope that Deep Bach can solve the puzzle.

*It’s worth noting that although only two of Bach’s Passions survive (St. Matthew and St. John), his obituary indicates that he wrote five, including a St. Luke Passion (the authenticity of which is more than doubtful) and a lost work from his time as Konzertmeister in Weimar.

In an era of social media and things like immersive, interactive theater and arts, let’s remember the original interactive pastime: singing together. Choral music, once relegated to churches, amateur clubs and the UK, has come roaring back in recent years.

Yes, this week on the Furthermore we’ll hear contemporary music from the UK, where the tradition continues as strong as ever, but we’ll also sample the ethereal and beautiful sounds of Estonia’s Veljo Tormis, whose works are almost exclusively choral, and the American Eric Whitacre, whose Youtube videos routinely draw millions of viewers, many of them interacting with classical music for the first time.

Tune in Saturday at 9 pm and Wednesday at 10 pm on WQXR.

Program playlist:  

Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings, excerpt
Philadelphia Orchestra; Eugene Ormandy, conductor

Samuel Barber: Agnus Dei (choral setting of Adagio for Strings)
Conspirare; Craig Hella Johnson, conductor

Veljo Tormis: Swing Songs: The Swing Asks For Gifts
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir; Tonu Kaljuste, conductor 

Joby Talbot: Path of Miracles, Leon
Tenebrae; Nigel Short, conductor 

Richard Wagner: Pilgrims Chorus, excerpt
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; Robert Shaw, conductor 

Pete M. Wyer: Song Of The Human: For Now And Only For Now
The Crossing; Donald Nally, conductor (from New Sounds Live, Brookfield Place, October 2016) 

Eric Whitacre: Cloudburst
Polyphony; Stephen Layton, conductor

Meredith Monk: Astronaut Anthem
Musica Sacra; Richard Westenberg, conductor

Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is filled with beauty and sadness. Seven years after the conductor Arturo Toscanini premiered the work in 1938, it was played on radio stations across the country to mourn the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. It’s become a public lamentation, instantly recognizable at funerals. In 1986 it was used to devastating effect in Oliver Stone’s Platoon; ten years later, it made an appearance on an episode of Seinfeld. There’s even exists a book that makes the case for why it is the saddest piece of music ever (author Thomas Larson is ready to defend that point to the end).

But here’s something about the piece that is lesser known: almost 30 years later, Barber used the music from his Adagio as a setting for the Agnus Dei, an invocation used in church liturgy that’s a staple of a greatmanyrequiemsandmasses. For lovers of both choral music and the catharsis and emotive power of Barber’s original piece, this arrangement for choir is pure excellence. Here it is sung by tenor, vocal teacher and the former assistant music director of Chanticleer, Matthew Curtis.

Pass the tissues?

On Sunday, June 4, Tyler’s Suite received its Lincoln Center premiere. The work, originally written for male chorus, piano and violin, was spearheaded by the creative leadership of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. The work will be livestreamed, presenting those who can’t make it to the concert with a way to meditate on the music.

Tyler’s Suite was written in loving remembrance of Tyler Clementi, a young man of 18 years whose 2010 death sparked a national discussion on the physical and mental harm that can come from homophobia and cyberbullying. In the year following Clementi’s death, his mother, Jane, founded the Clementi Foundation with the mission, “to end online and offline bullying in schools, workplaces and faith communities.” The foundation works toward its goal through education and outreach, and as Jane explained, music has proved to be a powerful ally in this fight. “Many angles speak to different people,” she said. “Academic study is nice, but music burrows right into the soul.”

Tyler Clementi, pictured, was also an accomplished violinist.

(Jane Clementi) 

The idea for Tyler’s Suite started with Peter Drake, a member of both the Clementi Foundation Board of Trustees and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Board of Directors. Tyler was such a big music fan, it was fitting to tell some of his story through music. And, as Tyler was a young gay man, it was only fitting that the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus take charge, with co-commission from the Clementi Foundation for other national gay choruses.

