THE ANNUAL NEWSLETTER FROMTHE MUSIC FOUNDATION OF WELLS CATHEDRAL

The Choir Courier

No. 1 22 November, 2013

We wish you a warm welcome.... . . to the first edition of The Choir Courier, published on the Feast Day of the Patron Saint of Music, St Cecilia. Although the Cathedral Choir at Wells is here primarily to sing the daily offices in the Cathedral (and has been doing so for over 1100 years!) this new publication sets out to give an insight into some of the additional exciting events that we have undertaken during the last academic year, and which many people do not know about. They are wide-ranging and diverse, from our recent tour to China and Hong Kong, to giving the first performance of Bob Chilcott’s major new setting of the St John Passion. These events are what I often call ‘the icing on the cake’ but, in addition to our nine choral services each week, they join together to become a hugely rich and varied experience for those involved. It is a daily joy and privilege for all of us who are custodians of this precious tradition, and we are very proud to continue to contribute in a major

way to the worshipping life and community of Wells Cathedral.It could not happen without a tremendous amount of hard work from all kinds of people: the members of the choir, my organist colleagues, Melanie Lawlor in the Music Office, the Precentor, supporting staff at school, and – of course – the chorister

parents, whose commitment to the choir is never taken for granted. I would also like to thank Melanie Lawlor and Iain MacLeod-Jones for all their work in preparing this first edition of The Choir Courier. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Matthew Owens,Organist & Master of the Choristers

Future Courier issuesWe very much hope that you will enjoy this first issue of The Choir Courier. In order to reduce printing costs and to be more environmentally friendly, we would like to send as many of our future copies, as is possible, out by email. If you are happy to receive your the next edition in this electronic format, then please send an email to Melanie Lawlor in the Cathedral Music Office. The email address is:musicoffice@wellscathedral.uk.net Please mark the subject heading of your email ‘Choir Courier email subscription’.

The Cathedral Choir in concert in Beijing [see page 10 for more]

With composer Judith Bingham [see page 20 for more]

1

www.wellscathedral.org.uk

Salvete et ValeteAt Evensong on Saturday 7 September, we welcomed the following people into the Choir of Wells Cathedral: Boy Choristers Tom Bates, George Blundell, James Manning, Alexei James-Cudworth, and Charles Wilson; Girl Choristers Natalie Borenstein, Erin Davies, Jessica Morrell, Sophie Morrell and Harriet Perring; Choral Scholars James Murphy and Ben Tambling; and Bass Vicar Choral Andrew Kidd.  In addition, having previously been Junior Organ Scholar during a gap year in 2007, Jeremy Woodside has returned to the Cathedral as Senior Organ Scholar. Congratulations are due to the following choristers who were surpliced during the choir’s first Evensong of the academic year: Boy Choristers Jan Cowell, Henry Dukes, Freddie Falzon, Hugh Latta, Nicholas Richards,

Matthew Owens with the new boy and girl choristers

2

and Bailey Roberts, and Girl Choristers Harriet Carlill, Orla Donoghue, Flora Hartz, Molly Johnson, Freddie Lindsey-Coombs, Beth Mitton, and Scarlett Schofield.

 Congratulations are also due to Fergus Brown and Ella Corlett,

who became Head Boy Chorister and Head Girl Chorister respectively, and to Harriet Garstang who became Deputy Head Girl Chorister. The position of Deputy Head Boy Chorister has initially been undertaken by Greg Wills.

Each year, the welcomes must inevitably be balanced by the fond farewells. Back in July, at the final service of the academic year, we had to say goodbye to: Choristers Henry Ames-White, Robbie Armstrong, Willard Carter, George Davies-Parnowski, Jordan

Left: the newly-surpliced choristers. Inset right: the new Head and Deputy Head choristers

The Head Boy Choristers of the 2012/2013 academic year, RobbieArmstrong and Henry Ames-White, at the farewell presentation

3

Deans, Mary Johnson and Lucy May; Choral Scholars Dominic Bowe and James Rhoads; Senior Organ Scholar Owain Park; and Vicar Choral Andrew Mahon.

Earlier in the academic year, we had also welcomed Tenor Vicar Choral Julian Robinson-Porter, and Junior Organ Scholar William Fox. More can be read about the new Choral Scholars, Vicars Choral, and Organ Scholars below and over the page.

The Newcomers

Tenor Vicar Choral, Julian Robinson-Porter joined the Choir in September 2012. Born in York and raised in Ayr, Scotland, he studied Music at the University of Hull, specialising in composition, and at the University of Reading, specialising in performance, under the tuition of the late Maureen Lehane.

Previous employment includes being Songman at Beverley

Minster, a Lay Clerk at Canterbury Cathedral, an ad hoc member of The BBC Singers, a member of The Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and singer at Ulmer Theater and the Baadische State Opera in Karlsruhe.

For the past 18 years and prior to his move to Wells, Julian had been a member of the Chorus of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

Originally from Manchester, Bass Vicar Choral, Andrew Kidd initially started his musical career as an organist and was awarded an organ scholarship to read music at Peterhouse, Cambridge.

He turned to singing very quickly, however, and soon joined King’s College Chapel Choir. Having graduated, Andrew was subsequently appointed a Lay Clerk in St John’s College Chapel Choir before studying singing at Royal

Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Andrew worked in London for the last ten years as a freelance singer, working for all the major ensembles and churches. He has also been a regular member of the chorus at both the Royal Opera House and English National Opera.

Andrew, his wife and his daughters, Petra (3) and Alma (1), are very excited to have now moved to Wells.

4

New alto Choral Scholar, James Murphy (left) has been singing in choirs since a young age. He says that he is ‘relishing the opportunity to now be singing with Wells Cathedral Choir’.

James is from Durham and studied music at Newcastle University. During his time as a student, he was involved in much music making, singing in university and cathedral choirs, playing saxophone in a Salsa Band and even taking part in the odd musical theatre production.

Since graduating, he has enjoyed opportunities to travel and work abroad, including working as an au pair and English teacher in Paris and, most recently, teaching music in Vienna. He is now enjoying living in and being a part of the vibrant Cathedral community in Wells.

Ben Tambling (right), our new tenor Choral Scholar, was born in Scotland and recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA (Hons) in English Literature. A former Choral Scholar in the choirs

of Downside Abbey, Tewkesbury Abbey, and St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, Ben enjoys a busy schedule of solo and ensemble engagements. Most recently he has spent a year on The Sixteen’s training scheme, ‘Genesis Sixteen’, which is directed by Harry Christophers and Eamonn Dougan , which included two live broadcasts for Radio 3 and performing at The Ryedale Festival, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, and at St Martin-in-the-Fields. In his final year at University, Ben was

President of Edinburgh Studio Opera, producing and performing in four operas in twelve months, including an Edinburgh Festival Fringe premiere of Alexander McCall Smith and Tom Cunningham’s, The Okavango Macbeth, in which he played the part of Macbeth.

Having previously unsuccessfully auditioned at Wells for a place as a chorister, Ben is really excited to have finally joined the choir as a choral scholar!

