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In this concert the combined choirs of the Brentwood Choirs Festival sang works by Handel, Andrew Carter and Andrew Wright. The performance was conducted by Andrew Wright, Bruce Pennick or Nicholas Sherwood, depending on the choral combination for the particular work (or sometimes the particular movement when children were singing). This was a concert designed with an accent on youth: As well as a special BCF children's choir, there were young men from Brentwood School singing in the adult choir.
The opening work, Handel's anthem “Zadok the Priest” has been performed at every coronation of a British monarch since George II and Queen Caroline were crowned in 1727, and it is a popular concert choice. Andrew Carter writes especially well for the pipe organ and Stephen King, organist at Brentwood Cathedral performed his exciting Organ Concerto to considerable acclaim. Andrew's 'Benedicite' is a joyous work for mixed chorus, children's choir, and a chamber orchestra. When Andrew Carter wrote this work he was inspired by carvings in the roof of the restored South Transept of York Minster, which had been destroyed in a disasterous fire in 1984 and required replacement. In 1986 children had been given a chance to offer designs for the carvings through the agency of Blue Peter, the BBC TV programme. He was in the audience. Continuing the accent on youth, Andrew Wright, Master of Music at Brentwood Cathedral, wrote two extra movements into his work 'Requiem of Peace' especially for for the children's choir.
The concert was a near sell out!
The following poster was placed on this website before the concert event, together with profiles of the composers and conductors which appeared further down the page.
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Conductors: Julia Wilson-James (Soprano) Stephen King (Organ) The Cathedral Singers Brentwood Choral Society Ingatestone Choral Society Billericay Choral Society Bravissima Ladies Choir BCF Children’s Choir Aurelian Chamber Orchestra. |
Tickets £10, concessions £9, schoolchildren £2, |
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Click for Profiles | |||||
| Handel | Andrew Carter | Andrew Wright | Bruce Pennick | Stephen King | |
When King David was dying he chose his son Solomon to succeed him, rather than his ambitious half-brother Adonijah. David's most trusted advisors, Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, anointed Solomon. This story is recounted in Kings I Chapter I of the Bible. Words from this text had been used in every English coronation since that of King Edgar at Bath Abbey in 973, and so there was a precedent for using this text when George I, King of England, and newly of Scotland, was looking for words and music for the coronation of his son as George II . The incumbent royal family were from the House of Hanover, George I speaking German and not English, and they were not universally popular. There had been a Jacobite uprising in 1715, and although it had been put down there were still strong anti-Hanoverian movements in the realm. Handel was a very popular composer in England and he became an English citizen when King George I signed an act for naturalizing him and others in 1727. In the same year he was commissioned to write the music for the coronation of George II and Queen Caroline which was on the 11th October of that year. Handel wrote four anthems: 'Zadok the Priest', 'The King Shall Rejoice', “My Heart is Inditing' and “Let thy Hand be Strenghtened”. The anthem “Zadok the Priest” has been performed at every succeeding coronation, and is the only one that has survived as a popular work. Handel´s text is not a direct quote from the Bible or wording from previous coronation, but a paraphrase, probably written by himself.
Probably the most comprehensive of Wright’s oeuvre, is the Requiem, a personal tribute to the lives of his parents, Horace and Imelda Wright, through his work with the music of Brentwood Cathedral. It was written for the choir of St Paul the Apostle, Westwood, Los Angeles (USA). The real centrepiece is the simple “Pie Jesu, Domine” with its lilting melody and economic harmonic structure. The surrounding movements offer an interesting compendium of styles – undoubtedly stemming from the range of moods in the Requiem Mass – each having its own basic musical idiom, rather than borrowing from the other movements. Subsequently orchestrated in 2005, the work remains a concise setting in the liturgical mould. Quote with permission from the Requiem of Peace CD notes by James Devor in 2008
The Requiem has subsequently received performances in Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church, Cambridge, in Brentwood, Clifton and Sheffield RC Cathedrals, Erith, Kent and St Paul’s University, Minnesota and Portland Cathedral, Oregon. The movements are Introit/Kyrie, Lacrimosa, Pie Jesu Domine, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Lux Aeterna, In Paradisum.
For the performance in Brentwood Cathedral for the Brentwood Choirs Festival in 2011, two extra movements have been added to the Requiem written especially for the involvement of the children taking part.
Andrew Carter writes especially well for the pipe organ and has written three major organ works; Toccata on Veni Emmanuel, Passacaglia (2007) and his Organ Concerto. He also uses organ accompaniament in his many carols and anthems. His concerto was first performed in America in 2005, but the British premiere was in October 2009 at a special concert celebrating his 70th birthday. This concert was the first of the Kirklees organ concert series held in Huddersfield Town Hall. Borough Organist Dr Gordon Stewart performed the premiere with the New World Ensemble led by Andrew Long and conducted by Dougie Scarfe of the Orchestra of Opera North.
The performance next November will be given by Stephen King, who has been organist of Brentwood Cathedral since 1992. He has been actively involved in the musical life of Brentwood for many years - notably with Hutton and Shenfield Choral Society, the Aurelian Ensemble, and the Stondon Singers. (See Stephen's profile using the link above.)
Andrew Carter has said: "Benedicite is simply the Latin title for 'All the world, praise the Lord'. The English Prayer Book takes thirty-three verses to say so. I chose a few of the original verses and added a sprinkling of new ones ....."
It is a joyous work for mixed chorus, children's choir, and a chamber orchestra. Three of the movements, those entitled Badgers and Hedgehogs, Butterflies and Moths and Grannies and Granddads were written for children's choir and these have been published separately under the title 'Bless the Lord'. It was commissioned by the British Federation of Young Choirs for the 1989 Edinburgh Singing Day and first performed on 5 November 1989 in the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, conducted by Philip Ledger. Andrew Carter says that when writing the work he was inspired by the new carvings in the roof of the restored South Transept of York Minster, which had been destroyed in a disasterous fire in 1984. The originals were of a simple foliage design, but it was decided to create something more interesting and varied and so the carvers were each given a theme from the creation of the world and allowed to interpret the verses through their carvings.The children's TV programme Blue Peter launched a competition In 1986 to find six boss designs with a modern themes for the vaulted ceiling. Six year old Rebecca-Rose Walsh was the youngest winner with a design showing a man on the moon, and sixteen year old Joanna Biggs' design reflected the raising of Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose.
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