Salford Cathedral Music

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2012)

2012-01-23T23:33:00.000Z

Sunday, 22 January 2012

Entrance	Sing a new song (John Bell)
Kyrie	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 24 (Geoffrey Boulton Smith/StephenDean)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass
Communion	Taste and see (Richard Proulx)
Postcommunion	A song of the light (Simon Lole)
Recessional	O Christ, the same (Timothy Dudley-Smith/Londonderry Air)

We usually sing John Bell’s Sing a new song, with its Alleluia refrain, as a Gospel Acclamation. Its verses are from Ps 95(96), and since this was the source of today’s entrance antiphon, we took the opportunity to sing the whole of it as our entrance song. We normally do it a cappella, but today Anthony improvised a sparkling accompaniment, spreading out into improvised toccata both before and after.

The Missal offers two Communion antiphons today:

Look toward the Lord and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.

I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

We sang something to reflect each: Richard Proulx's setting of Ps 33(34), from which the first was drawn, and Simon Lole’s elegant paraphrase of Hail, gladdening light.

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2012)

2012-01-23T23:13:00.000Z

Sunday, 15 January 2012

Entrance	Here I am, Lord (Dan Schutte)
Kyrie	Kyrie II from Festival Mass (Alan Rees)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 39 (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Sing a New Song (John Bell)
Preparation of the Gifts	The Lamb (John Tavener)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Holy Family Mass (John Schiavone)
Communion	Jesus, Lamb of God (Bernadette Farrell)
Postcommunion	Venite Comedite (William Byrd, 1540-1623)
Recessional	Forth in the peace of Christ

The story of Samuel in the first reading, and the Psalm response, both had the words Here I am, and it was no distance from there to Dan Schutte’s old favourite. In the Gospel reading John the Baptist calls Jesus Lamb of God, and in Bernadette Farrell’s litany we did the same.

The refrain to Bernadette Farrell’s song has the words Hear our prayer, through this bread and wine we share, and our postcommunion motet, a setting of the tract (from Proverbs) from the Votive Mass of the Blessed Sacrament, also featured the word wine:

Venite comedite panem meam, et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis.

(Come and eat my bread, and drink the wine I have poured out for you)

In the previous translation of the Missal, today’s Communion antiphon did too, paraphrasing from the words calix inebrians in the Vulgate rendition of Ps 22(23):

The Lord has prepared a feast for me:
given wine in plenty for me to drink.

The new translation is more oblique:

You have prepared a table before me,
and how precious is the chalice that quenches my thirst.

The Epiphany (2012)

2012-01-23T22:20:00.000Z

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Entrance	O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
Gloria	Gloria de Noël (Thomas Niel)
Psalm	Ps 71 (Eugene Monaghan/Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Bethlehem! of noblest cities
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas
Communion	Laudate Omnes Gentes (Taizé) & Reges Tharsis (chant)
Postcommunion	Videntes stellam (Francis Poulenc, 1899-1963)
Recessional	The first nowell

Poulenc’s Four Motets for Christmas Time are among my all-time favourite pieces of music. So I’m glad we could muster the forces for the quirkily serene Videntes Stellam. At least one member of the congregation reported a tingling spine.

Ordination to the Diaconate of Joseph Gee

2012-01-21T23:27:00.001Z

Saturday before Epiphany

7 January 2012

Entrance	Of the Father’s love begotten
Gloria	Gloria de Noël (Thomas Niel)
Psalm	Ps 149 (The Lord takes delight) (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Litany of the Saints	chant
Vesting	How lovely is your dwelling place (Paul Wellicome)
Kiss of Peace	Si quis mihi ministraverit (chant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Cantate Domino (Giuseppe Pitoni, 1657-1743)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas
Communion	(i) Bread of Life (Bernadette Farrell) (ii) O nata lux (Thomas Tallis, c. 1505-1585)
Recessional	Songs of thankfulness and praise

An ordination to the diaconate was a new experience for us, in the last 20-odd years at any rate. I thought the elements proper to the rite combined well with seasonal items appropriate to the Saturday falling before a late Epiphany.

The vesting of the new deacon calls for Ps 83(84), and we had Paul Wellicome’s gentle reflective setting. Ps 146(146) is laid down for the Kiss of Peace, but with only the Bishop and four other deacons exchanging the sign of peace with Joseph, we sang just the antiphon, taken from the Graduale. The Responsorial Psalm was from Ps 149, and we had my simple setting during the Liturgy of the Word, and Pitoni’s more boisterous rendition at the Preparation of the Gifts.

Christmas Morning (2011)

2011-12-26T13:13:00.001Z

Sunday, 25 December 2011

Entrance	(i) Hodie Christus natus est (chant) (ii) O Come all ye faithful
Gloria	Psallite Mass
Psalm	All the ends of the earth (Alan Johnson)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	God rest ye merry Gentlemen
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Bread of Life (Bernadette Farrell)
Postcommunion	Love came down at Christmas (Christina Rossetti/Malcolm Archer)
Recessional	Hark, the herald angels sing

Seven men of the choir made our usual merry noise in three and four part harmony. Malcolm Archer’s setting of Christina Rossetti’s poem, and Bernadette Farrell’s thoughtful Communion song, made for moments of tranquility among all the festive cheer.

A happy Christmas to everyone!

Christmas Vigil and Midnight Mass (2011)

2011-12-26T13:01:00.003Z

Saturday, 24 December 2011

Introit	O Emmanuel (chant)
Opening Hymn	O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Reading	Isaiah 11:1-10 (A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse)
Choir	Angels we have heard on high (trad. arr Eric Paździora)
Hymn	It came upon the midnight clear
Reading	Luke 1:26-38 (The Annunciation)
Hymn	In the bleak midwinter (Holst)
Reading	John 1: 1-18 (In the Beginning was the Word)
Choir	Coventry Carol (trad., arr Martin Shaw)
Bishop’s entrance and procession to the crib	Adeste Fideles
Gloria	Gloria de Noël (Thomas Niel)
Reading	Isaiah 9:2-7 (The people that walked in darkness)
Psalm	Christmas Psalm (Bernadette Farrell)
Reading	Titus 2:11-14 (God’s grace has been revealed)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Reading	Luke 2:1-14 (The Nativity)
Preparation of the gifts	What sweeter music (John Rutter)
Sanctus, Acclamation	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	O Magnum Mysterium (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611) Silent night
Postcommunion	While shepherds watched their flocks
Recessional	Hark the herald angels sing

A bigger congregation than usual joined us for Midnight Mass; perhaps it was the mild weather, or an end at last to the Chapel Street road works. Celebration Brass were there too, and Deacon Liam Bradley from the diocese of Menevia, nearly at the end of his year’s placement in Salford diocese, sang the Gospel beautifully. Our musical banquet had, as usual, something for everyone.

4th Sunday of Advent (Year B, 2011)

2011-12-19T23:33:00.000Z

Sunday, 18 December 2011

Entrance	The Angel Gabriel
Kyrie	Missal Chant
Psalm	Ps 88 (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamations (Alan Smith)
Prayers of Intercession	Through our lives (John Bell)
Preparation of the Gifts	Ave Maria (Franz Schubert, 1797-1828, arr. Richard Proulx)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Missal Chant
Agnus Dei	Missal Chant
Communion	Veni Immanuel (John Bell) & Ps 79(80)
Postcommunion	Rorate Caeli (Francisco Guerrero, 1528-1599)
Recessional	O come, O come Emmanuel

Ave Maria is today’s Offertory antiphon. We had rehearsed settings by Elgar and Rachmaninov, in anticipation of a celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception that wasn’t to be, but I’m glad we settled on Schubert for today’s Annunciation-themed celebration. Richard Proulx's arrangement gives the first stanza (so to speak) to a solo soprano, sung today with luminous serenity by Gwen Leech, with the second section set for four-part choir.

The name Emmanuel appears in today’s Communion antiphon, and we echoed it in our Communion processional song, and in our jubilant final hymn.

Celebration of Christmas in aid of Age Concern

2011-12-16T23:37:00.000Z

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Cathedral Choir & Notability	What sweeter music (John Rutter)
All	O Come all ye Faithful
Notability	Simeon’s Song (Robin Stevens) Just another Star (Karl Jenkins and Carol Barratt, arr. Peter Gritton)
All	O little town of Bethlehem
Jon Christos & Jenny Williams	O Holy Night (Adolphe Adam) Panis Angelicus (César Franck)
All	Good King Wenceslas
Cathedral Choir	Angels we have heard on high (trad. arr Eric Paździora)
All	Once in Royal David’s City
Notability	Sweet was the Song (Andrew Goff) God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (John Neal Koudelka)
Anthony Hunt (Organ)	Prelude on ‘Forest Green’ (Philip Marshall)
Cathedral Choir	O Magnum Mysterium (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Jon Christos & Jenny Williams	In the Bleak Midwinter (Harold Darke) – with Notability & Cathedral Choir Silent Night (Franz Grüber)
Singalong led by Jon & Jenny	Winter Wonderland The Christmas Song Have yourself a merry little Christmas I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
All	Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Anthony Hunt	Vom Himmel Hoch, Da Komm Ich Herr (Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau)

Musically speaking, there was something for everyone: choirs, soloists Jon, Jenny and Anthony, and audience; plus readings and talks from local dignitaries, and a prayer and blessing led by Bishop Brain.

It was fun to join forces with the excellent Notability to sing Rutter’s What sweeter music: singing in the sumptuous acoustic of the Cathedral chancel, we took it slowly and left plenty of room at the pauses, all to let Robert Herrick’s words speak as beautifully as the music.

3rd Sunday of Advent (Year B, 2011)

2011-12-16T23:27:00.000Z

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Entrance	Rejoice for ever (mcb)
Kyrie	Missal Chant
Psalm	My Soul Rejoices (Owen Alstott)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Alan Smith)
Prayers of Intercession	Through our lives (John Bell)
Preparation of the Gifts	O Rex Gentium (chant) & Magnificat Octavi Toni (Orlande de Lassus, 1532-1594)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Missal Chant
Agnus Dei	Missal Chant
Communion	Bread of Life (Bernadette Farrell)
Postcommunion	Rejoice in the Lord Alway (Henry Purcell, 1659-1695)
Recessional	Lo, he comes with clouds desending

With the Magnificat taking the place of a Responsorial Psalm today, we took the opportunity to sing one of the great O Antiphons in its proper context, so to speak. The antiphons precede and follow the Magnificat at Vespers in the final week of Advent, so at the Preparation of the Gifts we sang Lassus’s simple setting of the canticle, alternating chant and polyphony, flanked by repetitions of the antiphon O Rex Gentium.

Taken together with pieces by Bernadette Farrell, John Bell and co., as well as the chant Mass setting and (a truncated version of) Purcell’s jubilant anthem, it made for a good mix of music.

2nd Sunday of Advent (Year B, 2011)

2011-12-06T23:02:00.001Z

Sunday, 4 December 2011

Entrance	Song of Consolation (Peter Jones)
Kyrie	Missal Chant
Psalm	Ps 84 (Elsie Wright)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Alan Smith)
Prayers of Intercession	Through our lives (John Bell)
Preparation of the Gifts	Conditor Alme Siderum (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Missal Chant
Agnus Dei	Missal Chant
Communion	Wait for the Lord (Taizé)
Postcommunion	Hierusalem Surge (Heinrich Isaac, c. 1450-1517)
Recessional	Come, thou long-expected Jesus

Our trademark mix of music, from Peter Jones and Jacques Berthier to Victoria, still in his quatercentenary year, and Henrich Isaac. Isaac was a new name for us, and it was illuminating to set his music side by side with that of Victoria from a hundred years later. Isaac’s setting of the communion antiphon felt plain and brightly lit, compared with the light-and-shade subtleties of Victoria’s polyphony, alternating with chant verses. But both, I thought, were beautiful and prayerful.

Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force Carol Service 2011

2011-12-06T22:38:00.001Z

Saturday, 3 December 2011

Choir	Gaudete (trad., arr. Craig Kingsbury)
All	O Come, All Ye Faithful
Choir	Angels we have heard on high (trad., arr. Eric Paździora)
All	O Little Town of Bethlehem
All	Once in Royal David’s City
Choir	The Coventry Carol (trad., arr Martin Shaw)
All	Silent Night
All	While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
All	National Anthem
All	Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Celebration Brass joined us for an early celebration of Christmas with the Army Cadets, their chaplains and sundry assembled dignitaries. The continuing road works in Chapel Street were evidently a more formidable obstacle than last year’s blizzards, so we started later than planned, once the last of the coaches had negotiated the queues and diversions.

1st Sunday of Advent (Year B, 2011)

2011-11-29T20:16:00.001Z

Sunday, 27 November 2011

Entrance	Let all mortal flesh keep silence
Kyrie	Missal Chant
Psalm	God of hosts, bring us back (Sue Furlong)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Alan Smith)
Prayers of Intercession	Through our lives (John Bell)
Preparation of the Gifts	Wake O Wake, with tidings thrilling (Philipp Nicolai, 1566-1608, arr mcb & J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Missal Chant
Agnus Dei	Missal Chant
Communion	To you, O lord, I lift my soul (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion	Ad te levavi (F.X. Witt, 1834-1888)
Recessional	Love divine, all loves excelling

Our two pieces during Communion both took their text from the entrance antiphon:

To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame. Nor let my enemies exult over me; and let none who hope in you be put to shame.

Franz Xaver Witt was a founding father of the Cecilian movement, and his dramatic miniature is five parts imitation Palestrina to one part attempted Bruckner. Marty Haugen’s gentle prayerful setting adds verses from Psalm 25.

We sang two verses of Philipp Nicolai’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, in the 1906 translation by Francis Crawford Burkitt. The first was my perky dance-like arrangement for four voices, the second a more stately rendition of Bach’s chorale harmonisation. The overall mood of the piece was one of burgeoning anticipation; just right for a first celebration of Advent.

Christ the King (Year A, 2011)

2011-11-25T18:43:00.001Z

Sunday, 20 November 2011

Entrance	Christus Vincit
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Psallite Mass
Psalm	Ps 22 (Gélineau)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Let all the world in every corner sing
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Te saeculorum principem (chant) & Jesus, remember me (Taizé)
Postcommunion	Hallelujah (from the Messiah by G.F. Handel, 1685-1759)
Recessional	Crown him with many crowns

We opened our celebration with plainchant at its most muscular – the mid-13th century Laudes Regiae from the Worcester Antiphoner, in the version reconstructed by Laurence Bévenot. This is different from the version appearing in the Roman chant books, with its emphasis on prayers for the Church. We prayed instead chiefly for the Pope: tu illum adiuva rather than illam.

Today’s Communion antiphon from Ps 28 –

The Lord shall reign for ever and will give his people the gift of peace

was the perfect excuse for the Hallelujah chorus, echoing the first sentiment, if not so obviously the second.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) and Remembrance Sunday 2011

2011-11-14T20:33:00.001Z

Sunday, 13 November 2011

Introit	Requiem Aeternam (chant)
Opening Hymn	Abide with me
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 Voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Psallite Mass
Psalm	O blessed are those (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Will you let me be your servant
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Confitemini Domino (Taizé) & Ps 117 (Bévenot)
Postcommunion	Justorum Animae (Charles Villiers Stanford, 1852-1924)
Recessional	O praise ye the Lord

Stanford’s powerful and dramatic setting of words from the book of Wisdom was just right for Remembrance Sunday, as was the plainchant introit from the Requiem Mass, and the hymn which followed our two minutes’ silence at the beginning of Mass.

