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Advent Calendar Day 4 – Jesus Christ the Apple Tree (Elizabeth Poston)

Continuing our apple theme from yesterday, here’s a modern carol that feels a bit medieval.  The lyrics are from an 18th century poem whose author is unknown except for the initials ‘R.H.’, and they aren’t strictly Christmassy, but that hasn’t stopped the choirs of King’s and St. John’s Colleges Cambridge and Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland (among, surely, many others) from including it in carol services, so as far as I’m concerned, this makes it fair game for an advent calendar!

I actually found two settings of this poem, and had a difficult choice deciding which one to feature.  On the one hand, we had this beautiful, reflective, 20th-century-trying-to-be-medieval setting by Elizabeth Poston, which is very sweet and restful and suits the lyrics, and is, in fact, the version of the carol that I fell in love with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm3fZDZxiko

And then on the other hand, it turns out that a chap called Jeremiah Ingalls got there first in the early 19th century, with this incredibly jolly version that I am now absolutely desperate to sing, even though every part of me that has any sort of musical sensibility kind of secretly knows that it is completely the wrong sort of tune for these words.  I’m sorry, but if you are singing about how you are going to take your rest under Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, perhaps you should consider not being quite so energetic about it?  Or is that why you need to take your rest?

So you are getting Elizabeth Poston, because I think she understood the spirit of the poem rather better than Jolly Jeremiah Ingalls.  But if you want to know what has me so fascinated about the latter, you can follow this link to find out…

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne’er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I’m weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

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Advent Calendar Day 3 – Adam Lay Y Bounden

It’s not advent without Adam Lay Y Bounden.  This has been a favourite carol of mine for a long time, particularly the version by Boris Ord, with that gorgeous soaring ‘Deo Gracias’ at the end of it.

Admittedly, my initial delight in the carol came from the delightful seeming-illogic of lyrics:

“Adam lay y bounden, bounden in a bond
Four thousand winter thought he not to long
And all for an apple, an apple that he took
As clerkes finden written in their book.

Ne had the apple taken been, the apple taken been
Ne had never Our Lady had been Heavene Queen
Blessed be the time that apple taken was
Therefore we moun singen “Deo Gracias”

Which, abridged, seems to mean “What a good thing that our forebears sinned, because without that, we would never have had Jesus.”  (I’ve seen a similar sentiment expressed rather more crudely in graffiti, but I’m not going to share that here.)

Anyway, giggling choristers aside, I’m informed that this isn’t just the kind of theology you get when the Bible is only available in Latin and your local non-Latin-reading peasantry decides to write songs about it anyway (but stay tuned for that sort of theology later in December), but is actually really explaining the idea that “Sin has separated us from God, but grace has brought us nearer to God than we ever were before sin divided us from him.” (From a sermon by Spurgeon, with thanks to my friend Virginia)

(A little part of me strongly suspects that Spurgeon was just trying to deal with the thoroughly ingrained terrible Adam Lay Y Bounden logic as best he could – and doing so really quite admirably – but that is probably just me being a wicked and frivolous person).

OK, that’s far more theology than anyone really needs at this hour of the morning, so to compensate, you are getting not one, but TWO settings of these lyrics!

I was looking for the Boris Ord played at a more decorous speed than that favoured by King’s College, when I found this lovely performance of both the Ord and the Ireland settings.  I didn’t even know that Ireland had written a setting of this, so that’s another delightful YouTube discovery.  I think I still prefer Ord, but I love having both of them to choose from.

If this is all way too serious and classical for you, you’ll be glad to know that several contemporary Medieval-themed bands have had a good play with this song too.  The Mediaeval Baebes have a very simple unison version that has somewhat ear-wormy properties, and the German group, Faun, have a gloriously bouncy version with the verses mixed up in a manner that completely clouds any theological argument at all, but is nonetheless good fun to listen to.  Enjoy!

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Advent Calendar Day 2 – Wachet! Betet! (J.S. Bach)

I am in the midst of a fairly intense obsession with Bach’s oratorios and cantatas, which is currently manifesting itself in me learning every alto (and sometimes soprano) aria I can get my hands on from any Bach aria (it turns out I can get my hands on quite a bit), and badgering any choir directors I have dealings with to do some Bach.

I thought I was going to get my wish this week, with this lovely (and, admittedly somewhat frenetic) opening movement of Bach’s Cantata 70 “Wachet betet, betet wachet”, which means “Watch and pray, pray and watch”.  But alas, it was not to be.  Since I had already spent some quality time with Youtube and various recordings of this cantata and bonded with it, I wasn’t going to let go quite so easily… which is one reason you are getting a musical advent calendar from me this year, as it happens.