Tim Seelig and Stephen Schwartz took the lead in organizing the musical aspects of Tyler’s Suite. Seelig is the creative director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and has worked for over 30 years in the gay and lesbian choral community. Schwartz, whose musical-theater credits include Pippin and Wicked, previously collaborated with the SFGMC on the choral work Testimony, which he wrote for the LGBTQI youth suicide-prevention organization It Gets Better Project. Schwartz, who described himself as the project's “curator,” along with Seelig chose Pamela Stewart as the librettist for Tyler’s Suite believing she could realize the emotional impact of the work lyrically. Stewart's previous work includes a song cycle for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Together they planned for each movement of Tyler’s Suite to be written by a different collaborating composer.

For the parties involved, the most important aspect of the suite was that it not be a simple biography of Tyler’s life. So Stewart flew to New Jersey to spend a weekend with the Clementi family. When she saw Tyler’s room she decided that the best creative course would be for each set of lyrics to represent a particular moment or memory from Tyler’s life. One, “The Unicycle Song,” was inspired by Tyler’s challenging hobby of playing the violin while riding the unicycle. “Librettists always take a back seat when they shouldn’t,” said Seelig. “I have to give [Pamela] most of the credit for encapsulating the life of Tyler.” 

The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus performs “Tyler's Suite.”

San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus

But the project continued to grow even after Stewart completed the lyrics to six movements. Schwartz decided to step in and write a seventh movement collaborating with Stewart on what became “Brother Because of You,” based on Tyler’s older brother James Clementi’s 2012 piece in Out Magazine. Yet another movement was later added: John Corigliano's “Meditation,” an instrumental work. After the world premiere in 2014, another part was added, bringing the total number of movements to nine.

Musically, Tyler’s voice is represented by the violin. Schwartz explained that over time they realized that since Tyler was a violinist, every movement should incorporate the instrument in some integral way. “So those of us, including myself, who had not originally included the violin in our pieces added it,” said Schwartz. The opening movement, for example, begins with a solo violin, written to evoke the sound of Tyler in the midst of practice. What Seelig described as “the emotional peak” of the work, “I Love You More,” also hinges on the violin part. Based on Tyler and his mother Jane’s practice of one-upping each other’s valedictory “I love you” with an “I love you more,” the music features the shared melodies of the chorus and violin. 

Tyler, center, with his family.

(Jane Clementi)

Though originally written for male chorus, vocal ensembles across the country requested arrangements for mixed voices, and this is the version that is being premiered at Lincoln Center. And just as the composition of the work itself was a collaborative effort, this Lincoln Center performance will be, too. Joining the SFGMC will be singers from choruses in New Zealand, Spain, Canada; as well as voices from across the U.S., from San Diego to Asheville. The performance poses a bit of a logistical challenge. Each chorus has a different conductor with a different style. Seelig explained that it’s tough enough to create a unified suite with movements from nine different composers — one can only imagine the challenge of grouping so many performers with different interpretations. But that challenge makes it all the more rewarding.

Jane Clementi described Tyler’s Suite as a true gift. “We are able to connect with so many people, and they can hear Tyler’s story. It’s been good to the [Clementi] Foundation, and advances the message,” she said. “But this day will be bittersweet.” Tyler loved to go to Lincoln Center, and Jane hasn’t returned since his death. But it’s an honor that it is now a part of his memory. “[Tyler] would have loved this music, and the fact that so many musicians he admired were working on it.”

You can watch the livestream of the Tyler's Suite Lincoln Center premiere, courtesy of Disinguished Concerts Internitional New York, on their Facebook Page.

In 1738, Georg Reutter had just become Kapellmeister of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and was immediately sent on a business trip. The mission: find and recruit talented boys who could be brought back to Vienna and shaped as choir boys. Eventually, Reutter stopped by the town of Hainburg to visit his buddy, the parish priest, because who wouldn’t work in a side trip while traveling for work? Presumably, it was after a couple of pints or some other activity one did to pass the time in 18th-century Austria that the talent-scouting Reutter told his friend about his mission. And the priest's eyes lit up. 

See, it was the same year that a six-year-old boy named Joseph Haydn had finally left his hometown of Rohrau, and took his talents north to Hainburg in order to cement his grasp on music fundamentals. His voice was the delight of everyone, and his parents believed that developing his skills would open up several doors to steady careers — especially those in the church. And although he was a bit of a troublemaker who, according to biographer Christoph Dies, “received more thrashings than food,” Haydn progressed rapidly as a musician of several instruments, had a great voice, and “was praised for his studious diligence.” 

