In Memoriam

1 William Byrd (1539/40–1623) Laudibus in sanctis [5:18]

2 Matthew Kaner (b. 1986) Duo seraphim [5:09]

Eleanor Williams, Mimi Doulton, Elizabeth Gornall, Eleanor Wood sopranos

Ben Taylor-Davies, Billie Hylton, Caitlin Goreing, Jacob Werrin, Rosanna Goodall altos

James Rhoads, Miles Ashdown tenors

Freddie Benedict, Alex Pratley basses

Gareth Wilson (b. 1976) Magnificat & Nunc dimittis (Collegium Regale)

3 Magnificat [5:33]

4 Nunc dimittis [5:27]

Graham Thorpe organ

Silvina Milstein (b. 1956) ushnarasmou – untimely spring

5 ushnarasmou [4:01]

6 kusumaani [4:41]

Eleanor Williams, Mimi Doulton solo sopranos

Lindsey James, Charlotte Nohavicka ripieno sopranos

Matthew O’Keeffe, Rosanna Goodall solo altos

Billie Hylton, Jacob Werrin ripieno altos

Miles Ashdown, James Green solo tenors

Jaivin Raj ripieno tenor

Joey Edwards, Alex Pratley, Dominic Veall ripieno basses

7 Francis Pott (b. 1957) Nigra sum sed formosa [6:30]

Lindsey James principal soprano

Mary Fraser, Martha Woodhams sopranos

Jacob Werrin alto

8 Jean Lhéritier (c.1480–c.1551) Nigra sum sed formosa [5:31] (ed. David Trendell)

Recorded on 22-24 June 2015 in the Church of St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood

Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter

24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks

24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter Design: Drew Padrutt Booklet editor: Henry Howard

Photography © Delphian Records Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.delphianrecords.co.uk

The Choir of King’s College London Gareth Wilson

Alexander May, Graham Thorpe organ

9 Robert Busiakiewicz (b. 1990) Ego sum resurrectio et vita [2:27]

Rob Keeley (b. 1960) Magnificat & Nunc dimittis

10 Magnificat [4:15]

11 Nunc dimittis [2:52]

Alexander May organ

Antony Pitts (b. 1969) Pie Jesu (Prayer of the Heart) 12 I [6:55]

13 II [5:38]

Ciara Power, Lindsey James sopranos

Caitlin Goreing, David Lee altos

James Rhoads tenor

Scott Richardson, Joey Edwards basses

14 Matthew Martin (b. 1976) An Invocation to the Holy Spirit [2:43]

15 Giovanni Pierluigi Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui [4:38]

da Palestrina (1525–1594)

Robyn Donnelly soprano

16 Jacob Clemens non Papa (c.1510–1555/6) Ego flos campi [5:27]

17 Francis Grier (b. 1955) Panis angelicus [2:46]

Charlotte Nohavicka soprano

James Rhoads tenor

Total playing time [79:59]

Tracks 2–7, 9–14 & 17 are premiere recordings

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The Choir of King’s College London would like to offer sincere thanks to the donors who helped make this endeavour possible, and also to Father John Pritchard and the churchwardens and congregation of St John’s Church, Upper Norwood for their generosity. With thanks also to the chaplaincy of King’s College London –Richard Burridge, Tim Ditchfield, Natalie Frangos and Poppy Richards.

Notes on the music

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the death of a famous musician might prompt a memorial tribute created from music itself. Examples abound: to take just a few, Josquin’s Nymphes des bois, his ‘Déploration’ on the death of Johannes Ockeghem (in which the wood-nymphs of forest and fountain are called upon to lament with piercing cries the death of a composer who is ‘the true treasurer of music’) and William Byrd’s Ye sacred muses, composed in memory of his friend and teacher Thomas Tallis (with its poignant refrain ‘Tallis is dead, and Music dies’), as well as – to take two seventeenth century examples – instrumental elegies by the viol player Marin Marais in memory of Jean-Baptiste Lully, and by the keyboard virtuoso Johann Jakob Froberger commemorating the lutenist Blancrocher.