The word ‘wachet’ here really means ‘watch’ in the sense of ‘stay awake’, and it can also mean ‘awaken!’ (see also ‘Wachet auf!’ for a cantata in which it gets this meaning).  Listening to the extremely lively pace of this piece, I’m pretty sure Bach was thinking about this when he wrote it.  From a choir perspective, you need to be very wide awake and on the ball to sing this music – and from the congregation’s point of view, I’m pretty sure the trumpet would do a good job of finishing anything the alarm clock left undone.

This piece also continues the theme of waiting that is fitting to this early part of Advent.

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Advent Calendar Day 1 – Advent Responsory (Wadsworth)

Hello!  It’s been a long time since I last posted here, and this blog is being a bit dodgy at the moment, but today is the first Sunday in Advent, which means it’s Musical Advent Calendar Time!

(And yes, I know it isn’t December yet, but it *is* Advent nonetheless, so there you go)

I’ve always liked posting Palestrina’s Matin Responsory at the start of Advent, because the text ‘I look from afar’, and the dynamics (which suggest a choir slowly approaching from a distance) to me reflect the feeling that we are only at the start of the journey through advent, with Christmas in the distance.

This year, though, when I went to find my favourite recording of the Palestrina, I discovered that it was no longer available on YouTube except in a sadly truncated version (here, if you are interested), and I just couldn’t fall in love with any of the other recordings.

And then I found this Advent Responsory, by Zachary Wadsworth.

Edited December 2017: Alas, this YouTube clip is no longer available, but you can listen to a recording of this on Wadsworth’s website.

Wadsworth’s setting of the lyrics uses quite a lot of the same chant in the solo sections, but the choral bits are a whole other story, and completely new to me.  I can’t decide whether I love it as much as the Palestrina, but it is something new, and something beautiful, and certainly a worthy beginning to the Advent Season.

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Singing Saint Matthew’s Passion – a Choir 2 Perspective

In a few hours, I will be singing the St Matthew’s Passion with the Melbourne Bach Choir, two baroque orchestras, the MacRobertson Girls’ Choir, and six soloists who range from very good to utterly sublime (I think Andrew Goodwin is my new favourite tenor or all time).  It’s going to be amazing, and if baroque oratorio is your thing and you live in Melbourne, you should definitely buy some tickets and come along (it’s also raising money for cancer research, so really, you can’t lose).

Of course, having rehearsed this all week, I now have an All Bach, All The Time radio station in my head, and I’m also way too hyped up to sleep after our final rehearsal this evening, so I figure that now is a pretty good time to finally write the post I’ve been contemplating ever since I started singing this work – because it’s a fascinating piece of music, but, for me at least, it’s the sort of music that definitely becomes more interesting to listen to the more you know about it.  When I listened to it the first time, I found that it was pretty music, but didn’t grab my attention – but the more time I have spent inside it, the more I’m finding that I engage with it, the bigger the emotions become, the better the music gets.  And I want everyone to love this music as I do and be inside it as much as I am right now.  Which I realise is unrealistic, but I’m going to tell you all about how amazing it is anyway, because that’s what I do…

Continue reading →

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Advent Calendar Day 25: In the Bleak Midwinter (Holst), plus a few more

It’s always so difficult to come up with the perfect carol for Christmas Day, because there are so many gorgeous ones.  So today, in the spirit of giving (or perhaps of over-indulgence), I present three.

In the Bleak Midwinter is really one of the more beautiful carols out there, and shows what can happen when you let a poet write your lyrics for you.  (What happens is that every subsequent composer misses out my favourite verse, in fact.  Including this arrangement, but it’s pretty enough that I’ll forgive it.)  I love the word-painting, and the harmonies and the solo in the middle.  Just lovely.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjRXIiZ8bs0&w=420&h=315]

But this is Australia, and it can’t all be about snow and ice, so here’s a carol I learned in Grade 2, I believe. It was written in 1948 by John Wheeler and William G. James, and it’s kind of anachronistic, but we aren’t going to worry about that because any carol that includes black swans ought to be encouraged, in my book.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wqoFg6Vabo&w=420&h=315]

The third carol today was going to be a crazed mashup of the Carol of the Bells and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by the Piano Guys, but then I said three and giving and thought of three gifts and three kings and then of course I had no choice but to present you with Cornelius’s stunning piece ‘The Three Kings’, which really is, I think, the most gorgeous piece of Christmas music ever written, even if it does, strictly speaking, belong at Ephiphany.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2dNKv48WJQ&w=420&h=315]

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a relaxing break!

