Design for choirs

C r e at i v e C o n s u lta n c y

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SLEEPERS... AWAKE!

If you’d like to join the choir call Emma on 01608 659737 or visit W W W . W Y C H W O O D C H O R A L E . O R G . U K

7.30 pm Saturday 28 November 2015St Mary’s Church, Charlbury OX7 3PS

FREE ADMISSION & REFRESHMENTSThere will be a voluntary collection in aid of Singing for Syrians

and St Mary’s Church

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: BERNARD WEST

A N A D V E N T C H O R A L E X P E R I E N C E

The Wychwood ChoraleAUTUMN 2015 CONCERT POSTER

The Wychwood ChoraleAUTUMN 2015 CONCERT

PROGRAMME

Singing for Syrians – helping the most desperate people in and around Syria

The Wychwood Chorale is taking part in a nationwide series of concerts called “Singing for Syrians”, the brainchild of Hands Up Foundation in conjunction with Christian Aid. This is a friendly and positive initiative to raise money for some of Syria’s most vulnerable people. Successful concerts will set a precedent for subsequent years, vital if Syria is ever to recover from the current disaster.

The Hands Up Foundation was set up by four young people to remind their friends within Syria that they have not been forgotten. Since the civil war started in 2011 the need for humanitarian aid in Syria is so large that it is almost incomprehensible; in all areas from education to medicine, food, shelter and water. As a small charity, HUF are realistic about what they can do to help, but choosing specific projects with the right charities allows them to be as efficient as they can with your donations. With its partner organisations working on the ground in and around Syria they try to identify projects that they believe will have maximum impact for those in need

And yes, every penny raised will go to these two carefully selected charities working within and on the borders of Syria. To see more in-depth examples of their humanitarian work go to

www.handsupfoundation.org or www.christianaid.org.uk

There will be a retiring collection after the performance funding donations to St Mary’s Church and to

our nominated charity for this concert, Singing for Syrians.

St Mary’s Church, CharlburyParts of the present building date from the 12th Century, although an earlier Saxon church may have existed here because there is a listing which states that St Diuma, a 7th-Century bishop, ‘rests in the place that is called Ceorlingburh’. During 1990–95 this church underwent the most comprehensive restoration in its 900-year history. The aim was to combine essential repairs and renewals with adapting the church for contemporary needs, such as heat and light! A new stone floor was laid throughout and an electronic organ replaced the old pipe organ amongst many other alterations, including turning the side-chapel into an adaptable space for meetings, functions and receptions, such as tonight. ‘Here I stand knocking at the door; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sit down to supper with him, and he with me.’ (Revelation 3:20) As a community choir we do not charge admission but rely on the generosity of our audience to donate as they see fit. The proceeds are divided between the chosen charity for that particular evening and the venue in which we perform.We would like to thank all at St Mary’s and The Reverend Dr Sally Welch very much for allowing us to stage this concert in such a magnificent space.

SLEEPERS... AWAKE!

PROGRAMME PHOTOGRAPHY (MODEL: CHRISSY GILLESPIE), DESIGN AND PRODUCTION BY HOWARD SHERWOOD

WWW.HOWARD-SHERWOOD.CO.UK

Saturday 28 November 2015

St Mary’s Church, Charlbury, Oxfordshire

AVE MARIA Vladimir Vavilov (1925–73) originally attributed to Giulio Caccini

(1545–1618) arranged by Patrick M Liebergen Accompanied by Chrissy Gillespie (flute) and Rosie Meyrick (clarinet)

THE ANGEL GABRIEL FROM HEAVEN CAME Basque carol paraphrased by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924)

harmonised by Edgar Pettman (1865–1943)

THE SEAL LULLABY Eric Whitacre (born 1970)

DER MIRJAMBRUNNEN Klezmer arranged by Joachim Johow (born 1952)

Performed by Belinda Armstrong (clarinet), accompanied by Rosie Meyrick (clarinet) and Lyndsay Winpenny (piano)

