Dvořák Mass in D (1887)

Tippett Five Spirituals

Holst Five Partsongs (1902/3)

Helen Ashby – soprano
Hera Protopapas – mezzo sporano
Thomas Kelly – tenor
Daniel Tate – bass

Julian Littlewood – piano

Notes from our Musical Director:

The Dvořák is a lovely sing and highly regarded. An important early press review wrote “A work of remarkable power and effect…This is truly a magnificent piece of music, that can only be written at rare intervals even by Dvořák”. The great Czech composer spent time in America and it is no coincidence that one of the greatest “classical” melodies, the “New World” Symphony Largo theme, is drawn from the great African American Spirituals that he loved. 

It therefore seems fitting to sing Tippett’s Five Spirituals. These beautiful songs, placed like Bach chorales in the Passions, are from the secular oratorio “A Child Of Our Time”. Written in 1939 and 1941, it was inspired by the assassination of a German diplomat by a young Jewish refugee in 1938, and the tragedies that ensued.

In lighter vein, Holst’s Five Partsongs (opus 12) are delightful miniatures written by an underrated master. (Surely The Planets Suite is as good as anything!?).