Mass of Installation of Bishop John Arnold

Monday, 8 December 2014

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

 

Entrance Procession of Priests	Veni Sancte Spiritus (Christopher Walker) listen
	Salve Regina (Francis Poulenc, 1899-1963)
Entrance Procession of Bishops	Tell out, my soul listen
Reception of Bishop Arnold	Ecce Sacerdos (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611) listen
Gloria	Glory to God (Peter Jones)
Psalm	Sing a New Song (mcb) listen
Gospel Acclamation	Choral Alleluia (Colin Mawby, b. 1936) listen
Creed	Credo III
Preparation of the Gifts	Ave Maria (Karl Jenkins, b. 1944) listen
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	English Missal Chants
Agnus Dei	Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Communion	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas) O Quam Suavis (William Byrd, c.1540-1623) listen Soul of my Saviour
Postcommunion	The Deer’s Cry (Shaun Davey) listen
Recessional	Salve Regina (chant) listen Holy light on earth’s horizon listen

 

For perhaps a once-in-a-generation occasion, I aimed to compile a musical programme that would highlight the trademark diversity and accessibility of our musical fare, interspersed as usual with gems from the treasury of sacred choral music and chant.

For me the highlights included: (i) a full-throated rendition of the chant Salve Regina by the whole assembly at the end. I know that Alma Redemptoris Mater would have been seasonally appropriate, but it wouldn’t have shaken the rafters in quite the same way.

(ii) The serene opening processional song Veni Sancte, first heard at the Papal Mass in Coventry in 1982 and, for us, again in 1997 at the Mass of Installation of Bishop Terence Brain.

(iii) After Communion, the haunting and reflective setting of St Patrick’s Breastplate by Irish composer Shaun Davey. This was a special piece for Bishop John, and it had been sung at his episcopal ordination in 2006. I was delighted to have been asked to include it, and our choral scholar Emma Gent delivered the solo part with true sensitivity.

Celebration Brass were on hand, and the final hymn, especially, was another roof-raising moment. Anthony gave us Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren BuxWV 214 by Buxtehude (listen), and movements from the Suite Gothique by Boëllmann (listen). So all in all we assembled a feast, and people with many different kinds of musical taste will, I hope, have gone away feeling nourished.