JOURNEY OF THE MAGI by T S Eliot (1888–1965) read by John-Charles Osmond

THE THREE KINGS Music: Peter Cornelius (1824–74); Words: trans. Herbert Newell Bate

(1871–1941) Arranged: Ivor Atkins (1869–1953) Performed by Jim Winpenny, Amanda Cooper and Ann Mansbridge

accompanied by Bernard West

FUTILITY Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) read by Howard Sherwood

WHISPERING HOPE Septimus Winner (1827–1902)

Performed by Dear Someone (Amanda Cooper and Patrick Moores)

UNDER THE LEAVES Albert Laighton (1829–87) read by Carole Bradshaw

DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY Traditional, arranged by M Noia

SLEEP Charles Anthony Silvestri (born 1965) read by Philippa Furlong

LULLABY (IN HAMMERSBACH) Words: C Alice Elgar (1848–1920); Music: Edward Elgar (1857–1934)

THE GASMAN COMETH Words: Michael Flanders (1922–75); Music: Donald Swann (1923–94)

Performed by Christopher Stockwell

LULLABYE (GOODNIGHT, MY ANGEL) Words and Music: Billy Joel (born 1949)

Performed by The After Nines

AVE MARIA Music: Karl Jenkins (born 1944) Performed by The After Nines

THE END OF ALL THINGS IS AT HAND Christina Rossetti (1830–94) read by David Salter

SOUND THE TRUMPET Cindy DiCosola

I WISH I KNEW HOW IT WOULD FEEL TO BE FREE Music: Billy Taylor (1921–2010);

Words: Dick Dallas; Arranged: Pete Churchill

Bernard West – ConductorBernard began his musical life as a pianist, before adding the cello and the organ to his repertoire. As an accompanist, he worked with a range of choral groups in North Yorkshire from an early age, going on to win an organ scholarship to Girton College, Cambridge. Whilst reading for his music degree in Cambridge, he was in demand as recitalist, accompanist, repetiteur and conductor for the award-winning college choir and a host of college and University music societies.Settling with his family in the Cotswolds in 2002, he took over the position of Director of Music at St Mary the Virgin, Shipton-under-Wychwood. He has developed and extended this choir, one of the few remaining church choirs in the area, which now regularly performs further afield and deputises at cathedrals. Apart from leading The Wychwood Chorale, he is also Musical Director for the Brize Singers, and Eight in a bar, a vocal octet who were chosen as a ‘Choir of the Day’ in Choir of the Year 2012, and Assistant Musical Director for the Chipping Norton Choral Society.Aside from his conducting work, Bernard is in great demand as an accompanist and as a conductor, working with various choirs, choral societies and theatrical groups in the Cotswolds. He also tries to keep some free time to spend with his two young sons.

Formed in 2008 by David Crown as a community choir, The Wychwood Chorale has become an accomplished group that

performs multi-part arrangements of classical, spiritual and popular works sung both accompanied and a capella.

You’re welcome to join us either if you’re a seasoned singer or if you’ve never sung before or cannot read a note of music – all that is

required is your commitment to rehearse for a concert at the end of each term.

We do not audition new members and invite you to join us for a FREE TASTER REHEARSAL.

We currently rehearse at St Nicholas’ Church, Chadlington from 7.30 pm–9.00 pm on Tuesdays during term time. If you’d like to join

us or arrange a free taster rehearsal, please call Emma on 01608 659737 or visit our website.

