4th Sunday of Easter (Year B, 2015)

Sunday, 26 April 2015

 
Entrance All people that on earth do dwell
Kyrie Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria Psallite
Psalm The stone which the builders rejected (Bernadette Farrell)
Gospel Acclamation Easter Alleluia (chant)
Prayers of Intercession Stay with us, Lord (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts This is the day (Anon, c.1600)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion Eye has not seen (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion Surrexit Pastor Bonus (G.P. da Palestrina, 1525-1594)
Recessional Hail Redeemer, King divine
 

3rd Sunday of Easter (Year B, 2015)

Sunday, 19 April 2015

 
Entrance Let all the world in every corner sing
Kyrie Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria Psallite
Psalm Ps 4 (James Walsh)
Gospel Acclamation Easter Alleluia (chant)
Prayers of Intercession Stay with us, Lord (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts Now the green blade riseth
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion Touch Me and See (Psallite)
Postcommunion Surrexit Christus (adapted from G.B. Pergolesi (1710-1736) by Richard Proulx)
Recessional Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour
 

Easter Sunday (2015)

Sunday, 5 April 2015

 
Entrance Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today
Kyrie Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria Psallite
Psalm This is the Day (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation Sequence: Victimae Paschali Laudes (William Greene)
Easter Alleluia (chant)
Preparation of the Gifts Christo Resurgenti (François Couperin, 1668–1733)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion Confitemini Domino (Taizé) & Ps 117 (Laurence Bévenot)
Postcommunion Surrexit Christus Dominus (Michael Praetorius, 1571-1621)
Recessional Go in peace, Alleluia
At the Lamb’s high feast
 

The seven sung services between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday represented our most ambitious musical programme in many years. It was exhausting but rewarding. Happy Easter!

The Easter Vigil (2015)

Saturday, 4 April 2015

 
The Service of LightLumen Christi (chanted)
ExsultetPlainchant
After 1st reading (Genesis 1)Send forth your Spirit (Stephen Dean)
After 2nd reading (Genesis 22)Preserve me, God (Patrick Killeen)
After 3rd reading (Exodus 14-15)I will sing to the Lord (Geoffrey Boulton Smith)
After 4th reading (Ezekiel 36: I shall give you a new heart)Like the deer (mcb) listen
GloriaPsallite
Easter Alleluia + Psalm 117Plainchant, verses by Paul Inwood
Blessing of WaterSprings of Water (Marty Haugen)
SprinklingVidi Aquam (T.L. de Victoria, c.1548-1611)
Universal PrayerStay with us, Lord (mcb) listen
Preparation of the GiftsDextera Domini (Orlande de Lassus, 1532-1594) listen
Sanctus, Acclamation A, AmenSpring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus DeiLamb of God II (mcb)
CommunionNow we remain (David Haas)
DismissalGo in peace, Alleluia (chanted)
Final HymnThine be the Glory
 

A mix-up involving an absent reader meant that we omitted what was going to be the fourth of five Old Testament readings (Isaiah 55, followed by an adaptation of Bob Hurd’s With joy you shall draw water). New this year was the second reading, telling the story of Abraham and Isaac. The accompanying psalm was our first from Patrick Killeen’s collection Sing a New Psalm.

Bishop John intoned the Gloria and the Alleluia (the latter to the simple Easter tone), and sang the Preface, and his part in the dialogues in the Eucharistic Prayer and at the Dismissal. In all, it was our customary musical feast, ranging from chant, through Victoria and Lassus, to Marty Haugen and David Haas. I’d like to think our music succeeded in serving the ritual needs of a rich and complex liturgy, in a welcoming diversity of musical idioms.

Office of Readings and Morning Prayer (Holy Saturday, 2015)

4 April 2015

Like yesterday’s celebration, today’s was a small, simple and prayerful gathering. Musically we kept things very similar to yesterday, with a few changes among the psalm tones, and a different hymn tune (Westminster Abbey, this time) for part two of the hymn, beginning at Faithful Cross. I’m sure this will become a regular fixture in our Holy Week celebrations.

Celebration of the Lord's Passion, Good Friday (2015)

Friday, 3 April 2015

 
PsalmFather, into your hands (chant, arr. Geoffrey Boulton Smith)
Gospel AcclamationChristus factus est (Felice Anerio, c.1560-1614)
Adoration of the CrossBehold the wood of the Cross (Missal tone)
Praise to the Holiest
The Reproaches (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611, & chant) listen
Jesus, remember me (Taizé)
CommunionAve Verum Corpus (William Byrd, 1540-1623)
Soul of my Saviour

Office of Readings and Morning Prayer (Good Friday, 2015)

3 April 2015

A new departure for us this year was a sung celebration of the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The psalms were sung antiphonally to psalm tones in the style of Laurence Bévenot, taken either from the various collections of Responsorial Psalms, or written by me in the same idiom. Numbers were small: today we had ten in the choir and fourteen in the congregation, plus our celebrant Fr Michael and Anthony on the organ, but in the more enclosed space of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel this worked very nicely, and the two halves of the singing assembly joined in gamely with the two halves of the choir in singing the psalms. We sang the opening hymn (part one of Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle) to the tune St. Thomas, and the Benedictus in Bernadette Farrell’s setting of the text versified by Owen Alstott.