Naturally, the priest introduced Reutter to the boy Haydn, and the little singer was accepted to the St. Stephen Cathedral on the spot. His father consented, and two years later Haydn was on his way to Vienna. Already, the future composer’s life was proving extraordinary — few people were able to move that far from their hometown.

Haydn may have enjoyed Vienna, but even he couldn’t escape the smelly, awkward, hormonal grasp of puberty. Oh, and since he was a choirboy singing soprano parts, those pubescent stakes were especially high (pun very much intended). Haydn’s musical prospects were riding on his voice; if it matured, what good was he to the choir? Reutter knew this, and offered up a simple surgical solution that would save his voice and ensure it’s childlike innocence for perpetuity. For whatever reason — some say his parents blocked the procedure; David Dubal writes that Haydn was “already susceptible to the charms of women” and thus refused the procedure — the boy did not go under the knife. 

In case you didn’t know where this was going, yes, the composer Joseph Haydn came within a scalpel’s slice of making his career among the castrati. 

Earlier this year I offered up a (very) brief explanation of what exactly a castrato was. To recap: 

“Back when women were forbidden to sing onstage [or in sacred choirs], higher voices were sung by castrati: men who were castrated in their youth in order to retain a voice that could reach those higher notes. Surprisingly, castrati were often treated like rockstars. Many poor families gave up a son to undergo the procedure, in the hopes that they would be lifted out of poverty. But it was often a pipe dream — then, just as today, only a select number of aspiring musicians would actually ‘make it.’ By the mid-19th century, the castrati were on the decline. Alessandro Moreschi, the last Sistine castrato — and the only one to record his voice — died in 1922. 

Thankfully, bodily harm is no longer employed for the successful execution of castrato roles.”

It wasn’t limited to the church either; several composers wrote operas with parts that called for castrati. Today, it’s safe to say we don’t condone the unwarranted castration of children, countertenors often sing those roles. Also, as fewer castrati were available to sing these roles, more women stepped up and filled those shoes. Or rather, trousers.

Haydn’s voice would break, and at 17, he was kicked out of the choir. Haydn was a struggling freelancer at first, but soon found employment in the Esterhazy court, and eventually rocketed to celebrity. And that came with all sorts of perks, like jamming out with Mozart and teaching a messy-haired young Beethoven. Oh, and he also wrote La canterina, a short opera that, ironically, included a part (Don Ettore) written for castrato. We wonder what the subtext is there.

During the 10 days of The Psalms Experience, presented by Lincoln Center's White Light Festival, WQXR bloggers will be chatting about their experiences at each night's concert. Check back here for frequent updates as the event progresses.

Introduction: 10 Days, 150 Composers

Over the course of 12 concerts, spread across 10 days, Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival will be presenting an ambitious program: The Psalms Experience (Nov. 1-11). As its name suggests, it’s an experience. Rather than being a program of sacred music that features a selection of well-known psalms, this program will include all 150 psalms, each set by a different composer — composers as diverse as Johann Sebastian Bach, Mohammed Fairouz and Evelin Seppar.

The Psalms Experience is largely the brainchild of Tido Visser, managing director of the Netherlands Chamber Choir. From the start, Visser and his ensemble sought to “unify people and to see this link between arts and society and see a link between these very old texts and the current here and now.” The work premiered during the 2017 Utrecht Early Music Festival, in September — and in the midst of the acerbically divided cultural, political and economic landscapes of the U.S., Lincoln Center Artistic Director Jane Moss felt that it was the perfect program to bring to New York, a community in need of healing and self-reflection.

The Book of Psalms is an incredible body of work that allows the participants — whether singing or listening — to plumb the depths of their souls. And that searching isn’t just limited to religious groups that include psalms in their holy texts. As composer and Trinity Wall Street Music Director Julian Wachner (who will be conducting the Choir of Trinity Wall Street at several concerts in this series) points out, psalms are “general received wisdom.” Much like the works of Confucius, the Book of Psalms isn’t a closed, arcane text. “It is the only book in the Bible where humans are addressing God, as opposed to the other way around,” said Moss. They are deeply humanistic in outlook [as opposed to] being the word of God.” All it takes to understand the Psalms, then, is to be human.

