Alex Robson wins the inaugural Cambridge University Schola Cantorum Carol Competition
Schola Cantorum at Cambridge University arose from the disbandment of the St. John's Singers, which occurred earlier this year.(1).
On their Facebook page, they describe themselves as the Phoenix of The St. John's Singers, and they took off running organizing a carol competition, creating a composer-in-residence position, and gaining patronage from John Rutter.
Alex Robson won the inaugural Cambridge University Schola Cantorum Carol Competition with his version of "There is No Rose." Robson is an undergraduate student at St John's College, Cambridge. and the college's senior organ scholar.
The competition had been open to all current staff and students of Cambridge University and Anglia Ruskin University. It was judged by by Cambridge Schola's Director, Graham Walker and Composer-in-Residence, Tim Watts.
Robson's carol will be performed by Schola Cantorum at their carol services on Monday 2nd December at Great St Mary's, The University Church, Cambridge and Wednesday 11th December at St Mary-le-Bow in London.
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UCI Chamber Singers Tackle Rutter, Gjeilo, and More on "Winter Night" off of Signum
Editor's Note: The description below is that of the label.
The UCI Chamber Singers, under the direction of Irene Messoloras, proudly present Winter Night, a heartwarming holiday compilation that beautifully weaves together timeless seasonal favourites and innovative new arrangements. Featuring composers such as Sir John Rutter (Wexford Carol), Cecilia McDowall (Now May We Singen), and Ola Gjeilo (The First Nowell), Winter Night Winter offers radiant and reflective holiday music that captures the spirit of the season.
1 Gabriel’s Message (arr. Jim Clements) 2 Wexford Carol (arr. John Rutter) 3 Now May We Singen (C. McDowall) 4 The First Nowell (arr. Ola Gjeilo) 5 We Toast the Days
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The resounding refrains of The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford reverberate throughout A Lullaby Carol: Christmas from Christ Church, a rich tapestry of traditional and contemporary works celebrating the choir’s musical heritage, particularly from the 20th and 21st centuries.
Highlights include the melodically and rhythmically rich “Make we joy now in this fest” and “All this time” by Sir William Walton, one of Christ Church’s most famous alumni, and Simon Preston’s timeless “There is no rose”. There are also two settings by former Organists of Christ Church: Stephen Darlington’s arrangement of “Silent Night”, and his successor Steven Grahl’s setting of “O nata lux”.
WILLIAM WALTON (1902–1983) 1. Make we joy now in this fest 3.48
ELIZABETH POSTON (1905–1987) 2. Jesus Christ the Apple Tree 3.13
SIMON PRESTON (1938–2022) 3. There is no rose 3.06
GILES SWAYNE (b. 1946) 4. Magnificat 4.10
PIERS CONNOR KENNEDY (b. 1991) 5. A Spotless Rose 4.06
WILLIAM WALTON 6. All this time 1.43
JUDITH WEIR (b. 1954); arr. David Maw (b. 1967) 7. Drop down, ye heavens, from above 1.55
TRADITIONAL; arr. David Maw (b. 1967) 8. I Saw Three Ships 2.50 9. Away in a Manger 3.29
GEORGE BAKER (b. 1951) 10. Toccata-Gigue on the Sussex Carol 5.02
DAVID MAW (b. 1967) 11. Lullay, lullay, litel child 4.32
PETER WARLOCK (1894–1930) 12. Benedicamus Domino 1.31
PIERS CONNOR KENNEDY 13. little tree 2.10 words: e e cummings (1894–1962) 14. Epiphany 2.10 words: Henry Vaughan (1621–1695)
FRANZ XAVIER GRUBER (1787–1863); arr. Stephen Darlington (b. 1952) words: Josef Mohr (1792–1848), transl. John F. Young (1820–1885) 15. Silent night! Holy night! 3.12
STEVEN GRAHL (b. 1979) 16. O nata lux 2.18
JUDITH WEIR 17. Illuminare, Jerusalem 2.23
FRANCIS POTT (b. 1957) 18. Improvisation on Adeste, fideles 6.19
SPIRITUAL; arr. Robert L. Morris (b. 1941) 19. Glory to the newborn King 2.35
PETER WARLOCK; words: Bruce Blunt (1899–1957) 20. Bethlehem Down 4.36
CHERYL FRANCES-HOAD (b. 1980) 21. Good Day, Sir Christemas! 2.12
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Phillip Matty wins the Clare College Carols Composition Competition
Phillip Matty has won the Clare College Carol Composition Competition 2024 with his setting of "A baby sleeps," a new poem written by Master of Clare Loretta Minghella OBE.
