Transcribed from the LP sleeve, these are the sleeve notes written by Richard Greening to accompany the earliest known commercial recording of Lichfield Cathedral Choir, which is available online:
BENJAMIN BRITTEN'S setting of Jubilate was written at the
request of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh for the choir of St George's Chapel,
Windsor Castle, and it is now often sung in conjunction with the composer's
earlier setting of the Te Deum in C. The music is of great brilliance, and
incorporates an exciting organ part which makes much use of simple scale
passages. The voice parts are mainly concerned with a short phrase, heard at the
opening, and its inversion. There is a quiet, subdued middle section, and the
music of the opening returns at the Gloria, which ends quietly and is followed
by an extended Amen in the form of a coda. The words are those of Psalm 100.
JOHN SHEPHERD'S anthem, I give you a new commandment, was published in 1560 by John Day in his Certaine Notes. It also appears in some early MSS at the Bodleian, dated c.1547. The music is for men's voices, and the transposed version sung on this record is for two alto parts, one tenor part and one bass part. The text is from St John 13.34-35
HENRY PURCELL'S eight-part setting of the words Hear my prayer, O Lord is perhaps the finest of all Restoration full anthems. The music is developed from two short ideas, the second of which is capable of inversion, and contrasts a major with a minor third. From a quiet beginning by the first altos a complex mass of counterpoint is built, ending in a great climax, using only the material of the first four bars as a basis.
ORLANDO GIBBONS' Second Service, from which this Magnificat and Nunc dimittis are taken, is a verse service — a term which implies the treatment of the music sectionally, using an independent organ accompaniment and exploiting various combinations of solo voices for some sections, interspersed with chorus passages. Gibbons was one of the younger composers of the late 16th century period and wrote church music to English words only. His verse service is the most beautiful example of this type and period which we have. It explores many different combinations of voices and the word-setting is particularly fine.
Prevent us, O Lord, is a splendid example of WILLIAM BYRD'S music for the English church. Written for five voice-parts, it is a setting of the collect from the communion service, and demonstrates all his skill in portraying the sense of the words and his handling of the sonorities of a choir.
MAURICE GREENE was Organist of St Paul's Cathedral in the time of George II — a time during which English music was much overshadowed by continental musicians, of whom Handel was the most important. The anthem Lord, let me know mine end, is none the less one of the finest productions of English Cathedral music of any period. The sombre words are most movingly matched by the music, and a feature of the work is the organ bass which proceeds in crotchets from first to last as if to mark the passage of time. There are two choruses for four voices, separated by a verse for two trebles. The realisation of the original figured bass is by Sir Ernest Bullock, and may be regarded as a model. The words are from Psalm 39.
Eheu, sustulerunt Dominum is a motet which was included by THOMAS MORLEY in his Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke, a treatise on composition which he published in 1597. It may be sung at Easter, or on the feast of St Mary Magdalen, the words being those she is recorded as saying in St John's Gospel. The sense of loss at finding the tomb empty on the first Easter morning is well conveyed by the music, perhaps especially by the opening, where the word Eheu (Alas!) is repeated by all the voices.
MICHAEL EAST is the earliest Organist of Lichfield of whom we know any details. He is thought to have been the son of the famous Thomas East (or Este), who published music by almost all the great Elizabethan composers. Michael East was Organist of Lichfield from 1618-1638. His anthem When Israel came out of Egypt (words from Psalm 114) is in verse form, the verses being for alto, tenor, and two trebles in various combinations. It is a less successful example of the form than the Gibbons service but it shows great vitality and a feeling for expression.
The Evening Canticles — Magnificat and Nunc dimittis — have
been set to music several times by HERBERT HOWELLS, who is one of the most
distinguished church music composers of our time. He has written settings for
many choral foundations, such as Gloucester, St Paul's, and New College,
Oxford. This Nunc dimittis (Collegium Regale) was written for the Choir of
King's College, Cambridge. It opens with a solo for tenor, with choir and organ
accompaniment. The fine Gloria (also used to end Magnificat) commences with an
ecstatic passage in which all the voices are employed in a high register, and
there is a matching climax at the end.
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