In our modern technological age, it’s not surprising that such a memorial should be fashioned not just of music, but through the medium of sound itself – and so it is with this tribute to David Trendell: organist, singer, choir-trainer, scholar, recording producer, mentor; a much-loved man whose musicmaking, in its various forms, touched the lives of those he encountered in many different ways. This CD pays homage to him with new music, dedicated to his memory by friends, colleagues and students, with other works which represent some of his many and varied musical interests, and even with one of his own editions.

After an early musical life which saw him singing first as a treble and then as an alto in the cathedral choir at Norwich, three years as an undergraduate organ scholar at Exeter College, Oxford, and posts at Winchester College and the University Church in Oxford, it was David Trendell’s appointment as Organist and Director of Music at King’s College London in 1992 that saw him set fair for a career in which he was able to combine his talents as an academic musician and musicologist with his flair for the training and coaching of choirs. The chapel choir at King’s, under his directorship, became an acclaimed musical instrument and the engine which powered his excursions into an extraordinary variety of choral repertoire – from the most neglected corners of the Renaissance to works written specially for him by the composers of today. And it’s those varied passions and musical interests which are reflected in the repertoire recorded in this tribute to him.

Renaissance polyphony being one of David Trendell’s great passions, any memorial recording would be incomplete without some examples of music from the Golden Age. His knowledge of that repertoire was extensive –and frequently expanded by his own work as an editor, excavating the archives for hidden gems and reviving music long neglected. In his obituary of David Trendell, the writer and music critic Rick Jones remarked that he ‘did not make a point of announcing his discoveries,

and singers might realise only at the last minute that the work they were to perform had not been sung for 500 years’. One such was the setting of Nigra sum sed formosa by the French Renaissance composer Jean Lhéritier; this was a piece which David Trendell edited, but had never recorded. It is performed in this recording in copies made from his hand-written transcription of the original source, neatly inscribed on large-form manuscript paper of the sort undergraduates use for their harmony and counterpoint exercises, but clear and unfussy, practical and legible, and with everything laid out solely in the service of the music.

The text of the motet comes originally from the Song of Solomon, that extraordinary Old Testament poetical combination of highly perfumed eroticism and mystical sacred love; musical settings of the ‘Song of Songs’ were a life-long fascination for David Trendell. One of his favourite pieces was Ego flos campi, by the Flemish composer Clemens non Papa (literally ‘Clement-not-the-Pope’, presumably in order to distinguish him from Pope Clement VII). This motet, richly scored in seven parts, also sets lines from the Song of Solomon. So too does Palestrina’s Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui (in which the thighs of the beloved are compared to jewels, her navel to a precious goblet, and her belly to wheat set about with lilies); while Lhéritier’s text provides the cue for the inclusion of a modern piece, Francis Pott’s Nigra sum sed formosa about which, more below.

From the regular canon of Renaissance composers and sacred repertoire comes a motet by David Trendell’s favourite composer: William Byrd. Laudibus in sanctis is a jubilant setting, brilliantly scored for five voices, of a paraphrase of Psalm 150 (in which every living creature is called upon to praise the Lord).

Of the remaining music on this CD, all are pieces with a close connection to David Trendell himself, being composed by friends, pupils and colleagues (and, more often than not – in the case of such a sociable and gregarious man – a combination of all three). Most of them were composed in his memory, and all of them receive their first recording on this disc. Interestingly, many of them espouse the musical values (and sometimes even the techniques) of the Renaissance masterpieces which he so loved, in which clarity of texture, the service of the music to the cause of the words, and ‘singable’ individual lines are core values.

