Nunc dimittis: Evening Canticles in B flat - C.V. Stanford, John Rutter, The Cambridge Singers
7. 'Nunc dimittis: Evening Canticles in B flat'
From the album ‘Stanford and Howells Remembered’
Composer Charles Villiers Stanford
Conductor John Rutter
Organ Wayne Marshall
Choir The Cambridge Singers
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LYRICS:
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all
people: to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people
Israel. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in
the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
(Luke 2, vv.29–32)
Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in B flat
In his centenary address already referred to, Howells said of this, the earliest (1879) and most popular of Stanford’s canticle settings that he ‘achieved three triumphs in that early and astonishing work. First, he swept aside the pretentious, empty gaudiness of the Victorian organist-composer . . . Second, he brought the first-fruits of his near symphonic formal instincts to the setting of canticles that had for so long been dismembered by the earnest, lustreless treatment of countless mid- and late-Victorians. Third, to the vast and costly church organs he assigned a significant, vital, highly disciplined part’. Howells might have added that in both canticles Stanford showed his gift for warm, flowing melody, one of the secrets of this music’s enduring appeal. The Nunc dimittis is for tenors and basses only (except for its liturgical Gloria), a reminder that its words are those of Simeon.
Stanford and Howells Remembered
This recording is a choral tribute to the sacred music of two visionary composers: Stanford and Howells, who, among their other achievements, made distinctive, lasting and much-cherished contributions to the musical repertory of the English Church.
John Rutter, English composer and conductor, is associated with choral music throughout the world. His recordings with the Cambridge Singers (the professional chamber choir he set up in 1983) have reached a wide global audience, many of them featuring his own music in definitive versions. Among John’s best-known choral works are Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, and Visions, together with many church anthems, choral songs and Christmas carols.
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