Born 1989 in Christchurch, New Zealand, our new Senior Organ Scholar, Jeremy Woodside was a chorister at Christchurch Cathedral, before he switched to the organ at the age of ten. He became organ scholar at Christ’s College, Canterbury, New Zealand in 2004, while at secondary school there, and was then appointed organ scholar at Christchurch Cathedral, and Assistant Music Director at St. Michael and All Angels Church in Christchurch. In 2007, Jeremy held the position of Junior Organ Scholar at Wells Cathedral, and also worked for the concerts department at Wells

Cathedral School. Performances have seen Jeremy play in major venues throughout New Zealand. In the UK, Jeremy has performed in Wells, Portsmouth, and Manchester Cathedrals, and St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. He has also played in various venues in France, Switzerland and Austria, including the Musikverein in Vienna. In Sydney he has given recitals at Christ Church St Laurence, and St Andrew’s Cathedral. He recently performed in the Sydney Town Hall accompanying counter-tenor Tobias Cole, and reached the semi-final of the Fine Music FM Young Performers awards. He has been involved in performances

5

William Fox became Junior Organ Scholar in September 2012 and will stay in post until July 2014. His interest in music began in the choir of York Minster where he was a chorister for five years, was educated at The Minster School, and was appointed as Head Chorister in his final year.

In 2007, William was encouraged to take organ lessons and spent three years as a music scholar at Oakham School, Rutland.

He currently studies the organ with Daniel Moult and piano with Joe Tong at Wells Cathedral School, and is taking A-levels in Music, History, and English.

William was successful in gaining his ARCO earlier this year. Next year he is going on to Hereford Cathedral as Organ Scholar and then hopes to be awarded an organ scholarship to either Oxford or Cambridge Universities, reading either Music or English.

with Simon O’Neill, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Will Martin and Fiona Pears, has accompanied Dame Malvina Major and Hayley Westenra, and was the rehearsal accompanist for John Rutter’s Requiem in Wells, with the composer as the conductor. In 2011, Jeremy directed the Christchurch Cathedral Choir for the National Memorial Service in Hagley Park after the 22 February earthquake, performing to around 85,000 people.  He has released three solo CDs on the Cathedral organ and is an active composer, with various choral

pieces of his being published by the RSCM. Jeremy recently graduated with Bachelor of Music degree with First Class Honours from the University of Canterbury. He was made a Fellow of Trinity College London in Organ Performance. Following the damage to Christchurch Cathedral, he gave a number of solo organ recitals in Europe (St Paul-Within-the-Walls in Rome) and the UK to raise money for this appeal, namely at Christ Church, Oxford, and Westminster Abbey, and raised over NZ$3500. He has just

completed a Masters in Organ Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, combining this with work at Christ Church St Laurence, and freelance accompanying, organ work, and music teaching. He recently broadcast a programme of organ works for Fine Music FM, Sydney, as part of the Young Virtuosi competition of 2013. Jeremy returns to Wells Cathedral to take up the position of Senior Organ Scholar, Assistant Musical Director of the Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society, and Musical Director of the Mid-Wessex Singers.

Sound BitesBBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong was broadcast on

Wednesday 24 April 2013, the Eve of the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist, by the senior boy and girl choristers. The music for the service was all chosen from the great Victorian and Edwardian periods of English music, including C. V. Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C and Sir Edward Elgar’s anthem, The Spirit of the Lord. The service was led by the Dean.

The 2013 Diocesan Choral Association Festival Evensong took place on Saturday 18 May. Choirs from churches across the Diocese joined together to sing for this special service, which was held in the Nave. Young singers from parish church choirs (pictured) were presented with

awards by the Precentor, after passing exams set by the Royal School of Church Music.

On Saturday 8 June, the Cathedral Choir was delighted to perform a concert to help

celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the Friends of Wells Cathedral. The programme featured popular Wells music from across the centuries, and a rousing performance of Vivaldi’s ever-popular Gloria.

6

A New PrecentorIn October, 2012 The Reverend Canon Patrick Woodhouse retired, after almost 13 years as Precentor of Wells. His successor is The Reverend Canon Nicholas Jepson-Biddle, former Precentor of Portsmouth, and he is the 60th to hold the position in Wells Cathedral’s 1100 year history.

The title Precentor comes from the Latin ‘Preces Cantor’ or ‘singer of the prayers’. Today, the Precentor is the senior Canon responsible for the planning and direction of the daily round of Cathedral worship, liturgy, the music, and for the many special services that have to be arranged during the year.

Canon Jepson-Biddle is a very keen musician, having sung across London as a student, and

conducting when he had the opportunity. Joining Nicholas in Wells are his wife Joanna, also a

priest and currently Chaplain to the Lord Mayor of Westminster, and their young son Raphael.

Diocesan Parish Evensong VisitsSince 2006, the boy choristers and Vicars Choral have gone out into the Diocese to sing Evensong in parish churches three times a year, the principal reason being that it is a good way for the Cathedral to connect with the Diocese. Over the coming years the choir hopes to get to as many parts of the Diocese as possible. The girl choristers, sing Evensong in the Cathedral on these days, normally under the direction of the Senior Organ Scholar.

The boy choristers and Vicars Choral have recently sung at parish churches in Bruton, Yatton and Winscombe. They also sing at Downside Abbey each year as part of the Week of

Prayer for Christian Unity.

Sarah Gunn, PCC Secretary at the church of St James the Great, Winscombe (pictured), said, “We were so thrilled to be able to host Wells Cathedral Choir in St James’s, and you didn’t disappoint! To hear such exquisite singing in our own church was an enormous treat and one that many of us will remember for years to come. Traditional church music sung well gives us a glimpse of God and his awesomeness and I had several people comment to me about the tingling at the back of their necks - thank you [to the] members of Wells Cathedral Choir for providing us with that experience in our surroundings.”

7

Christmas at Wells

As always, the choristers had a very busy Christmas. At the beginning of December they sang with children from local primary schools at three concerts in the Cathedral.

Once the Cathedral School term had ended, the Senior Choristers had a two-day break before returning to rehearse for the two

sold-out Candlelight Concerts, at which they sang gloriously with the Vicars Choral, whilst the Cathedral was beautifully illuminated by thousands of candles.

On Friday 23 December, the Great Choir sang for the Cathedral’s Carol Service. The Cathedral was filled to capacity, welcoming over

1,600 people. On Christmas Eve the Senior Choristers and Men sang Midnight Mass, and on Christmas morning the Junior Choristers returned to once again form the Great Choir for Eucharist and Matins.

Full details of this year’s events are available on the Cathedral website at www.wellscathedral.org.uk

Each year, on Remembrance Sunday the Great Choir gives a devotional performance of a Requiem, which is interspersed with war poetry. This year the service took place on Sunday 10 November at 3.00pm when the choir sang the setting by Maurice Duruflé (1902-86) to a full Nave. His Requiem is regarded as a masterpiece of choral literature and is an intensely moving and personal setting of the text. It is entirely based on plainchant, but richly adorned with sumptuous harmonies.

Remembrance Sunday

8

Choristers for a dayThe Cathedral and School hosted the annual Be a Chorister for a Day event on Saturday 13 October 2012 and Saturday 12 October 2013. At each event, forty-five children aged from 7 to 9, mostly from Somerset but some from as far away as Buckinghamshire and Leeds, had the opportunity to experience what it is like to be a Cathedral Chorister.

The participants took part in singing workshops, along with some of the Cathedral Choristers, which were led by Matthew Owens (Organist & Master of the Choristers), Jonathan Vaughn (Assistant Organist), and Dorothy Nancekievill (Director of Music at Wells Cathedral School).

