FROM PUB TO PULPIT -
CHELMSFORD CATHEDRAL
SATURDAY 4 MARCH 2023
PROGRAMME
Chelmsford Cathedral Choir, director Matthew Kelley
Piano: James Davy
Baritone: Joe Byles
Organ: Matthew Kelley
Organ Solo: Eben Eyres
The Chelmsford Singers, Director James Davy
from Five Mystical Songs
I got me flowers
The Call
Love bade me welcome
Chelmsford Cathedral Choir
Joe Byles baritone James Davy piano Matthew Kelley director
Ralph Vaughan Williams
from Songs of Travel
Ralph Vaughan Williams Bright is the Ring of Words; The Infinite Shining Heavens
Joe Byles baritone James Davy piano
Linden Lea
The Chelmsford Singers
James Davy director
Ralph Vaughan Williams arr. Arthur Somervell
from Three Preludes founded on Welsh Hymn Tunes
Ralph Vaughan Williams Rhosymedre (tune by John Edward Davies)
Chelmsford Cathedral Choir; The Chelmsford Singers
Matthew Kelley organ
The selection of choral items this evening shows Vaughan Williams’s ease in moving between extant material (folk song and plainchant) and his own original material, often showing inspiration from other sources: fluid melody and rhythmic freedom being two key facets of his choral style. In many cases the borrowing of melodic material is stated, such as in the title of the hymn preludes; in Love bade me welcome, a sensuous setting of George Herbert’s magnificent poetry, the choir introduces the plainsong O sacrum convivium – a good theological nod from this atheist-agnostic composer – wordlessly, to telling effect as also appears in large-scale works like Flos Campi.
Although a professional organist for a time, Vaughan Williams wrote little for the instrument, with his most famous organ piece being a setting of the Welsh hymn tune Rhosymedre. In it Vaughan Williams captures a quality of lyricism that is not so evident in the other two preludes in the set, which show his more ‘logical’ musical style.
The Chelmsford Singers enjoys close links with Chelmsford Cathedral, having shared musical directors since the 1940s. A mixed-voice choir with an ambitious and enterprising concert programme, the Singers sing occasional services at the Cathedral, joining forces with the Cathedral Choir for concerts including this one and a recent joint performance of A Time to Dance by Alec Roth in November 2022. Our 2022 season featured much music by Ralph Vaughan Williams in celebration of his 150th anniversary and we are delighted to be taking part this evening.
Chelmsford Cathedral Choir enjoys an enterprising musical ministry in the heart of Essex with a busy schedule of regular services and participating in a variety of other events including concerts bringing a feast of music to audiences around the county. As a choir with a primarily sacred repertoire, the Cathedral Choir performs many hymn tunes and arrangements by Vaughan Williams and others in the same vein and we are pleased to be helping to show something of the musical journey of tunes collected in this county and further afield to their treasured place in hymnals around the world.
Joe Byles is an English baritone hailing from Kent and in his second year of a choral scholarship at Chelmsford Cathedral. Prior to his time at Chelmsford, he was a member of National Youth Choirs of Great Britain for five years and studied music at Cardiff University. He also undertakes freelance work across Essex in his spare time and enjoys swimming and playing video games.
Matthew Kelley is an organist and composer from Worcester, and is currently Acting Assistant Organist at Chelmsford Cathedral. Educated at The King’s School in Worcester, he began learning the organ in 2010 under Christopher Allsop during his tenure as a Chorister with Worcester Cathedral Choir. He took on his first playing role as Senior Organ Scholar at Great Malvern Priory in 2015, and was later the 2017/18 Organ Scholar of Guildford Cathedral under the directorship of Katherine Dienes-Williams. More recently, Matthew graduated from Durham University having studied Music for three years. Whilst there, he held the post of Musical Director at St Chad’s College, and directed the Durham University Choral Society through 2020/21. Matthew is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists (ARCO) and has also gained a DipABRSM for Music Performance on the piano. As well as a performer, Matthew is an awardwinning composer, winning the junior category of the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers Competition in 2015 with his piece Fantasia for Strings. He has since been commissioned to write for groups such as the BBC Singers and the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir, and has one choral work, Morning Thoughts, published through the RSCM Press.
James Davy has led the music department at Chelmsford Cathedral since 2012 and is responsible for overseeing a varied and engaging musical programme providing opportunities for boy and girl choristers, school-age and adult singers. The Cathedral Choir is responsible for music at Cathedral services on most days of the week with additional concert engagements in Chelmsford and beyond.
James is also musical director of the Chelmsford Singers, a mixed-voice choir that performs frequently in the Cathedral, most recently in a joint concert with the Cathedral Choir. Formerly organ scholar of Portsmouth, Durham and St Albans Cathedrals, James was a chorister at Southwell Minster and later Assistant Organist at Winchester College. A published composer, whose work has been heard on BBC Radios 3 & 4 and ITV, James is also a keen equestrian, owning a bay gelding called Max
Coracle: Stoke In Uproar
Coracle: Down Ampney
Broomdasher: Spencer the Rover
Coracle: Sine Nomine/ Mr Isaacs Maggot
Broomdasher: Linden Lea
Broomdasher: Lovely on the Water
Coracle: Lovely Joan
Broomdasher: Lowlands of Holland
Broomdasher: The Ploughboy’s Dream
Coracle: Kings Weston
Broomdasher: Bushes and Briars
INTERVAL
FROM PUB TO PULPIT
Cathedral Choir; Organ; Broomdasher; Coracle and the Audience
Kingsfold: The Murder of Maria Marten and I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
Danby: Brisk Young Farmer and ‘Tis Winter Now the Fallen Snow
Monks Gate: Our Captain Calls and He who would valiant be