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Advent Calendar Day 24 part 2: O Magnum Mysterium (Lauridsen)

A bonus carol for your Christmas Vigil!  I love the lyrics to this piece of music – they are perfect for Christmas night, translating “O great mystery and wonderful sacrament, that the animals see the Lord born, lying in a manger.  Blessed virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Lord Christ. Alleluia!”

The hard part is choosing a setting, because everyone has done one.  There’s this gorgeous one by Victoria, or you could try Byrd, straight or with jazz piano, or you could have some spooky Poulenc, or then there’s this one, by contemporary American composer Morten Lauridsen.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn5ken3RJBo&w=420&h=315]

I love the reflectiveness of this setting and its stillness, and the way the alleluias come out of the darkness at the end.  For all its modernity, it would be a beautiful thing to hear in an old Roman or Gothic church, with only a brazier for light, as we await the coming of midnight and the lighting of candles to celebrate the holy birth.

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Advent Calendar Day 24: The Holly and the Ivy (Trad. Arranged Shaw)

The Holly and the Ivy has been one of my favourite Christmas Carols since I was quite young – I think I first heard it when my family stayed for a few months in England when I was six, and I rather imprinted on it because there was *actual holly* near where we lived and that was pretty exciting.  Australia doesn’t really run much to holly, especially around Christmas.

This is one of those carols which tends to show its Pagan roots, while simultaneously being very very Christian and going, ‘no, really, the holly is totally all about being a symbol of Christ’s passion and has nothing to do with Yule, honest!’.  So it always sits just a little oddly with me, even though I love both the melody and the words, with their vivid visual imagery.  There are a lot of arrangements doing the rounds – I’m also fond of the Mediaeval Baebes version, and if you ever wondered what Annie Lennox does with it, wonder no longer!  I especially like her jazz harmonies in the later verses.  Gorgeous.

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Advent Calendar Day 23: Rorate Coeli (Rheinberger)

Today’s carol is a very different interpretation of yesterday’s text – it’s romantic to the point of swooniness, and sweet to the point where it narrowly escapes being cloying.  (Actually, when we sang this in choir a few weeks ago, opinions differed as to whether it did, in fact, escape cloyingness.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sn9jet6daM&w=560&h=315]

To me, this is like fairy floss for the voice – it’s sweet and easy on the ear, and it’s a heap of fun to sing, but one suspects that a steady diet of it over time wouldn’t be terribly good for you.  Best to alternate it with a good, bracing dose of Baroque music, I think.

Joseph Rheinberger himself was a German composer of the late 18th century, and he seems to be a bit elusive, or perhaps just not terribly well known, because I had an awful lot of trouble finding him on YouTube, and everyone seems to be spelling his name differently.  I’d never heard of him before, but apparently he was born in Liechtenstein, and married a poetess eight years his senior, with whom he lived very happily, both of which definitely fall into the category of random cool facts that incline me to like him.  Apparently, he was quite prolific, but if YouTube is anything to go by, he has rather fallen out of fashion – not many of his works seem to be available, which is a bit of a pity.  After all, fairy floss may not be the healthiest sort of music, but it does make a delicious little treat from time to time.  I’d like to sing more of his work.

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Advent Calendar Day 22: Rorate Coeli (Schütz)

The text for the fourth Sunday in Advent is ‘Rorate coeli de super, et nubes pluvant justum’, which roughly translated means ‘Let the heavens open, and the clouds rain down justice’.

OK, Melbournites, look at the weather forecast, now look at this text, now back at the weather forecasts, now back at this text…

Sadly, Melbourne seems to think that ‘justum’ translates as ‘cats and dogs’, but on the whole, I feel it’s safe to say that this is the text your city could precipitate like.

(And people say that Melbourne’s weather is unseasonable…)

Yeah, OK, that got a little weird.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCmoOvtFuds&w=420&h=315]

Anyway.  I’m not sure there’s much I can say about this particularly gorgeous setting of the Rorate Coeli that I haven’t said before.  It fills me with absolute delight – I’ve just sat here and listened to it from start to finish twice in a row, without being able to think about or write anything else.  It is, when it comes down to it, quite simply a beautiful piece of music.  Does anything else need to be said?