One of the most impressive aspects of this program is its organization. If you think about it, there are several ways one could think about presenting these psalms. There’s a straight sing-through — start at Psalm 1 and end at Psalm 150. It’s very forward, but Visser was intent on having no more than one composer represent one psalm. Pursuing this approach, then, would inevitably lead to some disjointed and sonically distant couplings. It could be grouped musically; but then, you, the listener, would be faced with decisions like “do I go to one that goes heavy on Renaissance music? Or do I settle in with something more contemporary?” If you like to think of music as a spectrum, this kind of approach throws up barriers — a counterintuitive outcome when the keyword that identifies this series is “unity.” And so, Moss and Visser opted for a thematic assembly.

“A chronological or geographic approach could result in a monotonous program,” Moss explained. “We wanted to show [the] audience the different themes, ideas, and emotions that are present in the Psalms, which many audience members would be unaware of.” A read through the Book of Psalms reveals just how varied these themes and emotions are. The poetic passages can be by turns jubilant and remorseful; they can express anger and genuine fear. With concert titles such as “Justice,” “Abandonment” and “Consequences of Power,” members of the audience can ready themselves for a more focused reflection. And that makes the diversity of the composers so special. According to Moss, “It was crucial to include living composers in this project to emphasize the Psalms’ meaning and relevance right up to and beyond the time in which we are living.” These aren’t just works or inspirations of composers from centuries past; they are an ancient document to a humanness we can all still feel.

Some of these settings are unknown. And not just “unknown” as in “here’s a new piece by a young composer.” The Psalms Experience features music by old and obscure composers from centuries ago; composer’s whose music just isn’t programmed all that much. Musically, that presents a rather unique challenge. Wachner explained that in an ideal world, you know the music through the composer, even if you’re performing a work you’ve never seen before. “The minute you open a page of Brahms, you come knowing his repertoire and approach to music,” the conductor said. “But when you open works by unknown composers, you don’t know anything. You have to grasp the praxis of this composer's world before you even start to interpret the music.” And while it may be a challenge, Wachner believes that obscurity gives “universal appreciation to a universal body of text.” Visser also explained that they “wanted to give a broad overview of this repertoire … There are settings by Norwegians and Baltic composers. The Tallis Scholars are doing a fair amount of English repertoire.”

The Psalms are a portal to deep introspection. This project is massive and abstract, yet simple to understand. You just need to bring your humanity to get the most out of it.

Vanessa Ague: It was a wonderful concert, and probably the most musically variant of the ones I saw, at least. What were your highlights and thoughts?

James Bennett II: Hah, all of them? Here were some standouts:

Zad Moultaka's Sakata — to my knowledge, the only Psalm setting done in Aramaic. It was a very percussive, violent piece, physically, you know? There's stomping, the beating of chests… shrill ululations and the flicking of lips. It all creates this sound of organized chaos.

Listen to Zad Moultaka's setting of Psalm 60, Sakata, at the New York Times.

VA: Moultaka's setting of Psalm 60 was also a highlight for me — I wasn't expecting the violence of the piece. But it makes sense; abandonment is angering and confusing, and we often react to those emotions with violence. The layers of this piece were constantly keeping me on my toes. There was an extreme level of agitation, dissonant chords droned underneath haunting melodies. It certainly felt like abandonment, and that was chilling but also apt.

JB: Standout lyric for me: "you made us drink the wine of bewilderment." The Norwegian Soloists ensemble was making it clear they weren't messing around.

It wasn't the only setting that captured the sound of abandonment... there was Blow's Psalm 74 setting, with a single voice beginning with "O God, wherefore art thou?”

VA: They Choir really brought it that night. Their performance was absolutely captivating as much as it was musically stellar. This definitely added to the intense experience of the event.

Hearing the Blow after the Moultaka was also an interesting sonic pairing because it was so pleading. It was a change from the violent utterances we had just heard, and it sort of felt like the natural cycle of emotions that a person goes through when she's feeling isolated. First, you're mad, then you want to find an answer, to just stop being abandoned. It was also interesting to me that this piece ended in a decidedly major chord. Maybe that was hope?