David Trendell was interested in the world of church music far beyond the confines of the ecclesiastical buildings where he had spent much of his working life. He was an engaged, active and influential member of the Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy, as Director for four seasons in the late 1980s, but thereafter always maintaining an interest in its work, and in the vital role that sacred music must play in the liturgies of the church. Latterly, he was always ready

to place his chapel choir at King’s College at the disposal of composers interested to write for it, and a major part of his musical legacy is a healthy clutch of pieces performed and premiered by, or even specially composed for, that ensemble. Several are for the Prayer Book service of Evensong (part of the daily round of a chapel choir such as that at King’s). The musical menu for Evensong includes two consistent features – the Magnificat, recounting the words uttered by the Virgin Mary on learning that she is to bear the Son of God, and Nunc dimittis, the prayer spoken in the scriptures by the old man Simeon, who has been told that he will not die until he has seen the Lord, as he holds the infant Jesus tenderly in his arms. Many composers have tackled these texts, and in many different ways; in the Magnificat of his setting, composed in 2006 for sopranos and altos with organ, Rob Keeley (a colleague of David Trendell in the music department at King’s) creates a mood of disbelieving wonder, to be supplanted later by one of vigorous and energetic excitement. In the Nunc dimittis, the vocal lines move together, two voices creating a single sonority to depict the aged Simeon. Another King’s colleague (and the conductor of this recording) Gareth Wilson, in his setting of the same texts, uses a broader canvas which takes advantage of the full resources of the chapel choir, as well as the range of colours and sonorities available on the chapel organ. This dramatic and impassioned setting was

composed especially for The Choir of King’s College London in memory of David Trendell.

Francis Pott’s Nigra sum sed formosa, which revisits the words set by Lhéritier, creates –like the earlier composition – an atmosphere of thoughtful contemplation and affectionate remembrance: the dedication recalls the ‘happy memory’ of David Trendell. ‘Gratitude’ is also the keyword in the superscription at the head of Francis Grier’s Panis angelicus, and likewise sums up its prevailing mood: two soloists, soprano and tenor, soaring ecstatically above a three-part chorus of quiet, gently rocking, male voices.

Teaching and lecturing were an important part of David Trendell’s professional life, both at King’s and elsewhere, and duties which he took seriously. So it is appropriate that this recording should include music by two former students. Like the great polychoral motets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Matthew Kaner’s Duo seraphim divides his vocal forces into independent choirs – three, in this case: high, medium and low voices representing the heavenly host of angels, singing increasingly fervent praises around the throne of God. Prayerfulness, and a devotional approach to the text, also characterises Ego sum resurrectio et vita, a motet by Robert Busiakiewicz which sets the famous words from St John’s Gospel in which Christ sets out his divine nature to Martha, after he has raised her brother Lazarus.

One piece on this recording which steps determinedly away from the liturgical repertoire which was the backbone of so much of David Trendell’s life and work is ushnarasmou, by his colleague from the Department of Music at King’s College London, Silvina Milstein. Composed in his memory, it (like the Song of Solomon settings elsewhere on this disc) sets words which explore the imagery of the natural world, playing with ideas of renewal, rebirth, and the arrival of spring, but clothed in ancient Sanskrit texts and mythology, rather than biblical ones. It’s a piece whose musical language, and considerable vocal challenges, lie far outside those demanded by the repertoire undertaken in the normal daily work of a chapel choir, and it is a tribute both to David Trendell’s wide-ranging musical interests, as much as to the highly accomplished and well-trained choral machine he created (and which has been maintained by his successor), that such a piece can be included here.

Two more memorial pieces complete this survey of one man’s outstanding musical achievements in the field of sacred music, but also allude to the rather private but deeply held faith which inspired them. Matthew Martin, in An Invocation to the Holy Spirit, sets – with gentleness and thoughtful sensitivity – words from the Acts of the Apostles and from the great medieval Pentecost hymn Veni Sancte Spiritus which quietly explore the idea of the Holy Spirit subtly acting on the lives of

humankind. Antony Pitts’ Pie Jesu combines penitential lines in English with traditional Latin ones from the Requiem (or Mass for the Dead) in a piece whose concluding words express the sentiments uttered by any devout Christian, contemplating his end: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

So, a life cut short well before its time; a man much loved, much respected, and greatly missed; and, here, a recording which modestly explores and seeks to commemorate something of all that he was, all that he gave to others, and all that he achieved. To adapt the epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren: ‘Auditor, si monumentum requires, circumspice.’

David Trendell (1964–2014): Requiescat in pace.