At the end of the day the children sang Choral Evensong with Wells Cathedral Choir, after which each child received a certificate and took home a commemorative T-shirt which they had decorated themselves.

Enquiries from any parent who is interested in exploring the possibility of their child becoming a chorister are always welcomed. Please see the details on page 27.

WCCT celebrates withDame Felicity

The choristers were delighted to havethe opportunity to perform withleading British soprano DameFelicity Lott DBE at a Galafundraising concert in March.

The Gala Concert was held bythe Wells Cathedral ChoristerTrust in association with WellsRotary Club. All profits from theGala Concert were divided betweenthe charities Help for Heroes andWells Cathedral Chorister Trust. TheTrust was established to providebursaries to musically talentedyoungsters whose parentscannot afford to offer themthe opportunity to sing withthe Choir and attend WellsCathedral School. Her RoyalHighness, The Countess ofWessex, is the Trust’sRoyal Patron.

Dame Felicity and the Choir sang avaried and popular programme,that

included Haydn’s Nelson Mass;Schubert’s Ave Maria and

Mozart’s Laudate Dominum.

“The Trust was delighted thatDame Felicity Lott agreed to sing atour Gala Concert,” said the Trust’s

Chairman, Iain Ball. “She is truly oneof the great sopranos. Dame Felicity

and Matthew Owens, created avaried and stimulating concert

programme that appealed tothe audience. All who attended

not only had a very enjoyableevening but, by purchasing

their tickets, assisted theTrust in creating bursariesfor these very special youngmusicians to enable them

to continue their specialisttraining and education.”

9

A Message from the Chairman of theWells Cathedral Choir Association

Wells Cathedral Chorister Association had its fifth annual reunion on Saturday 27 April 2013, with former choristers singing Evensong with the Boy Choristers and Vicars Choral. After a busy rehearsal and service, which included as its anthem S.S. Wesley’s Blessed be the God and Father, the day culminated with drinks and an informal dinner that evening. The next re-union is planned for Saturday 26 April 2014 and we hope to encourage an even bigger turnout. If you are a former chorister, choral scholar, vicar choral, organ scholar, or organist then please do look out for

an invitation which will be heading your way early in the new year.

2014 also marks the 20th anniversary of the Girl Choristers and so on Saturday 18 October there will be a celebration Evensong to which all former Girl Choristers will be invited to join the Cathedral Choir in celebrating this special event.

We now have a page on the Cathedral website within the Music pages. Do also have a look at the article about the call for former choir members on page 16.

Chris Seaton, WCCA Chairman

www.wcct.co.uk

In October 2012, the Senior Choristers and Vicars Choral went on tour to Beijing and Hong Kong.

The tour was organised by the Wells Cathedral School Foundation and the Cathedral Music Office, with the assistance of the Wells Music Society of Hong Kong, and with sponsorship from Burges Salmon and Cathay Pacific.The choir received widespread media coverage, appearing on Hong Kong radio and television, and in numerous newspapers. In China the Choir sang at two private concerts, one of

which was at Dulwich College in Beijing. In Hong Kong they performed to a sell-out audience of around 1,400 people in City Hall.

Outreach also formed an important part of the tour. In Beijing, the Choir visited School No. 80, where they took part in a Beijing Opera Class and Chinese Paper Cutting class, as well as a singing workshop where they learnt ‘the second national anthem of China’ – the traditional Chinese folk song ‘Jasmine Flower’. They performed it to a surprised and very appreciative audience in Hong

Kong as part of the encore at the end of the City Hall Concert.

In Hong Kong, the Choir visited two other schools (including the Tung Chung Salvation Army School), and held a music workshop for over 1,000 children in the City Hall – the largest ever organised by the Government’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

Far East Tour: October 2012

Above: The tour party in the Forbidden City, BeijingBelow: two outreach visits to the Tung Chung School in HK (right) and School No. 80 in Beijing (left)

10

Hong Kong and Beijing Tour

carried by:

sponsored by:

The Choristers’ Tour Experienceby the then Head Choristers, Robbie Armstrong & Mary Johnson

We had looked forward to our trip to China and Hong Kong for many months and we were very excited to finally be on our way.

The flights were long but fun and enjoyable. During our stay in China, we visited The Great Wall and the Forbidden City, both amazing places and very exciting for all the choristers.

In Beijing, the city itself was very crowded and the roads were continually jammed with traffic. We sang at two concerts whilst there, the biggest at Dulwich College Beijing’s Edward Alleyn Theatre where the audience was very appreciative.

During a visit to a local school, called School #80, we took part in interesting cultural classes such as Chinese paper cutting. Some people had a go at Beijing Opera stage fighting, including Mr Owens! We were also taught the Chinese ‘second’ national anthem, its title being ‘Jasmine Flower’. The local children loved to hear us sing in their language and we eventually sang this song at City Hall, in Hong Kong, as an encore at the end of a concert to

hundreds of people. The audience was so surprised to hear us sing in Chinese and cheered excitedly.

Everything was different and interesting, including the food; we were always given chopsticks to eat with, which took some getting used to but we all soon became quite good at using them.

Hong Kong was hot and humid, with many very tall sky scrapers. The city was beautiful at night when lit by thousands of coloured lights.We did many things in Hong Kong: visited the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, The Hong Kong Police Officers’ Club, and sang Evensong at St

John’s Cathedral, where there was a huge congregation. The culmination was our sell-out concert in Hong Kong’s City Hall, the biggest concert audience we have ever sung to. Our repertoire included works by Mozart, Walton, Rachmaninov, Eric Whitacre, Parry, and Bob Chilcott. It was fantastic to sing to so many people.

Everyone was very excited when we participated in a television show for a Hong Kong television station. Some of us also did a live radio broadcast. You can still see / hear both on the internet (please email the music office for the weblinks).

There were many enjoyable outings during our stay in Hong Kong but we particularly remember the night market at Kowloon, with hundreds of stalls. Some of us became experts at bartering as we bought our gifts to take home for our families.Another thrilling excursion was a boat trip to an island called Po Toi, where we had an exotic seafood banquet and spent some fun time on the beach.

On behalf of all the choristers, we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped make the tour possible. We all had an amazing time and we feel very lucky to have been able to participate in such an exciting event.

Robbie Armstrong and Mary Johnson

11

12

Wells Choristers: Sporting Success!It seems that our choristers’ talents don’t just stop at singing. In March, the Girl and Boy Choristers took part in the annual Choir Schools’ Association Football and Netball tournament, this year hosted by Salisbury Cathedral. Head Girl Chorister, Mary Johnson, and Head Boy Chorister, Henry Ames-White, give us their reports of a day that culminated in the girls coming a close second and the boys making Wells history by winning the tournament for the first time!

After the usual morning rehearsal, the girl and boy choristers headed off to Salisbury. It was a nice day and everyone was looking forward to the tournament. We rehearsed for Evensong on the coach, with Mr Park conducting from an iPad piano!

