Everlasting Light The Choir of Bath Abbey & Huw Williams

• George Dyson (1883 - 1964):
• 1 Dyson: Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in D Major: I. Magnificat 04:32
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976):
• 2 Britten: Hymn of St Columba 02:14
• Richard Lloyd (1933 - 2021):
• 3 Lloyd: View Me, Lord 02:39
• Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848 - 1914):
• 4 Parry: Hear My Words, Ye People 15:43
• John Ireland (1879 - 1962):
• 5 Ireland: It is a Thing Most Wonderful 03:36
• Gavin Phelps (b. 2009):
• 6 Phelps: Spirit Divine 03:01
• James MacMillan (b. 1959):
• 7 MacMillan: A New Song 05:23
• John Stainer (1840 - 1901):
• 8 Stainer: God So Loved the World 03:49
• William Mathias (1934 - 1992):
• 9 Mathias: Let the People Praise Thee 05:32
• Traditional:
• 10 Traditional: Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit (Arr. for Choir by William Dawson) 02:09
• Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934):
• 11 Holst: Turn Back, O Man 04:32
• William Harris (1883 - 1973):
• 12 Harris: Strengthen Ye the Weak Hands 07:13
• Mary Plumstead (1905 - 1980):
• 13 Plumstead: A Grateful heart 01:35
• Matthew Martin (b.1 976):
• 14 Martin: Justorum animae 02:15
• Gavin Phelps:
• 15 Phelps: A Pale Blue Dot (an Organ Improvisation) 04:03
• Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 - 1924):
• 16 Stanford: Service in B-Flat Major, Op. 10, Morning Service: I. Te Deum 06:52
• Total Runtime 01:15:08

Info for Everlasting Light

As Bath Abbey Boys’ Choir marks its 150th anniversary, we are delighted to present this album. I hope you will enjoy this varied collection, which has been designed to showcase the very best of our boys’ choral singing. One of the highlights of this project has been welcoming our alumni to sing again in Bath Abbey as part of the recording. Seeing the joy of our former choristers at being back in the Abbey, some of whom left the choir over 50 years ago, demonstrates the lasting mark that their time as a chorister has made on their lives. We know how important these choirs are for training future musicians. However, I believe we often underestimate the impact that being part of a choir can have on the choristers who pursue other careers; the discipline, teamwork and concentration skills that will support them throughout their lives, helping to build the leaders and team players of the future. This recording has been made to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the Boys and Lay Clerks (formally Men’s choir) in 1875. At a time when boys’ choirs are decreasing due to mixing the treble line with boys and girls, we are lucky that, despite there being no choir school at the Abbey, we can maintain our independent boys’ choir. For part of this recording, we have invited our girls and lay clerk alumni to join us for two items as we celebrate the history and tradition that helped many singers to find their voice.

Choir of Bath Abbey
Huw Williams, director

Bath Bach Choir
is a group of about 90 musical people who share a passion for singing beautiful and demanding choral works and songs, from any era, to a high standard. We love a challenge, we’re committed, and we aim to give really great performances, with sensitivity, humour and zest. The choir gave its first performance in 1947 and we have just celebrated our 75th-anniversary year as a thriving, friendly and vibrant society. In January 2023 we welcomed Benedict Collins Rice as our new Musical Director.

Our repertoire begins before Bach and ends in the present. In March 2011 we performed James Macmillan’s St John Passion in the presence of the composer – so ambitious it had never previously been performed outside the main concert centres; summer 2009 saw us performing Will Todd’s Mass in Blue a jazz work, for which Will Todd played the piano. In 2008 Elis Pehkonen came to hear us sing his Russian Requiem in Bath Abbey; and we have given some of the earliest performances of works by Dr Karl Jenkins. We commissioned Ed Hughes to compose a work to commemorate our 60th anniversary, and gave the first performance of his Song for St Cecilia at Wiltshire Music Centre in 2007. We are equally at home with Vivaldi (the Gloria from memory in 2008 and 2018), Duruflé and Handel, whose Messiah – baroque performance, parts of it from memory – featured at Easter 2014; and we sang Tchaikovsky’s Vespers in Malmesbury Abbey, in Old Church Slavonic (summer 2015).

The choir also tours: it has sung at Notre Dame in Paris, at Chartres Cathedral, and in Hungary, Belgium and Germany. In January 2008 a group sang Karl Jenkins’s Requiemat Carnegie Hall in New York, and in October 2009 we sang at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, J S Bach’s church. In October 2011 we gave a concert in Sant’ Agnese in Agone in Rome and took part in Mass at the Venerable English College. In 2013 we cemented ties with our twin city in France, Aix-en-Provence, performing in the Cathedral of St-Sauveur; and in October 2015 we sang two masses and two concerts in Barcelona.

Our rehearsals are focused but fun. We organise open evenings and run an annual workshop; we travel together; and we have been known to end a few evenings in the pub.

Booklet for Everlasting Light