W W W . W Y C H W O O D C H O R A L E . O R G . U K

Our next concert will be on Sunday 20 March 2016

at the Town Hall, Chipping Norton

MUSICAL DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR: BERNARD WEST

Sopranos

Belinda Armstrong 1

Henrietta Berkley

Bernardine Boxall 1

Carole Bradshaw 1

Jeanne Carpenter 1

Sue Collins1

Ruth Davies

Emma Goodman

Chris King

Annette Lawrence

Sue Lester

Roxanne Macmillan 1

Ann Mansbridge 1

Rosemary Osmond

Zoe Reynolds

Tessa Rumble 1

Trish Skea

Maureen Sparling

Linda Speddy

Elsa Thring

Anne Timpson

Altos

Di Arthur

Rose Atkins

Jo Clarke

Jill Colchester

Amanda Cooper 1

Sue Cox 1

Annemette Frosh

Chrissy Gillespie 1

Cheryl Horsey

Angela Lear

Rosie Meyrick

Jacky Radbone

Sarah Reed

Carole Sherwood 1

Louise Spicer

Suzanne Stogdon

Tenors

Ellis Davies

Philippa Furlong

Ron Howlett

Richard Knight 1

David Salter 1

Howard Sherwood 1

Basses

Reg James

Allan Ledger 1

John-Charles Osmond1

Christopher Stockwell 1

Oliver Stogdon 1

Jim Winpenny 1

Accompanist

Lyndsay Winpenny

Stewards

Roger Boxall

Andrew Carpenter

1 also sings in The After Nines

Programme

All in a Garden Green

If you’d like to join the choir please visit www.wychwoodchorale.org.uk

� is concert is part of Dean & Chadlington Summer Music Festival 2015

7.30 pm � ursday 25 June 2015St Nicholas’ Church, Chadlington OX7 3LX

FREE ADMISSION & REFRESHMENTSTHERE WILL BE A RETIRING COLLECTION FROM WHICH DONATIONS TO A NOMINATED CHARITY WILL BE MADE

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MUSICAL DIRECTOR: BERNARD WEST

The Wychwood ChoraleSUMMER 2015 CONCERT POSTER

The Wychwood ChoraleSUMMER 2015 CONCERT

PROGRAMME

SING AROUNDTHE WORLD

7.30 pm, Saturday 28 March 2015St. Kenelm’s Church, Enstone, OX7 4NL

FREE ADMISSION & REFRESHMENTS

Voluntary collection in aid of St Kenelm’s Church and the Koestler Trust

IF YOU’D LIKE TO JOIN THE CHOIR PLEASE VISIT WWW.WYCHWOODCHORALE.ORG.UK

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MUSICAL DIRECTOR: BERNARD WEST

The Wychwood ChoraleSPRING 2015 CONCERT POSTER

The Wychwood ChoraleSPRING 2015 CONCERT

PROGRAMME

IF YOU’D LIKE TO JOIN THE CHOIR PLEA SE VISIT WWW.WYCHWO OD CHOR ALE.ORG .UK

Christmas Concert

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MUSICAL DIRECTOR: BERNARD WEST

7.30 pm, Saturday 6 December 2014 All Saints’ Church, Churchill OX7 6NU

FREE ADMISSION & REFRESHMENTS

Voluntary collection in aid of All Saints’ Church and The Katharine House Hospice

The Wychwood ChoraleCHRISTMAS 2014 CONCERT POSTER

The Wychwood ChoraleCHRISTMAS 2014 CONCERT

PROGRAMME

Summer Concert

If you’d like to join the choir please visit www.wychwoodchorale.org.uk

Saturday 12 July 2014

7.30 pm St Nicholas’ Church Chadlington OX7 3LX

FREE ADMISSION & REFRESHMENTS

Voluntary collection in aid of St Nicholas’ Churchand our nominated charity: D

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MUSICAL DIRECTOR: BERNARD WEST

The Wychwood ChoraleSUMMER 2014 CONCERT POSTER

The Wychwood ChoraleSUMMER 2014 CONCERT

PROGRAMME

Spring Concert

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: BERNARD WEST

If you’d like to join the choir please visit WWW.WYCHWOODCHORALE.ORG.UK

Saturday 29 March 20147.30 pm Church of St Simon & St Jude

Milton-under-Wychwood OX7 6LJFREE ADMISSION &

REFRESHMENTS(Donations to the venue

and a nominated charity)