When we arrived, we headed straight for the changing rooms to drop off our games bags and have some refreshemnts before heading to the Cathedral to rehearse for Evensong. The rehearsal went smoothly, and then we were swiftly off onto the

pitch to start warming up. As we weren’t playing until the third match we had time to practice.Our first match, against Bristol was a huge success. We scored 12 goals to Bristol’s nil. The second match, against Salisbury didn’t go quite as well, however we still managed to get a few goals in, including a stunning shot from Flora Hartz, who scored from the side of the ‘D’. The third match against Exeter was better. Jordan Deans helped a lot by somehow managing to seem to be in more than one place at a time! The fourth match, against Taunton was just like the first one, with

good teamwork from Ella Corlett and myself, shooting goals at every opportunity; luckily most of them went in!After having dinner in the school, we were awarded our medals. I was very impressed with the girls as we came second overall. Evensong was lovely, especially the anthem, The Call by Vaughan Williams, which is a personal favourite of mine.

The whole trip was a great success, it was a wonderful last chorister Netball and Football Tournament for me. Well done Wells Cathedral Girl Chorister Netball team, and a huge thank you to Vicky Smith, Courteney Billing, and Emily Smith who all helped with our pre-tournament training.

Mary Johnson

13

Wednesday 6th of March saw us off to the CSA Football day at Salisbury. We had no great expectations because we felt we had a young and inexperienced team. On arrival, we had an evensong rehearsal that went well and very quickly, so we were changed and on the football pitches ready to play in no time! Our first match was against Gloucester who had a star player who we nicknamed Green Boots! After a tight and intense game we finished nil-nil. Our next match was against Llandaff, and soon Angus Clark managed to get a nice clean shot into the goal. We were 1-0 up and we managed to keep it that way with some strong defending from Fergus Brown and Bernard Mealing, and some great play from Greg Wills and Maxim Davis. Our final game in our pool was against Exeter, during which George Davies-Parnowski managed to score a great goal. With Wesleigh Peck now subbed-on and standing like a rock, he let no man pass and we held our 1-0 lead to see us through to the semi-finals.

Our semi–final match was against St John’s, Cardiff. George, once again using his fancy foot skills, got Wells another goal and we were soon 1-0 up. But then, in a heart-stopping moment St John’s managed to get through our rock-solid defence and take a shot from the edge of the box. Thankfully I was able to stretch and tipped it over the net. We had won our semi–finals!

It was now getting even more intense as we found out our opponents for the final would be Gloucester, the team we played in our very first match; this was going to be a tough one! All through the match we had Mr

Park and Mr Schofield shouting support and it also sounded like Salisbury had picked us as their team to win. We were playing to our best but Gloucester were also putting up a great fight. Even with all our screaming supporters doing their utmost, it was still 0-0 by full time. After five minutes of extra time there was still no winning result and so it was down to ‘sudden-death’ penalties, i.e. the first team to concede a goal was to lose. George took his place in front of the goal, ready to shoot. He backed off, ran in, shot and. . . it went in to the bottom corner! I then stood up as our team’s goalkeeper to face Gloucester first penalty. The chosen Gloucester player took their shot

and I managed to dive and catch it in full in my chest! Mr Park started yelling on the side of the pitch, and we suddenly realised that Wells had won the Chorister Football Tournament for the first time! We finally went and sang Evensong, which went very well, and were soon heading home on the coach back to Wells, celebrating the whole way.

The team put in a fantastic effort and because of are now officially champions of the CSA Football Tournament 2013! I would like to thank, on behalf of all of us, Mr Park and Mr Schofield for their fantastic support, coaching on the day, and all the training sessions.

Henry Ames-White

14

Registered charity no. 1098277

Royal Patron:HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO

For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.wcct.co.uk

Can you help?Human beings need beauty and inspiration as much as the physical necessities of life. For centuries, the sound of choirs has been at the heart of the worship of our cathedrals, conveying a profound sense of spirituality. The unique English choral tradition sets the standard for all church music and Wells Cathedral Chorister Trust wants to ensure that every child has the same level of opportunity to share in this rich musical heritage.

You can help us to achieve our target by making a donation to help ensure the future of the Wells Cathedral Choristers. Preserving this essentially English tradition of cathedral choral music is a worthwhile cause. Your contributions will prove invaluable. The Trust aims to:

Ø Provide scholarships for the choristersØ Provide bursaries for the choristersØ Create an endowment fund that will ensure the future of this 1100-year-old traditionØ Make sure that no child is barred from this opportunity on financial grounds

The Trust aims to provide support toward the total costs for each chorister place. Over a five year period, the total costs for a day chorister are upwards of £70,000, and £120,000 for a boarder. These costs are high but the Trust works to ensure that no child of ability and talent is denied a place as a chorister. These young musicians are the singers and musicians of the future who may take their place within the world of opera, singing ensembles and as soloists. Your support for the Trust’s appeal will help us achieve these aims.

Achieving Excellence

Through Opportunity

15

Aiming for the stars...This autumn, a mere year since its formation, all-girl singing group, Celeste, has signed a five-record deal with recording giant, Decca. The sensational new group is really starting to hit the heights with its unique blend of classical-crossover music, and what makes it even more special is that its members are all former cathedral choristers, four of the five having been choristers in Wells Cathedral Choir!

Catherine, Nell, Polly, and Nicola, aged between 19 and 21, are all former Wells Cathedral choristers - in fact four of them are ex-Head Choristers - and are thus steeped in the English choral tradition. But their musical tastes are wide-ranging and the group performs songs of many different genres, from

classical through jazz to pop. The four Wells girls are joined by former Salisbury Cathedral chorister, Camilla Harris to make up their group of three sopranos and two altos. They love the unique sound of five female voices singing together. “We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to put this group together and to enjoy singing such wonderful music,” says Catherine. “Having sung in the fabulous choirs that we have all so enjoyed, it is fantastic to be able to blend our voices and produce such an amazing sound.” The girls have recently performed at the iconic 100 Club on Oxford Street, appeared as Clare Balding’s studio guests on her BBC Radio 2 show, joined Aled Jones as the supporting act

on his recent UK tour, performed at the Bath in Fashion week, and was chosen by the BBC as this year’s interval act at the BBC Young Chorister of the Year competition, which was held held at the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 28th October and broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Further radio and television appearances are lined up following the group’s record deal with Decca.

The group has been formed by the men behind the phenomenally successful girl-group, All Angels, which sold over 500,000 albums: musical director and arranger, Simon Lole, (himself a former choirmaster at Salisbury Cathedral) and record producer, Ian Tilley, who has worked with many of the biggest names in the crossover genre.

“Having seen the huge interest in the heavenly harmonies of All Angels”, said Ian, “Simon and I felt the time was right for a new classical girl group . . . and we are confident that these five young ladies will be equally successful. We hope that everyone will enjoy their incredible virtuosity and quite beautiful voices.”

For further information, please visit www.celeste.org.uk.

Celeste at the Decca offices, after signing their five-record deal

16

new music wells 73-13

The new music wells 73-13 festival, now in its sixth year, took place in June. During the festival, sacred choral music from the last forty years was sung at all services, including five world premiéres, four of which involved the choristers.

Wells Cathedral School pupil, Jack May, composed two new works - Elegy and In manus tuas, domine - for performance by the Girl Choristers at Evensong; Howard Skempton

composed a piece for organ in memory of Jonathan Harvey (former President of new music wells); and this year’s featured composer, John Joubert, wrote two new works which were sung by the Great Choir on Sunday 16 June. Missa Wellensis, a mass setting, was given its world premiere at the morning Eucharist service, and his anthem, Locus Iste, was sung for the first time at Evensong that afternoon. Both of these works were commissioned by Cathedral

Commissions of Wells Cathedral.Wells Cathedral School pupils gave two lunchtime recitals in the Cathedral during the week: on the Wednesday, Stanley Kaye-Smith (bassoon) and Daniel Evans (piano) gave premiere performances of their own compositions: The Swarm by Stanley Kaye-Smith and Humoreske by Daniel Evans, and also Étude by Nick Harrison.