JB: And lastly, we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about their own Norwegian influences that were woven into the program

VA: I agree that the addition of traditional Norwegian music was welcome.

JB: It's a talented group no doubt, but pulling in the Aramaic Moultaka, an Armenian Chant and these new arrangements by Grete Pedersen was the MOVE. The Schein was especially enjoyable, although, I know, ~abandonment~.

It challenged those major-minor associations we discussed before.

But the choir placed some voices off-stage, and blended these two pieces — a setting from the German Schein and a Norwegian vesper, "Ned i vester soli glader." The blend was, to me at least, seamless.

VA: It definitely was. And I really liked the way they had some voices onstage, and others off stage, because it added to the echoey, hollow feelings of abandonment.

Major vs. Minor is a difficult topic to analyze emotionally, but it is an interesting one to play with.

I also particularly loved the Penderecki setting of Psalm 80. It was ethereal, yet haunting, which Penderecki masters so eloquently in much of his music. The simple scalar motion in the melodies felt so ominous.

JB: Did you have a favorite piece?

VA: I think, for me, it was the Penderecki. I just love how he creates harmony in such an ethereal, yet haunting, way. It always strikes me!

And I think placing that soundscape on a concert about abandonment is another take on what it means to be abandoned, and how scary that can be, in juxtaposition with the violence and pleading we also heard.

Penderecki set Psalm 80, which in it of itself is pleading but also trying to bargain with God so He comes back, and I think the sound fit well with those sentiments.

But I also just really love Penderecki, so I was elated to see it on the program. 

James Bennett: Hi! Laments! They're metal as heck:

Vanessa Ague: amazing

JB: So Psalms 8 was all about laments, cool.

Thematically, it was appropriate to group with abandonment, but the sound of this one couldn't have been any more different.

VA: Agreed — the sound of this concert was smooth and calming, unlike the last which had its rough edges and agitations. But definitely the theme of abandonment and lamentation seem to go hand in hand. This program was different, too, in that it had less of a variance in time periods in which the Psalms were set.

JB: Yeah, you pointed out early on how many of these settings were from the 16th century. The standout for me, though, was the Mendelssohn.

VA: The majority of the works were condensed to that time period, but as you noted earlier, from the program notes, they chose works from different Christian sects. While the sound is very similar because that's what was in style, it was an exploration of how each tradition musically related to the psalms.

I agree that the Mendelssohn was a standout moment in the program. It was so lush, yet texturally fascinating, with solo and choir interactions as well as a huge dynamic range.

JB: It's a pretty lonely call and response. The incipit, translated in English "My God, why have you forsaken me?", seems to be a perfect bridge from the Abandonment program. It was interesting to hear how this motet varied from other settings of the hymn. It's chanted during the Good Friday stripping of the alter in some Anglican Churches (and formerly during catholic services too). The Psalm itself is also crazy long, so good on Felix to clock it in under 8 minutes.

VA: Very interesting. Yes, I was actually surprised that the work wasn't longer!

This program, though, even more so than the last, offered us the dilemma of "what do major and minor emotionally mean" in polyphonic works?

JB: For sure. I feel that can be its own beast to tame.

But about that — those contrasts aren't necessarily drawn in lines temporal (although they totally can be), but also denominational. I'm looking at the program notes and the works before 1700 were largely Catholic and Calvinist. Anglican and Lutheran settings, which had a lot more emotional variance, comprised a second part.

I believe there were a lot of rules in the Catholic church about bringing that kind of emotion into religious music — and Calvinists generally shun aesthetic excess too — so maybe this weird "happy sound" with anguished lyrics is a consequence of that?

VA: The emotional ideas of major and minor (happy and sad) probably shouldn't be so set in stone, I agree, but it's an interesting topic since we are taught now to hear it that way.

The religious aspect is very interesting. It would make sense that a Calvinist work would have a paired down emotional feeling, since they had qualms about music taking away from the meaning of being devout to God. Whereas that was less important in other Christian sects.

JB: Yeah, like contrast that 16th-century stuff with, say, Nicolai's setting of Psalm 31, or even the Hubert Parry. (Not gonna lie, I was so hoping the Netherlands Chamber Choir would bust out with a "Jerusalem" at the end).

VA: It really is deeply contrasting in musical style!