The readings and antiphons for the 33rd Sunday were harder to match with suitable songs, I thought, but Paul Inwood’s gentle setting of the responsorial psalm hit the right note, as did our song – taking up the image of the good and faithful servant from St Matthew’s Gospel – at the preparation of the gifts.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-11-08T22:34:00.000Z

Sunday, 6 November 2011

Entrance	Awake, awake, fling off the night
Sprinkling Rite	Springs of Water (Marty Haugen)
Gloria	Psallite Mass
Psalm	Ps 62 (James Walsh)
Gospel Acclamation	Celtic Alleluia (Fintan O’Carroll)
Presentation of Confirmation Candidates	Christ be our Light (Bernadette Farrell)
Preparation of the Gifts	Wisdom Come Softly (Diane Murden & Martin Barry)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Because the Lord is my Shepherd (Christopher Walker)
Recessional	O Jesus Christ, remember

We had fairly family-friendly musical fare for a celebration including the presentation of most of our eighteen candidates for Confirmation and First Communion this year. While the children and their parents processed to the Paschal Candle to light their Baptismal candles, we sang Christ be our light.

We sang my second setting of the Lamb of God for the first time in a good while. While it was off the road it underwent a re-fit – the final phrase being rewritten to bring the words more closely into line with the Missal text, the way composers are now being encouraged. The congregation seemed to cope with the change without demur. The revised version survived scrutiny by the panel of the Bishops’ Conference, and was approved for publication in Glory to God, now appearing (in its agreeably rapid second printing) at a religious bookshop near you. I'm not sure why the publisher’s own web site gives so little information about it.

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-10-30T21:56:00.000Z

Entrance	Lord of all hopefulness
Kyrie	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Gloria	Psallite Mass
Psalm	Ps 130 (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Belmont Mass
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass
Communion	Centre of my life (Paul Inwood)
Postcommunion	Pater Noster (Igor Stravinsky, 1882-1971)
Recessional	Guide me, O thou great redeemer

Today’s readings offered images of parenthood. Have we not all one Father?, we were asked in the first reading from Malachi, and we heard our Lord’s answer in the reading from St Matthew’s Gospel: you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. We sang Stravinsky’s setting of the Lord’s Prayer, in which we call God Father, and obey his command (again recounted by Malachi) to glorify my name.

There were images of motherhood too, in the Responsorial Psalm, and in St Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, but fewer choices when it came to musical settings embodying the same images.

The Communion Antiphon was from Psalm 15:

Lord, you will show me the path of life
and fill me with joy in your presence.

and our Communion processional song was Paul Inwood’s setting of this Psalm.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-10-25T20:02:00.001+01:00

Sunday, 23 October 2011

Entrance	Father, Lord of all creation
Kyrie	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 17 (James Walsh)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Make me a channel of your peace (Sebastian Temple, arr. William Llewellyn)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Belmont Mass
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass
Communion	Lord, your love has drawn us near (Stephen Dean)
Postcommunion	Love divine, all loves excelling (Howard Goodall)
Recessional	All my hope on God is founded

Prompted by today’s readings, our musical selections reflected on love, human and divine.

For the ordinary of the Mass, we continued with Chris Walker’s Belmont Mass, whose prayerful chant-inspired melodies to my mind succeed in embodying the ‘noble simplicity’ spoken of (in Sacrosanctum Concilium) as characteristic of the liturgy. The published version is entirely for unison voices, but we experimented today with a cappella four-part harmony, the choir fitting the words to the harmonies of the organ part in both the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei. It worked very well, I thought, and it will give us the option of varying the texture – unison voices with organ, unaccompanied unison singing, accompanied and unaccompanied vocal harmonies – to suit times and seasons.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-10-19T11:11:00.000+01:00

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Entrance	O God beyond all praising (Gustav Holst/Michael Perry)
Kyrie	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 95 (Reynolds)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Holy is God (Liam Lawton)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Belmont Mass
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass
Communion	Turn to me (John Foley)
Postcommunion	Ab ortu solis (William Byrd, 1540-1623)
Recessional	Holy God, we praise thy name

In today’s first reading, from Isaiah, we heard the words from the rising to the setting of the sun, apart from me, all is nothing. We sang a similar text with a different scriptural source (namely Malachi) in Byrd’s setting of the tract for the Votive Mass of the Blessed Sacrament:

From the rising of the sun to its setting,
my name is great among the nations,
and in every place a pure sacrifice is offered to my name:
for my name is great among the nations.

This same scriptural text is highlighted in the new translation of the third Eucharistic prayer, which we also heard today.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-10-19T10:50:00.000+01:00

Sunday, 9 October 2011

Entrance	All are welcome (Marty Haugen)
Kyrie	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 22 (Boulton Smith/Gélineau)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	The Lord is my Shepherd (John Rutter)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass
Communion	Now in this banquet (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion	He hath filled the hungry from Magnificat, Op 69 no 3 (Felix Mendelssohn, 1809-1847)
Recessional	Thy hand, O God, has guided

The readings today told of the banquet prepared for all by the Lord, and our music explored this image.

In his homily Fr Tony explored the link between the Gospel story of the wedding feast, and the use of the the phrase for many in the newly-translated Eucharistic Prayers. Invite everyone you can find, the king orders; but one guest who fails to take the event seriously is given his marching orders. If the punch line (so to speak) had been all are called, many are chosen the two issues would have tied in exactly. But the Gospel story was still helpful in explaining why we needn’t be puzzled by the new-old use of the word many.

It reassured me, in any event, that our opening song today has words which we can properly sing as an invitation to the Eucharistic banquet.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-10-03T22:23:00.000+01:00

Sunday, 2 October 2011

Entrance	This is the day (mcb)
Kyrie	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 79 (Walsh/Bévenot)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	The Lord of All (Daniel Bath)
Sanctus, Acclamation C, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass
Communion	One bread, one body (John Foley)
Postcommunion	Rejoice in the Lord alway (Anon. c. 1600)
Recessional	My song is love unknown

There were plenty of key scriptural phrases to choose from in planning today’s music. The Gospel reading gave us

It was the stone rejected by the builders
that became the keystone.
This was the Lord’s doing
and it is wonderful to see.

which we sang in the final verse of our opening song. We took the entrance antiphon verbatim in Daniel Bath’s gentle African Gospel-style setting for our song at the preparation of the gifts; and at communion we sang the antiphon from 1 Cor 10:17 in John Foley’s now-venerable and still much-loved setting.

New Music for the Mass – Salford Cathedral Centre, Saturday 5 November

2011-09-28T11:37:00.000+01:00

New Music for the Mass: a day for parish music directors, organists, singers and other musicians

You are invited to a day at the Cathedral Centre, Salford, on Saturday 5 November (10.30 am – 4.00 pm) to look at music for the new translation of the Missal. This is a repeat of the event held in June of this year, so if you missed out on that occasion, we hope you'll be able to join us this time round. Places are limited to 60, so do please get your booking in early!

Martin Barry (Director of Music at Salford Cathedral) and Fr Peter Jones (parish priest, composer and chair of the Archdiocese of Birmingham Church Liturgy and Music Committee) will present a day of new music for the Mass, introducing a wide range musical settings written for the new translation of the Missal.

The admission charge is £10, which includes a buffet lunch and tea, coffee, etc., during the day. Please pay on the day upon arrival. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Salford Cathedral’.

For catering purposes and the production of materials please ensure that you book for the day by e-mailing Martin Barry. You can also e-mail Martin if you have any questions about the day.

If you do not have access to e-mail then you can ring Cathedral House on 0161 834 0333 in order to book for the day. Please give your full name and contact details.

We look forward to seeing you there!

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-09-27T23:34:00.000+01:00

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Entrance	O God, thy people gather
Kyrie	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Remember your mercy (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	The Servant King (Graham Kendrick)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Communion	Christ laid down his life for us (Psallite)
Postcommunion	Christus Factus Est (Felice Anerio, 1560-1614)
Recessional	At the name of Jesus

Today’s second reading included the magnificent hymn to Christ’s kenosis (‘emptying’):

His state was divine,
yet he did not cling
to his equality with God
but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave,
and became as men are;
and being as all men are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him high
and gave him the name
which is above all names
so that all beings
in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld
should bend the knee at this name of Jesus
and every tongue should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord
to the glory of God the Father.

Anerio’s setting of the key central section of the hymn is one we sing often as the Gospel acclamation for Good Friday, but today was different: on Good Friday we sing the words with defiance, in the face of our Lord’s shocking death; today we sang in full acknowledgement of the resurrection.

Musically the difference came in the section in triple time beginning Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum (‘But God raised him high’). For Good Friday we keep the tempo the same; today we skipped along at three-in-the-space-of-two, and the sense of irrepressible joy was, well, irrepressible.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-09-27T23:30:00.001+01:00

Sunday, 18 September 2011

Entrance	Praise to the holiest
Kyrie	Kyrie II from Festival Mass (Alan Rees)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 144 (Jones/Steel)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Bread I bring (Christopher Walker)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Communion	How can I repay the Lord (Stephen Dean)
Postcommunion	Teach me, O Lord (Thomas Attwood, 1765-1838)
Recessional	Tell out, my soul

The heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts, we heard in the reading from Isaiah. John Henry Newman’s verses from the Dream of Gerontius said the same thing:

In all his words most wonderful;
Most sure in all his ways

The readings and propers, for the most part, dwelt on God’s promise to answer the call of those in need. Our communion processional song meditated on this in words from Ps 116:

I love the Lord, because he heard my voice;
In my distress he did not spurn me.
The snares of death lay waiting for my soul;
My only hope was calling on the Lord.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-09-27T23:27:00.000+01:00

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Entrance	Praise my soul, the king of heaven
Kyrie	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 102 (Boulton Smith/Gélineau)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Now we remain (David Haas)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Communion	Forget not what God has done (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion	Prayer of St Richard of Chichester (Malcolm Archer)
Recessional	Thanks be to God (Stephen Dean)

Today’s readings, focusing on God’s forgiveness, were summed up, as so often, in the psalm response:

The Lord is compassion and love
slow to anger and rich in mercy

We had three versions of Ps 102(103) – the responsorial psalm itself, and Marty Haugen’s setting, and Henry Lyte’s stirring and stately paraphrase in our opening hymn.

The second reading had the words If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, closely reflected in the final verse of David Haas’s Now we remain.

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-09-04T20:35:00.000+01:00

Entrance	All people that on earth do dwell
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas
Psalm	O that today (Chris O’Hara)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Preparation of the Gifts	Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Sanctus, Acclamation B, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas
Communion	Like the Deer (mcb)
Postcommunion	Sicut Cervus (G.P. da Palestrina, 1525-1594)
Recessional	Love divine, all loves excelling

As usual for this Sunday in the year we were joined by members of Province No. 1 of the Catenian Association, which made for a large and willing singing (and speaking) assembly. We made our first full use of the new translation of the Order of Mass, and all seemed to go well. In general it seemed that the sung responses were more successful than the spoken ones, the notes on the page (for the assembly as well as the choir) forcing people to pay attention to the words too. In contrast, with the spoken responses it seemed that concentration was flagging by the end of Mass, so that plenty of instances of and also with you crept in by the time we responded a final time to the Lord be with you. But our gradual implementation of the new texts has been proceeding smoothly since Easter, and today’s experience suggested that this will continue.

The second reading today spoke powerfully of the commandment to love, and both our recessional hymn and our song at the preparation of the gifts tied in with this. The latter fitted nicely with our Lord’s words in the Gospel too: where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them, which found echoes in Bob Hurd’s rendition of the ancient hymn:

The love of Christ joins us together;
let us rejoice in him,
and in our love and care for all
now love God in return.

In true communion let us gather;
may all divisions cease
and in their place be Christ the Lord,
our risen Prince of Peace.

May we who gather at this table
to share the bread of life
become a sacrament of love,
your healing touch, O Christ.

Today’s responsorial psalm (94(95)) had the words

For he is our God and we
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.

and we sang similar words paraphrased from Ps 99(100) in Vaughan Williams’s stirring Coronation arrangement of our opening hymn.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-08-22T11:38:00.001+01:00

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Entrance	The Church’s one foundation
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Preparation of the Gifts	Praise to the Lord, the almighty
Sanctus & Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Communion	Eat this bread (Taizé)
Recessional	Now thank we all our God

A glimpse of our summer fare, when the choir’s on holiday. The accompaniment was a mixture of organ and piano, there was a cantor for the verses during communion and the celebrant (Fr Anthony) supplied sung dialogues at the Gospel and in the Eucharistic Prayer.

The opening hymn tied in with the words from the Gospel reading: I will build my Church. The hymn at the preparation of the gifts and the recessional hymn both took up the image from the first verse of the responsorial psalm:

I thank you, Lord, with all my heart,
you have heard the words of my mouth.
Before the angels I will bless you.
I will adore before your holy temple.

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-08-07T22:11:00.000+01:00

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Entrance	All who hunger, gather gladly
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	The eyes of everyone (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Cantique de Jean Racine (Gabriel Fauré, 1845-1924)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas & Gary Daigle)
Communion	Come to me and drink (Bob Hurd)
Postcommunion	Panis Angelicus (César Franck, 1822-1890)
Recessional	Now thank we all our God

For the Gospel story of the feeding of the five thousand (“to say nothing of women and children”) we sang our opening hymn, and gave Panis Angelicus another outing. The first reading, from Isaiah, addressed the thirsty as well as the hungry, so we sang Bob Hurd’s Come to me and drink, with verses from Psalm 41(42).

Gremlins in the preparation of the people’s booklet meant we had one last unscheduled outing for the Gathering Mass in its old form, including a final sing through the words Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. I’m glad we had one last encounter.

The choir’s on holiday in August. I think we (including our singing assembly) are ready for the change to the new Missal translation when we come back in September. Musically speaking, all that will be new then will be the sung dialogues, and hopefully the fact of singing them will make the words And with your spirit feel less strange than saying them, for a while at least.

Mass at the Lichtentaler Pfarrkirche, Vienna : 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-07-24T22:42:00.002+01:00

With choir numbers dwindling as the summer holidays approach, and yours truly in Vienna for a (day-job) conference, we allowed ourselves a Sunday off. We’re back for one more Sunday Mass next weekend, before we break for August. At the Cathedral, the plan was to try a congregation-only setting of the new Missal text, in the form of Paul Inwood’s Gathering Mass. I wonder how they got on?

In Vienna, I went to Franz Schubert’s parish church, where they were celebrating the 300th anniversary of the chapel of St. Anne, the oldest part of the church building, and so the 300th anniversary of the parish itself. The music, accompanied by organ and a splendid brass ensemble, was Michael Haydn’s Deutsche Messe - the prototype German or Austrian Singmesse, in which the people sing hymns loosely based on the Mass Ordinary, in place of the Missal texts themselves.