Sung Prayer of the Church has hardly featured in the life of the Cathedral, over recent years at least – I can remember it twice in the last 25 years – but today’s celebration worked well, and felt like something we should do more often.

Mass of the Lord's Supper (Holy Thursday, 2015)

Thursday, 2 April 2015


Opening Hymn The Glory of the Cross (John Ainslie)
Kyrie Missa Orbis Factor
Gloria Psallite
Responsorial Psalm The Blessing Cup (Christopher Walker)
Gospel Acclamation Glory and Praise (mcb)
Washing of Feet If there is this love among you (Martin Barry & Diane Murden) listen
Preparation of the Gifts Ubi Caritas (Maurice Duruflé, 1902-1986) listen
Sanctus Missa Orbis Factor
Memorial Acclamation BMissal Tone: When we eat this Bread
Agnus Dei Missa Orbis Factor & Missa super Laudate Dominum (Orlande de Lassus, 1532-1594) listen
Communion Take and Eat (Michael Joncas)
Procession Pange Lingua (plainchant)
Stay with me (Taizé)
 

The Altar of Repose tonight was situated in the Cathedral’s Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the south transept. To the best of my knowledge this was the first time this part of the building had been used as a liturgical space in many years, but it felt highly appropriate. We used the same space over the next two days for the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer, which made for a nice connection as we watched and waited in different ways over the course of the three days.

Earlier, Bishop John had followed Pope Francis’s lead in washing women’s feet as well as men’s. It wasn’t the first time at the Cathedral – I remember it from a dozen or so years ago when Fr John Dale was Dean – and it felt for all the world like it had always been done this way.

Choral scholar Seb Marshall conducted us in the Duruflé with sensitivity and skill.

The Mass of Chrism (2015)

Thursday, 2 April 2015

 
Opening HymnO praise ye the Lord listen
KyrieKyrie 2 from A Community Mass (Richard Proulx)
GloriaGlory to God (Peter Jones)
Responsorial PsalmO Lord, I will sing of your constant love (Christopher Walker)
Gospel AcclamationGlory and Praise (mcb)
Procession of the OilsO Redeemer (Paul Ford/mcb)
Preparation of the GiftsCrucifixus (Antonio Lotti, 1667-1740) listen
Sanctus, Acclamation C, AmenMissal tone in English
Agnus DeiHoly Family Mass (John Schiavone)
CommunionWhere two or three are gathered (Liam Lawton)
Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd, c.1540-1623) listen
Recessional HymnNow thank we all our God listen
 

The sun shone on our processions along Chapel Street, as the priests and people of the Diocese gathered for the first time under Bishop John for our annual Holy Thursday celebration. Click on the links above to hear some of the music.

Palm Sunday (Year B, 2015)

29 March 2015

 
Entrance (i) Hosanna to the Son of David (Chris Mueller)
(ii) All Glory, Laud and Honour
Psalm Ps 21 (John Ainslie)
Gospel Acclamation Glory and Praise (mcb)
Prayers of Intercession Stay with us, Lord (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts Crucifixus (Antonio Lotti, 1667-1740)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Missa Orbis Factor
Agnus Dei Missa Orbis Factor
Communion (i) In Monte Oliveti (Anton Bruckner, 1824-1896)
(ii) Father, if this cup (Stephen Dean)
Postcommunion (silence)
Recessional My song is love unknown
 

Heavy rain meant having to assemble for the blessing of palms in the north transept. (‘Liturgical North’, that is; it’s actually on the west side of the building.) It made for a splendidly reverberant acoustic for Chris Mueller’s setting of the Entrance Antiphon, and the procession around the church interior recovered from temporary gridlock when some kind souls made way to let the choir get to their seats. Later, we were conducted in the Bruckner by choral scholar Richard Platt, making his (very competent) choral conducting debut.

5th Sunday of Lent (Year B, 2015)

Sunday, 22 March 2015

 
Entrance Praise to the holiest
Kyrie Missa Orbis Factor
Psalm Ps 50 (Tony Barr)
Gospel Acclamation Glory and Praise (mcb)
Prayers of Intercession Stay with us, Lord (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts Averte faciem tuam from Miserere Mei (Antonio Lotti, 1667-1740)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Missa Orbis Factor
Agnus Dei Missa Orbis Factor
Communion Unless a grain of wheat (Bernadette Farrell)
Postcommunion (silence)
Recessional Lift high the cross