Music of the Masters

Ave Maria - Jacob Arcadelt

The first item in this category is also the oldest, a much-loved, simple, serene motet in praise of the Virgin Mary,

written in about 1535, probably in Florence.

 unaccompanied - Latin -  duration c.2'30" - Cat.no.1505 - price code A

Ave Maria - Giulio Caccini

This setting of Ave Maria was 're-discovered' in the 1990's and has since enjoyed a huge success, being recorded by Lesley Garrett, Charlotte Church, Aled Jones, Julian Lloyd-Webber and others. The choir has only to remember two words, and the arrangement is almost entirely in two parts.

piano or organ - Latin - duration c.2'50" - Cat.no 1566 - price code B

  The Bandits’ Chorus - Giuseppe Verdi

Choirs that have enjoyed singing Verdi’s first international success, the famous Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves should also like this lively

opening chorus  from  Ernani. It also was a ‘hit’. The bandits describe the harsh conditions of their lives. Their only solution is to drink!  

piano -  English -  duration  c.2'30" - Cat.no.1544  - price code B

  Cantique de Jean Racine - Gabriel Fauré

The ‘Cantique’ is one of Fauré’s most cherished choral compositions. In 1865, as a 20-year old student in Paris, he entered the work in a competition.

It won first prize. This version  features a new English translation by Patrick Rooke as well as the original French.

arr. Alec Gould - piano or organ - English/French. -  duration c.6'50" -  Cat.no.1506 -  price code D 

 Come, All Who Thirst - Luigi Cherubini ?

Tradition ascribes this inspirational song to Cherubini, the 18th century Italian-born Opera composer, but there is no real evidence.

The choir is divided into three equally-balanced groups. Each group has its own 12-bar melody,

producing a simple but effective setting of the Old Testament words.

piano - English. - duration c.3'10" - Cat.no.1559  - price code A

Creation’s Hymn - Ludvig van Beethoven

Beethoven wrote over 80 solo songs. This is his best-known and one of his finest. 

It rejoices in the wonders of the world that God has created.

piano or organ - English - Cat.no.1504 - price code A - duration c.2’30"

 Gloria - Antonio Vivaldi 

There must be few choral societies that have not sung Vivaldi’s Gloria. The first movement works particularly well for men’s voices,

and is an exhilarating setting of just four words, “Gloria in excelsis Deo”. An ideal concert opener,

 its 16-bar introduction is a useful aid to getting the choir on stage.

piano - Latin - Cat.no.1524 - price code B - duration c.2'40"

 How Excellent Thy Name - George Frideric Handel 

A ‘Hallelujah’ chorus by Handel that isn’t from Messiah, but from Saul, an oratorio composed three years earlier.

Two-thirds of the chorus is a setting of the one word ‘Hallelujah’. Another powerful opener, exciting but challenging.

piano or organ - English - Cat.no.1510 - price code D - duration c.3'20"

 Jesu Dulcis Memoria - Tomas Luis de Victoria?

This short hymn has long been a favourite, and is a perfect example of 16^th century unaccompanied sacred music,

 even though its authorship is in doubt.

unaccompanied - Latin - Cat.no.1517 - price code A - duration c.1' 45"

 Lascia Ch’io Pianga - George Frideric Handel  

Originally a soprano solo, this famous tune (much used by advertising agencies!) comes from Rinaldo,

the first opera Handel wrote for London audiences on his first visit to England.

piano - English/Italian - Cat.no.1512 - price code C - duration c.3'15"

 Laudate Dominum - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart’s Solemn Vespers was the last work he composed for his unappreciative employer, the Archbishop of Salzburg, before departing

 for the life of a freelance in Vienna.This extremely beautiful movement is often performed separately. It needs a soprano soloist.

piano or organ - Latin - with Soprano solo. Cat.no.1534 - price code C - duration c.6'10"

O Sacred Head – Johann Sebastian Bach

The 371 four-voice chorales of Bach are his harmonisations of contemporary hymn tunes. He used them as parts of  larger choral works

such as the St. Matthew Passion. In this work he sets the ‘Passion Chorale’ in four different ways. This transcription  utilises two of them.

piano or organ - English - Cat.no.1533 – price code B – duration c.3’05”

O, Virgin of the Angel Host - Guiseppe Verdi

In a scene from Verdi's opera La Forza del Destino the monks are singing a prayer to the Virgin.  Unbeknown to them, the heroine of the opera,

Leonora (who is seeking refuge in the monastery), soars above their supplications with her own.  It would be difficult to imagine music

 that more perfectly combines simplicity of means with beauty of effect.

piano - English - with Soprano solo. Cat.no. 1569 - price code D - duration c.3'05"

Priests' Chorus (Isis and Osiris) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

A male voice choir 'standard'.

 Mozart sets this chorus from The Magic Flute for 3-part male choir - Tenor; Tenor 2 or Baritone: Bass.  A perennial favourite.

piano or organ - English - Cat.no. 1567 - price code B - duration c.2'25"

Psalm 23 - Franz Schubert

A justly famous setting of the familiar psalm. Schubert composed this piece for four-part female choir,

but it works almost as well in the male voice arrangement.

piano - English - Cat.no.1507 - price code D - duration c.5'50"

 Sanctus – Franz Schubert

In 1827, just over a year before his untimely death at the age of 31, Schubert composed his sixth setting of the Mass, his shortest and simplest, with the words in his native language rather than the customary Latin. The Sanctus is beautiful, reverential but unassuming.

opt. piano or organ – English/German - Cat.no.1521 – price code A – duration c.2’45”

 Sanctus – Charles Gounod

The St. Cecilia Mass (1855) is the work by which Gounod is best remembered as a church composer, (as well as the creator of  Faust,

 Romeo & Juliet, etc.).  His setting of the Sanctus is its finest movement. There is a significant Tenor/Soprano solo.

piano or organ – Latin – with Tenor/Soprano solo.  Cat.no.1501 – price code D – duration c.5’30”

 Silent Worship – George Frideric Handel

An enduringly-popular song from a long-forgotten opera (Tolomeo). “Did you not hear my lady go down the garden singing?

 Blackbird and thrush were silent to hear the alleys ringing.” Unfortunately, she never notices her silent worshipper!  

piano -  English - Cat.no.1541 - price code B - duration c.2'45"

 Where’er You Walk – George Frideric Handel

Although there were only six performances of  Semele in Handel’s lifetime, and none at all for the next 200 years, this charming love song

has never fallen out of  favour. In the opera it is sung by Jupiter, king of the gods, who is having a fling with Semele, a mortal.  

piano -  English - Cat.no.1536 - price code C - duration c.4'00"