The adjudicators, William Vann, Director of Music at London’s Royal Hospital, Chelsea, and Graham Ross, Director of Music and Fellow at Clare, "unanimously agreed that the score had a clear compositional voice, was carefully crafted, and was idiomatically written for voices."
Phillip is studying for an MPhil in Composition at Clare College, Cambridge, and also a bass in the Chapel Choir.
Phillip’s "A Baby Sleeps" will be premièred by The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge at the Clare College Advent Carol Services on Thursday 28 November and Sunday 1 December, and LiveStreamed on the Choir’s YouTube channel.
Facebook Page of the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
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Choir of King's College London Presents Edward Nesbit's "Nativity" on Delphian
Editor's note: Description below is that of the label.
The Choir of King’s College London follow up on their first recording of Edward Nesbit’s sacred choral music, named a Gramophone Editor’s Choice in 2022, with Nativity, a programme of Christmas music written by the composer over the last ten years: a joyful celebration that places Nesbit at the heart of a thriving British choral scene.
At the heart – but slightly to one side too. In a crowded field, Nesbit’s voice is distinctive. Expect much more fast-paced music than is the norm, an abundance of musical references to the classical canon, and frequent touches of humour. With their young, zestful performances, Nesbit’s music benefits from his close collaboration with the choir and its director Joseph Fort.
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"Rejoice and Sing" 2023 Concordia Christmas Concert Released
The CD recording of the 2023 Christmas Concert "Rejoice and Sing!" is now available at www.ConcordiaRecordings.com! You can also get some Christmas shopping done early by picking up the 2024 collectable mug for "Our Eyes, At Last, Shall See Him" and this year's Christmas Concert collector's box for the avid Concordia Christmas Concert patrons in your life.
The 2023 Concordia Christmas Concert
Experience the Emmy Award-winning Concordia Christmas Concerts! "Star of Bethlehem, Lead Us to Peace," the 2023 Concordia Christmas Concert, features nearly 300 student musicians performing works by J.S. Bach, Edward Elgar, Elaine Hagenberg, Dan Forrest, René Clausen, Paul J. Christiansen, and more.
Rejoice and Sing - J.S. Bach
Nimrod (from Enigma Variations, Op. 36) - Edward Elgar
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning - trad. African American Spiritual
Wake, Awake for Night is Flying
Rejoice, Rejoice Believers - arr. Jared Campbell
Carol to the King - arr. Mack Wilberg
There is No Rose - Stephen Caracciolo
Blessed Be! - Melanie DeMore
A Spotless Rose - Herbert Howells
Eit Barn er født i Bethlehem (A Child is Born in Bethlehem) - arr. Ørjan Matre
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From Schubert’s Winterreise,to Vivaldi’s “Winter” concerto from The
Four Seasons, the winter, the cold, the shivering feeling of frigidness,
can inspire a song to be written, a classical piece to be composed.
When one hears especially "Der Leiermann"
("The Hurdy-Gurdy Man"), one
can just feel the cold even if one is not fluent in German that the song is
sung in, the piercing cool nips our skin.
However, can one feel the cold in the heat?
I was listening to an episode of a Christmas podcast a few
months ago, and one of the hosts was banging his head trying to remember the other
Christmas song written during a heatwave. I think the podcast hosts were
focusing on “The Christmas Song,” but I could be wrong. I’m sure the hosts
could kind of hear me yelling at my radio the answer to their question. Well,
not a radio exactly in these days of music from phones, streaming music, and
wireless speakers, but you know what I mean.
The magic of the “Heatwave Songs” is that they were written
in the same month, the same year, the same city, and by two different pairs of Jewish
songwriters
“The Christmas Song” and “Let it Snow” were both written
during a “heatwave” in July 1945.
“The Christmas Song”
The "Christmas Song" was written by Mel Torme and Robert ("Bob") Wells during a heat wave.(1)
I looked up the highest temperature for Los Angeles in 1945
and it was 97 °F (36 °C for those of you
across the pond), which seems a rather tame to us living with global warming.
That seems like a cool day in Phoenix, Arizona or in Indio, California in July.
