Current Season
Rehersals will begin again at the Central College of Technology, Rushcliffe Road, Grantham, NG31 8ED (Google Map) on 12th January 2010 at 1930 for the Main Choir and on 12th January at 1830 for the Youth Choir.
Spring Concert, 27th March 2010
Brahms 'A German Requiem'
Nettle and Markham Piano Duo
A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 (German: Ein deutsches Requiem, nach Worten der heiligen Schrift op. 45) by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and soloists, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65-80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest composition. A German Requiem is sacred but non-liturgical, and unlike a long tradition of the Latin Requiem, A German Requiem, as its title states, is a Requiem in the German language.
An alternative version of the work was prepared by Brahms to be performed as a piano duet, four hands on one piano. This version also incorporates the vocal parts, suggesting that it was intended as a self-contained version probably for at-home use making the duet version an acceptable substitute accompaniment for choir and soloists in circumstances where a full orchestra is unavailable. The first complete performance of the Requiem in London, in July 1871 at the home of Sir Henry Thompson and his wife, the pianist Kate Loder (Lady Thompson), utilized this piano-duet accompaniment and was sung, as indeed will the Grantham Choral Society's concert, in English.
Throughout his life Brahms was encouraged by his publishers to transcribe his major works for home consumption (ie for 1 piano/4 hands) and he usually complied, although often being so reticent about owning up to the task that he insisted the transcriptions be published under various pseudonyms. The recent publication of his duet arrangement of the Requiem has resulted in a number of performances with singers of this version which have not always been successful due to misconceptions. Brahms’ transcription is a self-contained reduction of the complete solo, choral and instrumental parts and, as such, was obviously never intended to be used as a substitute for the orchestra in choral performances, despite its possible use in the first private chamber performance in London in 1871. In order to present the work in a satisfactory form, for their unique version Nettle & Markham have painstakingly recreated the orchestral parts (using Brahms’ original score and the piano transcription) and perform a four-handed version which faithfully represents the letter and spirit of this great work, with all the resulting immediacy and impact the composer intended.
For more information on Nettle & Markham, who are now celebrating the 30th anniversary of their Piano Duo, visit Nettle and Markham.
Click on the following links to hear parts of a performance by the Vasari Singers conducted by Jeremy Backhouse.
II. Chorus: 'Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras'
III. Solo Baritone & Chorus: 'Herr, lehre doch mich'
VI. solo Baritone & Chorus: 'Denn wir haben keine bleibende Statt'
These music samples are from the Guild Music website.
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Morten Lauridsen's 'Lux Aeterna'
In his preface to the published choral score, Morten Lauridsen wrote, "Lux Aeterna was composed for and is dedicated to the Los Angeles Master Chorale and its superb conductor, Paul Salamunovich, who gave the world premiere in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center on April 13, 1997. The work is in five movements played without pause. Its texts are drawn from sacred Latin sources, each containing references to Light. The piece opens and closes with the beginning and ending of the Requiem Mass, with the three central movements drawn, respectively, from the Te Deum (including a line from the Beatus Vir), O Nata Lux and Veni, Sancte Spiritus.
Morten Johannes Lauridsen is an American composer. He was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale (1994–2001) and has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than 30 years.
In 2006, Morten Lauridsen was named an "American Choral Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2007, he received the National Medal of Arts from the President of the United States in a White House ceremony, "for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide."
Click on the following links to hear parts of a performance by the Polyphony Choir.
2. O nata lux
These music samples are from the a-capella.com website
The date is set for 27th March 2010 and will be held in St Wulfram’s Church, Grantham, starting at 7.30pm.
Tickets are priced at £12 (school and college students £8) and will be available from the following outlets, nearer the time:
- St Wulfram's Church, Grantham
- Box Office, Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham
- HH Cox Outfitters, Westgate, Grantham
- Clark's Shoes, 57 High Street, Grantham
- Dolby Jewellers, 8 Bristol Arcade, Sleaford
- Members of Grantham Choral Society