16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2018)

Sunday, 22 July 2018

 

Entrance	Praise we our God with joy
Kyrie	Peter Jones
Gloria	Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Psalm	Ps 22 (Fintan O’Carroll)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	The Lord is my shepherd (John Rutter)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Peter Jones
Communion	I stand at the door (mcb)
Recessional	Hail Redeemer, King divine

 

One last Sunday under my direction, before calling time on twenty-three years of the unalloyed privilege of leading the music here. We ended with two pieces that felt special to me: one last chance to sing a new song to the Lord, in a setting of one of today’s Communion antiphons, with verses from psalm 33(34); and then an old warhorse of a hymn that’s been one of our signature tunes right since the beginning. I’ll miss the place, and its wonderful people.

Ordination to the Priesthood of Callum Brown

Saturday, 21 July 2018

 

Entrance	Lord, you give the great commission
Kyrie	Missa de Angelis
Gloria	Missa de Angelis
Psalm	I will sing forever of your love (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Litany of the Saints	Chant
Illustrative Rites	Veni Creator Spiritus (Chant & T.L de Victoria, c. 1548-1611)
Kiss of Peace	Ubi Caritas (Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) & chant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Alleluia, sing to Jesus
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Missa de Angelis & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Missa de Angelis
Communion	(i) Whoever eats my flesh (John Ainslie) (ii) Sweet Heart of Jesus (iii) O Sacrum Convivium (Olivier Messiaen, 1908-1992)
Recessional	Holy light on earth’s horizon

 

For the Kiss of Peace – a lengthy rite in which the new priest is greeted by all the other priests present – we spun out the Duruflé by alternating the antiphon with chant verses not set by the composer. It was a haunting mixture, and timed to perfection. Before that, we raised the roof with the Gospel Acclamation, which struck exactly the right note of power and drama for a grand gathering of the diocese for a truly special event.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2018)

Sunday, 15 July 2018

 

Entrance	All are welcome (Marty Haugen)
Kyrie	Peter Jones
Gloria	Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Psalm	Ps 84 (Elsie Wright)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Litany to the Holy Spirit (Peter Hurford, b.1930)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Peter Jones
Communion	Whoever eats my flesh (John Ainslie)
Recessional	Tell out, my soul

The first reading from Ephesians had the words

you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise, the pledge of our inheritance.

We sang Peter Hurford’s setting of Robert Herrick’s well-known poem invoking the Spirit’s comfort. Sue Milligan sang the solo beautifully.

Diocesan Mass for Musicians, 2018

Saturday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

14 July 2018

 

Entrance	All that is hidden (Bernadette Farrell)
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison (Dinah Reindorf)
Psalm	The Lord is King (Paul Wellicome)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (Martin Barry)
Preparation of the Gifts	A Hymn to the Trinity (P.I. Tchaikovsky)
Sanctus, Acclamation B, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Paschal Mass (Alan Rees)
Communion	Taste and See (CJM)
Recessional	Thanks be to God (Stephen Dean)

The Mass for Musicians came at the end of a magnificent training day for the musicians of the Diocese, linked to the Hope in the Future initiative. The Cathedral Centre was packed to overflowing, for a day of talks and workshops (led by Daniel Bath, Nick Baty, Anthony Hunt and yours truly), ending in a Mass for all the participants. The packed timetable had left us with very little rehearsal time before Mass, but we managed to master everything, from Tchaikovsky to CJM’s Taste and See, which at one point involved sixteen voice parts.

The music was all chosen to fit the texts of today’s Mass, which included the angels crying Holy, Holy in Isaiah (for which the Tchaikovsky fitted like a glove), and everything now hidden will be made clear from chapter 10 of Matthew. Paul Wellicome’s boisterous psalm setting might have been written for the occasion, and taste and see was the Communion antiphon.

The day itself felt as though it met a huge need, and the feedback afterwards was certainly appreciative. I hope there are many more such days to come.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2018)

Sunday, 8 July 2018

 

Entrance	Praise to the Lord, the almighty
Kyrie	Peter Jones
Gloria	Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Psalm	Ps 122 (Mount St Bernard)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Make me a channel of your peace
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Peter Jones
Communion	O Taste and See (Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958) Come to me (Martin Barry and Diane Murden)
Recessional	Forth in the peace of Christ

Catherine Otokhina was the soprano soloist in Vaughan Williams’s gentle antidote to pomp and circumstance, composed for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2018)

Sunday, 1 July 2018

 

Entrance	All people that on earth do dwell
Kyrie	Peter Jones
Gloria	Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Psalm	I will praise you Lord (Daniel Bath)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Do not be afraid (Philip Stopford)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Peter Jones
Communion	Bless the Lord, my soul (Taizé)
Recessional	Thanks be to God

The Nativity of John the Baptist (2018)

Sunday, 24 June 2018

 

Entrance	On Jordan’s bank
Kyrie	Peter Jones
Gloria	Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Psalm	O God, you search me (Bernadette Farrell)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Et tu puer from the Benedictus (T.L. de Victoria, c. 1548-1611)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Peter Jones
Communion	Behold the Lamb of God (John Bell) [I/78] & Ecce Maria genuit (chant)
Recessional	Blest be the Lord, the God of Israel (Bernadette Farrell)

As on previous occasions for this feast day, we sang Bernadette Farrell’s lovely setting of psalm 138(139) in responsorial mode, using the last two lines of the final verse (“for the wonder of who I am I praise you, safe in your hands all creation is made new”) as the people’s response, and allowing the choir to sing the choral arrangements of the verses.