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The Wychwood ChoraleSPRING 2015 CONCERT POSTER

SopranosKate AllenSarah BainbridgeJulie BowserRebecca CoochKatie DograRhona JohnsonRachel Lee-JohnsonGill LeishmanAlice le PageRosalind MacMillanFiona MurrayTomoko OgusuRebecca Ranson

Sarah StevensJacqui Voller Jenny WatersRosalind Wigmore

AltosCarla BattelliLesley BenningtonAngela BryantSarah CastleCynthia CraneAlison DuncanRosemary EvansRebecca Fenn-Tripp

Sylvia HillRadka RanaRoxanne RansomeAnne SauerAmy Tisi

TenorsCharlie BrockisGuillaume DelhoumeJason FarrowMichael GaffneyClive PearceSimon Wellings

BassesDaniel BignellTony BridgePeter ChamberlainAndrew CoochIain EggelingChristopher EnstonDidier GarconAndrew HarteAndrew HerewardRobert JacksonAustin JacobsSamuel MorrisJulian Tisi

READING PHOENIX CHOIR

W W W . R E A D I N G P H O E N I X C H O I R . C O M

Reading Phoenix Choir is a 50-strong mixed voice choir. It is considered one of the finest amateur choirs in the UK. It has members of all backgrounds and ages, with musical experience ranging from music degrees/diplomas to average sight

readers, all sharing a love of choral music.

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: DAVID CROWN

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From the Flames…

Recorded on 13, 14 and 15 July 2012 at Queen Anne’s School, Caversham, Reading.

Recording Engineer: Duncan Williams

Production: Duncan Williams and David Crown

Catalogue Ref. RPC 12 ℗ and © 2012 Reading Phoenix Choir

CD DESIGN AND PRODUCTION: WWW.HOWARD-SHERWOOD.CO.UK

THE MUSIC

On this CD you will find pairs of works by a variety of composers. One is an original choral work and the other has been arranged for choir but was originally intended for other forces. There are four totally new arrangements of wonderful works that translate superbly to voices as well as some choral favourites that cannot be heard too many times!

Gustav Holst (1874–1934) was a life-long friend of Ralph Vaughan-Williams. Both were fascinated by folk-songs and it is surely no coincidence that they both wrote so many good tunes! Holst was an orchestral trombonist before turning to teaching, ending up as Professor of Music at Reading and many of his best-known works are orchestral, including of course his most famous work, The Planets, from which comes our arrangement of I vow to thee, my country. His Nunc dimittis is a marvellous piece that has become a stalwart in the music lists of choirs around the country yet it was only published posthumously by his daughter Imogen. It’s a daring eight-part setting that builds from its hushed opening to a vibrant conclusion.

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901–1999) is universally popular through the Concierto de Aranjuez, his beautiful guitar concerto and was also a virtuoso pianist despite being blind from the age of three. He wrote relatively little music for choir, in fact the vast majority of his compositions involve guitar, many with orchestra. A la chiribirivuela is a joyous romp, a Christmas nonsense song that may seem to have relatively little to do with Christmas UK-style, but certainly hits the spot as a seasonal dance! It is almost sectional with abrupt shifts of harmony and a solo quartet bouncing off the main body of singers as the music twists one way then another. Adela is an arrangement of one of his haunting songs for voice and guitar. Surely no-one can fail to be touched by the

gorgeous accompaniment to the tragic tale of unrequited love.

