presents

IN THE FIELD

On Sunday 13th September 2020, Kantos Chamber Choir made their way to a field on the edge of Wilmslow, south of
Manchester. The sun shone brightly from the crack of dawn and continued to shine all day – quite a lucky treat for us
Manchester folk! Before meeting in person we had rehearsed on Zoom, but when we began to sing in the field, it was
the first time our singers had met and sung together since the start of lockdown. The choir recorded music specifically
for a spread-out formation, or music that would lend itself well to those circumstances. The result of that day’s
recording is brought to you in this online concert ‘In the Field’.

It’s an absolute pleasure to release this programme which includes a work commissioned to perform in this space:
‘Croon Harvest’ by Jack Sheen. With a piece hot off the press and two pieces by Hildegard von Bingen, our repertoire
spans 900 years. The variety of musical genres and styles is underpinned by a sense of meditation and reflection. The
programme notes below will guide you through the concert and include timing markers to indicate the start of a new
piece in the video.

We currently face huge artistic and financial challenges in the arts world; we must find new ways to perform safely
whilst maintaining artistic integrity, at the same time as artists are still desperately fighting for their careers and their
livelihoods. I am determined Kantos will continue to grow in this world and will continue to provide professional
opportunities for singers based in the North, whilst reinvigorating the tradition of choral music.
 Hildegard von Bingen – O viridissima virga, Part I (soloist Sarah Keirle)

Robert Nathaniel Dett – O Holy Lord

Hildegard von Bingen – O viridissima virga, Part II (soloist Sarah Keirle)

Rory Wainwright Johnston – Ave Maria

Hildegard von Bingen – O viridissima virga, Part III (soloist Sarah Keirle)

Meredith Monk – Earth Seen from Above

Hildegard von Bingen – O viridissima virga, Part IV (soloist Sarah Keirle)

Alberto Grau – Kasar mie la gaji

Hildegard von Bingen - O nobilissima viriditas, Part I (soloist Sarah Keirle)

Jack Sheen – Croon Harvest

Hildegard von Bingen - O nobilissima viriditas, Part II (soloist Sarah Keirle)

arr. Áine Mallon – The Parting Glass (soloist Hugh Beckwith)

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) – O viridissima virga, Part I (soloist Sarah Keirle)
(0.32) We begin with the first two verses of Hildegard’s O viridissima virga. These beautiful, gliding
melodies have been interspersed between each of our choral pieces to create a seamless transition
from one musical world to the next.
Hildegard von Bingen, also known as Saint Hildegard, was a German Benedictine abbess, writer,
composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath. At a young age, Hildegard was
sent to an isolated hilltop monastery in the Rhineland where she spent most of her life shut away. She
is now considered to be one of the first identifiable composers in the history of Western music.
Among writing theological books and nearly 400 letters, Hildegard wrote a vast collection of music
and poetry titled ‘Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum’. O viridissima virga and O
nobilissima viriditas, both from this collection, capture an important element of Hildegard’s
philosophy; viriditas. For Hildegard, viriditas encapsulated the divine force of nature. The definition is
both literal, as in green, greenness and growth, yet also metaphorical, as in vigour, verdure,
freshness and vitality. For Hildegard, the spiritual aspects were just as essential as the physical
meaning. In much of her work, viriditas was ‘the greening power of God’. It was in everything,
including humans.
1. O viridissima virga, 1. O branch of freshest green,
ave, que in ventoso flabro sciscitationis O hail! Within the windy gusts of saints
sanctorum prodisti. upon a quest you swayed and sprouted forth.

2. Cum venit tempus quod tu floruisti in ramis tuis, 2. When it was time, you blossomed in your boughs—
ave, ave fuit tibi, quia calor solis in te sudavit “Hail, hail!” you heard, for in you seeped the
sicut odor balsami. sunlight’s warmth like balsam’s sweet perfume.

Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) – O Holy Lord

(1.40) Dett was a composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor known for his use
of African-American folk songs and spirituals as the basis for choral and piano compositions. He was
born in Canada and became one of the first Black composers in the American Society of
Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). O Holy Lord is rooted in the sound world of a spiritual
and has a rich eight-part texture SSAATTBB. The opening of the piece gradually introduces the choir
leading from the tenors and basses, then the altos, and finally the sopranos. The voices often move
in near homophony, adding to the richness of the overall sound. A slightly marked phrase ‘Done with
sin and sorrow’ repeatedly appears in the lower voices of the choir and cuts through sustained
chords above. After the rhythms broaden out for the loud climax of the piece, the basses lead us
towards a short coda with the same ‘Done with sin and sorrow’ motive now gradually winding down.

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) – O viridissima virga, Part II (soloist Sarah Keirle)
(7.22)
3. Nam in te floruit 3. For in you bloomed
pulcher flos qui odorem dedit so beautiful a flow’r, whose fragrance wakened
omnibus aromatibus que arida erant. all the spices from their dried-out stupor.

