Recently, I and a group of fellow-composers based in East Anglia (members of ‘Colchester New Music’ but actually more widely spread) were invited to contribute to a Choral Evensong for Pentecost at Chelmsford Cathedral – pictured here. As it turned out, all of the music (apart from a couple of the hymns) was new and local: composers Phillipa Joy, Theresa Chapman, Samuel Bristow, Peter Thorne, Alexander Blustin and Mark Bellis were each represented by choral items, and I wrote the organ prelude and postlude.
The diverse programme was a very successful experiment and although the music was by many different composers the choice of texts gave a real feeling of unity and a profound sense of worship in the beautiful space of the cathedral. The choral singing, under the direction of Emma Gibbins, was superb and the colour of the two linked organs echoed sonorously around the building.
My organ pieces followed the standard expectation for pieces of this nature – a more meditative mood before the service, and a lively and jubilant postlude as the choir and clergy process out. Both pieces are based on the plainsong melody Veni Creator Spiritus (Come, Creator Spirit) which is associated very closely with Pentecost. The melody goes back to the ninth century and today is often sung to the words ‘Come Holy Ghost, our Souls inspire’. I have set these English words to a different tune in the past (in fact that version was sung at Ely Cathedral this Pentecost as well), and also written another anthem based on the original plainsong – so the words and music are fairly entrenched in my inner memory. In this service the two organ versions were expertly played by Samuel Bristow (prelude) and Emma Gibbins (postlude)
The plainsong melody is clearly stated in the Prelude, in the middle of the musical texture, and is then developed by being played in longer notes, accompanied by fragments of the melody in shorter notes. Finally the melody appears in its simplest form before the final ‘Amen’
The Postlude is a ‘Toccata alla giga’ – a lively 6/8 featuring clear contrast between two musical textures on different manuals (at Chelmsford there are actually two organs, and it is possible to play the larger nave organ from the third manual of the chancel organ which, being near the choir, is normally used for services). Here fast-moving passages based on sections of the melody form a background to the complete melody in the pedals. The musical fragments are then treated contrapuntally, a little louder for each statement, punctuated by much louder and grander statements of the first four or five notes of each phrase of the plainsong melody – eventually building up to a fuller statement of the last phrase, and the ‘Amen’ as a vibrant coda, echoing around the building.
You can hear and see the whole service (apart from some of the Prelude) here, and you can follow digital scrolling scores of my Prelude and Postlude here. The music is currently unpublished so please contact me for details.
‘Piece of the Week’ is on holiday next week.