On Friday 14 June a lunchtime concert was given by the Wells Cathedral School New Music Ensemble, conducted by Paul Whitmarsh. The programme included instrumental and chamber music by the John Joubert, and composers from Wells Cathedral School. Joubert then gave a public masterclass the next day.

If you are interested in helping to commission a new piece of music by renowned composer, John Tavener, to be premiered during next year’s festival, then please read the article about the Cathedral Commissions of Wells Cathedral scheme on page 18.

Composer, John Joubert, signs his autograph for the choristers

Calling all former members of Wells Cathedral Choir!

The Wells Cathedral Choir Association (WCCA) was formed in 2009 by Matthew Owens, the current Organist & Master of the Choristers. The aim of the Association is to maintain a link between the Cathedral and the current choir with all

former members of the Music Foundation.

The committee works closely with the Cathedral, the Cathedral School, and the Old Wellensian Association, to maintain contact with past members of the music establishment, organise reunions, and share news. It has been an active member of the Federation of Old Choristers Association since its foundation in 2009, providing articles and updates to its magazine Once A Chorister.

The WCCA is always very pleased to hear from old members

of the Music Foundation, particularly to receive photographs and contributions for future newsletters and communications.

The next reunion will take place on Saturday 26 April 2014. WCCA reunions have proved popular in the past, and are an excellent way of meeting with old friends from your time in the choir at Wells Cathedral, singing Evensong, and enjoying a relaxed dinner. If you would like to attend the reunion, please email Annie Jones via:a.jones@wells-cathedral-school.com

17

As part of what it is hoped will be a long-standing partnership, Wells Cathedral and Wells Cathedral School welcomed the Athenaeum Chamber Orchestra from The School of Young Talent (from the Royal Conservatorium of the Hague) to Wells.

From the only specialist Music School in the Netherlands, the string orchestra of forty-five children, aged between 13 and 18, visited Wells from Thursday 28th February to Sunday 3rd March, having previously spent time at the Menuhin School in Surrey.

During its stay in Wells, the orchestra performed on three occasions. On the Friday evening, there was a fund-raising concert at St Mary’s Parish Church in Wedmore, in aid of Wedmore Opera. The music included music by Dvorák and

Jacob, as well as Mozart’s First Violin Concerto. The orchestra had asked the Cathedral School if they could provide a soloist for this particular piece. Wells student, Janelle Soong only had five weeks to prepare the work, but on the night she played with

great style and assurance. On the Saturday of their stay they performed a lunchtime recital in Wells Cathedral and then, later in the day, the orchestra joined the Cathedral Choir for Evensong in the Cathedral Nave. The service included the first performance of The Wells Service,a new setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, specially composed for the occasion by the Cathedral’s then Senior Organ Scholar, Owain Park. The orchestra and choir performed to a congregation of almost 300, with other music by J.S. Bach and Tomkins.

The Dutch children also enjoyed a tour of the Cathedral, visits to the Bishop’s Palace and Wookey Hole Caves, and time to enjoy the High Street and the Saturday farmers’ market.

The visit followed on from a very successful tour that the Cathedral Choir undertook in December 2010, when it was invited to the Hague by the Conservatoire and by the electronics company, Siemens, to perform in a series of Christmas concerts.

Wells Welcomes Dutch Friends

The Dutch orchestra rehearse in the Cathedral School Concert Hall; on the left, Cathedral Organist Matthew Owens, composer Owain Park,

and the orchestra’s conductor, Arjan Tien, discuss the new work

Choir and orchestra in rehearsal in the Cathedral nave before evensong

18

Established in 2006, Cathedral Commissions is a scheme run by Wells Cathedral to raise funds for the commissioning of new works from some of today’s most exciting composers, and to share the thrill of commissioning with as many people as possible. The scheme is open to anyone and is a rewarding and enjoyable way to support living composers, the glorious English choral tradition, and the Choir of Wells Cathedral. Our Commissioners provide the essential financial support for a new piece of music to be brought into being.

Each new piece of music requires a group of Cathedral Commissioners to donate ‘Commission Units’ in multiples of £100. As a Commissioner you normally have the following privileges:

◆ An invitation to attend special rehearsals, with the composer in attendance, and be a VIP

guest at the premiére of the new work; ◆ Receive a signed copy of the score and have your name printed in the service programme; ◆ Meet the composer at a special Commissioners’ Reception and discuss their work with them; ◆ Directly support a composer’s work and the ancient Music Foundation of Wells Cathedral and the English choral tradition.

Cathedral Commissions is delighted that the distinguished composer, the late Sir John Tavener, had completed a new work which will be premièred during the cathedral’s innovative annual festival, new music wells in 2014, which would have been the year of the composer’s seventieth birthday.

Sir John Tavener first came to public attention in 1968 with the première of his oratorio The Whale at the inaugural concert of the London Sinfonietta. The

Beatles subsequently recorded this work on their Apple label. He was mostly known for his exquisite concert music – his choral works in particular. In 1997, Tavener’s choral work, Song for Athene was performed at the close of Princess Diana’s funeral, showing the profound effect his music has far beyond just the concert-going public. He was a composer of deeply spiritual, otherworldly, heartfelt, heart-stopping music; inspired and inspiring. He was awarded a Knighthood in the 2000 Queen’s Millennium Honours List for his services to music.

To support Sir John Tavener’s new work for less than £10 a month, please contact us using the details below.

To become a Commissioner please download and complete a form from the Cathedral’s website, wellscathedral.org.uk, send an e-mail to the Scheme Administrator, Dr Nicholas Hooper, via

nicholas@nicholashooper.co.uk, or call 01749 674483 for more information.

Commissioning the Future

Composer Jonathan Dove discusses his new work withMatthew Owens and the Cathedral Choir

A Cathedral Commissioner in discussion with Sir Peter Maxwell

Davies CBE, Master of theQueen’s Music [left]

19

Senior Organ Scholar Achieves National Success

The last academic year was a busy one for our then Senior Organ Scholar, Owain Park. As well as beginning his new post in the music foundation, he won a national composition competition with his original carol, Let Christians All With Joyful Mirth. The competition was organised by The King’s Singers and King’s College, Cambridge. His carol was sung by choirs from across the UK, and later broadcast on Classic FM. It is based on words found in an old church gallery in Dorset, and has now been published by Novello. Stephen Cleobury, Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge, said: “The response to the competition

was tremendous and it was very difficult to choose the winners.” The competition was part of an excellent year for Owain, who combined his duties at the Cathedral with teaching piano, music theory, and singing, conducting the Mid-Wessex Singers, and holding the post of assistant conductor of the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir.

This September, Owain began his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he is reading music and is Junior Organ Scholar at the college. 

On 24th March 2013, the Cathedral Choir gave the first performance of a major new work by Bob Chilcott (pictured), one of the major contemporary English choral composers, as part of the Palm Sunday services.

The choir was joined by guest soloists Ed Lyon (tenor) and Laurie Ashworth (soprano), together with instrumentalists Matthew Souter (viola), Richard May (cello), Jonathan Vaughn (organ), and the Chaconne Brass Quintet.

