MUSIC NOTES

Mostly American…

John Cook (1918-1984) was one of the original ‘Anglo-Catholic’ Episcopal church musicians in the United States. A term of both pride and derision, ‘Anglo-Catholic’ means, simply, one who looks ever backwards to the ‘hallowed’ traditions of the Victorian Church of England. Trained in Cambridge and for a time the Organist/Choirmaster of Holy Trinity in Stratford-upon-Avon, he came to the U.S. to take the then coveted position at Church of the Advent, Boston – a hot-bed [which it is to this day…] of high-church liturgy and practice. He also served on the faculties of the Longy School of Music and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

‘The Best of Rooms,’ four lines of Robert Herrick [from 1647] that encapsulate the essential surrender of the heart, are given a clear, rich treatment here by Gerald Near (b. 1942), the Minnesotan who now lives in New Mexico.

Stephen Paulus (b. 1949), the native of New Jersey who is now part of the very fabric of the Minnesota musical establishment, lives a bit of a fairy-tale life. A handsome, skilled and humorous man, he lives with his beautiful wife and sons in a very big house on the nicest street in St. Paul, MN – from which he writes, prolifically and well, for a vast and eager public. ‘The Road Home,’ written on commission from the Dale Warland Singers [until its disbanding two years ago, the finest professional a capella choir anywhere…], sets Michael Browne’s yearning meditation with clarity, warmth and the ‘trademark’ Paulus harmonic flavor – a sound solidly tonal, but with gently dissonant highlighting…

Alec Wyton (1922-2007) was another transplanted Englishman in the John Cook line, but one who managed to keep up with the times and served as a primary mentor to several generations of fine church musicians. In his heyday, he served both the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Union Theological Seminary on Manhattan’s upper west side. He is big in my book for having commissioned, for his small parish church in Northampton, what I consider to be the best short cantata of the 20th century, Benjamin Britten’s ‘Rejoice in the Lamb.’

Alice Parker (b. 1925), whose most recent publication, ‘The Anatomy of Melody,’ explicates the power and expressiveness inherent in single musical lines, knows a good tune when she sees one, and in 1990 pulled together eight ‘American Mountain’ hymns and harmonized them with her usual clarity and strength.

And one final note: the professional choir, CANTARE, present a program this Saturday evening, May 2nd at 7:30pm here in the St. Philip Sanctuary with yours truly at the piano and the organ. Called ‘I do, I do,’ this program includes rare and wonderful wedding music. Tickets available at the door or at www.cantarehoustonsingers.org.

-Keith Weber