JB: I also really like the Albeniz setting of Psalm 6, Domine in furore tuo.” It was dynamically variable, and just so so so unsettling.

So yeah, for me, Mendelssohn, Nicolai, Albeniz were my favorites. The Parry ("Lord, Let Me Know Mine End" (Psalm 39) was nice, but I have to dock a few points because a "Jerusalem" mashup would have been CLUTCH.

I kid.

But do I?

VA: Haha, I don't think you really are kidding.

JB: IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK?

VA: LOL that video. But I agree — I definitely liked all of those works as well, with the Mendelssohn being the biggest highlight. I also thought the Becker offered a very beautiful moment in its setting of the line "God looked down from heaven." It was otherworldly and that stood out to me. 

The ninth concert of the Psalms Experience revolved around a theme of “security and trust.” As Esther J. Hamori (Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible, Union Theological Seminary) pointed out in her opening remarks, security isn’t just something we have. It’s something you continually seek. And constantly renewing that sense of security is an integral part of living life, because when you know someone’s got your back — divine or otherwise — it becomes a whole lot easier to take those chances, and allows you to worry at least a little bit less.

The program notes revealed a particularly interesting musical thread that tied these polyphonic Renaissance settings (of which there were many) to the musical interpretations of future composers like Carl Nielsen and Paul Schoenfield: straight-ahead, and less elaborate sounding polyphony.

The composer Thomas Ravenscroft achieved this effect through his dedication to what Keller identifies as the “metrical Psalm”. That is, a translation that emphasizes the retention of the poetic feel of the original text, over adequately communicating the meaning in a new language. Ravenscroft’s setting of Psalm 4, “O God, that art my righteousness.”

Listen to these unified voices really drives home that sense of a unified bond. One of the keywords that stood out in the performance was “only” — not as in “all alone,” but rather as “only you, in this world are worth trusting.” There’s a satisfaction as well that comes through, from knowing that material wealth is only temporary; that it passes with the fading of the world. (“ For thou thereby shalt make my heart more joyful and more glad / Than they that of their corn and wine full great increase have had”).

I wouldn’t go so far as to call these Psalms “existential cries,” but there is definitely a pervading mood of focusing on what really matters. As in the following Psalm, by Ferdinand Di Lasso, where the poet writes “if wealth burgeons… pay it no mind.”

Also of note was Paul Schoenfield’s setting of Psalm 86, “Hateih hashem.” It was sung in Hebrew and quire reminiscent of the Renaissance polyphony that dominated the program. But this solemn song, that ends on the quietest of notes, is at the same time filtered through modern sensibilites. It makes for a unique listening experience.

I’m not ashamed to say that for the 23rd Psalm, possibly the most famous in the collection, I was hoping to hear American poet Artis Leon Ivey Jr.’s iconic 1995 arangement. However, the choice to perform one by Carl Nielsen was still satisfying. It, too, gelled musically with the other pieces included in the performance. Written in 1929, the motets are a testament to the composer’s marked interest in Renaissance Polyphony; it was perfectly at home in the multi-voice pastures of that afternoon.

A wandering organ introducing Norwegian composer Fartein Valen’s setting of Psalm 121 began the music of the tenth program in the Psalms Experience series. The curious keyboard gave way to an at time foreboding duet, before finishing with the full choir in a glorious chord. It couldn’t have been any more fitting. This was, after all a presentation of the “Pilgrimage of Life” — the only concert in the Psalms experience that featured Psalms being performed in sequential order. Together, Psalms 121 through 134 are known as the “Songs of Pilgrimage” or “Psalms of Ascent.” They may have been sung during pilgrimages to Jerusalem, but as Union Theological Seminary Professor Esther J. Homori explained, they’re also perfect for mediation as we reflect on our own life journeys.

Included in the program was Palestrina’s setting of Psalm 123. The contour of the voices wound their way ever upwards; a real ascending song, matched by the first words uttered by the choir “I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in Heaven. It’s peak Palestrina, peak Polyphony, a song that can capture the attention of someone who isn’t really that into vocal music.