In the days long before the liturgical renewal was dreamt of, these songs would have been sung while the priest got on with the real business of the Mass. I suppose they represented a more “full, conscious and active” mode of participation than was otherwise available to participants in the Low Mass. But now, might they be an obstacle to participation rather than an aid to it? Wikipedia has this to say:

The Betsingmesse became obsolete with the liturgical reform introduced after the Second Vatican Council and with the introduction of vernacular liturgy in the celebration of the Missa cum populo. The tradition of carrying out parts of the liturgy in the form of German songs that are not necessarily a German rendering of those parts of the liturgy: e.g., by a “Song at the Gloria” or a “Song at the Sanctus”, however, has been retained in many parishes, even if it is regarded critically by liturgists and is not supported by the official documents as part of the modern Roman rite.

The singing, it has to be said, was strong and reverent.

Mass with Archbishop Charles Dufour

2011-07-21T00:37:00.001+01:00

Wednesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time (Year I, 2011)
20 July 2011

Entrance	Thou whose almighty Word
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm	Ps 144: How good is the Lord (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Preparation of the Gifts	Oculi Omnium (Charles Wood, 1866-1926)
Sanctus, Acclamation 1, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas/Gary Daigle)
Communion	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas)
Postcommunion	Panis Angelicus (César Franck, 1822-1890)
Recessional	Guide me, O thou great redeemer

We joined with Archbishop Charles Dufour – an old seminary friend of Fr Tony’s, en route home from receiving his pallium in Rome – to celebrate his appointment to the see of Kingston, Jamaica.

To accompany the first reading from Exodus 16, telling the story of manna in the desert, we had two settings of the words The eyes of all creatures look to you, and you give them food in due time, in the responsorial psalm, and in Charles Wood’s serene and simple choir piece. Panis Angelicus and the our final hymn were on the same theme too.

The Gospel was the parable of the sower again. We sang about it obliquely, in our opening hymn:

Hear us, we humbly pray,
and where the Gospel day
sheds not its glorious ray,
let there be light.

Fr Tony drew the threads together in his homily: the spread of the Gospel is at the core of the mission of any bishop.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-07-17T20:57:00.020+01:00

Entrance	O God, thy people gather
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	O Lord, you are good (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	All that is hidden (Bernadette Farrell)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Holy Family Mass (John Schiavone)
Communion	There is a longing in our hearts (Anne Quigley)
Postcommunion	For the beauty of the earth (John Rutter)
Recessional	Thanks be to God (Stephen Dean)

In today’s second reading we heard:

when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means

which led us to Anne Quigley’s There is a longing in our hearts. The Gospel reading had these words:

I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world

and this gave us Bernadette Farrell’s All that is hidden.

The Communion antiphon, finally, was

The Lord keeps in our minds the wonderful things he has done. He is compassion and love; he always provides for his faithful.

John Rutter’s irresistible For the beauty of the earth is a joyful hymn in praise of this providence.

Ordination to the Priesthood of Paul Blackburn and Andrew Starkie

2011-07-16T23:40:00.017+01:00

Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Entrance	Praise to the Holiest
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas
Psalm	My soul rejoices (Owen Alstott)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Litany of the Saints	Chant
Illustrative Rites	Veni Creator Spiritus (chant, with vv 2 & 6 by T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Kiss of Peace	If ye love me (Thomas Tallis, c.1505-1585)
Preparation of the Gifts	Ave Maria (Edward Elgar, 1857-1934)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas
Communion	The Almighty works marvels for me (Peter Jones)
Postcommunion	Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd, c.1540-1623)
Recessional	Hail Queen of Heaven

For this special occasion we had a good mix of music, from plainchant to Peter Jones. Hail Queen of heaven and the Gathering Mass are both guaranteed to raise the roof, and didn’t disappoint. For the latter, with Paul Inwood’s kind permission, we used the as-yet unpublished version revised for the new Missal translation. I led the assembly through the changes to the Sanctus before the start of Mass, and perhaps it was a first moment of catechesis for those from parishes where the significance of the impending changes on what we sing at Mass hasn't yet featured on the radar.

My good work was undone by the massed ranks of the clergy, who weren’t present for the run-through, and belted out the old version without looking in their service booklets. If it was a teaching moment, the lesson was that we can expect chaos for a while yet.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-07-10T21:55:00.002+01:00

Entrance	Thou whose almighty word
Kyrie	Taizé Kyrie I
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	Ps 64 (Stuart Beer)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Eye has not seen (Marty Haugen)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Holy Family Mass (John Schiavone)
Communion	Seed scattered and sown (Dan Feiten)
Postcommunion	How lovely are thy dwellings (Johannes Brahms, 1833-1897)
Recessional	Love Divine

The seed in today’s readings is identified with the word falling on receptive ears. Our Communion processional song made a different connection, using the image from the Didache: as seed was scattered on the hill and then gathered to make one loaf of bread, so are we gathered into Christ’s body. The music, in different hands, could have a chirpy 60s folk quality to it, but we took it at a gentler pace, which lent a prayerful air, and gave time for the multiple scriptural sources of the text to resonate.

The Communion antiphon itself, from Ps 83(84), included the words

How happy they who dwell in your house! For ever they are praising you.

We sang the same text in the well-known chorus from Brahms’s German Requiem.

Another new Gloria today, namely that from Jacob Bancks’s Mass of the Most Sacred Heart. For a piece given away freely via the internet it has a good deal of musical merit, chiefly in the skilful use of connected melodic themes to mirror the structure of the text itself. On the other hand (as I read in a blog discussion of the piece) the part-writing seems curiously cavalier about musical grammaticality, with a proliferation of consecutive fifths and octaves, unresolved discords, gratuitous second inversions, and the like. The composer seemed unrepentant, and the least that can be said is that to the untrained ear the piece seems to work well.

11.30 Mass at St Nameless’s: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-07-03T18:47:00.003+01:00

Entrance	Here I Am, Lord (Dan Schutte)
Preparation of the Gifts	In bread we bring you, Lord (Kevin Nichols)
Memorial Acclamation	He is Lord (2 verses)
Communion	Bind us together
Recessional	As I kneel before you (Maria Parkinson)

At the cathedral today they celebrated First Holy Communion for the children of the parish, and the choir were given the customary weekend off.

I went to the principal Sunday Mass in my home parish, where they were celebrating the Leavers’ Mass for the local primary school. The children acted as readers, and there was a School Assembly-style contribution from all the children before the final blessing, but otherwise it was a normal Sunday Mass.

There’s never any strong sign that liturgy and music here are shaped by familiarity with the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, or Celebrating the Mass, and the parish priest seems content not to do anything about it. My impression is that the only template for the way liturgy is conducted in the parish is local practice over the last few decades. I don’t think there’s any sense among the parishioners that it ought to be done differently.

The parish priest contributed some game-show host antics, in recruiting one of the children to take over from him in leading the penitential rite. (He put a microphone in front of the child, and said “Say I confess, and everyone will follow”, with predictable comedy consequences.) The PP also led the one piece of “ritual” music, namely the hymn that stood in for the Memorial Acclamation, calling out the words for verse two, Gospel-music style, over the last notes of verse one.

I was saddened by the spectacle, and mildly embarrassed that it’s the parish I live in.

Saints Peter & Paul (2011)

2011-06-30T00:00:00.001+01:00

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Entrance	The Church’s one foundation
Gloria	(ad experimentum)
Psalm	Ps 33 (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Tu es Petrus (Hans Leo Hassler, 1564-1612)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Come to me (Martin Barry & Diane Murden)
Recessional	For all the saints

The choir outnumbered the congregation for our celebration of today’s feast. Singing in a nearly empty Cathedral allowed us to revel in the reverberant acoustic, especially in the sumptuous motet by Hassler, a new addition to the composers in our music library.

The Body and Blood of Christ (Year A, 2011)

2011-06-26T22:28:00.004+01:00

Entrance	O Bread of Heaven
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	(ad experimentum)
Psalm	Ps 147 (Colin Mawby)
Sequence	Lauda Sion Salvatorem (Chris Mueller)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Sweet Sacrament Divine
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas)
Postcommunion	Ave Verum Corpus (W.A. Mozart, 1756-1791)
Recessional	Soul of my Saviour

My “retro” taste in hymns this morning attracted comment from The Management. Opportunities to sing old favourites like these are relatively infrequent, and it seems to me that they’re still powerful vehicles for Eucharistic devotion, especially for those who (like me) still have them firmly lodged in memory. But for all that, the Mass propers tell of a more active relationship with the Sacrament than we find in hymns for Benediction:

The Lord fed his people with the finest wheat and honey;
their hunger was satisfied.(Ps 80:17)

and

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live in me and I in him, says the Lord. (Jn 6:57)

So there’s some more thinking to be done before next time.

We made room for an abridged version of the sequence, in the form of Chris Mueller’s very fine harmonised chant setting for six-part choir of the final verses, which we preceded with the opening lines of St Thomas Aquinas’s original chant. The music of Mueller (who is director of music at the church of Notre Dame in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York) is a pleasing internet ‘find’, and I’m glad that there’s more to explore.

Trinity Sunday (Year A, 2011)

2011-06-19T22:56:00.002+01:00

Entrance	Father, Lord of all creation
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	(ad experimentum)
Psalm	Canticle from the Flames (Felix Goebel-Komala)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	God so loved the world (John Stainer, 1840-1901)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion	God beyond all names (John Bell) & Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas (chant)
Postcommunion	O Lux Beata Trinitas (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Recessional	Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty

In Felix Goebel-Komala’s exhilarating interpretation of the canticle from Daniel 3, cantor and assembly engage in zestful dialogue, the choir first supporting the assembly, but eventually succumbing to enthusiasm and elbowing the cantor aside for the last few stanzas of the litany. Ian Williams carried off the cantor’s role with all the requisite panache. We last sang the piece during our Trinity Sunday Mass three years ago, celebrated at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester with the Catenian Association marking its centenary, where the irrepressible vivaciousness of the Canticle elicited a willing response from the vast singing assembly.

We continued our exploration of the works of Victoria, in this his four hundredth anniversary year. O lux beata Trinitas is strictly an evening hymn, but a bit of nifty footwork with the Latin &ndash changing iam sol recedit into iam sol ascendit, even if that’s not the usual verb to describe the sun going up – made it into a fitting song for a morning celebration.

A publisher had very kindly afforded a preview of a revised setting of the Gloria, so we tried it out this morning. When it’s eventually published it will certainly become a staple of our repertoire.

Pentecost (2011)

2011-06-12T18:23:00.000+01:00

Entrance	Holy Spirit, come confirm us
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 103 (David Saint)
Gospel Acclamation	Pentecost Sequence (arr. Richard Proulx); Easter Alleluia
Rite of Confirmation	Come Holy Spirit (Stephen Dean) Spirit of God (Bernadette Farrell) Veni Creator Spiritus (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611) Spirit of the living God & Psalm 103 (John Ainslie) Come Holy Spirit (Stephen Dean)
Preparation of the Gifts	Wisdom, come softly (Martin Barry & Diane Murden)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	Come to me and drink (Bob Hurd)
Recessional	Come Holy Ghost

Four parishes came together for a celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation during our Sunday Mass of Pentecost. This made for an exceptionally large number of candidates, and a rich (and long) celebration. With hindsight, maybe we could have skimped on some elements of the Mass: perhaps recited the Gloria, and omitted the second reading and the sequence. What do you think?

Bob Hurd’s Come to me and drink has several verses mentioning the Spirit, including these lines based on Romans 5:5:

Into our hearts the love of God has been poured
through the Spirit that dwells within.

The Ascension (2011)

2011-06-10T20:31:00.005+01:00

Sunday, 5th June 2011

Entrance	Praise him as he mounts the skies
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 46 (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	New praises be given
Sanctus, Acclamation B, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	I will see you again (Psallite)
Postcommunion	Ascendo ad Patrem (G.P. da Palestrina, c.1525-1594)
Recessional	At the name of Jesus

The fourth verse of our closing hymn pictures the Ascension –

Bore it up triumphant, with its human light,
through all ranks of creatures, to the central height,
to the throne of Godhead, to the Father’s breast;
filled it with the glory of that perfect rest.

– in the same imagery as St Paul, in today’s second reading from 1 Ephesians:

This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far above every Sovereignty, Authority, Power, or Domination, or any other name that can be named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come.

6th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

2011-05-29T22:30:00.000+01:00

Entrance	This joyful Eastertide
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 65 (Bill Tamblyn)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	Be still and know I am with you (Anne Conway)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	Unless a grain of wheat (Bernadette Farrell)
Postcommunion	If ye love me (Thomas Tallis, c.1505-1585)
Recessional	Come down, O love divine

Another week for readings rich in key phrases prompting musical choices. The Gospel reading alone gave us I will not leave you orphans and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, leading to the songs Be still and know I am with you and Unless a grain of wheat. The first reading from Acts told of the Apostles praying for the descent of the Holy Spirit, and in our final hymn, to Vaughan Williams's very fine tune, we made the same prayer our own.

Plus, of course, Tallis's simple masterpiece, reflecting the opening lines of the Gospel reading, and today’s Communion antiphon.

5th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

2011-05-22T23:18:00.000+01:00

Entrance	Christ is made the sure foundation
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 32 (Alan Rees)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	The stone which the builders rejected (Bernadette Farrell)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	I am the vine (John Bell) & Ps 80 (Laurence Bévenot)
Postcommunion	Alleluia, Christus Surrexit (Felice Anerio, 1560-1614)
Recessional	Battle is o’er

Today’s readings offered a number of key phrases that might have triggered musical selections. In the second reading (from 1 Peter) the reference to a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation suggested Christopher Walker’s Out of darkness, and the mention of living stones could have given us Bernadette Farrell’s Christ be our light. Instead we had two songs taking up the image of Christ the cornerstone, in another song by Farrell, and our opening hymn.

It was less easy to find anything suitable echoing the Gospel line I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. What did I miss?

New Music for the Mass - Salford Cathedral, 25th June 2011

2011-05-17T18:57:00.005+01:00

New Music for the Mass: a day for parish music directors, organists, singers and other musicians

You are invited to a day at the Cathedral Centre, Salford, on Saturday 25th June (10.30 am – 4.00 pm) to look at music for the new translation of the Missal.

Martin Barry (Director of Music at Salford Cathedral) and Fr Peter Jones (parish priest, composer and chair of the Archdiocese of Birmingham Church Liturgy and Music Committee) will present a day of new music for the Mass, introducing musical settings written for the new translation of the Missal, including a close look at the forthcoming collection Glory to God from Decani Music, edited by Alan Smith and Peter Jones.

The admission charge is £10, which includes a buffet lunch and tea, coffee, etc., during the day. Please pay on the day upon arrival. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Salford Cathedral’.

For catering purposes and the production of resources please ensure that you book for the day by e-mailing Martin Barry. You can also e-mail Martin if you have any questions about the day.

