Tag Archives: advent calendar

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Advent Calendar Day 10 – Gabriel’s Message (Joshua Shank)

I seem to have a bit of an accidental Basque theme going this week – yesterday’s carol was a contemporary setting of an old text by a Basque composer, and today’s carol is a traditional Basque carol.  I’ve always loved this piece of music, even in my primary school days when we used to giggle about the chorus (to this day, I have to work hard not to sing ‘most highly flavoured gravy’ instead of ‘most highly favoured lady’).  It’s such a lovely melody, and the harmonies are gorgeous – I love the way you have to wait for the dissonances to resolve. Also, I just like Mary songs.  (I should probably be Catholic.  Except that I would be a terrible Catholic.)

I’m teaching this to my work choir at present, and they are loving it too.  And doing a much better job than I am of singing the proper words.

I was going to give you a traditional arrangement of this piece, but then I got completely captured by this fascinating version by Joshua Shank, in which he tries to paint the scene of the annunciation with music.  It’s stunning – there is such a feeling of light and brightness in this piece, and somehow the way Gabriel’s words are set, with different voices and rhythms against each other, make me think of Madeleine L’Engle’s depiction of the cherubim as this unfathomable beast with so many eyes and wings that it almost seems plural even though it is only one creature.  Very otherworldly, and a bit intimidating and even overwhelming, as an angel should be.

Also, it’s rather lovely to hear a verse in the original Basque.  None of the other arrangements I’ve heard do that.

If you’ve never heard the piece before, my serving suggestion is to start by listening to either this version, sung by The Sixteen, or to this ethereal arrangement by All Angels, so that you can see where Shank’s arrangement is departing from.

And if you know this carol and hate it and want to see violence done to it, allow me to recommend to your attention this version, sung by Sting.  My husband claims that it isn’t so bad, but actually, he’s wrong about that.  It’s a shocker.  And yet, somehow, I can’t resist sharing it anyway…

(Oh my, and I just looked up the composer and he was born in 1980.  I feel ancient now.  Also inadequate.  How can anyone born in 1980 possibly be old enough to be writing music like that?)

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Advent Calendar Day 9 – O Magnum Mysterium (Javier Busto)

Every Advent, I go looking for O Magnum Mysterium online, and every year I find that yet another composer has written his (or her, but so far I think only his) setting to this text (or rather, that their setting is now on YouTube), and then I have the nigh-impossible task of picking just one to write about here.

This year, my new favourite is this dramatic setting by Javier Busto.  Who, it turns out, is a contemporary of my parents, and hails from the Basque region.  My parents do not hail from the Basque region, which is probably why they do not compose dramatic church music.

I fell in love with the half-whispered section at the beginning, that amazing crescendo at the end, and the liveliness of the performance generally – most other versions online are much more calming and sedate, probably because they are being sung in church, but I think the drama of the music demands more.  Also, and this has nothing to do with the music, but how gorgeous are the choir’s outfits?  I want to join that choir just so I can wear a skirt like that.  And let’s just give three cheers for the delight of having a choir that comes from the Southern Hemisphere!

The lyrics translate to ‘Oh great mystery and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord lying in a manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord.  Alleluia!’.  Lots of good stuff there, and I can quite see why everyone wants to write their own version of this piece…

 

 

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Advent Calendar Day 8 – The Record of John (Orlando Gibbons)

I make no apology for including this piece of music again, even though I include it in my Advent Calendar every year.  I’ve sung the alto solo (really a countertenor solo) in The Record of John on the first Sunday of Advent every year for the better part of a decade, and to me, it doesn’t feel like Advent until I hear those opening bars on the piano.  The song has a real weight of expectation to it, and the melody is crafted so perfectly to the natural inflections of speech that the lyrics are incredibly easy to sing expressively.  I love it dearly.

Very sadly, I won’t be singing this piece in 2015, either as soloist or as choir member, which was one of the reasons I decided to revive the Advent Calendar after a year’s hiatus.  It’s a melancholy pleasure listening to it instead of singing it, but this is an excellent recording.  I’d love to find a good recording with a female soloist, but so far the internet has failed to provide.

Maybe next year…

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Advent Calendar Day 7 – Fantasia on Christmas Carols (Vaughan Williams)

Today’s post was going to be the gorgeous King’s Singers version of The Truth Sent From Above, but then I realised that it might be better to save my crush on the King’s Singers for later in December.  Besides, I’m pretty sure I do The Truth Sent From Above every year, and every version misses the verses about eating the apple, leaving one with the progression from ‘woman was made with man to dwell’ to ‘thus we were born to endless woe’, implying a line of causation that I find a little insulting (if nonetheless amusing).

Anyway.

I’ve been vaguely aware for some time that Vaughan Williams did a Fantasia on Christmas Carols that started with a version of the Truth Sent From Above, but for one reason or another, I’ve never got around to listening to it.  This year, I have, and it’s rather lovely – and, importantly, doesn’t skip those all important apple-eating verses!

Of course, this is not the only carol in the Fantasia, and Vaughan Williams has pulled together a number of the more obscure and folky Christmas carols in the English tradition into a rather lovely ten minutes of choral music.  I especially like the bit when the Sussex Carol keeps on coming in and interposing itself on other carols.