This project followed the highly successful collaboration between Wells Cathedral Choir and Bob Chilcott of 2010-11, when the choir premiered a new carol and made the first recording of his Requiem, alongside a number of other works, which was released to critical acclaim on the Hyperion label (CDA67650).

The composer, who was present on Palm Sunday, wrote:

“My setting of the Passion is an hour-long work telling the story of Christ’s Passion using the text from St John’s Gospel. It was written specially for Matthew Owens and the Choir of Wells Cathedral.

“As in the great Passion settings by J.S. Bach, the story is narrated by a tenor evangelist. I have designed the narrative to be sung in an arioso style that gains momentum as the drama unfolds.

“The role of the choir within the narrative is to play the part of the crowd or of soldiers who comment from time to time in short outbursts. The larger role that the choir has to play is the singing of four meditations that punctuate various points of the drama. I have tried in these meditations to emulate the style of a strophic carol in the mould of a writer such as Thomas Ravenscroft, cast in a simple, melodic way. The texts they sing are English poems from the 13th to the early 17th centuries that express deeply human responses

to death, to life and to man’s relationship with the world and with God. Two of these meditations are sung by the choir with Soprano Solo, the last of which expresses most poignantly the human response to seeing Christ crucified on the Cross.

“I have also set five well-known Passiontide hymn texts and these hymns are designed to be sung by the choir and congregation together.

“I was fortunate as a singer to sing the evangelist role in both the great Passions of Bach a number of times. I also remember as a boy chorister in King’s College, Cambridge singing the simpler renaissance versions of the Passion chanted by the dean and chaplain of the chapel in holy week. It is the austerity, the agony and ultimately the grace of this story that has inspired me to write this piece, to be performed for the first time in a magnificent building where this same story has been commemorated for almost a thousand years.”

The cathedral choir hopes to record the work in 2014.

A New Passion

20

Judith Bingham’s isn’t a comfortable soundworld. If there is redemptive

hope to be found in her choral music, it grows out of musical doubt,

eschewing evangelic harmonic simplicity for a more rugged

Anglicanism. This excellent disc from Wells Cathedral Choir and

their boy choristers looks back over fifteen years of Bingham’s choral

works, from the delicate ambiguity of the newly-revised Jesum

quaeritis Nazarenum to the more forthright ‘Alternative Canticles’ of the Wells Service.

There’s a frankness to the Wells choral sound that suits music that has nothing precious or twee about

it. It creates an underlying muscularity, even in the glowing cluster-chords of the ‘Cantate Domino’,

and foregrounds the texts that Bingham sets with Britten-like care. Harvest, a setting of Gerard Manley

Hopkins’s ‘Hurrahing in Harvest’, manages to compress the vast scope of the poet’s emotional narrative

into a concise anthem, moving from hazy, lazy heat to an ecstatic close that matches the verse for

intensity. Blake gets altogether darker treatment, and The Shepherd pulses with unexpected rhythmic

interest. Fretful and anxious, Bingham anticipates the limitations of this idyllic scene, energising the text

with rhythmic challenge and harmonic contradictions.

Bingham’s vocal writing hasn’t been well served on disc, and this collection is the most representative

yet of the composer’s functional, liturgical works. It is both contrast and compliment to the BBC Singers’

2008 ‘Remoter Worlds’ featuring Bingham’s secular settings (Signum, 3/09). The use of a cathedral choir

of men and boys (with a guest appearance from the cathedral’s girls’ choir on the final track) rather than

a chamber choir helps anchor this music in the Anglican cathedral tradition to which Bingham’s music so

consciously belongs. Alexandra Coghlan [September 2013]

Recording SuccessOver the last few years, Wells Cathedral Choir has gained a reputation for producing highly regarded recordings of the sacred choral repertoire of a number of important 20th-Century and contemporary composers, including James MacMillan, Kenneth Leighton, David Bednall, William Mathias, Jonathan Dove, and Bob Chilcott. These recordings have given the Cathedral Choir a noted place in the international recording world and helped the choir gain its coveted 6th place (and the top choir with children) in Gramophone’s ranking of the top 20 choirs in the world.

Following on in this vein, the Cathedral Choir’s latest recording, Judith Bingham: Choral Music, was released in August of this year on the Hyperion label, and has already earned widespread critical praise, garnering a prized ‘Editor’s Choice’ award from Gramophone.

Reproduced below are five of the current reviews. The CD is available from all good record stores, online, and from Wells Cathedral Shop.

I can imagine the ‘Cantate Domino’ of the Wells Service, which opens this disc, being pressed along more quickly, but I’m glad conductor Matthew Owens doesn’t succumb to the temptation. The slower tempo enables the fascinating detail in Judith Bingham’s writing to register more fully, highlighting the little stabs of emphasis from the trebles on ‘With trumpets also and shawms’, for instance, and the subtly rocking underswells of organ accompanying ‘Let the sea make a noise’ a couple of lines later. The whole setting memorably commingles an anxious, questing quality with glimpses of certitude and placidity, a balance sensitively struck in this assured Wells Cathedral Choir performance.The Missa Brevis is more austere, but has arresting moments, not least the rapt, harmonically

ambivalent ‘Lamb of God’ movement. Among the shorter pieces the poignant Jesum quaeritis Nazarenum is graced by the poised confidence and crystalline purity of treble Finn Lacey’s solo contribution. The boy choristers are joined by the cathedral’s girls for the concluding Our faith is a light, a luminescent setting highlighting the bright, gleaming quality of tone the Wells top line is currently producing. The Hyperion recording is atmospheric and expertly balanced. Recommended.

Terry Blain [October 2013]

Matthew Owens and Judith Bingham in discussion

during the recording session, with the

boy and girl choristers listening in

Recorded last year in celebration of Judith Bingham’s 60th

birthday, this exemplary disc from Wells Cathedral Choir,

under their organist and master of choristers Matthew

Owens, offers a perfect conspectus of Bingham’s choral

output over the last decade. While a versatile all-rounder,

Bingham’s period as a professional singer early in her career (she was a member of the BBC Singers for

15 years) has fostered an understandable attraction to choral music as a composer. This CD from Wells

includes the Wells Service (2010) as well as other independent choral pieces intended for liturgical use,

among which is Corpus Christi Carol, written for inclusion in The Choirbook for the Queen. Most are premiere

recordings. All the pieces show Bingham’s responsiveness to text, her expressive use of harmony and

innate gift for melody. She has been handsomely served by the Wells forces and by Hyperion. A fine

recording, with excellent supporting documentation. Highly recommended.

Philip Reed [September/October 2013]

Choral music is a sphere that welcomes the new. The Anglican (mainly) church is a leading source of new commissions for countless composers, among them Judith Bingham (b1952), who stands out not least because she spent her early career as a professional singer and knows the idiom. She favours rich, multilayered radiance, as heard in the two Wells service canticles – written for the excellent choir who perform here. Jonathan Vaughn provides spirited organ accompaniment and interludes. The lullaby setting of God Be in My Head, the abundant interpretation of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s Harvest and the unexpectedness of the Bromley Missa brevis, written for an enlightened south London parish church, all play to Bingham’s creative strengths.

Fiona Maddocks [July 2013]

21Continued over the page...

22

Christmas Past, Christmas Present (1989) featured in our collection of

Judith Bingham’s piano music I reviewed in the July/August issue.