If you do not have access to e-mail then you can ring Cathedral House on 0161 834 0333 in order to book for the day. Please give your full name and contact details.

We look forward to seeing you there!

4th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

2011-05-15T17:24:00.000+01:00

Entrance	All people that on earth do dwell
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Because the Lord is my shepherd (Christopher Walker)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	Now the green blade riseth
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	You are the shepherd (Psallite)
Postcommunion	Flocks in pastures green abiding (J.S. Bach)
Recessional	The King of love my shepherd is

The many references to the shepherd and his sheep in today’s readings, propers and presidential prayers give today its customary title of Good Shepherd Sunday, and six of our pieces reflected the same themes.

3rd Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

2011-05-08T21:00:00.001+01:00

Entrance	The day of resurrection
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 15 (Robert Sherlaw Johnson)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	On the journey to Emmaus (Marty Haugen)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	At your word our hearts are burning (Psallite)
Postcommunion	Awake thou wintry earth (Thomas Blackburn, 1916-1977 & J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)
Recessional	Alleluia sing to Jesus

We took our first steps with the new Missal texts, in the form of my revised Spring Sanctus. For the Sanctus, it seems to me, it makes sense to begin with a reworked version of something already familiar to the singing assembly. The change – of the words “God of power and might” to “God of hosts” is small enough that the melody can be left intact for most of the piece, and people seemed happy to cope with the change in words and tune in the first line. The Memorial Acclamations represent a more sweeping change, but here too our assembly seemed happy to tackle the new challenge.

Our postcommunion piece had a spring feel as well: the fifth movement of Bach’s cantata Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, BWV 129 with words by the English poet Thomas Blackburn, beginning

Awake, thou wintry earth, fling off, fling off thy sadness.
Ye vernal flowers, laugh forth, laugh forth, your ancient gladness.
A new and lovely tale throughout the land is sped,
it floats o’er hill and dale to tell that death is dead.

Holy Hour for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II

2011-05-01T22:28:00.002+01:00

Exposition	O Salutaris Hostia (tune: Melcombe)
Evening Prayer: Hymn	At the Lamb’s high feast
Psalms	Ps 109, Ps 113, Canticle from Revelation 19 (all from Parish Sunday Vespers)
Magnificat	My soul is filled with joy
Benediction	Tantum Ergo (chant)
Reposition	Adoremus in aeternum (chant)
Marian Hymn	Holy light on earth’s horizon

Bishop Brain led a service of Exposition, Evening Prayer and Benediction, interspersed with elements of the Divine Mercy Devotion (the chaplet and litany). We kept the music simple, with familiar hymns and Latin chant items, and a Magnificat sung to the melody Wild Mountain Thyme. A cantor led the psalms for Evening Prayer, singing alternatim with the congregation (fortified by a few members of the choir). For a small gathering, we made a polished sound, I thought.

2nd Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

2011-05-01T18:51:00.002+01:00

Entrance	Crown him with many crowns
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 117 (Eugene Monaghan)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	Regina Caeli (Samuel Webbe, 1740-1816)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd) [UC 66]
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Godhead here in hiding (chant) & Confitemini Domino (Taizé)
Postcommunion	Surrexit Christus Dominus (Michael Praetorius, 1571-1621)
Recessional	Lord enthroned in heavenly splendour

The Beatification of Pope John Paul II today deprived us of our customary weekend off after the exertions of Holy Week and Easter, and instead we joined the Bishop in a festive Mass in celebration of the event.

Samuel Webbe is described (in a late 19th century collection edited by Wilhelm Lutz Meyer of Southwark Cathedral) as “the father of modern Catholic music in England”. Wikipedia is a bit more restrained on the subject of his collected works: “If not of a very high order, they are at least devotional.” His Regina Caeli, with its lyrical melodic line punctuated by effervescent Alleluias, was just right for a sunny Spring morning.

Doubting Thomas plays a starring role in today’s Gospel reading, and so we sang the words of Adoro Te devote, in Gerard Manley Hopkins’s translation, interspersed with Jacques Berthier’s Confitemini Domino. The fourth verse runs:

I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
This faith each day deeper be my holding of;
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.

Easter Sunday (2011)

2011-04-24T17:04:00.002+01:00

Entrance	Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today
Gloria	from Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	This is the Day (mcb)
Sequence	Victimae Paschali Laudes (J. William Greene)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	Now the green blade riseth
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Confitemini Domino (Taizé) & psalm 117 (Laurence Bévenot)
Postcommunion	Surrexit Christus (adapted from G.B. Pergolesi, 1710-1736)
Recessional	(i) Go in the peace of Christ, Alleluia (chanted) (ii) At the Lamb’s high feast

I’ve been aware for the last few weeks that we’re coming to the end of the life of some texts that have been our familiar language of prayer for a few decades. With the advent of the new translation of the Missal later in the year, the Sanctus will change slightly, and the Gloria will see a more thorough-going revision, bringing it much closer than the current paraphrase to the text of the Latin Missal. Musical settings of the new texts, we’re told, can be used from today onwards, and their use will become obligatory later in the year.

So a text we’re bidding farewell to is Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again which won’t be included in the new translation. We’ll sing it one more time next Sunday, and then move on to the new versions.

We had a new and unwelcome organ-related experience this morning, namely a cipher, or stuck note. On a pipe organ, an instant though drastic remedy is to yank out the offending pipe; when it comes to a digital instrument like ours, one’s options are more limited. The offending note related to all the manuals and the pedals, and to every stop. The solution, it turned out (after Anthony had tried switching everything off, and lots of other sensible steps) was to tap the troublesome note (a low E) on every manual (and the pedal board), until the organ got the message that it was time to stop.

Happy Easter, everyone.

The Easter Vigil (Holy Saturday, 2011)

2011-04-24T16:37:00.000+01:00

Saturday, 23 April 2011

The Service of Light	Lumen Christi (chanted)
Exsultet	Plainchant
After 1st reading (Genesis 1)	Send forth your Spirit (Stephen Dean)
After 2nd reading (Exodus 14-15)	I will sing to the Lord (Geoffrey Boulton Smith)
After 3rd reading (Isaiah 55: come to the water)	We shall draw water joyfully (Paul Inwood)
After 4th reading (Ezekiel 36: I shall give you a new heart)	As the deer longs (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Easter Alleluia + Psalm 117	Plainchant, verses by Paul Inwood
Litany of the Saints	Joseph Gélineau, ed. Robert B. Kelly
Blessing of the Font	Springs of Water (Marty Haugen)
Sprinkling	Vidi Aquam (T.L. de Victoria, c. 1548-1611)
Preparation of the Gifts	Alleluia, Surrexit Dominus (Jacquet de Mantua, 1483-1559)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Unless a grain of wheat (Bernadette Farrell)
Dismissal	Go in the peace of Christ, Alleluia (chanted)
Final Hymn	Thine be the Glory

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Tomás Luis de Victoria, and we've marked it with four pieces by him during Holy Week. But they were all staples of our repertoire anyway, which, four hundred years on, is probably all the tribute required.

Celebration of the Lord’s Passion (Good Friday, 2011)

2011-04-22T21:57:00.002+01:00

Psalm	Father, into your hands (Martin Foster)
Gospel Acclamation	Christus factus est (Felice Anerio c. 1560-1614)
Veneration of the Cross	This is the wood of the cross (Missal tone) There is a green hill far away The Reproaches (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611) & plainchant Jesus, remember me (Taizé)
Communion	Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd, c. 1540-1623) Soul of my Saviour

Martin Foster’s psalm setting combines an ostinato refrain (alternating the words of the psalm response, and a hummed accompaniment to the cantor) with a cantor singing the psalm verses. We had cantors too in the Reproaches, two voices providing the chant verses in between repetitions of Victoria’s Popule Meus and Agios o Theos; and at the start of Jesus, remember me, a lone voice announcing the plaintive plea, before the whole assembly made it into collective prayer.

Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Maundy Thursday, 2011)

2011-04-22T21:23:00.001+01:00

Thursday, 21 April 2011

Opening Hymn	The glory of the cross (John Ainslie)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Responsorial Psalm	The Blessing Cup (Christopher Walker)
Gospel Acclamation	A New Commandment
Washing of Feet	If there is this love among you (Barry/Murden)
Preparation of the Gifts	Ubi Caritas (Maurice Duruflé, 1902-1986)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII Missal Tone: Lord, by your Cross Missal Tone
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII & Missa Brevis (Antonio Lotti, 1667-1740)
Communion	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas)
Procession	Pange Lingua (plainchant) Stay with me (Taizé)

We got the timing right with the procession to the altar of repose at the end of our celebration, by leaving a gap, ably filled by Anthony improvising at the organ, between the fourth verse of Pange Lingua and the fifth and sixth (Tantum Ergo). The impact of the final two verses was all the stronger for having waited for the last members of the procession to reach the end. It felt like this is how it should always be done; as indeed (if one can stretch the point to consider the organ improvisation still to be ‘supporting the singing’, as ordained by the rubrics) the liturgical books tell us it should.

The Mass of Chrism (2011)

2011-04-22T20:45:00.001+01:00

Thursday, 21 April 2011

Opening Hymn	Christ triumphant, ever-reigning
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	from Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Responsorial Psalm	I will sing for ever of your love (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Procession of the Oils	O Redeemer (Paul Ford/mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Love Divine (Howard Goodall)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Mass XVIII (in English) & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Mass XVIII (in Latin) & Missa O Quam Gloriosum (T.L. de Victoria 1548-1611)
Communion	O Lord, I will sing of your constant love (Christopher Walker) Sitivit Anima Mea (G.P. da Palestrina, c.1525-1594) Now we remain (David Haas)
Recessional Hymn	My song is love unknown

I chose our entrance hymn, to John Barnard’s very fine tune Guiting Power, because of the fourth verse:

Priestly King, enthroned for ever high in heaven above!
Sin and death and hell shall never stifle hymns of love.

which seemed a good match for the entrance antiphon for today’s celebration:

Jesus Christ has made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father: glory and kingship be his for ever and ever. Amen.

It was a gamble, in that the hymn isn’t necessarily one well-known to Catholic congregations. I tested the water during my five-minute rehearsal with the people before Mass, and found that, yes, at least ten people present (out of nearly a thousand) knew it well enough to sing along with me. It’s amazing what you can achieve in five minutes with a willing singing assembly, though, and we still just about managed to shake the rafters during the entrance procession.

The Mass XVIII Sanctus, with words in English, was another cautious experiment: since this is the melody we are encouraged to have at the core of our repertoire when the new Missal translation comes in, I thought I’d try it out on this occasion, in a version as close as possible – barring the words power and might in place of hosts – to the version coming in later in the year. The aim was to plant a seed or two for the future, and also to find out how good a simple chant setting like this might be at uniting a disparate congregation on a grand occasion.

I was disappointed, I have to say. In this celebration in the past we've used settings that were unfamiliar to the congregation before the event – Richard Proulx's Community Mass, or my own Spring Sanctus, for instance – and they've worked well, the melody and the meter seeming to persuade the assembly to sing an unfamiliar setting with commitment. The chant setting in comparison seemed to fall short of that target, leaving me more doubtful than perhaps I was of the merit of a simple chant version as the essential core repertoire for people’s acclamations.

But you never know: the simplest tunes can be given real strength through the familiarity that turns them into old favourites. Perhaps it won’t take long.

Palm Sunday (2011)

2011-04-17T21:56:00.000+01:00

Entrance	Hosanna Filio David (Plainchant & T.L. de Victoria, c. 1548-1611) All Glory Laud and Honour
Psalm	My God, my God (Liam Lawton)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Preparation of the Gifts	Crucifixus from the Mass in B Minor (J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)
Sanctus	Mass XVII
Acclamation	Missal Tone: Lord, by your cross
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII & Missa Brevis (Antonio Lotti, c. 1667-1740)
Communion	Father, if this cup (Stephen Dean)
Recessional	My song is love unknown

There was, I thought, a striking affinity between the Bach Crucifixus and Stephen Dean’s atmospheric Communion song – both begin with chromatic harmonies over pulsing repeated bass notes (both in the key of E minor). I wondered whether the Bach was Stephen’s inspiration for writing the piece. They went together well, I felt.

We had more Bach from Anthony, our Communion processional song being followed by the chorale prelude Erbarm’ dich mein, o Herre Gott, BWV 721, and for a postlude after Mass, the final movement of the St Matthew Passion (Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder).

5th Sunday of Lent (Year A, 2011)

2011-04-10T23:46:00.005+01:00

Entrance	Out of the depths (Scott Soper)
Kyrie	Mass XVII
Psalm	Ps 129 (Peter Smedley)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Preparation of the Gifts	Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts (Henry Purcell, 1659-1695)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII
Communion	I will put a new spirit within you (Stephen Dean)
Recessional	Praise to the holiest

From the depths to the height, in our entrance song (echoing today’s responsorial psalm) and our recessional hymn. At communion we had Stephen Dean’s I will put a new spirit within you, a new one for us. Its text was from Ezekiel 36, and echoed the same image from the following chapter, which appeared in today’s first reading:

You will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live.

The responsorial psalm itself said:

O let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleading.

Henry Purcell set a similar plea for forgiveness from the burial service from the Book of Common Prayer:

Shut not thy merciful ears unto our prayer,
but spare us Lord most holy.

4th Sunday of Lent (Year A, 2011)

2011-04-07T21:46:00.002+01:00

Sunday, 3 April 2011

Entrance	Your hands, O Lord, in days of old
Kyrie	Mass XVII
Psalm	His goodness shall follow me (Chris O’Hara)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Preparation of the Gifts	My spirit longs for thee (John Dowland, 1563-1626)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII & Missa O Quam Gloriosum (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Communion	Lord, your love has drawn us near (Stephen Dean)
Recessional	Be thou my vision

Today’s Gospel story of the healing of the man born blind prompted a few of our musical selections. Our opening hymn, with the lines

And then your touch brought life and health,
gave speech and strength and sight

was sung to the tune Coe Fen, and we had vision in a wider sense in our recessional hymn. The choir sang My spirit longs for thee, fitting the words of John Byrom (1692-1763) to a song by John Dowland. These words touched more obliquely on sight:

Yet has my heart no rest,
Unless it come from Thee.
Unless it come from Thee,
In vain I look around;
In all that I can see,
No rest is to be found.

For our responsorial psalm we took Chris O’Hara’s adaptation of Ps 22(23), hauntingly set to the Irish folk song She moved through the fair. We sang it unaccompanied, the cantor’s verses (beautifully executed by Rachel O’Farrell) alternating with the refrain in four part harmony, though with the people joining in too.

Plainchant and Victoria too; our trademark mix, you could say.

3rd Sunday of Lent (Year A, 2011)

2011-03-27T19:34:00.000+01:00

Entrance	Your love is finer than life (Marty Haugen)
Sprinkling Rite	Springs of Water (Marty Haugen)
Psalm	O that today (Chris O’Hara)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Preparation of the Gifts	Sitivit anima mea (G.P. da Palestrina, c.1525-1594)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII
Communion	Come to me and drink (Bob Hurd)
Recessional	Guide me, O thou great redeemer

Today’s readings and propers contained a host of images of thirst, drinking, springs and water. The Communion antiphon was from John 4:13:

Whoever drinks the water that I shall give him, says the Lord
will have a spring inside him, welling up for eternal life.