Michael Emery has been Senior Producer to the BBC Singers at BBC Radio 3 since 1992. In 2016 he takes up the post of Artistic Director and Manager of the Danish Radio Choirs in Copenhagen.

Texts and translations

Laudibus in sanctis

Laudibus in sanctis Dominum celebrate supremum: firmamenta sonent inclita facta Dei.

Inclita facta Dei cantate, sacraque potentis voce potestatem saepe sonate manus.

Magnificum Domini cantet tuba martia nomen: Pieria Domino concelebrate lira.

Laude Dei resonent resonantia tympana summi: alta sacri resonent organa laude Dei.

Hunc arguta canant tenui psalteria corda, hunc agili laudet laeta chorea pede.

Concava divinas effundant cymbala laudes, cymbala dulcisona laude repleta Dei.

Omne quod aethereis in mundo vescitur auris

Alleluia canat tempus in omne Deo.

Metrical paraphrase of Psalm 150 in elegiac couplets

In holy praises celebrate the most high Lord: let the heavens sound the glorious deeds of God. Sing the glorious deeds of God, and with holy voice sing out often the power of his mighty hands.

Let warlike trumpet sing the magnificent name of the Lord:

celebrate the Lord together with Pierian lyre. Let resounding drums resound with the praises of God the highest,

let loud organs resound with the praise of God the holy.

Let light psalteries sing him with slender string, let a joyful dance praise him with nimble foot. Let rounded cymbals pour out the divine praises, cymbals filled with the sweet-sounding praise of God.

Let everything that feeds on the heavenly airs on earth

sing Alleluia for all time to God.

Duo seraphim

Duo Seraphim clamabant alter ad alterum:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth, plena est omnis terra gloria eius.

Tres sunt qui testimonium dant in caelo: Pater, Verbum et Spiritus Sanctus: et hi tres unum sunt. Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth … Amen.

Matins responsory for Trinity Sunday, words from Isaiah 6: 3 and 1 John 5: 7

Two Seraphim were crying each to each: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of his glory. Three there are who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Holy Lord God of Sabaoth … Amen.

Magnificat

Magnificat anima mea Dominum et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.

Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.

Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum nomen eius.

Et misericordia eius a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.

Fecit potentiam in brachio suo, dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.

Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles.

Esurientes implevit bonis et divites dimisit inanes.

Suscepit Israel puerum suum recordatus misericordiae suae,

sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini eius in saecula.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy is his name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him thoroughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with his arm, he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He rememb’ring his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel, as he promised to our father Abraham and his seed for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, and is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace. Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum, quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum: lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people: to be a light to lighten the gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, and is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

3/10

4/11 Nunc dimittis

5-6

ushnarasmou – untimely spring sets excerpts from the Kumaarasambhavam (a 5thcentury AD Sanskrit epic poem by Kalidasa), describing the untimely blossoming of spring in the Himalayas, leading from the exuberant unleashing of natural forces to spiritual turmoil and eventually sudden stillness.

I. ushnarasmou – rays of sunshine

As the burning rays of sunshine (ushnarasmou) turn to the mythological Northern Realm guarded by Kubera (Kuberagupthaam dhiSam), at an unwonted hour (samayam vilanghya) from the south (dighdhakshinaa) the sun’s consort gives out a fragrant breeze (gandhavaham mukhena) – a mournful sigh (vyaliika niSvaasam) at the unscrupulous early departure of her lover.

after Canto 3.25 (‘Rays of Sunshine’)

II. kusumaani – flowers; the hermits; stillness

The aSoka tree (symbol of fertility) is said to blossom when touched by the tinkling anklets of beautiful maidens (samparkam aaSinchitha nuupurena), but on this occasion it hurls forth copious red flowers (kusumaani ) and buds (sapallavaani ) of its own accord.

after Canto 3.26 (‘Flowers’)

The hermits (thapasvinah) practising penance in the forest (sthaanuvanoukasasH thaam) find their endeavours (kathamchith) to tame their minds (iiSaa manasaam babhuuvuH ) hindered by the heady manifestations of nature’s untimely awakening.