At the height of his powers at the beginning of the twentieth century, Claude Debussy (1862–1918) had little formal education, but studied piano with Verlaine’s mother and ended up at the Paris Conservatoire! Even as a teenager he was considered daring in his approach to composition. His influences included Wagner, Liszt and Verdi, and he was very taken by the sound world of the Javanese Gamelan. Even more than this, his composing, and indeed his whole life was moulded by the time he spent with artists of the ‘Impressionist’ movement and poets, such as Mallarme, of the ‘symbolist’ movement. This led him to take music and composition down totally new lines both harmonically and dramatically and which paved the way for many composers of the later part of the century. He wrote only one piece for choir, the three-part Trois chansons of which we have the first song here. The lush and enchanting world he creates from this passionate love-song makes it doubly surprising that he did not write more for these forces. The same cannot be said for his piano works which were a constant throughout his life. The colours translate extremely well to a choir and conjure up the world of his opera Pelleas et Melisande as well as creating a vocal sound-world that perhaps suggests where he might have been drawn in his choral writing.

Edward Elgar (1857–1934) is rightly celebrated as one of the greatest of the English composers of the early part of the twentieth century although it was only in his forties that he emerged from obscurity. His music could not feel more English to most people despite the considerable influence of Wagner, Schumann and Brahms in his life. Although he is better known nowadays for his large-scale orchestral works, he wrote a large body of very fine choral pieces, well represented here by The Shower, a short anthem of heart-felt beauty that manages to balance joy and melancholy in brilliant response to the text. The Serenade for Strings was the source for the Ave Maria that is its

partner. The slow movement, not unlike the Barber, is a big romantic work, his use of string orchestra translating so well to a choir.

Johann Strauss II (1825–1899) was another who wrote very little for choir. In fact he only wrote this one piece, Tu qui regis and it is a very youthful work. We have made the first recording of it in its original a capella version. It may not rank as one of the best things he did, after all, he wrote hundreds of superb works for orchestra and in the world of Viennese operetta, but it is well-crafted and the vocal writing hints at the direction he would be taking, especially when you hear the soprano line. Of course he is famed as the ‘Waltz King’ and we have turned to his best known and loved music for the arrangement. This is his Pizzicato Polka, a stalwart of the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day concert, which has been turned in to a fun encore-type piece set to the words of a well-known German children’s poem about baking!

Samuel Barber (1910–1981) was a fine singer and pianist in his own right and composed a number of pieces for choir. Interestingly, the Agnus Dei is possibly the best known of these compositions despite being an arrangement of an arrangement! It started out as the slow movement of his string quartet, was arranged for string orchestra and played at the funeral of John F. Kennedy and then was further arranged for choir. Its dense harmonies and wonderful lines make it a favourite for string orchestras and is without a doubt the most famous re-arrangement of an orchestral work ever made. Having said that, Let down the bars, O death, despite being a relatively early work and only being two pages long, is a powerful setting of the words (by Emily Dickinson), displaying all Barber’s skills in choral and vocal writing.

David Crown Musical Director, Reading Phoenix Choir

W W W . R E A D I N G P H O E N I X C H O I R . C O M

1 I VOW TO THEE MY COUNTRY Gustav Holst Arr. Paul Ayres 3’16”

2 NUNC DIMITTIS Gustav Holst 3’35”

3 ADELA Joaquín Rodrigo Arr. David Crown 3’31”

4 A LA CHIRIBIRIVUELA Joaquín Rodrigo 2’43”

5 DES PAS SUR LA NEIGE Claude Debussy Arr. Benjamin Oliver 3’41”

6 NO. 1 OF TROIS CHANSONS DE CHARLES D’ORLÉANS – DIEU! QU’IL LA FAIT BON REGARDER!

Claude Debussy 2’13”

7 AVE MARIA Edward Elgar Arr. David Crown 6’06”

8 THE SHOWER Edward Elgar 2’51”

9 EINE KEINE KOCHKUNST LIED Johann Strauss II Arr. Toby Young 2’50”

10 TU QUI REGIS TOTUM ORBEM Johann Strauss II 4’43”

11 LET DOWN THE BARS, O DEATH OP 8, NO. 2

Samuel Barber 2’17”

12 AGNUS DEI Samuel Barber Arr. The composer 7’03”

From the Flames…0 700953 997524

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…Reading Phoenix ChoirFROM THE FLAMES CD

From the Flames…

RPC 12 ℗ and © 2012