I found it surprisingly gloomy and uneventful, considering its theme. Coming back to the piece hasn’t

changed my view, and sadly I feel the same about the 2012 revision for organ admirably played here by

Jonathan Vaughn. Happily for this reviewer, the rest of the disc is quite another matter.

First, the Wells Service. Rather than the unbridled joy of most ‘Cantate Domino’ settings, Bingham finds

a mysterious sense of wonder that is wholly appropriate, whilst fear and doubt haunt of the pages of

the following ‘Deus misereatur’. Her solution to the setting of the words ‘Glory be to the Father’ is totally

satisfying, applying the simplest of means to convey the notion of a ‘world without end’.

The opening of Harvest breathes languid summer heat, not an easy atmosphere to conjure up when

writing for choir and organ and for church performance. The closing passage, beginning at the words

‘The heart rears wings’, is strikingly beautiful. The boys sing as though they understand Gerard Manley

Hopkins’s words, and the whole work demonstrates how a fine composer’s imagination can enhance an

intractable text.

The Shepherd is one of two works Bingham composed for the 50th anniversary of Bromley Parish Church,

rebuilt after the Second World War. William Blake’s ideas, simply expressed, are ideal for musical setting,

and also incorporated into the piece is the hymn Awake my soul. The composer used this title for the other

work she composed for Bromley. This is a Missa Brevis in which each section relates to one part of the

churches destruction and rebirth, from the ‘Kyrie’ — ‘A wasteland: the ruins of a sacred building’ — to

the hymn of reconciliation that is the ‘Agnus Dei’ — ‘as we forgive them’. To be honest, I don’t always

‘get’ Bingham’s extra-musical associations, but it hardly matters here. From its tentative opening, as if

searching for sense and meaning, to its a cappella close, the Mass is totally successful, and the appearance

of the hymn at the end of The Shepherd is most appealing, a direct hit on the composer’s part, though

perhaps not a deliberate one, guaranteed to provoke tear-jerking nostalgia amongst those of those with

long-enough memories.

Andrew Stewart’s booklet notes serve as an excellent listening guide. About Ave verum corpus he writes

that ‘. . .rhythmic motifs in the organ and choral writing suggests the weary tread of Jesus on the road to

the cross’. The image is a vivid one that certainly helps the listener appreciate the piece, which focuses

rather more on Christ’s suffering than do many other settings of this well-known text.

It’s a pleasure to hear the pure and expressive voice of treble Finn Lacey as he delivers the news that

Christ is risen in Jesum quaeritis Nazarenum. This is followed by some welcome faster music, in Bingham’s

superbly accomplished multi-canon setting of the Corpus Christi Carol. Then, to a text of her own devising,

Epiphany condenses the story of the Magi into 12 lines. The mood is not dissimilar to Eliot’s Journey of the

Magi, though his travellers find only doubt and disillusion, whereas Bingham’s experience the wonder

of an encounter with God. The musical language here is highly chromatic, appropriate to the harsh

conditions in which the kings begin their journey, but less so for the resplendent finish. There doesn’t

seem much human presence here, also a feature of the ‘Magnificat’ of the Edington Service. There is more

human warmth in the ‘Nunc dimmittis’, though the composer ‘wanted to make both movements sound

arcane, as if evoking worshippers of two thousand years ago’. Long, held notes and difficult attacks over

not particularly helpful organ accompaniments, here and in Epiphany, challenge even these magnificent

singers to the limit.

God be in my head is a lovely piece, with an ingenious solution to

the problem of words that are well known in another composer’s

setting. Our faith is a light was commissioned by Wells to celebrate

the anniversary of the creation of the girls’ choir, and is the only

piece in this collection in which the girls sing. Bingham has found an

inventive and touching way to exploit the two groups, boys and girls.

Performances and recording are very fine. Most of the music is

slow, so selecting one or two pieces at a time will be the best way to

appreciate its visionary and profoundly spiritual beauty.William Headley [October 2013]

23

Jingle...all the way!

“This is one of the most joyful Christmasalbums that has come my way in many a year [. . .] when we think that Wells is the smallest city in England… .and yet is home to one of the finest choirs in the world we should be even more impressed.”crossrhythms.co.uk

“Nice title, even nicer singing. . .Their Jingle Bells is a real belter”BBC Music Magazine

“Of its kind, it is hardto imagine

a betterChristmas CD”

MusicWeb International

“Wells’s burgeoning reputation as one of the best

cathedral choirs in the country is further bolstered

by the faultless tuning and blend of the strong and

broad sound for which its [choristers] are known”Gramophone

Jingle WellsChristmas music from Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral Choir • Matthew Owens

November 2012 saw the release of Jingle Wells, the latest Christmas CD from Wells Cathedral Choir, featuring an unusual collection of festive Christmas music - sacred and secular, old and new. The recording was funded by the Wells Cathedral Chorister Trust, with proceeds from the sales from the Music Office, Basil Powell Shoes (Wells), The Cottage Gallery (Wedmore), and post-concert at the Candlelight Concerts, supporting the work of the Trust. The disc was picked as Album of the Week by John Suchet for his Classic FM radio programme. The CD received some great reviews, a number of extracts from which are below:

24

There is no greater exponent of music in the Anglican tradition than the musical forces of the cathedral in the idyllic little city of Wells in Somerset. In 2010 Gramophone magazine named it “the greatest cathedral choir in the world”. Having attended services over the years in all the important cathedrals, abbeys, and minsters of England, I smile with pleasure at that title. No one else but Westminster Abbey records the music of this tradition as often as Wells, and under the exceptional direction of Matthew Owens no one records more albums dedicated to the music of composers of our time or does it so well.

This release brings together commissions and other works by one of today’s most creative composers of church music, Judith Bingham (b. 1952). With her broad experience as a professional singer, Bingham writes extremely well in a variety of styles. It all sounds deeply rooted in the Anglican tradition, but none of it sounds derivative.

The program begins with settings of Psalms 98 and 67 (the so-called alternative canticles for Choral Evensong) commissioned by the cathedral and sung with a sense of heartfelt praise for God’s goodness and mercy. Rejoicing abounds in the choir’s commitment to singing a new song unto the Lord. ‘Harvest’,a rapturous setting of words by Gerard Manley Hopkins, celebrates the divine presence in the natural

world. Here the choir exults in the climactic line “the heart rears its wings”.

Bingham wrote a Missa Brevis (her third) to mark the 50th anniversary of the rebuilding of Bromley Parish Church, which was destroyed by German bombing in April 1941. She conceived the movements of the mass to correspond with walking amid the ruins of the bombed church (Kyrie), joyful hope in the decision to rebuild (Gloria), the solemnity of consecration (Sanctus), and the need to forgive enemies (Agnus Dei, with its redemptive play of major and minor chords).

The choir allows the sun to break forth radiantly toward the end of ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ as a momentary but striking contrast to Christ’s lugubrious trudge to crucifixion. For this recording the composer adapted her earlier ‘Jesum Quaeritis Nazarenum’ for boy chorister and organ, which Finn Lacey sings luminously and with pinpoint accuracy as he leaps an unanticipated interval on “surrexit” (he is risen)—a perfectly conceived way of conveying the unexpected news of the resurrection. Her syncopated setting of the allegorical medieval ‘Corpus Christi Carol’ was commissioned for The Choirbook for the Queen in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee and shows the choir’s immaculate enunciation.