after Canto 3.34 (‘The Hermits’)

Unmoved by the sensuous turmoil in the Himalayas, but wishing to help those of lesser spiritual discipline, Siva eventually touches his lips for silence, freezing the scene; as in a picture (chithraarpithaarambham), the forest no longer stirs (nishkampavrksham), there is no buzzing from the bees (nibhrthadhvirepham), the birds are hushed (muukaandajam), and all creatures stand still (Saantha mrgaprachaaram).

after Canto 3.42 (‘Stillness’)

Nigra sum sed formosa

Nigra sum sed formosa, filiae Jerusalem, sicut tabernacula Cedar, sicut pelles Salomonis. Nolite me considerare quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol. Filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me; posuerunt me custodem in vineis: vineam meam non custodivi. Indica mihi, quem diligit anima mea, ubi pascas, ubi cubes in meridie, ne vagari incipiam per greges sodalium tuorum.

Song of Songs 1: 4-6 (Vulgate)

I am black, but beautiful, you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the garments of Solomon. Do not look closely at me because I am dark, because the sun has discoloured me: my mother’s children fought against me; they placed me as a guardian among the vines; but my own vineyard I have not guarded. Show me, beloved of my soul, where you eat, where you lie down at midday: so that I do not start to wander through the flocks of your companions.

Nigra sum sed formosa

Nigra sum sed formosa, filia Jerusalem; ideo dilexit me Dominus, et introduxit me in cubiculum suum.

Vespers antiphon at feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary

I am black, but beautiful, the daughter of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord loved me, and led me into his bedchamber.

Ego sum resurrectio et vita

Ego sum resurrectio et vita. Qui credit in me etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet. Et omnis qui vivit et credit in me, non morietur in aeternum.

John 11: 25-26 (Vulgate)

I am resurrection and life. Whoever believes in me, even if he should be dead, will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me, shall not die forever.

(Prayer

Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Words from the Requiem Mass and the Orthodox Prayer of the Heart

Loving Lord Jesus, grant them everlasting rest.

An Invocation to the Holy Spirit

Quia Johannes quidem baptizavit aqua; vos autem baptizamini Spiritui Sancto.

Veni Sancte Spiritus et emitte caelitus lucis tuae radium.

Amen.

Acts 1: 5 (Vulgate); sequence at Pentecost

For John baptised you even with water; but you are being baptised with the Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit, and send out from heaven the ray of your light. Amen.

Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui

Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui in calceamentis, filia principis! Junctura femorum tuorum sicut monilia quae fabricata sunt manu artificis; umbilicus tuus crater tornatilis numquam indigens poculis; venter tuus sicut acervus tritici vallatus lilies.

Song of Songs 7: 1-2 (Vulgate)

How beautiful are your steps in your sandals, prince’s daughter! The joints of your thighs are like the jewels made by the hand of a craftsman; your navel a well-turned drinkingbowl never lacking for cups; your stomach like a heap of wheat surrounded by lilies.

Ego flos campi

Ego flos campi et lilium convallium. Sicut lilium inter spinas sic amica mea inter filias; fons hortorum puteus aquarum viventium quae fluunt impetu de Libano.

Song of Songs 2: 1-2, 4: 15 (Vulgate)

I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valley. Like a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters; a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters that flow in a flood from Mount Lebanon.

Panis angelicus

Panis angelicus fit panis hominum; dat panis caelicus figuris terminum: O res mirabilis!

Manducat Dominum pauper, servus et humilis.

St Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), from a hymn for the Feast of Corpus Christi

The bread of angels becomes the bread of men; the bread of heaven puts an end to foreshadowings: O thing of wonder! The poor, the slave and the lowly feast on their Lord.