Then again, the air conditioning, if you had it in those
days, was very primitive.
James Torme, son of Mel Torme, would tell the story of his
father writing “The Christmas Song” during a heatwave in July 1945. From a 2020 National Public Radio story on the song:
According to James, it was on a hot, oppressive summer
day in 1945 that his father, Mel, went over the house of one of his writing
partners, Bob Wells. 'Wells was nowhere to be seen,' James says, 'But there was
a spiral pad at the piano. There were four lines scribbled down on it in
pencil.' Those four lines were: 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire / Jack
Frost nipping at your nose / Yuletide carols being sung by a choir / And folks
dressed up like Eskimos.' When Bob Wells eventually appeared, he told Mel that
he had been trying to do everything to cool down on that hot day. Wells said,
'I thought that maybe if I could just write down a few lines of wintry verse, I
could physiologically get an edge over this heat.' Forty-five minutes later,
the lyrics of what would be "The Christmas Song" were finished.'
Nat King Cole performing "The Christmas Song"
Wook Kim, inthe article “Music Yule Laugh, Yule Cry:10 Things You Didn’t Know About Beloved Holiday Songs” placed the song writing
in 1944. Again, this may be more accurate as temperatures reached 101 °F (38°
C) that summer. The peak was in September 1944. That year, the temperature did
not go over 100 °F (37 °C) that entire summer until September.
The summer and the temperature, 1944 or 1945, may be apples and oranges, however, the
New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.) has Torme being
discharged from the U.S. Army in 1946. NNDB has Torme’s time in the service
from 1944-45.(2)
I could not confirm that Torme lived in Los Angeles in one of
those years, but I doknow he was based
out of L.A. for most of his post-War career. In Torme’s autobiography, It
Wasn't All Velvet: An Autobiography, he states that the song was written in
California. However, have not found specifically if it was in Hollywood. I am guessing that the important fact that we are missing is where Robert Wells lived at the time. Wells died in Los Angeles County in 1998 and was buried in Westwood.
Regardless of not knowing where in the Los Angeles area Wells lived, Nat King Cole would make and release the premiere recording of "The Christmas Song" in 1946.
Let it Snow
That same summer (1945), in July, “Let It Snow” was written
by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne. Again, it was in response to the same heatwave.
Unlike “The Christmas Song,” “Let it Snow” would be released the same year of
its writing, in November 1945. It was first recorded by Vaughn Monroe.(3)
Vaugn Monroe first recording "Let It Snow" in 1945
Both Cahn, Torme, Styne, and Wells came from colder
climates. Torme grew up in the Chicago area, Cahn in New York City. Styne born
in London, England to parents from Ukraine, then part of Russia (yes, it cold there). His family
moved to Chicago when Styne was young (it's cold there too). Wells grew up
in Washington state.
Apparently, great Christmas songs can be written in all climates. If “A Christmas Song” was indeed written in 1945 -- as “Let It
Snow” was, and in the same town, by Jewish songwriters feeling the heat -- what a coincidence. (3)
___________
Notes:
1. On a definition of a heatwave:
"Consequently, a heat wave was defined as a period of at least 48 h during which neither the overnight low nor the daytime high Hi falls below the NWS heat stress thresholds (80° and 105°F, respectively), except at stations for which more than 1% of both the annual high and low Hi observations exceed these thresholds, in which case the 1% values are used as the heat wave thresholds."
However, note this is from a 2001 journal article abstract. What qualified as a heat wave in 1944 or 45 is superfluous that the songwriters in these two songs thought they were in a heat wave and said their songs were written during that heat wave.
3. A recommended album of all the Christmas hits by Jewish song writers is Jake Ehrenreich's A Treasury of Jewish Christmas Songs (2017). A jazz album, it features the Roger Kellaway Trio. On reviewer Grady Harp states, "A Jewish child of Holocaust Survivors who incongruously grew up loving Christmas music, Jake first explored this theme in his hit Broadway show A Jew Grows in Brooklyn, where the New York Times raved “…a beautiful medley of Christmas Songs written by Jewish composers." Also listen to the album on YouTube.
On the album, the songs acclaimed to be written by Jewish song writers include "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, "The Christmas Waltz" (Cahn), "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Winter Wonderland," "Christmas Time is Here," "White Christmas," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Silver Bells," "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," and the two mention in this blog post.
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