What followed the Palestrina was the sharp contrast found in Peter Maxwell Davies’ Organ Voluntary for Psalm 124. As the name suggests, it was originally written for solo organ — deeply introspective, but at the same time unsettlingly dissonant. Grete Pedersen, director of the Norwegian Soloists Choir, rearranged the piece for choir, juxtaposing Davies’ jarring organ with the constant sounds of a Scottish Folk Tune.

Also of particular interest of Ingvar Lindholm’s “De Profundis,” taken from his opera A Dream Play. The Swedish Composer, who died just a few weeks ago in October 2017, chose for his setting of Psalm 130 voices that rumbles low and eerily, that can also give way to these rushing waves of piercing sound. “From the depths I have called your name,” the Psalm begins, and the tense dissonance creates a sonic effect that the listener can’t but connect to the distorted sounds heard from underwater.

Karin Rehnqvist’s nocturnal setting of Psalm 134, “Nar natten skänker frid” (When night gives peace), ended the program on a pensive yet hopeful note, bringing the audience's journey as a collective to an end — while still encouraging that individual searching.  

David Patrick Stearns: In the last two concerts of the psalms marathon, I felt the hidden challenges of putting on this festival. The 5 p.m. Saturday concert at Union Theological Seminary was by the Netherlands Chamber Choir, which I've admired hugely for years and will continue to do so. But with all of the different stylistic bases they had to touch in the four-century-plus span of the program, all the notes were mostly in the right places. But the cognitive depths? Less so. For example, the group truly connected with Isidora Zebeljan (born 1967) whose modern Psalm 78 had somewhat modernistic hairpin turns.  But the more intuitive transitions of the Monteverdi-era Dixit Dominus (Psalm 110) by Chiara Margarita Cozzolani were handled less well.

James Bennett: I thought the tone was set right out of the gate, with a powerful Hammerschmidt setting of Psalm 24, “Machet die Tore weit.” But I see where you’re coming from with your thoughts of the Renaissance works. Did it take away from the overall experience for you? Personally, I found the Cozzolani to be a performance of interest — playful at times, while celebrating a God really championing your cause. But I also found it structurally interesting, with the Gloria Patri (“Glory be to the father…”) woven in throughout the whole piece, and then restated to end it.

DPS: I really don't mean this to sound like a criticism. It's an observation. This is a choir of living, breathing human beings - extremely competent ones - not some radio where you switch the dial to go from one musical epoch to another. Also, this isn't a criticism of the festival concept, one that inevitably induces choirs to jump between so many eras in the span of an hour or so. As a listener, it's great to skip through the centuries, hearing the music cheek by jowl. But compromises are inevitable.

JB: I see.

DP: During the Union Theological Seminary concert, when it headed toward its conclusion with Alexander Grechaninov's Psalm 135 and that unmistakable pre-Russian Revolution choral sound...oh-my-God, I wanted more.

JB: Ah! The Grechaninov was intense — I had never heard it before and just loved it so so much. Those “Hallelujahs!” That punch!

Among the newly composed psalms, I was especially intrigued by Caroline Shaw's "and the swallow" (Psalm 84). Just the night before in Princeton, I heard The Crossing choir, a great group based in Philadelphia, sing her piece. "To the Hands" - a passionate social commentary about the plight of refugees with a musical manner that switched gears abruptly according to the needs of her text. In the psalm that I heard on Saturday, the words prompted something that flowed purposefully and had all of those humming effects, which I loved.

JB: The neat thing about the humming I thought, was how it established this contrasting texture with the sung words. But at the same time, I love how the steady vocalization of the Psalm grounded it and allowed for some other voices to take off, soaring. Any thoughts on the final program?

DPS: In the final concert at Alice Tully Hall, I felt the Tallis Scholars were out of their element. The Jan Sweelinck Psalm 35 was perfectly well sung but I didn't think the group followed  the piece's train of thought so well. Also, Handel's Psalm No. 9 was unconvincing, and I'm not sure if it's because the piece is lesser Handel (he was not a very psalm-centric composer) or that the Tallis Scholars don't do much (if any) baroque music.

JB: Well, I was partial to the plainchant of Psalm 58. About the Sweelinck — Leo Samama’s research and James M. Keller’s program notes draw a clear line of interest between that and Jan van Dijk. Both Belgian, one of the 16th century (Sweelinck) and the other of the 20th (van Dijk). Interesting to hear how both of them, of the Calvinist tradition and of similar geographic origins, handled two Psalms concerned with the “Consequences of Power”.