Gareth Wilson studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and Edinburgh University before undertaking postgraduate performance diplomas at the Royal Academy of Music in London (receiving the DipRAM for an outstanding final recital) where he became a Fellow, and subsequently lecturer, in Academic Studies between 2000 and 2004. At the same time, he joined the Music Department at King’s College London and, in 2012, was appointed an academic professor at the Royal College of Music.

heard at dozens of churches, cathedrals, and college chapels across Britain and has been recorded and broadcast on BBC Radio.

in Russia, France, Hong Kong and Italy. It has recorded music by composers including Philippe Rogier, Sebastián de Vivanco and, for Delphian, Gregorio Allegri (DCD34103) and Alfred Desenclos, Francis Poulenc and Pierre Villette (DCD34136). A recording partnership with the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge has also yielded two releases to date – in 2008 the combined choirs recorded Rodion Shchedrin’s monumental The Sealed Angel (DCD34067), receiving the ‘Editor’s Choice’ distinction in Gramophone magazine, and in June 2013 the ‘superchoir’ issued a disc of German Romantic choral music (DCD34124), including Richard Strauss’s virtuosic and littleperformed 20-part Deutsche Motette. Biographies

He also lectures for the Royal College of Organists and, in addition to freelance work as a choral conductor, is Director of Music at Christ Church, Chelsea, where has been responsible for the composition, commissioning and directing of over 150 new works for the Anglican liturgy as well as playing a leading role in the installation of the church’s Flentrop organ. His liturgical music has been

Gareth undertook postgraduate research in Theology and Philosophy from London University’s Heythrop College before embarking upon a doctorate in the Theology Department at King’s College London, where he researches the contribution of music to the growth of atheism in nineteenth-century Europe. He has given numerous talks and lecture courses on this subject at King’s and beyond.

Following the death of David Trendell, he was appointed Acting Director of The Choir of King’s College London, with whom he gave numerous concerts, toured Italy, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In 2015, he became the first member of the Music Department at King’s to win a KCL Teaching Excellence Award, having been nominated in 2011 and 2012. He has recently been appointed Director of Chapel Music at Girton College in the University of Cambridge, where he is also a member of the Music Faculty.

The Choir of King’s College London is one of the most acclaimed mixed-voice university choirs in England. Founded in its present form in 1945, it consists of up to thirty choral scholars reading a variety of subjects.

King’s College London, part of the University of London, was itself founded in 1829. Besides providing music for the services in the College’s magnificent chapel, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the mid-nineteenth century and recently restored, the choir has an international reputation as one of Britain’s leading collegiate mixed-voice choirs, especially for its performances of Renaissance polyphony.

The choir gives many concerts, both in England and abroad. It has recently given concerts

The Choir of King’s College London

Sopranos

Robyn Donnelly

Mimi Doulton

Mary Fraser

Elizabeth Gornall

Lindsey James

Charlotte Nohavicka

Ciara Power

Imogen Vining

Eleanor Williams

Rebecca Widdicombe

Eleanor Wood

Martha Woodhams

Altos

Rosanna Goodall

Caitlin Goreing

Billie Hylton

David Lee

Matthew O’Keeffe

Ben Taylor-Davies

Jacob Werrin

Tenors

Miles Ashdown

James Green

Sam Lyons

Jaivin Raj

James Rhoads

Basses

Freddie Benedict

Joey Edwards

Alex Pratley

Scott Richardson

Dominic Veall

Tom Wood

Organ scholars

Alexander May

Graham Thorpe

With grateful thanks to:

Stephen and Jenny Harrow

Leah Thomas

Louise Martin (née Poole)

Bevis Hungate

Patrick

Simon Lascelles

Verity

Cheyney Kent

Louise McPhee

Silvina Milstein

Emma Hopegood

Rose Martin

Felix

Lucy Baxandall and Martin Stokes

Alison

Roger Parker

Sally Dunkley

Jay & Phoebe Benedict

Katie Bank

Hannah

Maddy Allsop

Roy and Kate Woodhams

Colin Menzies

Antony Garstone

Jonathan & Madeline Holl

Helly

Michael and Betty Trendell

Anna Dymond

Polly Jeffries

Louise Drewett

MegG

Tom and Phyllis Wilson

James Baker

John Ferguson and Oonagh Lee

Ed Elias

Jeremy Leaman

Gillian Bragg

Esther and Aidan Platten

Olive Simpson

Jonathan Freeman-Attwood

Hannah Templeton

Lawrence Davies

Lizzie Mannion

Charlotte and Simon Nash

Julian Leang

Billie Hylton

Bob Allies & Jill Franklin

Julian Woodward

Louis d’Heudieres

Stephen and Felicity Rice

Laura Elworthy

Amanda Dean

Oli Gerrish

Graham Thorpe’s Parents

Sam P

James Green

Isabel (ex-St M’s B St)