I believe the baritone soloist in this recording is Stephen Roberts – whoever he is, he really has a lovely, effortless sound, which fits this piece very well.

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Advent Calendar Day 6 – 12 Days of Christmas Confusion

A bit of a change of pace today, because Friday is a day for Frivolity, or at least for taking a break from fruit-themed carols.  Though, of course, there is a little bit of fruit in this carol too.

The Twelve Days of Christmas is not an Advent Carol (in fact, it is referring to the 12 days between December 25th and January 6th, so it is decidedly post-Advent), but it is well known, and, as it turns out, is also the sort of carol that begs for parody.  Some of the parodies are alarmingly sexist (nope, not linking to that one), and others are just a bit of downunder fun for those of us who are in entirely the wrong season and don’t really know what partridges look like.

And then you get the really clever stuff, like this gorgeous Twelve Days of Christmas Confusion, in which the choir is arguing with itself, singing entirely different carols, and occasionally forgetting which particular feast it’s celebrating, all in perfect tune.

I believe that this particular piece was composed by Straight No Chaser, but I rather love the version by Angel City Chorale – it’s the girly backing vocals in the last bit that appeal.  Though Straight No Chaser has significantly more dreidel.  It’s a hard choice, but someone has to make it…

Happy Friday!

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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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Advent Calendar Day 25 – MERRY CHRISTMAS

Huzzah! I survived a midnight mass as the lone soprano in descant hell – and I still have my vocal chords!!

I’ve been trying to figure out all day what I can possibly use for tonight’s carol. You see, I did all my favourite Midnight Mass ones last year, and it seems like cheating to repeat them. And then, I haven’t done The Holly And The Ivy this year, which is really a favourite of mine, but doesn’t seem to have the joyfulness required of a Christmas Day carol. And I want to do ‘Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day’ again, but I think we all know why I shouldn’t.

Now we’re all going to have to go back and listen to those ones, aren’t we?

Right then. Like last year, I’ll celebrate Christmas with a trio (a Trinity?) of Christmas Carols that fit my mood. The first is a Mediaeval Baebes version of a medieval carol – Ecce Mundi Gaudium. I love the vibrance and energy of this, and the sense of joy, and just the general bounciness of it.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0DScNyEuk&w=560&h=315]

The second carol I’m sharing with you is Past Three O’Clock, which I sincerely hope it will *not* be by the time I click ‘post’ on this entry. It never gets sung at midnight mass (too early in the evening, perhaps?), but it speaks to me of the whole getting up in the middle of the night to go to church, or possibly the manger, on Christmas Eve. Also, infidel choristers find the whole bit about cheese from the dairy / bring they for Mary vastly amusing.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9momjvte10&w=560&h=315]

Finally, a carol I’d forgotten until recently but remember vividly from my shopping centre carolling days as an undergraduate – The Shepherd’s Farewell, by Berlioz, affectionately known as ‘Carols on Acid’ because it’s kind of trippy and changes key twice a bar. Actually, I was told recently that Berlioz was rather fond of his opium, so perhaps the trippiness wasn’t just in our undergraduate minds.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpgWhHv2dJw&w=560&h=315]

I was going to stop there, but after singing all those descants tonight I can’t possibly end without a descanty one, now can I? I wanted to include the diabolical descant from Christians, Awake!, but apparently we are the only people insane enough to make sopranos sing top B flats at one in the morning. So here’s a recording of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, which is a fitting carol to end with, being the first carol I sing every year. This is the first carol in my work choir’s carol book, and we use it as our warm up, though we go a lot faster than this and we do not do the mad descant, because it actually requires a bass section, which we don’t usually have. You have to love a descant that involves the altos, too. Or at least, I have to love it.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDcSyaW-tTI&w=560&h=315]

Time to sign off from this year’s Advent Calendar, I think.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

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Advent Calendar Day 24 – Magnificat (Telemann)

We aren’t doing Chris’s lovely Magnificat tonight, so I thought I’d go looking for one, and when I ran across Telemann, who I know only as that guy who wrote baroque recorder concertos, I thought I’d give him a try.

Well.

I’ve never heard anything quite like this piece of music, to be honest.  I can’t decide what I think of it.  It’s like a human clockwork music box.  With illustrations from the Très Riches Heures Du Duc De Berry.  And I’m not even sure if I like it, but it’s strangely compelling and not as insipid as I thought it was and I have to keep listening to it.  I’m also not entirely sure what language it is in – I suspect (from external evidence) that it might be in German – this is, apparently, his German Magnificat – but I can’t pick out a single word of German, and the group singing it is the Japanese Ensemble Planeta, so I’m beginning to wonder if it is in fact in Japanese instead.  Surely not? I also strongly suspect they have arranged it themselves, as Telemann is usually rather more orchestral in a somewhat Handelian style – I think they have grabbed all the instrumental parts and given them to the other voices.

Edited December 2017: Having listened to this quite a few more times by now, I still can’t make out most of the lyrics, but there is definitely a ‘laudate signore’ at the start, which suggests Latin, but not very traditional Latin?  But I think attempting to discern the words is probably not the point of this exercise – best to just let the music wash over one…

I think I like the effect.  I know I like the images.  And it’s certainly something a bit different.  Also, I keep having to listen to it again, so maybe I do really like it after all… Enjoy!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbjixX93pcw&w=560&h=315]