Monday, October 07, 2013

Choral Vespers for the Feast of Blessed John Henry Newman

Choral Vespers for the Feast of Blessed John Henry Newman will be broadcast live from Westminster Cathedral on BBC Radio 3 this Wednesday at 3.30pm. Appropriately much of the music is English, including Stanford's virtuosic double-choir setting of the Magnificat and also his beautiful Iustorum animae. The plainsong melody for the hymn Iste confessor is also English and is taken from the Bosworth Psalter. This year we mark the 50th anniversary of Poulenc's death, and the two choral pieces which frame the Vespers, the Introit and the Salve Regina, are both by the French composer.

Introit: Tout puissant (Poulenc)
Hymn: Iste confessor (Plainsong)
Psalms 14, 111 (Plainsong)
Canticle: Magna et mirabilia (Plainsong)
Responsory: Iustus Dominus (Plainsong)
Magnificat for Double Chorus, Op.164 (Stanford)
Motet: Iustorum animæ (Stanford)
Antiphon: Salve Regina (Poulenc)
Organ Voluntary: Præludium in E minor (Bruhns)

The Cathedral Choir is directed by the Master of Music, Martin Baker and the organ is played by the Assistant Master of Music, Peter Stevens.

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