Holly

Michael Kris

Charlotte

Josiah and Esther Moody

Lilley of the Valley

Ian & Louise

Fingal & Lea Pol Tristram and the very many anonymous donors

Also available on Delphian

Allegri: Missae In lectulo meo & Christus resurgens, Miserere, Motets

The Choir of King’s College London / David Trendell

DCD34103

Gregorio Allegri deserves better than for his reputation to rest on just one piece. Alongside his iconic Miserere, which never fails to cast its spell on listeners, the Choir of King’s College London presents premiere performances of two of his five surviving masses, richly wrought with consummate skill in Palestrina’s prima prattica, and of their originating motets. These radiant performances shed new light on a much-loved composer.

‘David Trendell’s fine choir glows with warmth and commitment’ — The Observer, May 2012

Desenclos / Poulenc / Villette: Sacred Choral Works

The Choir of King’s College London / David Trendell

DCD34136

Winner of the coveted Prix de Rome, Alfred Desenclos remains an almost unknown figure in twentieth-century music. His contribution to the distinguished French tradition of Requiem Mass settings dates from 1963; incorporating influences from Gregorian chant as well as rich harmonies based on added-note chords, this piece with its passionate outpourings is a revelation. It forms the centrestone of David Trendell’s programme, which also features music by Villette – who shared Desenclos’ interest in jazz –and Poulenc, whose return to Catholicism in 1936 initiated a line of pieces, beginning with the Litanies à la Vierge noire de Rocamadour, that represent some of the most significant religious choral music of the twentieth century.

Trendell’s choir is on ravishing form, and the organ at his alma mater, Exeter College, Oxford, fits this music like a velvet glove.

‘spaciously dignified and meditative … [The choir] has a formidable musical unity under David Trendell’ — Sunday Times, March 2014

Rodion Shchedrin: The Sealed Angel Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge; The Choir of King’s College London

Geoffrey Webber & David Trendell conductors, Clare Wills oboe

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Two of Britain’s finest collegiate choirs join forces and cross a continent to take on the sublime expressiveness of Rodion Shchedrin’s ‘Russian liturgy’, an astonishing statement of faith composed in the early days of perestroika. Shchedrin’s choral tableaux juxtapose tenderness with bracing sonic impact, and are shadowed throughout by the plangent voice of a solo oboe representing the soul of the Russian people.

‘Caught here in fine sound, this is a splendid disc of a multifaceted, manylayered modern masterpiece’ — Gramophone, June 2009, EDITOR’S CHOICE

Deutsche Motette Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge; The Choir of King’s College London

Geoffrey Webber & David Trendell conductors

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Delphian’s superchoir reunites after its highly successful recording of The Sealed Angel, this time for a unique programme of German music from Schubert to Richard Strauss. Strauss’s sumptuous Deutsche Motette is the last word in late Romantic choral opulence, its teeming polyphony brought to thrilling life by this virtuoso cast of over sixty singers. The rest of the programme explores the vivid colours and shadowy half-lights of a distinctly German music that reached its culmination in Strauss’s extravagant masterpiece. The singing throughout combines a musical intensity and imagination with an understanding of period style, two qualities that are hallmarks of both choirs’ work.

