Programme Notes: Exeter College Chapel James Brown conductor Programme Charles-Marie Widor Mass, Op 36 Kyrie Allegro from Symphony no. 6 for organ Sanctus Cantabile from Symphony no. 6 for organ Agnus Dei Interval Maurice Duruflé Requiem, Op 9 Introit Widor, as well as being organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris for 64 years, was also professor of organ at the Paris Conservatoire for a time, and subsequently professor of composition. He was a prolific composer of music of many types, from solo piano pieces to operas, but virtually none of his music other than the later organ symphonies and the mass is heard today. Widor’s Mass was written for two choirs and two organs and was intended for liturgical use, one choir’s part being sung by the male voices of the seminarians in the congregation. It has a grandeur that matches the church of Saint-Sulpice and reinforces the splendour of the liturgy, but is musically straightforward so as to fit the dignity of the service while not distracting from it. This evening’s performance is in an arrangement for one choir and one organ. Cavaillé-Coll’s organs, with their emulation of orchestral sonorities, inspired a number of composers to write ‘organ symphonies’; Widor was the most prolific of these, writing ten in all, and the organ solos this evening are taken from his Symphony no. 6 for organ. The Allegro is the first movement, and is being played at the position corresponding to the offertory of the mass, and the fourth movement, Cantabile, is being played as if to accompany the elevation of the host prior to the communion. Duruflé was organist of the Paris church of St. Étienne-du-Mont for 57 years, a post which he later shared with Marie-Madeleine Chevalier, who became his second wife. He was also professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire. In contrast to Widor, with whom he had studied composition for a time, he was a slow, careful composer, constantly reworking his manuscripts, and in nearly 50 years of composing, he produced only 14 works with opus numbers, though some of them in several versions. I have done my best to reconcile, as far as possible, the Gregorian rhythms […] with the demands of modern metres. The strictness of barline structure [is] difficult to reconcile with the variety and suppleness of the Gregorian line where there is only a succession of rising and falling. The strong beats had to lose their dominant character [so that] the stressed Latin syllables could be placed freely on whichever beat of our modern metre. Duruflé’s Requiem shows close spiritual and structural ties to the Requiem of Gabriel Fauré, composed 50 years earlier. Both composers wrote a peaceful, æthereal farewell to the dead, mostly avoiding the moments of high drama that so inspired the versions of Mozart, Berlioz, and Verdi – indeed, the dramatic ‘Dies irae’ movement, with its flames of hell and visions of the damned, is reduced to its short, plaintive ‘Pie Jesu’ conclusion by both composers. Even in its dramatic moments, Duruflé’s view of death rarely suggests the tortured uncertainty of other composers; instead, the piece seems designed to reassure the listener that eternal rest will indeed be granted and that death is only a step towards better things. Today’s performance uses the version of the work with organ accompaniment which Duruflé made a year after publication of the orchestral version. This is not simply an orchestral reduction, but an idiomatic organ piece drawing on his extensive experience as an organist. Mass Kyrie Gloria Sanctus Benedictus Agnus Dei Requiem Introit Kyrie Sanctus Pie Jesu Agnus Dei Lux aeterna Libera me In Paradisum Elinor Carter mezzo-soprano Elinor was a choral scholar at Clare College, Cambridge before studying at the Royal College of Music with Neil Mackie. She has recorded and performed widely as a soloist, notably under Sir John Eliot Gardener. Among her many solo appearances she sang in The Dream of Gerontius at the opening concert of the 2002 Three Choirs Festival. Tom Edwards baritone Born in France, Tom was educated in England winning a choral scholarship to New College in 1996 where he read Modern Languages. He has performed in major venues around the world with New College Choir where he is now a Lay Clerk. As a soloist Tom has sung with a variety of artists and ensembles including Rogers Covey-Crump, James Bowman and the Academy of Ancient Music. Steven Grahl organ Steven combines the post of Assistant Organist at New College, Oxford with that of Organist & Director of Music at St Marylebone Parish Church, London and the Principal Conductorship of the Guildford Chamber Choir. A prize-winning graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford (where he was Organ Scholar) and the Royal Academy of Music, Steven gained the Limpus (highest mark) and Dixon (improvisation) prizes in his FRCO examination, and is also a holder of the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medallion. James Brown conductor James was Organ Scholar of Girton College, Cambridge and upon graduating studied organ at the Conservatoire de Musique, Geneva with Lionel Rogg. After two years working as an organist in Texas James returned to England where he is currently Organist of the University Church, Oxford and a lay clerk in New College Choir. He also sings with Collegium Vocale, Ghent (conductor Phillipe Hereweghe). The Cherwell Singers
Paul Hodges 2009
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