Bob Hurd’s Communion processional song sets a similar image from later in St John’s Gospel (7:37-38):

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me.
Let anyone who believes in me come and drink. As scripture says, from his heart shall flow streams of living water.

We sang the verse citing this image, and those adapted from verses of Psalm 42:

My soul is thirsting for God,
the living God;
when can I enter and appear
before the face of God?

My tears have become my bread,
by day, by night,
as they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”

These same verses were also the text of Palestrina’s serenely beautiful motet, the second of a pair with the more familiar Sicut Cervus. The challenge in rehearsal was not to let the beauty of the music completely veil the haunting sadness of the words.

2nd Sunday of Lent (Year A, 2011)

2011-03-21T21:49:00.000Z

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Entrance	Remember your mercy, Lord (Paul Inwood)
Kyrie	Mass XVII
Psalm	Ps 32 (Alan Rees)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Preparation of the Gifts	Averte faciem tuam (from Miserere Mei by Antonio Lotti, c. 1667-1740)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII
Communion	Here is my servant, here is my Son (Psallite)
Recessional	Immortal, Invisible

Today’s Entrance antiphon came from Psalm 24(25):

Remember your mercies, Lord,
your tenderness from ages past.

We sang Paul Inwood’s very fine setting, with choral verses (setting the Grail translation of the psalm text) and a people’s refrain. The extended refrain and the organ interludes make it a good processional song.

The Communion antiphon,

This is my Son, my beloved,
in whom is all my delight: listen to him.

echoing the Gospel story of the Transfiguration, was a new element in the 1970 Roman Missal, so I shouldn’t have been surprised not to be able to find a polyphonic choral setting. We sang the setting by the Psallite composers, combining a prayerful adaptation of the antiphon text with verses from Isaiah. The latter were an unwieldy object for chanting, but presented the choir with a good test of coordination and clear diction.

Another instalment of Lotti’s Miserere, to follow the section we sang for Ash Wednesday. This time we sang from Averte faciem tuam (turn your face from my sins) to Et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam (and my mouth shall declare your praise). The episodic character of the setting, meandering from verse to verse with nothing in the way of recurring thematic material, gives it a restless, even shapeless feel, but the strength of the pleading in the declamatory final verse of today’s excerpt (beginning Domine, labia mea aperies (Lord, open my lips)) gave the piece its character.

The Rite of Election (2011)

2011-03-13T22:02:00.001Z

Opening Hymn	The Church’s one foundation
Responsorial Psalm	Teach me, O God (Chris Walker)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Enrolment	Take, O take me as I am (John L Bell)
After the Election of the Catechumens	Who calls you by name (David Haas)
Welcome of Candidates	Always in your presence (Philip Jakob)
After Welcome of Candidates	A Clare Benediction (John Rutter)
Prayers of Intercession	Miserere Nobis from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Recessional Hymn	Praise to the holiest

A packed celebration like last year’s, this year for the first time with eight candidates for admission to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. The music was the usual mix of the contemplative and the uplifting. For me, the musical highlight was probably the whole assembly enthusiastically taking up the refrain of Chris Walker’s Teach me, O God. On an occasion like this, the words have especial significance for so many present:

My heart delights
to follow your ways,
to follow your ways to the end.

1st Sunday of Lent (Year A, 2011)

2011-03-13T21:45:00.001Z

Entrance	Led by the Spirit (Bob Hurd)
Kyrie	Mass XVII
Psalm	Ps 50 (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Preparation of the Gifts	Emendemus in Melius (William Byrd, 1540-1623)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII
Communion	Not on bread alone are we nourished (Psallite)
Recessional	Lead us, heavenly Father, Lead us

We introduced the Sanctus and Agnus Dei of Mass XVII last year, and this year we’re adding the Kyrie. A major traffic snarl-up meant that our principal celebrant arrived very late, and this gave us longer than usual to run through items with the congregation before the start of our celebration. So the chant items felt fairly secure by the time we sang them during the Mass.

From Psallite, Not on bread alone are we nourished adapts the text of the Communion antiphon from Matthew 4:4, setting it to the tune Picardy (Let all mortal flesh keep silence), with the voices in the refrain in canon, interspersed with chanted verses from Psalm 18(19). I thought it was a very effective setting, succeeding in establishing an atmosphere of prayer, while being readily accessible to our willing singing assembly.

Ash Wednesday (2011)

2011-03-10T19:43:00.002Z

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

Entrance	Lord Jesus, think on me
Psalm	Ps 50 (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Imposition of Ashes	Lord, Cleanse my heart (Psallite)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII
Communion	Miserere Mei (Antonio Lotti, c. 1667-1740)
Recessional	Our Father, we have wandered

We kept to the same musical choices as last year, with the exception of the Lotti. Last year we sang the opening verse, and since then we've tackled the whole piece. Altogether it was on the long side for the ritual moment of the Communion procession, so we sang a truncated version. The piece is episodic in character - a through-composed setting with different music for every verse, and a regular alternating pattern of atmospheric counterpoint and declamatory block chords. It wasn’t easy, though, to find a place to stop that didn’t feel like ending in the middle. Cutting to the last verse (which, musically speaking, does feel like a proper ending) wasn’t altogether convincing either, with the text turning from penitence to, well, bullocks. We settled on

Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam:
et exsultabunt ossa humiliata.

Make me hear rejoicing and gladness,
that the bones you have crushed may thrill.

9th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-03-06T20:35:00.003Z

Entrance	Christ is made the sure foundation
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas
Psalm	Ps 30 (Martin Hall/A Gregory Murray)
Gospel Acclamation	Here in our Midst (Peter Jones)
Preparation of the Gifts	The Lord bless you and keep you (John Rutter)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Assisi Acclamations (Nick Baty)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	I am the true and living bread (Martin Barry/Diane Murden)
Postcommunion	Litany to the Holy Spirit (Peter Hurford)
Recessional	Glorious things of you are spoken

It was harder than I expected to find songs and hymns reflecting the image in today’s readings of God our rock. From Psalm 94(95), there’s the line Hail the rock who saves us. We sang a setting of this psalm for our Entrance song four Sundays ago. Today we tried out a hymn which, to my knowledge, we haven’t sung before: John Newton’s Glorious things of thee are spoken (in the Celebration Hymnal for Everyone version with modernised pronouns), with the line On the Rock of Ages founded, what can shake your sure repose? Our opening hymn Christ is made the sure foundation touched on the same theme.

For this the last Sunday before Lent, we had two fairly sunny choral items: firstly, John Rutter’s The Lord bless you and keep you, in which the line The Lord make his face to shine upon you echoed the last verse of the responsorial psalm; and secondly Peter Hurford’s Litany to the Holy Spirit.

The latter was chosen with both of today’s Communion antiphons in mind:

I call upon you, God, for you will answer me;
Bend your ear and hear my prayer.

and

I tell you solemnly, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours, says the Lord.

The words are the first three stanzas of Robert Herrick’s (1591-1674) prayer in verse about last things. Peter Hurford’s charming melody might be thought an incongruous vehicle for Herrick’s rather morbid supplications, but the end result is an uplifting focus not on death and judgement, but on the reassurance of trust in the Holy Spirit, the comforter.

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-03-01T22:42:00.002Z

Sunday, 27 February 2011

Entrance	All my hope on God is founded
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas
Psalm	Ps 61 (Martin Hall)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Seek ye first
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Assisi Acclamations (Nick Baty)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	In God alone (Taizé) & Ps 127 (Bévenot)
Postcommunion	Quaerite primum regnum Dei (W.A. Mozart)
Recessional	Lord, for tomorrow and its needs

Today’s Gospel reading gave us some memorable phrases, not least of which was

Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be gven you as well.

We found two contrasting musical settings, firstly in the well known modern hymn setting (in yet another fine choral arrangement from the RSCM collection Sing with all my soul), and then in the polyphonic setting by the young Mozart.

He wrote it at the age of fourteen, as part of the entrance examination for the prestigious Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna. Legend says that it took him a mere half an hour of the allotted three hours. Although at least one critic maintains that the outcome shows the young composer’s failure to master an unfamiliar idiom, to my ear Mozart’s genius transcends the straitjacket, and gives us a little gem that looks forward to, say, the Clarinet Concerto rather than backwards to Palestrina. At any rate, that’s how we tried to sing it.

The unifying theme behind the first reading, the Psalm and the Gospel reading was encapsulated in the psalm response: In God alone is my soul at rest. Both our entrance hymn and our Communion processional song reflected on these words.

Also in today’s Gospel, the words

So do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself

prompted the choice of an old favourite for our recessional hymn.

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-02-20T22:05:00.001Z

Entrance	Praise to the Lord, the almighty
Kyrie	Jubilation Mass (James Chepponis)
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 102 (Stephen Dean/Laurence Bévenot)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Will you let me be your servant
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Assisi Acclamations (Nick Baty)
Agnus Dei	Holy Family Mass (John Schiavone)
Communion	Forget not what God has done (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion	Laudate Pueri (W.A. Mozart)
Recessional	God is love, his the care

Today’s communion antiphon came from Psalm 9:

I will tell all your marvellous works.
I will rejoice and be glad in you,
and sing to your name, Most High.

Psalm 112(113) also sings praise to God’s name:

Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
May the name of the Lord be blessed,
both now and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
praised be the name of the Lord.

We sang Mozart’s spirited setting from his Vesperae Solennes de Confessore of 1780. Sleeve notes tend to call it a “learned” or “conventional” fugue, but it’s unmistakably Mozart, even if less sunny than, say, Laudate Dominum from the same work.

I looked for songs to echo the line from today’s Gospel reading:

Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you

but the one or two I could think of seemed too banal, either textually or musically. Any good suggestions out there?

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-02-17T23:39:00.002Z

Sunday, 13 February 2011

Entrance	O God, thy people gather
Kyrie	Jubilation Mass (James Chepponis)
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 118 (Martin Hall)
Gospel Acclamation	Here in our Midst (Peter Jones)
Preparation of the Gifts	Eye has not seen (Marty Haugen)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Assisi Acclamations (Nick Baty)
Agnus Dei	from Beneath the Tree of Life (Marty Haugen)
Communion	Teach me, O God (Christopher Walker)
Postcommunion	Tantum Ergo (Maurice Duruflé, 1902-1986)
Recessional	Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore him

Today’s second reading, from Corinthians, spoke of

the things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, things beyond the mind of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.

Our song at the preparation of the gifts was Marty Haugen’s thoughtful setting of the same text.

The first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel reading all talked about the law, and our Lord’s completion of it. So Chris Walker’s Teach me, O God, to follow your ways was our communion song.

Christ’s completion of the law finds its fulfilment above all in the Eucharist. In the words of Thomas Aquinas,

Et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui

(And let the old practice yield to the new rite.)

We sang Duruflé’s dreamlike setting of the traditional chant melody. I’m pretty sure I could hear some older members of the congregation humming along.

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-02-06T23:59:00.007Z

Entrance	Come, ring out your joy (arr. Martin Foster)
Kyrie	Jubilation Mass (James Chepponis)
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Good people are a light (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Christ be our light (Bernadette Farrell)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Assisi Acclamations (Nick Baty)
Agnus Dei	from Beneath the Tree of Life (Marty Haugen)
Communion	Blest are they, the poor in spirit (David Haas)
Postcommunion	Beati Quorum Via (Charles Villiers Stanford, 1852-1924)
Recessional	Tell out, my soul

Martin Foster’s setting of Psalm 94(95), from which today’s entrance antiphon is drawn, to the music of the 17th Century Peruvian Hanacpachap Cussicuinin, made for an imposing Entrance Song. We used the opening verse

Come, ring out your joy to God,
Hail, the Lord, the rock who saves us
Let us come before him giving thanks,
With songs let us hail the Lord.

as a refrain, which the people joined in with heartily, while the choir supplied some of the other verses, variously in two- and three part harmony for women’s and men’s voices.

Our final hymn, well-known as an adaptation of the Magnificat, echoed the communion antiphon from Ps 106(107): He has filled the hungry with good things.

Today’s readings spoke of the good and the just as a light shining in the darkness. Stanford’s unaccompanied six-part motet Beati quorum via extols the same virtues. It would have done nicely for next week too, when the psalm response is They are happy who follow God’s law.

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-01-30T22:09:00.001Z

Entrance	Save us, Lord our God (Christopher Walker)
Kyrie	Jubilation Mass (James Chepponis)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm	Ps 145 (Rees/Bévenot)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Make me a channel of your peace
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Assisi Acclamations (Nick Baty)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas
Communion	Come to me (Martin Barry/Diane Murden)
Postcommunion	The Beatitudes (Bob Chilcott)
Recessional	Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go

I came across Chris Walker’s sparkling Save us, Lord our God as the curtain raiser to the celebrations in Hyde Park for the Papal visit last year. It's an exact setting (barring an inconsequential and in the Missal text) of the Entrance antiphon from the Missal, coupled with verses from Ps 95(96). Since this antiphon is in the Missal but not the Gradual, it doesn't come with an ‘official’ accompanying psalm; the unpublished ICEL Antiphonal of 1997 proposes Ps 121(122), but Chris Walker’s choice is excellent too.

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-01-23T23:55:00.004Z

Entrance	Bring to the Lord a glad new song (Parry/Perry)
Kyrie	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll
Psalm	Ps 26 (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Here in our Midst (Peter Jones)
Preparation of the Gifts	Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Assisi Acclamations (Nick Baty)
Agnus Dei	Holy Family Mass (John Schiavone)
Communion	The Lord is my light (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion	A Song of the Light (Simon Lole)
Recessional	Shine, Jesus, Shine (Graham Kendrick)

Two fabulous hymn tunes by Hubert Parry today – Jerusalem and Repton. Simon Lole’s reworking of Lumen Hilare is also characterised by a finely crafted melody, and it was well-suited to a celebration in which two of the readings and the responsorial psalm talked about Christ our light.

On the same theme we had Graham Kendrick’s either-love-it-or-hate-it barnstormer, in yet another excellent choral arrangement from the RSCM collection Sing with all my soul. This one (by William Llewellyn) has a coruscating choral ending, quoting the last line of Thou whose almighty Word (with which we ended last week’s celebration):

Through the world far and wide,
Let there be light!

with the sopranos ending in three part harmony, including a top B♭. It was properly uplifting, I thought. We stuck with the English version rather than the impressive-looking Latin version. Anyway, if the song was good enough for a Papal Prayer Vigil it was certainly good enough for us.

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

2011-01-16T23:59:00.006Z

Entrance	Let all the world in every corner sing
Kyrie	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll
Psalm	Ps 39 (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Here in our Midst (Peter Jones)
Preparation of the Gifts	Jesus the Word has lived among us
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Assisi Acclamations (Nick Baty)
Agnus Dei	Holy Family Mass (John Schiavone)
Communion	Behold the Lamb of God (Psallite)
Postcommunion	The Lamb (John Tavener)
Recessional	Thou whose almighty Word

Our opening hymn, setting the words of George Herbert, was a good fit for today’s entrance antiphon:

May all the earth give you worship and praise, and break into song to your name, O God, Most High.

