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John Pickard, a student of Louis Andriessen, among others, is one of the few composers to have successfully straddled the line between complex music with extended tonalities and simple diatonic pieces that could appeal to anyone who likes popular British choral music. This 2023 release offers a good introduction to his music, beautifully performed by the BBC Singers under conductor Martyn Brabbins. In fact, it will make listeners rejoice that the BBC Singers survived the budget axe in 2022, for there aren't too many choirs that could do the work justice. Brabbins begins with limpid Latin motets, and the music follows an arc of greater complexity as the program develops. There is a three-movement trumpet-and-organ work and a towering organ piece, Tesserae, sounding great at the Parish Church of St.-Jude-on-the-Hill. The centerpiece is the Mass for Troubled Times, which comes at the end. The title refers to Haydn's Missa in angustiis, Hob. 22/11, commonly known as the Lord Nelson Mass. It was composed in 2018 during the European refugee crisis but is certainly relevant enough in 2023. The intricate text is by poet Gavin D'Costa. He holds to the structure of the Catholic mass, with the five usual sections plus an Introit, but he uses only 17 lines of the actual mass text. The rest consists of material in four more languages: English, Turkish, Syriac, and Arabic. The text consists of original poetry about a refugee father and daughter, a social media hashtag in Turkish, and excerpts from the Qu'ran and Syriac Orthodox church liturgy. Each of the five components gets its own musical language, with the Middle Eastern sacred texts set as monody. It is a complex enough work that a summary might be as long as the music itself, but the emotional content is direct. BIS achieves top-flight sound at St.-Jude-on-the Hill on an album that made classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2023.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Anonymous, Lyricist - BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
Anonymous, Lyricist - BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
Anonymous, Lyricist - BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
Anonymous, Lyricist - BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
David Goode, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - John Pickard, Composer - Chloe Abbott, MainArtist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
David Goode, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - John Pickard, Composer - Chloe Abbott, MainArtist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
David Goode, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - John Pickard, Composer - Chloe Abbott, MainArtist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
Anonymous, Lyricist - BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lyricist - John Pickard, Composer
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
David Goode, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - John Pickard, Composer
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer - Gavin D'Costa, Lyricist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer - Gavin D'Costa, Lyricist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer - Gavin D'Costa, Lyricist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer - Gavin D'Costa, Lyricist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer - Gavin D'Costa, Lyricist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
BBC Singers, Choir, MainArtist - Adrian Peacock, Producer - Martyn Brabbins, Conductor, MainArtist - John Pickard, Composer - Gavin D'Costa, Lyricist
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
Album review
John Pickard, a student of Louis Andriessen, among others, is one of the few composers to have successfully straddled the line between complex music with extended tonalities and simple diatonic pieces that could appeal to anyone who likes popular British choral music. This 2023 release offers a good introduction to his music, beautifully performed by the BBC Singers under conductor Martyn Brabbins. In fact, it will make listeners rejoice that the BBC Singers survived the budget axe in 2022, for there aren't too many choirs that could do the work justice. Brabbins begins with limpid Latin motets, and the music follows an arc of greater complexity as the program develops. There is a three-movement trumpet-and-organ work and a towering organ piece, Tesserae, sounding great at the Parish Church of St.-Jude-on-the-Hill. The centerpiece is the Mass for Troubled Times, which comes at the end. The title refers to Haydn's Missa in angustiis, Hob. 22/11, commonly known as the Lord Nelson Mass. It was composed in 2018 during the European refugee crisis but is certainly relevant enough in 2023. The intricate text is by poet Gavin D'Costa. He holds to the structure of the Catholic mass, with the five usual sections plus an Introit, but he uses only 17 lines of the actual mass text. The rest consists of material in four more languages: English, Turkish, Syriac, and Arabic. The text consists of original poetry about a refugee father and daughter, a social media hashtag in Turkish, and excerpts from the Qu'ran and Syriac Orthodox church liturgy. Each of the five components gets its own musical language, with the Middle Eastern sacred texts set as monody. It is a complex enough work that a summary might be as long as the music itself, but the emotional content is direct. BIS achieves top-flight sound at St.-Jude-on-the Hill on an album that made classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2023.
© James Manheim /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 16 track(s)
- Total length: 01:14:05
- 1 Digital booklet
- Main artists: BBC Singers Martyn Brabbins
- Composer: John Pickard
- Label: BIS
- Genre: Classical Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) Choral Music (Choirs)
2023 BBC / BIS Records AB 2023 BBC / BIS Records AB
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