Jonathan Vaughn, whose solid and imaginative playing undergirds everything the choir does, brings sure-fingered accuracy, deft registration, and depth of feeling to the contemplative and atmospheric four-movement Christmas Past, a retrospective on Christmas that includes references to other works of the composer and readily recognizable snippets of seasonal tunes.

‘Epiphany’ (text by the composer) finds the choir building dramatically to the final stunning outburst: “God appears”. Her setting of the evening canticles (Edington Service) with only organ pedal accompaniment in the Magnificat is mostly somber in mood, evoking a sense of mystery. ‘God Be in My Head’ cleverly employs the opening five notes of the familiar setting by Walford Davies disguised in the gently rocking rhythm of the accompaniment.

The boys sing with the men (the Vicars Choral) except in the final work of the program when the girl choristers join the men in ‘Our Faith Is a Light’, a work commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the introduction of girl choristers in 1994.

Wells has produced many superb recordings, and this is one of the best. The compositions are wonderful, abounding in coruscated color, with performances to match.

Robert Moore [November 2013]

Reviews Extra!As we were about to go to press, a copy of the November/December 2013 edition of American Record Guide arrived on our doorstep, sent by of our regular American correspondents. Inside were two further reviews of both Bingham Choral Works and Jingle Wells that we felt were worth last-minute inclusion.

Last November when I visited Wells, this disc had just been released in time for Christmas but not in time for us to review it. I liked it so much that I bought several copies as gifts.There is no better cathedral music program in the UK. Undoubtedly one reason for that is the warm relationships in the cathedral family, especially among the men (nine Vicars Choral and three Choral Scholars) who live with the organists and other cathedral staff in the Vicars’ Close, the oldest continually inhabited street in Europe. This is a team of gifted musicians making music of the highest order who clearly revel in their life together.

“Jingle Wells” includes many familiar works, some in new arrangements, some first recordings, and two seasonal favorites. The program gets off to a lively start with Ralph Allwood’s arrangement of ‘Jingle Bells’ with its smile-inducing musical

laugh track. A sublime reading of ‘Bethlehem Down’ by Peter Warlock falls between Matthew Owens’s smartly syncopated setting of ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ (a first recording) and Philip Ledger’s arrangement of the ‘Sussex Carol’.

Wise ordering of works is typical of this program. It includes two pieces by Rutter (‘Star Carol’ and ‘Candlelight’), Willcocks’s lovely settings of ‘The Infant King’ and ‘Away in a Manger’, and Peter Gritton’s jazzy ‘Follow that Star’. Mack Wilberg’s arrangement of ‘Ding Dong! Merrily on High’ with its off-beat accents and increasingly virtuosic organ part brings new sparkle to the carol. Gifted organist Jonathan Vaughn then shines in an imaginative Improvisation on ‘God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen’ by Myron Roberts with its contrasting tidings of comfort and rousing outburst of joy.

Three talented boys are heard in solo roles. Finn Lacey takes the lead in Poston’s ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’ and adds radiance to Whitacre’s atmospheric ‘Lux Aurumque’ andLeighton’s ‘Coventry Carol’. Tom Vaughan gently adds a child’s prayer for the final verse of ‘Away in a Manger’, and Frankie Osborne soars sweetly above the rest of the boys in Owain Park’s soothing ‘Cradle Lullaby’. (This is another first recording. The multi-talentedMr Park, organ scholar at the time of the recording, has since gone on to be organ scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge.)

Following ‘Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire’ (arr. Gritton), the program closes with a lusciously chromatic setting of ‘Silent Night’ by Matthew Owens. This is music-making forChristmas at its best—spirited and dazzling as well as gentle and serene.

Robert Moore [November 2013]

Memories of a White Christmas Past...

2009: The Boy Choristers and Mr Owens ambush the Girl Choristersfor a snowball battle on a snowy morning following their rehearsal!

25

26

“There was one very special day that changed my life for ever. This was the day when a priest came into our classroom at my primary school, and invited anyone who liked singing to sing a hymn while he accompanied at the piano. This was the Rev. Bawtree Williams, who was Acting Organist and Master of the Choristers at Wells Cathedral while Denys Pouncey was away in the RAF, and the hymn singing was in fact an audition to become a cathedral chorister. I was then given a letter for my mother, which explained that in return for becoming a chorister I would also be able to attend Wells Cathedral School – a brilliant gift for me as well as for other local day boys, many of whom, like me, came from families who would not have been able to send their children to public school; and we got a first-class musical experience as well.

“Sunday was the day of the week when, dressed in all our formal

finery, we had to run the gauntlet of what seemed like hundreds of evacuees. I forget how many times my mother had to sew the tassel back onto my mortar board! As an eight year old, I used to have to open the large doors to the practice room above the cloisters using huge keys which I carried in my pockets, and which regularly wore holes in the linings.

“But these memories pale into insignificance besides the wonderful musical experiences I shared with my chorister friends. By the age of nine, I and others could read, sing, and play music almost faultlessly at first sight. And the choir was self-managing, relying on a code of discipline taught very early in our careers, which provided great opportunities for team-building and leadership, as well as confidence.

“I recall shaking with fright at my first solo, but these feelings did

not last long, and I fully enjoyed singing Mendelssohn’s Hear my Prayer to a packed cathedral at the beginning of my last year as a chorister. I no longer play an instrument, but I often still ‘give forth’ especially in tiled rooms containing a bath!”

Peter Williams Wade, chorister 1944-49, died on 30th June 2013, in Portugal.

Tales from the Past: Memories of a Former Chorister

Stop Press! We welcome our new Bass scholar...We are very pleased to announce that as of 14 October, our new Bass Choral Scholar is Piers Kennedy. Hailing from Cardiff, Piers was a boy chorister at Llandaff Cathedral, eventually parting with the valleys of Wales for the spires of Oxford, where he read Music at St Peter’s College.

As well as being a choral scholar at St Peter’s, Piers sang as a Lay Clerk at Pusey House. Nevertheless, he insists that he really spent most of his time playing sport, captaining his beloved St Peter’s RFC!

Other than singing, his main

interests are jazz piano and composition, and during his time at Oxford he had several work commissioned by Pusey House. His music was also included in the St Peter’s College 50th Anniversary Celebrations of 2011. His latest piece, a setting of the ‘St Peter’s Grace’, will appear on a CD recorded by St Peter’s College Choir that will go on sale in late November.

Piers is ‘absolutely chuffed’ to find himself in Wells, where he hopes to gain further experience of the choral repertoire before applying to do a Masters in Composition.

Could your son or daughter be a Chorister at Wells Cathedral?

“one of the most impressive of today’s British cathedral choirs”in “world-class form” (Gramophone Magazine)

We are looking for keen and musical boys in current school years 3, 4 & 5, and girls in school years 3 & 4, as choristers in Wells Cathedral Choir.

Scholarships and additional bursaries for Wells Cathedral School,which all choristers attend, are available.

Auditions will be held on Saturday 18 January 2014

Matthew Owens, Organist & Master of the Choristers, is alwayspleased to hear from parents of prospective choristers.

For more information, please telephone 01749 834213 or 01749 674483email musicoffice@wellscathedral.uk.net

or visit www.wellscathedral.org.uk

www.wellscathedral.org.ukwww.wells-cathedral-school.com

27

The Cathedral Choir in performance in Beijing, October 2013