Some of our other music took up John the Baptist’s words of acclamation – there is the Lamb of God – including the antiphon from Psallite accompanying Psalm 34, and Tavener’s setting of William Blake’s poem.

I’m not sure about the latter as sacred music, beautiful and strange though it is. I can't think of many other sung texts addressed not to the persons of God or the saints, or, at a pinch, our fellow human beings here on earth; here the poet apostrophises a common-or-garden lamb. The nearest I can think of is Crux Fidelis, addressing the cross on which our Lord hung, and the nails which held him there. But there’s quite a different between that and this. Any closer suggestions?

Peter Jones’s Gospel acclamation, an exuberant medieval 6/8 folk-dance chiefly in the Dorian mode, goes under several different names – seemingly a different one in each published source. It’s the Wulstan Alleluia or Here in our midst or Alleluia the Christ. Whatever it’s called, it deserves to be more widely known. We adapted the words of the verse slightly: Here in our midst, the Lamb of God.

Baptism of the Lord (Year A, 2011)

2011-01-10T21:58:00.003Z

Sunday, 9 January 2011

Entrance	On Jordan’s Bank
Sprinkling Rite	Springs of Water (Marty Haugen)
Gloria	Gloria de Noël (Thomas Niel)
Psalm	Ps 28 (McCarthy/Bévenot)
Gospel Acclamation	Celtic Alleluia (Fintan O’Carroll)
Preparation of the Gifts	Songs of thankfulness and praise
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Communion	Spirit of the living God (Daniel Iverson) & Ps 103 (John Ainslie)
Postcommunion	O Nata Lux (Thomas Tallis, c. 1505 - 1585)
Recessional	Come down, O love divine

References to the Holy Spirit during the seasons of Advent and Christmas, it seems to me, are relatively few. So the image of the Spirit descending like a dove, found in today’s Gospel and in those for the other two years of the Lectionary cycle, is a significant one.

We responded to it with Spirit of the living God, interspersed with verses from John Ainslie’s setting of Psalm 103 (104), and with Come down, O love divine, set to the tune Vaughan Williams must have named after his dog.

The Epiphany (2011)

2011-01-03T19:55:00.000Z

Sunday, 2 January 2011

Entrance	As with gladness men of old
Gloria	Gloria de Noël (Thomas Niel)
Psalm	Ps 71 (Eugene Monaghan/Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Celtic Alleluia (Fintan O’Carroll)
Preparation of the Gifts	What child is this
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Communion	Laudate Omnes Gentes (Taizé) & Reges Tharsis (chant)
Postcommunion	Bethlehem Down (Peter Warlock, 1894-1930)
Recessional	The First Nowell

Peter Warlock’s Bethlehem Down sets words (by the poet Bruce Blunt) imagining Mary and Joseph pondering what to do with the gifts of the Magi:

“When He is King we will give Him the Kings’ gifts,
Myrrh for its sweetness, and gold for a crown,
Beautiful robes”, said the young girl to Joseph,
Fair with her first-born on Bethlehem Down.

As in Sabine Baring-Gould’s The Infant King, the image of the sleeping child mixes with that of the crucifixion:

When He is King they will clothe Him in gravesheets,
Myrrh for embalming, and wood for a crown,
He that lies now in the white arms of Mary,
Sleeping so lightly on Bethlehem Down.

But the whole ends in tranquility: here and now the baby has what he needs:

Here He has peace and a short while for dreaming,
Close huddled oxen to keep Him from cold,
Mary for love, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.

The organ packed up just before our recessional hymn, and our visiting organist Anthony Dawson, kindly filling in for our own Anthony, was left pawing a dummy keyboard or four. But I plucked an approximation to F♯ out of the air, and between us the choir and congregation shook the rafters with The First Nowell. Who needs an organ?

Feast of the Holy Family (2010)

2010-12-26T18:37:00.000Z

Entrance	O come, all ye faithful
Gloria	Missa de Angelis
Psalm	(read)
Gospel Acclamation	Celtic Alleluia (Fintan O’Carroll)
Preparation of the Gifts	In the bleak midwinter
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Postcommunion	Silent Night
Recessional	Hark, the herald angels sing

The choir had a thoroughly well-deserved day off, even if many of us were present in the congregation. But as today’s rich bill of musical fare amply shows, who needs a choir anyway?

Christmas Morning (2010)

2010-12-26T18:28:00.000Z

Saturday, 25 December 2010

Introit	Hodie Christus natus est (chant)
Entrance	O Come all ye faithful
Gloria	Glory to God in the Highest (John Bell)
Psalm	All the ends of the earth (Alan Johnson)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	See amid the winter’s snow
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Communion	Hodie Christus natus est (chant) Come to the Manger
Postcommunion	Child of the Poor / What Child is this (Scott Soper) – choir
Recessional	Hark, the herald angels sing

For Christmas morning, as usual, we had the men of the choir – seven of us making a merry noise. We began with unaccompanied plainchant, the Magnificat antiphon from Second Vespers for Christmas Day, made famous in Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. In fact we sang it twice – bold and declamatory for our Introit, and then more gentle and thoughtful at the start of Communion.

We tried out another piece by Scott Soper featuring a new tune to go with a famous old one (to follow last Sunday’s On the lips of an angel). This one features William Chatterton Dix’s What child is this to the familiar Greensleeves tune, plus new words to a tune of Soper’s own creation. On reflection, it’s a less successful combination than last week’s – the two busy sets of words cancel each other out, leaving the listener with nothing but the music. A nice combination of melody and counter-melody, all the same.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas Vigil and Midnight Mass (2010)

2010-12-26T17:59:00.001Z

Friday, 24 December 2010

Introit	O Emmanuel (chant)
Opening Hymn	O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Reading	Isaiah 11:1-10 (A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse)
Choir	Benedicamus Domino (Peter Warlock)
Hymn	In the bleak midwinter
Reading	Luke 1:26-38 (The Annunciation)
Hymn	Once in Royal David’s City
Reading	John 1: 1-18 (In the Beginning was the Word)
Bishop’s entrance and procession to the crib	Adeste Fideles
Gloria	Gloria de Noël (Thomas Niel)
Reading	Isaiah 9:2-7 (The people that walked in darkness)
Psalm	Christmas Psalm (Bernadette Farrell)
Reading	Titus 2:11-14 (God’s grace has been revealed)
Gospel Acclamation	Celtic Alleluia (Fintan O’Carroll)
Reading	Luke 2:1-14 (The Nativity)
Preparation of the gifts	Still, Still, Still (trad. Austrian, arr. Janet Janzen)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	from Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Communion	Lux Aurumque (Eric Whitacre) Silent night
Postcommunion	O little town of Bethlehem
Recessional	Hark the herald angels sing

The continued sub-zero temperatures didn’t seem to deter people from attending, and the cathedral was packed for a celebration taking the form of Mass incorporating an extended vigil of Readings and Music. The people sang well too – notably in the colourful setting of the Gloria – aided and abetted by Celebration Brass. We had a solo oboe as well, ably played by Katy Cavanagh, in the choir piece at the Preparation of the Gifts.

For the Christmas Season we’ve turned to Paul Inwood’s Gathering Mass. Being so well-known, it’s ideal for a large gathering like tonight’s, when many present were not regular members of our worshipping community. The choral descants and brass arrangement made it sound just right for a special occasion too.

4th Sunday of Advent (Year A, 2010)

2010-12-19T21:10:00.002Z

Entrance	Rorate Caeli/Come Saviour, Come (chant)
Kyrie	Kyrie Litany for Advent (Missa Ubi Caritas, Bob Hurd)
Psalm	Let the Lord enter in (Chris O’Hara)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamations (Alan Smith)
Preparation of the Gifts	On the lips of an angel (Scott Soper)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVIII (in English) & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Communion	(i) O Clavis David (chant) (ii) Veni Immanuel (John Bell) & Ps 32 (John Ainslie)
Recessional	O come, O come Emmanuel

For our entrance song today we took the proper text from the Missal – Rorate caeli desuper – and sang it to its traditional chant melody, in the excellent free translation by Luke Connaughton. At the end we sang the refrain with the Latin text, with everyone repeating it a final time with the English text:

Come Saviour, come like dew on the grass,
Break through the clouds like gentle rain.

Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force Carol Service

2010-12-19T20:48:00.002Z

Saturday, 18 December 2010

Choir	Ding Dong Merrily
All	O Come, All Ye Faithful
Choir	Benedicamus Domino (Peter Warlock)
All	O Little Town of Bethlehem
All	Once in Royal David’s City
Choir	Still, Still, Still (Austrian traditional, arr. Janzen)
All	Silent Night
All	While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
All	National Anthem
All	Hark the Herald Angels Sing

If any group of people could be relied on to brave the elements, it had to be the army, and in spite of atrocious weather we had a good turnout of members of the Army Cadet Force for a festive celebration of Christmas in their 150th anniversary year. Bishop Terence presided, and there were a Lord Mayor and a Lord Lieutenant too, to say nothing of an MP and ex-minister serving the drinks afterwards.

The second group of people who could be relied on to get themselves there was the was the choir, all of whom (magnificently) made it from far and wide and (though I say so myself) were in thoroughly good voice.

In between the musical items there were readings, prayers, and a homily. There was also a reflection on the Christmas truce in the trenches of 1914, during which we sang Silent Night and prayed for peace. Plenty for the young trainee soldiers to think about.

Celebration of Christmas in aid of Age Concern

2010-12-16T00:42:00.002Z

Sunday, 12 December 2010

Cathedral Choir & Notability:	Lux Aurumque (Eric Whitacre)
All:	O Come all ye Faithful
Cathedral Choir	Benedicamus Domino (Peter Warlock)
All:	Once in Royal David’s City
Notability:	Good News! (Jay Althouse) Mary’s Boy Child (Jester Hairston)
All:	While shepherds watched their flocks
Anthony Hunt, organ:	Von Himmel Hoch (Garth Edmundson)
Cathedral Choir:	Still, still, still (Austrian traditional, arr. Janzen)
All:	O little town of Bethlehem
Notability:	Silent Night (Franz Gruber)
All:	God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Cathedral Choir:	On the lips of an angel (Charles Gounod, Scott Soper)
Notability:	Jingle Bells (J Pierpoint, Arr. Ralph Allwood)
Cathedral Choir & Notability	Bogoroditse Devo (Rachmaninov)
All:	Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Organ Voluntary:	Von Himmel Hoch (J.S. Bach) – Anthony Hunt

For our annual Christmas celebration for Age Concern we teamed up as usual with ace chamber choir Notability. The partnership made for an eclectic mix of music, including a chance to sing Eric Whitacre’s scrumptious setting in Latin of Edward Esch’s glimpse of the Nativity:

Light,
warm and heavy as pure gold
and angels sing softly
to the new-born babe.

Scott Soper’s On the lips of an angel is the musical equivalent of adding another blade to the twin-blade razor. It takes Gounod’s famous Ave Maria (based on J.S. Bach’s Prelude no. 1 in C from The Well-tempered Clavier) and adds a counter-melody, sung first by the male voices, and then in conjunction with Gounod’s much-loved tune. The audience, to judge from appreciative comments afterwards, were enraptured. We’re treating the regular Sunday congregation to it next Sunday, when Ave Maria is the Missal text for the Offertory Antiphon.

There were readings and reminiscences from sundry celebrities and dignitaries, and Fr Tony led us in prayer at the end. He encouraged us to be bold about Christmas: celebrating our Lord’s birth is a public proclamation of our faith in God’s existence, and his presence in the world.

3rd Sunday of Advent (Year A, 2010)

2010-12-15T23:58:00.005Z

Sunday, 12 December 2010

Entrance	Rejoice for ever (mcb)
Kyrie	Dinah Reindorf
Psalm	Ps 145 (Rees/Bévenot)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamations (Alan Smith)
Preparation of the Gifts	Rejoice in the Lord Alway (anon, c. 1600)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVIII (in English)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven R. Janco)
Communion	(i) O Radix Jesse (ii) Be strong, our God has come (Psallite)
Recessional	Come, thou long-expected Jesus

We had two contrasting settings of today's Entrance Antiphon Rejoice in the Lord always, the well-known anonymous polyphonic setting, and my own setting in contemporary style.

My version was originally conceived as a setting of the whole of Philippians 4:4-9, written for unison voices with piano, guitar and saxophone accompaniment. By the time it got into print the saxophone part had morphed (at the publisher’s suggestion) into a choral descant with the Latin text Gaudete in Domino (Rejoice in the Lord). The verses got chopped about a bit too. We found today that in its revised form it all works quite nicely as a ‘choir and organ’ piece; to my surprise, given how far it had come from the version I originally thought of.

We were treated beforehand to a masterful improvised toccata on the two themes from our inimitable organist Anthony. I tell him he should write it all down, but then, he rightly retorts, it wouldn't be improvised any more.

2nd Sunday of Advent (Year A, 2010)

2010-12-06T14:23:00.006Z

Sunday, 5 December 2010

Entrance	Song of Consolation (Peter Jones)
Kyrie	Kyrie Litany for Advent (Missa Ubi Caritas, Bob Hurd)
Psalm	In His Days (David Ogden)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamations (Alan Smith)
Preparation of the Gifts	Conditor alme siderum (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVIII (in English) & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Communion	(i) O Adonai (ii) Bread of Life (Bernadette Farrell)
Recessional	Hark! a herald voice is calling

The Agnus Dei from Steven Janco’s Mass has the option of a troped middle verse (i.e. following the medieval custom of amplifying the text, in this instance with other titles for our Lord). Since this Advent we’re following the Agnus almost immediately with one of the O Antiphons, for the troped verse we’re using the title given in the first line of each antiphon. So last week our second repetition of the Agnus began Wisdom of God, you take away the sin of the world, and today’s was Adonai (Lord), you take away.... I thought it made a neat connection, without taking an unwarranted liberty with the Missal text. Rod of Jesse and Key of David are still to come.

1st Sunday of Advent (Year A, 2010)

2010-11-28T20:43:00.003Z

Entrance	Let all mortal flesh keep silence
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices, adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Psalm	Ps 121 (McCarthy/Bévenot)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamations (Alan Smith)
Preparation of the Gifts	Zion hears the watchmen’s voices (J.S. Bach)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVIII (in English) & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Communion	O Sapientia (chant) Wait for the Lord (Taizé)
Recessional	Lo, he comes with clouds descending

As usual for us, we marked the change of liturgical season with a change in the pattern of our music-making. For Advent, we’ll keep an extended period of silence after Communion, with our choral reflection sung during the Preparation of the Gifts. Today’s was a piece much associated with the beginning of Advent, the fourth movement of Bach’s Cantata No. 140 Wachet Auf.

Each Sunday at the start of Communion we’ll sing one of the chant O Antiphons. The most arresting moment in each is the word veni (come), and week by week we’ll use it to weave a thread of prayerful anticipation into our celebration, culminating in the opening of our Vigil before Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, with the final antiphon O Emmanuel.