‘Credit to conductor David Trendell for eliciting that sustained intensity of expression from his combined college choirs, whose youthful timbre imparts a freshness which … suits the imprecatory nature of Rückert’s poem perfectly’ BBC Music Magazine, August 2013

Also available on Delphian

New in March 2016 Also available on

La Fauvette Passerinette: a Messiaen premiere, with birds, landscapes & homages

Into this World this Day did come: carols contemporary & medieval Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge / Geoffrey Webber

Peter Hill

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A typically intriguing and unusual programme from the Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, combining English works from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries with medievally-inspired carols by some of our finest living composers. From the plangent innocence of William Sweeney’s The Innumerable Christ to the shining antiphony of Diana Burrell’s Creator of the Stars of Night, this selection will seduce and enchant. The choral singing combines polish with verve, and director Geoffrey Webber’s meticulous attention to detail is floodlit by the bathing acoustics of St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast.

In 2012, leading pianist and Messiaen scholar Peter Hill made a remarkable discovery among the composer’s papers: several pages of tightly written manuscript from 1961, constituting a near-complete and hitherto unknown work for piano. Hill was able to fill in some missing dynamics and articulations by consulting Messiaen’s birdsong notebooks, and here sets this glittering addition to Messiaen’s piano output in the context both of the composer’s own earlier work and of music by the many younger composers on whom Messiaen was a profound influence – from Stockhausen and Takemitsu to George Benjamin, who like Hill himself worked closely with the composer in the years before his death.

‘stunning … an unflinching modern sound with an irresistible spiritual dimension’

— Norman Lebrecht, www.scena.org, March 2014

‘A new Messiaen work may be the focus here, but this would be an outstanding recital even without that enticement … Hill’s poetry and sense of colour are stronger than ever’

– BBC Music Magazine, October 2014, INSTRUMENTAL CHOICE

In Praise of St Columba: The Sound-world of the Celtic Church Barnaby Brown triplepipes, Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge / Geoffrey Webber

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‘rewardingly substantial … [an] outstanding recital disc. The appeal is greatly enhanced by the exceptional quality of the recording’ – Gramophone, December 2014, EDITOR’S CHOICE

Also shortlisted at the 2015 Gramophone Awards

Just as the influence of Irish monks extended not only across Scotland but also to mainland Europe, so we imagine our way back down the centuries into 7th-century hermits’ cells, 10th-century Celtic foundations in Switzerland, and the 14th-century world of Inchcolm Abbey, the ‘Iona of the East’ in the Firth of Forth. Silent footprints of musical activity – the evidence of early notation but also of stone carvings, manuscript illuminations, and documents of the early Church – have guided both vocal and instrumental approaches in the choir’s work with scholar and piper Barnaby Brown, an exciting extended collaboration which was further informed by oral traditions from as far afield as Sardinia and the Outer Hebrides.

‘performances of grace … musical conviction and beauty of tone’

— BBC Music Magazine, September 2014, CHORAL & SONG CHOICE

The Merton Collection: Merton College at 750 Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas & Peter Phillips

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In 2014, the University of Oxford’s Merton College celebrates its 750th year. Benjamin Nicholas and Peter Phillips’ specially conceived journey through seven centuries of choral repertoire provides a bird’s-eye view of some important moments in musical history, and features two composers personally associated with the College – John Dunstaple and Lennox Berkeley – as well as three new works commissioned for the anniversary celebrations. The choir, a relatively recent addition to this illustrious college’s complement of treasures, gives stylish and committed performances in the famous acoustic of Merton’s thirteenth-century chapel.

‘fine musicianship, commitment and versatility’ — Choir & Organ, January/February 2014

Viri Galilaei: Favourite Anthems from Merton Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas & Peter Phillips DCD34174

Now firmly established amongst Oxbridge’s finest choral foundations and at the same time certainly its youngest, the Choir of Merton College can be relied upon to present a selection of favourite anthems which similarly combines fresh inspiration with timeless musical values. The choir’s fifth Delphian recording in five years again showcases the talents of its joint directors Benjamin Nicholas and Peter Phillips, with Phillips’ love of polyphony complemented by Nicholas’s flair and commitment in some of the twentieth century’s major choral works. Bookending these ‘favourites’ are Patrick Gowers’ now iconic Ascension Day anthem Viri Galilaei and Jonathan Dove’s newly minted Te Deum, commissioned by Merton College as part of the Merton Choirbook – the largest series of commissions of its kind in modern times, created in celebration of the College’s 750th anniversary.

In memory of David