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Track(s) taken from CDH55147

Give unto the Lord, Op 74

composer
1914; SATB divisi, organ
author of text
Psalm 29, adapted

Worcester Cathedral Choir, Donald Hunt (conductor), Adrian Partington (organ)
Recording details: May 1988
Worcester Cathedral, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: October 1988
Total duration: 9 minutes 5 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

Westminster Abbey Choir, James O'Donnell (conductor), Robert Quinney (organ)
The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Stephen Layton (conductor), Harrison Cole (organ)
St Paul's Cathedral Choir, John Scott (conductor), Andrew Lucas (organ)
The Rodolfus Choir, Ralph Allwood (conductor)
Huddersfield Choral Society, Aidan Oliver (conductor), Thomas Trotter (organ)
Conceived on a similar scale to Elgar's anthem Great is the Lord, the same composer's Give unto the Lord, Op 74, a setting of Psalm 29, was composed for the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy at St Paul’s Cathedral and was dedicated to its organist Sir George Martin. This was a special annual service which always involved the use of an orchestra and a large choir of around 300 voices taken from the major choirs in London (St Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, St Margaret’s Westminster, All Saints Margaret Street, the Chapel Royal and the Temple Church), as well as singers at Eton College and at some of the cathedrals in southern England (Rochester, Canterbury and Winchester). There was also a tradition of commissioning services and anthems from prominent composers: Stanford had composed his Evening Service in A for the festival in 1880 and The Lord of might in 1903; Parry responded to his commission in 1913 with the elaborate God is our hope for double choir, solo bass and orchestra; and there were other novelties by Stainer, Harwood, Alcock, Bairstow and George Martin. Elgar’s anthem was first sung at the festival on 30 April 1914 under the direction of Martin. The composer’s setting of the psalm’s ‘Hymn to Yahweh’ reveals his own typical brand of sonata structure. The exposition in E flat major (a key which vividly recalls the ebullience of Elgar’s second symphony, of 1911) is characteristically full of individual and contrasting ideas: the opening idea bears the hallmarks of a slow march which merges effortlessly with the Schwung of ‘worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’; other ideas such as the quicker ‘the God of glory thundereth’ and the expansive upward-moving ‘The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation’ provide a dramatic dimension. A secondary phase, in B minor, begins more turbulently (‘breaketh the cedars’), but its goal is a gentle prayer in which Elgar’s more affecting modal language comes to the fore (‘In his temple’). The recapitulation, considerably truncated and more firmly grounded in E flat, re-states the opening material before the work concludes in tranquil mood.

from notes by Jeremy Dibble © 2023

Écrite en février 1914, et immédiatement publiée par Novello, cette œuvre fut créée dans une version pour chœur et orchestre lors du Festival of the Sons of the Clergy, en la cathédrale St Paul, le 30 avril 1914—aussi fut-elle dédiée à Sir George Martin, l’organiste de St Paul.

Elgar répond aux paroles du psaume 29 avec vigueur, grâce à une écriture chorale puissamment contrapuntique, mais avec un doux interlude central aux mots «In his temple», avant de finalement revenir à la musique d’ouverture—même si l’œuvre se clôt sur «the blessing of peace» («la bénédiction de la paix»). Ces mots étant exceptionnellement répétés et accentués (le chœur les reprend en écho), c’est à se demander si, dès avril 1914, Elgar ne se doutait pas de ce qui allait arriver.

extrait des notes rédigées par Lewis Foreman © 2007
Français: Hypérion

Give unto the Lord („Bringet dar dem Herrn“) wurde im Februar 1914 geschrieben und sofort von Novello veröffentlicht. Es war in einer Fassung für Chor und Orchester auf dem „Sons of the Clergy“ Festival am 30. April 1914 in der St. Paulskathedrale zum ersten Mal zu hören und wurde später dem Organisten der St. Paulskathedrale, Sir George Martin, gewidmet.

Elgar reagiert auf die Worte des 29. Psalms mit Energie und kraftvoll-kontrapunktischem Chorsatz, aber einem zarteren Mittelteil als Interludium auf die Worte „In seinem Tempel“. Elgar kehrt schließlich wieder zur Musik des Anfangs zurück, schließt aber mit den Worten „[Der Herr] segne [sein Volk] mit Frieden“. Da diese Worte allein wiederholt und noch dadurch unterstrichen werden, dass sie durch den Chor echoen, muss man sich wundern, ob Elgar schon im April 1914 ahnte, was bevorstand.

aus dem Begleittext von Lewis Foreman © 2007
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

Other albums featuring this work

Anthem
Studio Master: SIGCD465Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Anthems, Vol. 1
Studio Master: CDA68434Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Elgar: Go, song of mine & other choral works
SIGCD315Download only
Elgar: Great is the Lord & other works
CDA67593
The English Anthem, Vol. 3
CDA66618Download only
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