Christ the King (Year C, 2010)

2010-11-21T23:43:00.002Z

Entrance	Christus Vincit
Kyrie	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Psalm	I Rejoiced (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	The Servant King (Graham Kendrick)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Communion	Te Saeculorum Principem (chant) and Jesus, Remember Me (Taizé)
Postcommunion	Greater love hath no man (John Ireland, 1879-1962)
Recessional	Hail redeemer, King divine

John Ireland’s magnificent anthem is sometimes labelled a hymn to the fallen in wars, but to my mind this is not at all what the piece is about. The copious and varied scriptural references point squarely, instead, to the Paschal mystery. The particular connection with today’s feast was in the line from 1 Peter 2:9 -

Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation [...] that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

which chimed exactly with today’s reading from Colossians:

We give thanks to the Father who has made it possible for you to join the saints and with them to inherit the light. Because that is what he has done: he has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.

I like Graham Kendrick’s The Servant King, for all the ungainly word stresses in the refrain, and the crunching gear change in the harmonies on the words as a daily offering of worship to… The words hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered are superb poetry, unsurpassed in any other contemporary worship song I know of.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) and Remembrance Sunday 2010

2010-11-14T23:43:00.004Z

Introit	Requiem Aeternam (chant)
Opening Hymn	Abide with me
Kyrie	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Psalm	Ps 97 (Eugene Monaghan)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Be not afraid (Bob Dufford)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Communion	There is a longing in our hearts (Anne Quigley)
Postcommunion	O Lord, support us (John Henry Newman, 1801-1890 & Maurice Besly, 1888-1945)
Recessional	Thy hand, O God, has guided

We tried a different pattern for our observation of Remembrance Sunday this year. A little before 11.00 am the choir began the chant introit from the Requiem Mass, while Fr Anthony and the servers processed in. Then at 11.00 the Cathedral bell tolled once to begin two minutes’ silence. It sounded again two minutes later, and this was our cue for Abide with me. While the hymn began slowly and thoughtfully, I tried to give the final verse, with its Elgarian descant, a more uplifting feel, leading us on into our celebration of Sunday Mass.

Today’s Gospel reading had the words

Men will seize you and persecute you ... because of my name.

In his homily Fr Anthony reminded us that the answer to this is found in our Lord’s words: do not be afraid. These ideas came together nicely in our hymn, an old favourite, at the preparation of the gifts.

One of the Communion antiphons in the Missal for today, from St Mark’s Gospel, says

Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

So we took the words of Cardinal Newman’s famous prayer for perseverance (slightly paraphrased from his sermon Wisdom and Innocence):

O Lord, support us all the day long of this troublous life,
until the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed;
the fever of life is over and our work done.
Then Lord, in thy mercy, grant us safe lodging, a holy rest,
and peace at the last,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-11-07T23:38:00.002Z

Entrance	The Church’s one foundation
Sprinkling Rite	Springs of Water (Marty Haugen)
Gloria	Glory to God in the Highest (John L Bell)
Psalm	Ps 16 (Liz Mottram)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Presentation of Confirmation Candidates	Christ be our Light (Bernadette Farrell)
Preparation of the Gifts	Here I am Lord (Dan Schutte)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Christ the King (mcb)
Communion	At your word our hearts are burning (Collegeville Composers Group)
Postcommunion	The Lord is my Shepherd (John Rutter)
Recessional	Love divine, all loves excelling

Eleven children of the parish were enrolled into the sacramental programme today, embarking on a journey leading to Confirmation at Pentecost next year, and First Holy Communion a few weeks later. We accompanied the rite, in which parent presented child with a lit baptismal candle, with Bernadette Farrell’s Christ, be our light. This hadn’t found its way into today’s congregational booklet (as a result of communication failures, mainly on the part of yours truly), but enough people knew it well enough to join in with the refrains. The same fate, and the same redemption, befell Marty Haugen’s Springs of water.

Our responsorial Psalm setting today was a piece first presented at a meeting of the Society of St Gregory’s Composers’ Group. Liz Mottram’s music, like that of several composers in and around the Composers’ Group orbit, deserves to be heard more widely.

All Saints (2010)

2010-11-04T22:26:00.000Z

Sunday, 31 October 2010

Entrance	Holy God, we praise thy name
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices, adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Psalm	Ps 23 (David Saint)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Justorum Animae (Plainchant & Richard Terry, 1865-1938)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Mass XVIII & Missa O Quam Gloriosum (Victoria)
Communion	Come to me (Martin Barry/Diane Murden)
Postcommunion	O Quam Gloriosum (T.L de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Recessional	For all the saints

A musical banquet for our celebration of the feast day, including movements from Byrd’s Mass for three voices, and from Victoria’s Missa O Quam Gloriosum. In both items the people had a sung role though, with the Kyrie adapted for responsorial use in the third form of the Penitential Rite, and the Agnus Dei flanked by the first and last lines of the plainchant Mass XVIII.

Richard Terry’s Justorum Animae strikes a very different tone from all the serene polyphony, with the baritone solo (beautifully sung tutti by the men of the choir) loaded with brooding Romantic expression. The choral ending on the words illi autem sunt in pace (for they are in peace), complete with gentle treble solo, brought us back to serenity.

We preceded Terry’s setting with the same lines sung to plainchant from the Graduale, sung this time by the women of the choir.

All that and the Mass of Creation too… To my mind, it’s important to programme a range of musical styles and genres: not just in the hope that everybody present might find something which speaks to them in the language of prayer, but also as a way to gently encourage people to find prayer in music which they might have found alienating if served up as an exclusive diet. All are welcome.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-10-24T22:52:00.002+01:00

Entrance	Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Kyrie	Taizé Kyrie I
Gloria	Coventry Gloria (Peter Jones)
Psalm	The cry of the poor (John Foley)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	My God, accept my heart this day
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	(Alan Rees)
Communion	Take, O take me as I am (John L Bell)
Postcommunion	Jubilate Deo (Orlande de Lassus, c. 1532-1594)
Recessional	Fight the good fight

It was a day for trying to live up to the challenges set out in the readings. Our offertory and communion songs both aimed to capture the humility of the tax collector in today’s Gospel story. Then for our recessional hymn we took up St Paul’s good fight from the second reading.

We rejoiced too, in thanksgiving after Communion, taking up the idea expressed in the antiphon:

We will rejoice at the victory of God and make our boast in his great name.

in the exuberant setting of the opening of Psalm 99 by Lassus. We may have got carried away at the end.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-10-17T23:11:00.000+01:00

Entrance	All ye who seek a comfort sure
Kyrie	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Psalm	Ps 120 (Claire Lee & Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Lord, for tomorrow and its needs
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Communion	I lift up my eyes (David Ogden)
Postcommunion	God so loved the world (John Stainer, 1840-1901)
Recessional	Be thou my vision

Today’s Gospel reading from St Luke talks of the need to pray continually and never lose heart. Fr Tony’s homily, on personal prayer, also followed this theme. Our hymn at the Preparation of the Gifts was an old favourite on the same subject. The words are by a Sister M. Xavier, who (internet searches reveal) was Sybil Farish Partridge (1856-1917), in religion Sister Mary Xavier of the convent of Notre Dame, in Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. The words bear a resemblance to Mon chant d’aujourd’hui by St Therèse of Lisieux, though the latter is dated 1894, twenty years after our hymn was written. Perhaps the shared simple piety of the two nuns is just an unsurprising coincidence.

Stainer’s God so loved the world was intended as a reflection on one of the Communion antiphons proposed in the Missal for today:

The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many.

The piece allows for plenty of drama, but for me its still centre is formed by the words but that the world through him might be saved. The silences which punctuate the piece are as important as its musical phrases.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-10-12T22:13:00.002+01:00

Sunday, 10 October 2010

Entrance	All people that on earth do dwell
Kyrie	Kyrie II from Festival Mass (Alan Rees)
Gloria	Glory to God in the Highest (John L Bell)
Psalm	Ps 97: The Lord has shown his salvation (Geoffrey Boulton Smith)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Domine, non sum dignus (Tomás Luis de Victoria c. 1548-1611)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	(Alan Rees)
Communion	Now we remain (David Haas)
Postcommunion	He hath filled the hungry (Felix Mendelssohn, 1809-1847)
Recessional	Thanks be to God (Stephen Dean)

Today’s Communion antiphon, from Ps 33:

The rich suffer want and go hungry, but nothing shall be lacking to those who fear the Lord

finds an echo in the Magnificat:

He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away

We sang these lines from Mendelssohn’s unaccompanied setting, Op 69 no 3. This section is scored for four soloists, but it makes for a luminous and direct choir piece.

The story in St Luke’s Gospel of the healing of the lepers prompted us to pray for our own healing in the words of the centurion (in Matthew 8:8), set by Victoria, and to give thanks in our final hymn.

The second reading, from 2 Timothy, included the words

If we have died with him, then we shall live with him

The final, dramatic verse of David Haas’s Now we remain paraphrases this to

For to live with the Lord, we must die with the Lord

Inverting the two clauses like this turns St Paul’s words from consolation to challenge.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-10-03T23:57:00.004+01:00

Entrance	O thou who camest from above
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Psalm	O that today (Chris O’Hara)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	You are the Lord of all (Daniel Bath)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	(Alan Rees)
Communion	How good is the Lord to all (mcb)
Postcommunion	Oculi Omnium (William Byrd c. 1540 - 1623)
Recessional	All my hope on God is founded

Fan into a flame the gift that God gave you were St Paul’s words in this morning’s second reading. Our opening hymn took the same image:

O thou who camest from above
The fire celestial to impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
On the mean altar of my heart.

Today’s Communion antiphon came from Lamentations:

The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to those who are searching for his love.

Our music sounded the same note of reassurance with texts from Ps 144(145): firstly, our processional song (written first as a responsorial psalm for a wedding), with the words

He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts

and then in William Byrd’s setting of lines from the same psalm, from Book I of the Gradualia of 1605. Having already sung verses form the psalm during the procession, we confined ourselves today to the opening section (the four-part setting of the Latin text The eyes of all creatures hope in you, Lord, and you give them food in due season). The remainder of this fine piece is an ongoing project for us, perhaps to be revisited when the psalm appears as Communion antiphon or responsorial psalm next year: respectively the twelfth and eighteenth Sundays in Ordinary time.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-09-27T22:26:00.000+01:00

Sunday, 26 September 2010

Entrance	Immortal, Invisible
Kyrie	Kyrie II from Festival Mass (Alan Rees)
Gloria	Glory to God in the Highest (John L Bell)
Psalm	Ps 145 (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	A touching place (John L Bell)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Christ the King (mcb)
Communion	Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Postcommunion	O Quam Suavis (William Byrd, c. 1540-1623)
Recessional	Lord, whose love in humble service

The Gospel story of the rich man and Lazarus, and the responsorial psalm, taken from Ps 145(146), prompted several of our musical selections, extolling God’s preferential option for the poor, and declaring our aim to live up to it. In John Bell’s words:

To the lost Christ shows his face
To the unloved he gives his embrace
To those who cry in pain or disgrace
Christ makes, with his friends, a touching place

O quam suavis is an antiphon for the feast of Corpus Christi, and it includes the line inspired by the Magnificat: esurientes reples bonis (you fill the hungry with good things). Byrd’s elaborate and extended setting finds a new musical idea for each successive image in the text, moving serenely from episode to episode and ending almost militantly – boldly, at least – on the words divites dimittens inanes (sending the rich away empty).

In our recessional hymn Lord, whose love in humble service, with words by Albert F Bayly (1901-1984) and sung to the tune Abbots Leigh, we set ourselves the same Gospel challenge of compassion for the poor:

Called from worship into service
forth in your great name we go
to the child, the youth, the aged,
love in living deeds to show;
hope and health, good will and comfort,
counsel, aid, and peace we give,
that your children, Lord, in freedom
may your mercy know, and live.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-09-23T22:52:00.006+01:00

Sunday, 19 September 2010

Entrance	Christ, be our light (Bernadette Farrell)
Kyrie	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Psalm	Ps 112 (Paul Wellicome)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Blest are the pure in heart
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Communion	Where your treasure is (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion	Laudate Dominum (William Croft, 1678-1727)
Recessional	Praise to the Holiest

Several of our musical selections coincided with those at the Mass of Beatification of John Henry Newman, which took place in Birmingham this morning. As at Cofton Park, we had Bernadette Farrell’s Christ, be our light, Blest are the pure in heart, Paul Wellicome’s new setting of Ps 112 and Newman’s own Praise to the holiest, which tied in with this morning’s second reading from the letter of St Paul to Timothy:

there is only one mediator between God and mankind, himself a man, Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as a ransom for them all.

echoed by Newman’s

O generous love! That he, who smote
in man for man the foe,
the double agony in man
for man should undergo.

Yet another fine song from the prolific Marty Haugen took up the challenge of today’s Gospel reading: you cannot be the slave both of God and money:

Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be.
All that you possess will never set you free.
Seek the things that last; come and learn from me.
Where your treasure is your heart shall be.

Papal Prayer Vigil, Hyde Park

2010-09-23T22:01:00.005+01:00

Saturday, 18 September 2010

Eight of our number joined the ranks of the choir of singers from round the dioceses, for the Vigil of Prayer led by Pope Benedict in Hyde Park. 150-odd singers joined forces with the excellent New English Orchestra and Singers, all led by the energetic and charismatic Nigel Swinford, for a day of eclectic music-making. The programme ranged from plainchant (Tantum Ergo Sacramentum) to Graham Kendrick (Shine, Jesus, Shine), with every genre of devotional song in between. The Hallelujah Chorus, Chris Walker’s Save us, Lord our God, Jacques Berthier’s Adoramus Te, Domine and Cardinal Newman’s own Lead, Kindly Light went by in a blur; and there was lots more too.

Preparations for the event had their ups and downs, and it wasn’t until the second day of rehearsals (the day before the event) that things came together as they needed to. But the vicissitudes of organisation and rehearsal were swept away during the Vigil itself, in a celebration which, to my mind, was stunningly, movingly prayerful.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-09-12T23:55:00.002+01:00

Entrance	O God, thy people gather
Kyrie	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Psalm	Ps 50 (Gélineau)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	I will arise (Robert Creighton, 1636-1734)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Creator Spirit
Communion	Give us, Lord, a new heart (Bernadette Farrell)
Postcommunion	Miserere mei (Orlande de Lassus, c.1532-1594)
Recessional	Praise, my soul, the king of heaven

The Gospel story of the prodigal son guided our musical choices today. The psalm response – I will leave this place, and go to my Father – and the offertory motet sang of our resolve to ask God’s forgiveness. We did so in the psalm itself and our postcommunion motet, both from psalm 50(51), and in the opening hymn.

At communion the sung refrain picked up some words from the same psalm:

Give us, Lord, a new heart;
re-create your Spirit within us.

while the verses, from Ezekiel and Jeremiah, reminded us with reassurance of the forgiveness we believe is offered to us. Our final hymn celebrated this belief:

Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
who like me his praise should sing?

