Berkeley: Crux Fidelis / Missa Brevis / 3 Latin Motets / A Festival Anthem

Description

Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989)Sacred Choral Music Although Lennox Berkeley had begun composing as a child, hedid not initially plan a career in music and read Modern Languages at Oxford.There he wrote his first published work, a song The Thresher, and afterencouragement from Ravel he moved to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger.During this time he met Stravinsky and Poulenc, becoming a life-long friend ofthe latter. Another significant friendship was begun in 1936 at the ISCMFestival in Barcelona, when he met Britten, with whom he composed Mont Juic,based on Catalan folk-tunes they heard in a park. Despite being ten yearsBerkeley's junior, Britten was an important mentor to him in his development.Berkeley's reputation was established in the early 1940s with the premi?¿res ofthe Serenade for Strings (1939), First Symphony (1940) and Divertimento (1943).Apart from Ravel, Faure, the neo-classical works of Stravinsky and Britten,Berkeley's personal voice was also influenced by Mozart and Chopin. His musicis marked by elegance, charm, wit and masterly craftsmanship. Apart fromcomposing, Berkeley taught from 1946 to 1968 at the Royal Academy, where hispupils included John Tavener and Richard Rodney Bennett. He was knighted in1974. In over a hundred compositions he contributed to all genres, includingfour operas and four symphonies. Among his finest achievements are theone-movement Third Symphony (1969), Horn Trio (1953) and the Four Poems of StTeresa of Avila (1947). As demonstrated here, his legacy also includes asignificant body of compositions setting sacred texts and liturgy. These sprangfrom his strong personal faith, and membership of the Roman Catholic Church,which he joined in 1928. The motet Crux Fidelis (1955) for tenor solo andunaccompanied choir was first performed in 1955 by Peter Pears and the PurcellSingers, conducted by Imogen Holst. In this Good Friday hymn the choir vividlydescribes the agonies Christ endured, for example, the anguished dissonance atthe mention of the crown of thorns, whilst the tenor solo in the central sectionbrings a personal response to the meaning of the Passion in a soaring, intensevocal line.  In an article Truth in Music (1966), Berkeley offered hisviews about composing works for the church: 'Being a Roman Catholic, I havenaturally been drawn to the Latin liturgy and felt at home with it; it's partof my life, and I have wanted to bring to it what I have to offer, howeverunworthy'. Thus the Missa brevis (1960) was written for Westminster CathedralChoir and is dedicated to the composer's sons Michael and Julian (who were thenchoristers at Westminster Cathedral) together with their colleagues. It wasfirst performed in 1960 conducted by Francis Cameron. Over all, the setting ischaracterised by imitative counterpoint, as heard in the opening Kyrie. TheSanctus is marked by a majestic Hosanna, but the most intense music comes withthe Agnus Dei.  Of the Anglican liturgy, Berkeley only set the Magnific