Stephen Jones conductor
Nicholas Freestone organ
In Time of War features music encompassing a kaleidoscope of emotions, forged during the heat of armed conflict.
At the height of the siege of Budapest in 1945, Kodály had taken refuge in the cellar of the Budapest Opera House, where he completed his dramatic and passionate Missa Brevis. Schütz wrote his collection of Geistliche Chormusik during the Thirty Years’ War as a legacy to future young composers, in the belief that his world was about to be utterly destroyed. In 1918, Howells’ turbulent Third Rhapsody for organ was written in a single night during a Zeppelin raid over York. Standing as I do before God by CCC President, Cecilia McDowall is, as the composer says, a reflection on the eve of Edith Cavell’s death, 12 October 1915. Britten’s scintillating Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard was written for, and first performed by, British prisoners of war in Germany.
There is much beauty and profundity to be experienced in this programme of music shaped and overshadowed by war.
Programme
Kodály Missa Brevis
Schütz From Geistliche Chormusik: Selig sind die Toten; Ich Weiss, dass mein Erlöser lebt; So fahr ich hin
Britten The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard
McDowall Standing as I do before God
Howells Rhapsody for organ op.17 no. 3