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-09-06T20:58:00.008+01:00

Sunday, 5 September 2010

Entrance	When I survey the wondrous cross
Kyrie	Kyrie II from Festival Mass (Alan Rees)
Gloria	Glory to God in the Highest (John L Bell)
Psalm	Lord, you have been our refuge (John L Bell)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	Be still, my soul
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	As the deer longs (Bob Hurd)
Postcommunion	Adoramus Te, no. 2 in Gm (Antonio Lotti, c. 1667-1740)
Recessional	O God our help in ages past

As usual for our first Sunday back in September, the ranks of the congregation were swelled by the members of No. 1 Province of the Catenian Association, and as usual they sang wonderfully well. Our music drew a connection with our Lord’s words in the Gospel reading:

Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

in the hymn at the Preparation of the Gifts:

Be still, my soul, the Lord is on your side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Two other pieces – our opening hymn, and the choir’s postcommunion motet – spoke of our Lord’s own greater cross. Lotti sets a slightly embroidered version of the text of the ancient and well-known antiphon:

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
for by your holy Cross and your passion you have redeemed the world.

Bob Hurd’s As the deer longs was new to us, and a perfect fit for the Communion antiphon from Psalm 41(42). We’ll certainly be singing it again.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2010-08-15T19:18:00.002+01:00

Entrance	Holy light on earth’s horizon
Kyrie	Kyrie II from Festival Mass (Alan Rees)
Gloria	Glory to God in the Highest (John L Bell)
Psalm	Ps 44 (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright), with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts	Ave Maria (Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1873-1943)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	German Mass (Schubert, arr. Proulx)
Agnus Dei	Hurd Mass (Bob Hurd)
Communion	The Almighty works marvels for me (Peter Jones)
Postcommunion	Magnificat Octavi Toni (Orlande de Lassus, c.1532-1594)
Recessional	Hail Queen of Heaven

We took a break from our summer break, to sing for today’s feast. A good turnout, and a little bit of thinking ahead in rehearsals in July, meant that we took both Rachmaninov’s Bogoroditse Devo (sung to the Latin text of Ave Maria) and the Lassus Magnificat in our stride.

Peter Jones’s very different setting of the Magnificat, with its gentle ostinato refrain and verses for cantor, was just right as a realisation of today’s Communion antiphon. Hail, Queen of Heaven, on the other hand, seemed not to rouse the assembly to full throat the way it often has in the past: I'm not sure whether that reflects a dwindling of it in popular memory, or just that the summer holiday congregation was a bit smaller than for a regular Sunday.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-07-25T23:55:00.003+01:00

Entrance	Praise to the Lord, the almighty
Kyrie	Taizé Kyrie I
Gloria	Coventry Gloria (Peter Jones)
Psalm	On the day I called (Daniel Bath)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright), with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts	Seek ye first
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	German Mass (Schubert, arr. Proulx)
Our Father	(Estelle White)
Agnus Dei	Hurd Mass (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Blest are they, the poor in spirit (David Haas)
Postcommunion	Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (J.S. Bach)
Recessional	Holy God, we praise thy name

With the Lord’s Prayer at the heart of today’s Gospel reading, we gave the prayer greater prominence during the Communion Rite by singing it to the well-known and much-loved setting by Estelle White. There's an irony here — we don’t normally sing the prayer, precisely because of our Lord’s words in St Luke’s Gospel: Say this when you pray. There are prayers which are incomplete if you don’t sing them: the words Alleluia, Hosanna, Gloria for instance, are, biblically speaking, all parts of songs. The Lord’s Prayer, however, is inherently prose rather than song.

It made sense to sing it today, though, reinforcing the link between the words we had heard during the Liturgy of the Word, and the same words uttered in prayer, when sometimes we might rattle them off without pausing to make the connection.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-07-25T23:54:00.001+01:00

Sunday, 18 July 2010

Entrance	All are welcome (Marty Haugen)
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm	Ps 14 (Stephen Dean/Laurence Bévenot)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright), with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts	Will you come and follow me (John L Bell)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	German Mass (Schubert, arr. Proulx)
Agnus Dei	Hurd Mass (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Forget not what God has done (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion	O Sacrum Convivium (Giovanni Croce, 1557-1609)
Recessional	O Christ the same (Timothy Dudley-Smith)

Today’s Mass was the occasion for a diocesan celebration, led by Bishop Terence, in thanksgiving for the work of the Sisters of the Holy Family of St Emilie, soon to leave the Diocese after thirty-seven years. Sr Anne O’Shea has been in Salford for thirty-six of those thirty-seven years, for the last twenty-five as Parish Sister and Sacristan here in the Cathedral parish. Timothy Dudley-Smith’s O Christ, the same, set to the tune of Danny Boy, is a favourite of hers. ‘Retirement’ probably isn’t the right word for Sr Anne’s move to Ireland, but we wish her peace and long happiness.

The Gospel reading featured our Lord being welcomed into their home by Martha and Mary, and this prompted the choice of opening hymn, and, indirectly, Croce’s O Sacrum Convivium. It was sung by the choir under the able direction this week of Sabine von Hünerbein, while yours truly had the weekend off to attend a conference.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-07-11T20:42:00.005+01:00

Entrance	Lord enthroned in heavenly splendour
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas (Hurd)
Psalm	Ps 68 (Stephen Dean/Ian Forrester)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright), with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts	The Servant Song (Richard Gillard)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	German Mass (Franz Schubert, arr. Proulx)
Agnus Dei	Hurd Mass (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Eat this bread (Taizé)
Postcommunion	Love Divine (Howard Goodall)
Recessional	Father, Lord of all creation

The second line of our opening hymn was first begotten from the dead, the title accorded to our Lord by St Paul in today’s second reading. The Gospel reading, the story of the good Samaritan, gave us several other of our musical selections, including the hymn at the Preparation of the Gifts, our recessional hymn (Give us grace to love as brothers / All whose burdens we can share) and – reflecting the love which the disconcerting lawyer reluctantly finds written in the Law – Howard Goodall’s setting of Charles Wesley’s Love Divine.

This latter is a scrumptious piece, showcasing the composer’s copious gifts as a melodist. If I were Howard Goodall’s music teacher, though, I might want to make him write it out again with all the barlines in the right place.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-07-04T20:52:00.004+01:00

Entrance	When I survey the wondrous cross
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 65 (Monaghan/Steel)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright), with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts	Make me a channel of your peace
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	German Mass (Schubert, arr. Proulx)
Agnus Dei	Hurd Mass (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Taste and See (Richard Proulx)
Postcommunion	Jubilate Deo (adapted from the Stabat Mater by Joseph Haydn, 1732-1809)
Recessional	Forth in the peace of Christ we go

The first reading – Rejoice, Jerusalem – and the Responsorial Psalm – Cry out with joy to God, all the earth – gave us our postcommunion piece, adapted from Haydn. It sets a hybrid text from Psalms 65(66) and 99(100) to the finale (Paradisi Gloria) of his Stabat Mater. To my mind the psalm-based text is perhaps better suited to the exuberance of the music – a rollicking choral fugue – than the text originally set by the composer.

The second reading’s the only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ gave us our opening hymn, and the sending out of the seventy-two in the Gospel reading, with their message of peace, prompted the choice of our recessional hymn.

In fact, all three readings mentioned peace, and this suggested our hymn at the preparation of the gifts, sung in the charming arrangement by William Llewellyn published by the RSCM in the excellent collection Sing With All My Soul.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-06-27T23:17:00.002+01:00

Today the Year 3 children of the parish primary school celebrated First Holy Communion. Music was provided by the children of the school, and the cathedral choir had the day off. We’re back next Sunday.

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-06-20T23:51:00.007+01:00

Entrance	Praise to the holiest
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices, adapted from William Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Coventry Gloria (Peter Jones)
Psalm	Ps 62: For you my soul is thirsting (author unknown)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Your love is finer than life (Marty Haugen)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	German Mass (Franz Schubert, arr. Richard Proulx)
Agnus Dei	Hurd Mass (Bob Hurd)
Communion	The eyes of everyone (mcb)
Postcommunion	Oculi Omnium (Charles Wood, 1866-1926)
Recessional	At the Lamb’s high feast

We heard the words of Psam 62(63) twice, once in Marty Haugen’s fine setting with three-part close harmony for the women’s voices in the verses, and once in today’s responsorial psalm.

We sang the latter to an Anglican psalm tone - a rare venture for us into a sound-world quite different from our more usual style, namely tones by, or in the style of, Laurence Bévenot. Bévenot’s psalm tones are inspired by the Gregorian modes, though with a simpler termination (cadence) at the end of each line than in the Gregorian tones themselves. Anglican chant, by comparison, is both more elaborate and more formulaic at the ends of the lines, and the task in rehearsal was to make light of the cadences, so as not to find ourselves repeatedly subordinating the natural speech rhythms to those of the music.

I’m not sure who wrote the tone we used. We were singing from a manuscript copy found gathering dust in the choir’s music library. Choir members who move in the right circles said it was a well-known Anglican tone, but between us we weren’t able to pinpoint it.

The setting of the Kyrie was an adaptation by me of the Kyrie from the Byrd Mass for Three Voices, expanded (chiefly by repetition) to accommodate the third form of the Penitential Rite. Click here to download a copy, which you’re most welcome to print out and make use of.

The first reading today from Zechariah, and the Gospel reading, both talked of our Lord’s suffering. The stark prophecy: they will look on the one whom they have pierced prompted the choice of our final hymn of thanksgiving –

At the Lamb’s high feast we sing
Praise to our victorious King,
Who hath washed us in the tide
Flowing from his pierced side.

[update 26/6/10: fixed the link to the Kyrie.]

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2010)

2010-06-13T23:10:00.004+01:00

Entrance	Remember your mercy, Lord (Paul Inwood)
Kyrie	Lord, show us your mercy (mcb)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm	Ps 31 (Stephen Dean/Harry Bramma)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Lord, hear my voice (mcb)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	German Mass (Franz Schubert, arr. Richard Proulx)
Agnus Dei	Hurd Mass (Bob Hurd)
Communion	There is one thing I ask (Chris O’Hara)
Postcommunion	Adoremus in aeternum (adapted from Gregorio Allegri, 1582-1652)
Recessional	Rejoice, the Lord is King

We were compared favourably with the Sistine Chapel choir this morning by Fr Tony, freshly returned from a trip to Rome to celebrate the end of the Year for Priests. His approbation was for our singing of the chant verses in Adoremus in Aeternum, adapted from Allegri. The spirit of the chant, it seems to me, is in aestu temperies: coolness. There’s no room for ‘personality’ in the singing of it; rather, the voices of the singers, like the notes of the melody themselves, are a vehicle for the text, and the musical pace and dynamic contour are those of the rise and fall of breathing.

I’ve looked hard for a source for the Allegri. We were singing from photocopies of a crumbling original long out of copyright, marked with the phrase from Gregorio Allegri but not revealing who the adaptation was done by, nor from what original source. At a guess, I’d imagine it was Richard Terry. Can anyone shed any more light?

Our music today led us through an unfolding reflection on God’s mercy. We began with pleas for forgiveness in our opening song, Paul Inwood’s setting of Psalm 24(25), and in the Responsorial Psalm (31(32)); our song at the Preparation of the Gifts (which was actually a setting of the Entrance antiphon) combined the same plea with the yearning for God’s presence articulated in Psalm 26(27). The latter psalm also furnished the text for the Communion antiphon, sung to Chris O’Hara’s gentle tuneful setting. Then in the Allegri we sang quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia eius (for his mercy is confirmed over us), and our final hymn took up the injunction we’d sung earlier in Psalm 31(32) to rejoice in the Lord.

The Body and Blood of Christ (Year C, 2010)

2010-06-06T23:12:00.003+01:00

Entrance	Sweet Sacrament divine
Kyrie	Taizé Kyrie I
Gloria	Coventry Gloria (Peter Jones)
Psalm	Ps 109 (Geoffrey Boulton Smith)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Ave Verum Corpus (Charles Gounod, 1818-1893)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	German Mass (Franz Schubert, arr Richard Proulx)
Agnus Dei	Hurd Mass (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas)
Postcommunion	O Sacrum Convivium (mcb)
Recessional	O Jesus Christ, remember

Lo, round thy lowly shrine with suppliant hearts we come seemed fitting words for our gathering hymn; more so, perhaps, than to sing a much-loved hymn of Eucharistic adoration such as this one during Communion. At Communion we echoed the words of today’s second reading: this is my body, in Michael Joncas’s Take and eat. Our Lord’s command entails something deeper than adoration: an encounter with Christ from which it is impossible to emerge unchanged.

I wrote my setting of O Sacrum Convivium the week I joined the cathedral choir, in November 1990. It’s my attempt to sound French, I think: not Messiaen, but maybe somewhere around Ravel. Have a listen here if you have the Scorch plugin installed on your computer.

Michael Milnes RIP

2010-06-06T23:06:00.012+01:00

We learned today of the unexpected sad death of Mike Milnes, organist here at Salford Cathedral from 1986 to 2000. May he rest in peace.

Salford Cathedral Music

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2012)

Sunday, 22 January 2012

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2012)

Sunday, 15 January 2012

The Epiphany (2012)

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Ordination to the Diaconate of Joseph Gee

Saturday before Epiphany

7 January 2012

Christmas Morning (2011)

Sunday, 25 December 2011

Christmas Vigil and Midnight Mass (2011)

Saturday, 24 December 2011

4th Sunday of Advent (Year B, 2011)

Sunday, 18 December 2011

Celebration of Christmas in aid of Age Concern

Sunday, 11 December 2011

3rd Sunday of Advent (Year B, 2011)

Sunday, 11 December 2011

2nd Sunday of Advent (Year B, 2011)

Sunday, 4 December 2011

Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force Carol Service 2011

Saturday, 3 December 2011

1st Sunday of Advent (Year B, 2011)

Sunday, 27 November 2011

Christ the King (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 20 November 2011

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) and Remembrance Sunday 2011

Sunday, 13 November 2011

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 6 November 2011

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 23 October 2011

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 16 October 2011

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 9 October 2011

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 2 October 2011

New Music for the Mass – Salford Cathedral Centre, Saturday 5 November

New Music for the Mass: a day for parish music directors, organists, singers and other musicians

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 25 September 2011

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 18 September 2011

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 11 September 2011

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 21 August 2011

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Mass at the Lichtentaler Pfarrkirche, Vienna : 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Mass with Archbishop Charles Dufour

Wednesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time (Year I, 2011)20 July 2011

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Ordination to the Priesthood of Paul Blackburn and Andrew Starkie

Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

11.30 Mass at St Nameless’s: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Saints Peter & Paul (2011)

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

The Body and Blood of Christ (Year A, 2011)

Trinity Sunday (Year A, 2011)

Pentecost (2011)

The Ascension (2011)

Sunday, 5th June 2011

6th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

5th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

New Music for the Mass - Salford Cathedral, 25th June 2011

New Music for the Mass: a day for parish music directors, organists, singers and other musicians

4th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

3rd Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

Holy Hour for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II

2nd Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

Easter Sunday (2011)

The Easter Vigil (Holy Saturday, 2011)

Saturday, 23 April 2011

Wednesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time (Year I, 2011)
20 July 2011