DPS: Also, I think the Alice Tully Hall acoustics weren't so kind to the Tallis Scholars. Nothing against the hall, but the sound didn't bloom for this smallish mostly-unaccompanied vocal group. However, when the combined choirs took the stage for Thomas Tallis' massive "Spem in Alium" including the Netherlands Chamber Choir, Norwegian Soloists' Choir and Choir of Trinity Wall Street, well, no problem with the acoustic then.

JB: Grand execution of a 40 part motet. I had actually never seen it performed in person before, and it didn’t disappoint at all. I’m not surprised the series ended with that piece, but it’s still interesting because it’s not a Psalm. Rather, it’s set from the Book of Judith. But it fit so well with the theme — that a Consequence of Power is not neglecting the people that put you in that power, or that you are charged with taking care of. It’s kind of like “Remember us? Don’t forget!” And when that many voices contribute uniquely to a text that sends that message… it’s hard not to think of a collective cry for security and safety; of loneliness and sadness — pretty much all of the emotions covered over the course of the festival.

DPS: Much of the overall experience reminded me of my visits to the Utrecht Early Music Festival. You thought nothing of going to four concerts a day. You simply rented a bicycle and followed the migration from church to church, on into the night. Once when I was there, I wanted to hear a concert in nearby Amsterdam in the early evening, and made it back by train to Utrecht for a late-night concert - despite slow tempos at the Amsterdam concert. You would think that your concentration span would take a beating. Instead, it expanded!

The Vatican’s Sistine Chapel opened in 1483, and over the past few centuries it has seen quite a lot: Michelangelo painting its ceiling, dozens of papal conclaves and a teenage Mozart taking in the majesty Allegri’s Miserere (to illegally transcribe it later). But one thing it hasn’t seen — or rather, heard — in its over 500-year history, is a woman singing.

That changed on Friday night, The Guardian reports, when mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli joined the all-male Sistine Chapel Choir in its namesake place of worship. Together, they sang Perotin’s “Beata Viscera.” The selection was part of a larger project — an exploration of underperformed ancient and Renaissance music from the church’s archives.

Bartoli’s creative contributions to the choir on Friday weren’t a one-off occurrence. The five-time Grammy winner joined the Sistine Chapel Choir to record Veni Domine, a new album of music for the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas (including “Beata Viscera”). Per the Guardian’s report, the album was produced in the chapel not only for its acoustics, but because several of the pieces — despite being composed for performances in the chapel — haven't been performed there in modern times.

Even though Bartoli broke this particular barrier, her performance is a sign of all the work that still needs to be done. In an interview with Italian Newspaper Corriere della Sera, Bartoli pointed out “there is still so much to do” when it comes to correcting the gender imbalance in orchestras.

In 1964, saxophonist/composer John Coltrane and the members of his Classic Quartet (drummer Elvin Jones, bassist Jimmy Garrison and pianist McCoy Tyner) recorded A Love Supreme, an album that many consider to be Coltrane’s magnum opus. The album and it’s raw spirituality transcended traditional jazz circles, and since its release, musicians from a variety of backgrounds have put their own stamp on the music. Among these renditions is one by Swedish composer Nils Lindberg, who shifted the orchestration from jazz quartet to full choir. Lindberg’s arrangement features a combination of vocal elements from two segments of Coltrane’s original, one with text and one without: “Part I: Acknowledgement” includes steady chants, and “Part IV: Psalm” is based on the movement in which Coltrane used his saxophone to “sing” the words of a corresponding poem he wrote and included in the album’s liner notes. 

The video above is a close-up of the vocal cords of four voices singing the Kyrie from 16th-century Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria’s O magnum mysterium. Normally, we’d preface something like this with a disclaimer for the squeamish, but the juxtaposition of ethereal sacred music by with raw images of throats at work is truly fascinating. In a way, it’s kind of like looking inside yourself and falling into a state of amazement over the beautiful tones our bodies can produce.

Then again, if you really would rather not see those vibrating muscles do exactly that which they are meant to do, you can just listen to Victoria’s beautiful choral work below. Your call.