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Music Diary
June 2009

Please click here for the full Music List for the week commencing 21 June, and here for the week commencing 28 June.

Sunday 7th June Most Holy Trinity
10.30  Solemn Mass   Full Choir
Messe solennelle Langlais
Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas Philips
Libera nos Sheppard
Organ: Prelude in E flat  BVW 552(i) J S Bach
15.30  Solemn Vespers     Full Choir
Magnificat quarti toni Palestrina
Laudibus in sanctis Byrd
Organ: Fugue in E flat  BWV 552(ii) J S Bach
16.45  Organ Recital:  David Grealy   Westminster Cathedral

Sunday 14th June Corpus Christi
10.30  Solemn Mass   Full Choir
Mass MacMillan
Lauda Sion Victoria
Organ: Offrande et Alleluia final Messiaen
15.30  Solemn Vespers     Full Choir
Magnificat quinti toni H Praetorius
O sacrum convivium Messiaen
Organ: Adoro te Messiaen
16.45  Organ Recital:  Martin Baker   Westminster Cathedral

Friday 19th June Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
17.30  Solemn Mass   Full Choir
Mass in G Schubert
Improperium exspectavit Lassus
Organ: Fugue in C minor (BWV 582) J S Bach

Sunday 21st June Twelfth Sunday of the year
10.30  Solemn Mass Full Choir
Mass Bingham
In spiritu humilitatis Croce
O sacrum convivium Guerrero
Organ: Allegro molto marcato (Symphonie V) Vierne
15.30  Solemn Vespers   Full Choir
Magnificat primi toni Lassus
O salutaris hostia Dupré
Organ: Scherzo (Symphonie V) Vierne
16.45  Organ Recital:  Matthew Martin   Westminster Cathedral 

Wednesday 24th June
Nativity of St John the Baptist
17.30  Solemn Mass   Full Choir
Messa (1651) Monteverdi
Descendit angelus Domini Victoria
Fuit homo missus a Deo Palestrina

Sunday 28th June SS Peter & Paul
10.30  Solemn Mass   Full Choir
Missa Tu es Petrus Palestrina
Tu es Petrus Palestrina
Quodcumque ligaverisPalestrina
15.30  Solemn Vespers   Full Choir
Magnificat primi toni Bevan
Blessed city heavenly Salem Bairstow
16.45  Organ Recital:  Leon Charles   Westminster Abbey

Wednesday 1st July Dedication of the Cathedral
17.30  Solemn Mass   Full Choir
Mass in G minor Vaughan Williams
I was glad Parry
Ave verum corpus Elgar

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Westminster Cathedral Choir's Latest Release -
Victoria: Missa Gaudeamus & Other Music - a liturgical sequence for the Feast of the Assumption, with organ music by Girolamo Frescobaldi
Matthew Martin - Conductor
Thomas Wilson - Organ
Lay Clerks of Westminster Cathedral

A new recording from Westminster Cathedral features the gentlemen of
their choir in a fascinating programme which brings to life the musical and liturgical traditions of this foundation.

This recording by the lay clerks of Westminster Cathedral presents a
full choral, and instrumental, celebration of Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which falls on 15 August. It is based on music by two major composers, Tomás Luis de Victoria
and Girolamo Frescobaldi. Victoria's Missa Gaudeamus provides the central feature of an elaborate liturgical sequence in which other music including motets by Victoria, Mass Propers and other passages of chant, and organ music by Frescobaldi in several forms is interpolated between the movements of the Mass Ordinary. This festive celebration
of Mass is intended not as a reconstruction of a known occasion in the early seventeenth century, but as a sort of musical offering that illustrates the complex liturgical structures becoming available in a period when the resources for the enrichment of the liturgy were growing steadily.
(Hyperion CDA 67748)

Westminster Cathedral Choir's Recent Releases -
Palestrina Third Book of Lamentations
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Martin Baker Master of Music

Palestrina composed four sets of Lamentations, the third of which is recorded here. This most opulent of liturgies runs as a continuous narrative describing momentous Biblical events from the Last Supper through to Christ’s crucifixion and death. Throughout the centuries composers of sacred music have aspired to do justice to this most dramatic of scenarios and Palestrina’s settings rank amongst the finest. He employs a rich harmonic palette, constantly varying the vocal texture and using up to seven voice-parts simultaneously.

The Choir of Westminster Cathedral has an unparalleled reputation. Since its inception under Cardinal Vaughan and Richard Runciman Terry the choir’s uniquely ‘continental’ sound and its position as the world’s only Catholic cathedral choir to sing the full daily liturgy have met with consistent and repeated acclaim.
(Hyperion CDA 67610)

Christmas Vespers at Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral Choir
Matthew Martin organ
Martin Baker Master of Music