Midsumer Songs & Sonnets

Glasgow Chamber Choir

Michael Bawtree - Conductor

Chris Nickol - Organ

Our midsummer concert brings together joyful motets from Bach and Schutz from the 16th and 17th centuries with music from more recent times by British jazz pianist George Shearing, and American composers Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen.  After two years of lockdown, choir members have chosen some of their favourite pieces from the GCC library, and the all-time favourite Faire is the Heaven by William H Harris also finds a place in the programme.

Bach’s motets are both a challenge and a joy for any choir. Der Geist hilt unser Schwachheit auf is written for double choir and was composed in 1729. It sets words from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, as well as the hymn Komm Hieliger Geist, Herre Gott by Martin Luther. There is some dispute as to whether Lobet den Herrn, Alle Heiden is by Bach, but it is a fine motet, and sets words from Psalm 117.

Heinrich Schutz’s joyful motet Jauchzetdem Herren (Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth) was composed 100 years before the Bach motets, in 1619 and is a setting of words from Psalm 100. It is set for two choirs which echo one another throughout.

George Shearing composed Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare in 2001, and they are popular settings of well-known texts in a jazz idiom. Eric Whitacre’s settings are full of romance and luminosity, creating a web of sound. Lauridsen was born in 1943 and is best known for his choral works. His set of Nocturnes contain settings of poems by Rilke, Neruda and Agee.

Tickets available online or on the door.