It’s June. After one of the wettest Mays on record, many of us are hoping and praying for a drier, sunnier summer. Many of us are also hoping and praying for the return of some of the freedoms we took for granted until March last year … More What a Wonderful World (Weiss & Thiele, arr. Brymer)
Is it only me that has a favourite compendium of sacred anthems? It’s “the blue and yellow one”, also known as “Anthems for Choirs 2: Twenty-four Anthems for Sopranos and Altos (unison and 2-part)”, edited by Philip Ledger and published by OUP. Unusually for such a compendium, I have sung well over half of the 24 anthems, and many of my favourites are in the selection … More The Song of the Tree of Life – Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
This powerful aria is the penultimate song in Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas”. I discovered it one January morning. We were recently locked down for the third time, infection rates were out of control and UK daily death rates were higher than ever. A friend had posted a version of Dido’s Lament by Annie Lennox, accompanied by London City Voices. Well, if Annie Lennox is involved, it has to be worth a listen! Unaware at the time that this song is from an opera, nor the story of the opera, I clicked ‘play’, and it spoke to me … More Dido’s Lament – H Purcell (1659-95)
At 8pm on Monday 4 January 2021 our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, broadcast live to the nation that the whole of the UK would be going into full lockdown with immediate effect. The news hit me hard. Not because it was unexpected – after all, since March 2020 we in the northwest of England had been in full lockdown, Tier 3 or Tier 4 restrictions, all in effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 … More How Can I Keep from Singing? – Lowry (1826-99), arr. Bullard (b.1947)
Earlier this year the Royal School of Church Music launched “Sing for the King”, an open invitation to all choirs throughout the UK to join in song to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. Joanna Forbes l’Estrange, arguably the RSCM’s best-selling successful composer, was commissioned to compose the anthem for this project: “The Mountains Shall Bring Peace” … More The Mountains Shall Bring Peace – Joanna Forbes l’Estrange (b.1971)
Based on Psalm 34:8, this anthem was composed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It was also sung at her funeral last year. The text is … More O Taste and See – Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Here is the second in our series of posts about coronation anthems.
Parry wrote this setting of Psalm 122 for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 and revised it for King George V in 1911. It has been used at the coronation of every British monarch ever since … More I was Glad – Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1948-1918)
Last month saw the coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey – over 70 years since the last time such an event happened on our shores. The music was fabulous, and got me thinking about coronation anthems, old and new. I decided to write a short series of articles about music to be crowned to … More Zadok the Priest – G F Handel (1685-1759)
Every Saturday in Lent we bring you an appropriate anthem. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, so Carol and Tom offer you Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus” … More Ave Verum Corpus
Every Saturday in Lent we bring you a suitable anthem. Tomorrow we think about the Passion of Christ. Carol and Tom offer this anthem by James H Rogers … More Great Peace Have They
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 