4. Et illa apparuerunt omnia in viriditate plena 4. They all appeared in full viridity.
Rory Wainwright Johnston (b.1993) – Ave Maria
(8.08) Ave Maria was commissioned by Kantos in October 2018 for our Pendle Witches concert
experience. The piece’s main aim is to create an atemporal reverie in which the audience can lose
themselves. The opening and closing sections set the Ave Maria plainchant in starkly separated
chords laid upon a gently hummed pedal note. This sparse reflection on the plainchant was heavily
inspired by the Swiss composer Jürg Frey and his manipulation of silence in its many forms. The
sound of the pedal note becomes part of the background, as to become silent, and the slow chords
so disparate that the gaps in-between feel, at once, both infinite and self-encapsulating. The middle
section focuses on the text ‘Sancta Maria, Mater Dei’, a phrase which Rory felt to be one of the most
important in the text as a whole, as it describes in four words why Mary is such an important figure to
the church. For this phrase, Rory emphasises a sense of exultant praise, light, and sanctity, and so
the Tenors and Basses individually chant the text – reminiscent of priests in the sanctuary – while the
Sopranos and Altos take the plainchant melody and transfigure it into something more diverse and
somewhat breaking of the bounds of the musical ‘realm’.
Throughout the piece, the choir surrounds the audience, enveloping them within the sound, while
mixing the voice parts, in order to obfuscate the location of any one part of the disparate chords or
humming. The piece ends with a stopping of the pedal hum, emphasising the reality of true silence,
before being concluded with a separated, and questioning, ‘A-‘ ‘-men’.
Rory Wainwright Johnston is a conductor and composer from Bradford-on-Avon. After receiving a
first class degree from the University of Manchester, he studied on the Masters Composition course
under Camden Reeves and Nina Whiteman, receiving a Distinction. He is now studying for a
Masters in Conducting at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin. As a composer, his
music has been performed and workshopped by ensembles including Psappha, The Orchestra of
Opera North, ORA Singers, Quatour Danel, Skipton Camerata, Chester Bach Singers, Ad Solem,
and echo. His music was performed as part of the New Music North West festival in 2015 and
2017, and part of his song-cycle, Nostalgia, was published by NewMusicShelf in 2018 in their
Anthology of New Music for Tenors. In September 2019 he was chosen by Robert Hollingworth and
Judith Weir as joint winner in echo’s composition competition and in November 2019 he was one of
12 composers to be selected for ORA Singers’ ‘Christmas Gift’ initiative.
www.rorywainwrightjohnston.com

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) – O viridissima virga, Part III (soloist Sarah Keirle)
(12.44)
5. Unde celi dederunt rorem super gramen 5. Then rained the heavens dew upon the grass
et omnis terra leta facta est, and all the earth was cheered,
quoniam viscera ipsius frumentum for from her womb she brought forth fruit
protulerunt et quoniam volucres celi nidos and for the birds up in the sky
in ipsa habuerunt. have nests in her.

Meredith Monk (b.1942) – Earth Seen from Above

(13.29) We move to the barn to sing our next piece, Monk’s Earth Seen from Above, an extract from
ATLAS: an opera in three parts. Monk, a New York based composer, performer and director, is
known for developing pioneering vocal techniques in her early career and incorporating theatrical
elements and movement into her work. With Earth Seen from Above originally conceived to be
performed without a conductor and with the chorus spread throughout the space, facing in different
directions, this works particularly well for a socially distanced choir. There is no text, just a repeated
motive, ‘nn – doh’, and the work also calls for subtle body movements. The piece relies on the
singers having a shared sense of the underlying pulse and for them to create a ringing, shimmering
sound in their sustained lines as the harmony shifts. In one sense, it’s a piece to mesmerise the
audience, but in another, it’s about the intense teamwork of chamber choir singing.

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) – O viridissima virga, Part IV (soloist Sarah Keirle)
(22.26)
6. Deinde facta est esca hominibus 6. Then was prepared that food for humankind,
et gaudium magnum epulantium. the greatest joy of feasts!
Unde, o suavis Virgo, in te non deficit ullum gaudium. O Virgin sweet, in you can ne’er fail any joy.

7. Hec omnia Eva contempsit. 7. All this Eve chose to scorn.

8. Nunc autem laus sit Altissimo. 8. But now, let praise ring forth unto the Highest!

Alberto Grau (b.1937) – Kasar mie la gaji

(23.32) Grau’s Kasar mie la gaji is a call to the human race to save the Earth and reduce our
environmental impact. The Venezuelan composer uses only one line of text ‘Kasar mie la gaji’ (The
Earth is tired) throughout the piece, manipulating it in many ways; sometimes the choir whisper or
speak the words instead of singing. The slow introduction and middle section of the piece are a
lamentation for and a depiction of our tired planet, whilst the contrasting energetic rhythmic sections
are an encouragement, perhaps demand, to change our ways. Hand clapping and foot stamping in
the final section build up to a mighty shout and scream to save our planet.

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) - O nobilissima viriditas, Part I (soloist Sarah Keirle)
(29.17)
O nobilissima viriditas, O noblest green viridity,
que radicas in sole you're rooted in the sun
et que in candida and in the clear
serenitate bright calm
luces in rota you shine within a wheel
quam nulla terrena excellentia no earthly excellence
comprehendit: can comprehend:

Jack Sheen (b.1993) – Croon Harvest

(31.06) Croon Harvest was commissioned by Kantos to be performed and recorded in the field. The
piece operates as a performance installation, dispersing singers around the open space so as to
allow a listener to walk through the choir at a safe distance. The work is inspired by the voice’s
potential to create incredible intimacy in its most hushed, unprojected state within which blemishes,
grain, and imperfections ornament the resulting sound. The piece is made up of small breath-long
fragments of lamenting gestures, with each singer instructed to perform in a way that is closer to
humming or mumbling rather than singing in a projected manner. Each singer performs independent
of one another, moving freely through the piece at their own pace.
Having been commissioned specifically to be premiered outdoors in nature in a year where most of
the populating had been confined indoors, the piece is also about environments. Each singer has a
recording taken from within their home which they softly play off of their phone during the ‘rests’ in
their music, putting their voice in dialogue with the sound of the space they have been alone in for
most of the year. Through this, Croon Harvest, sonically transplants other environments into this
natural performance setting, each of which has developed a new meaning to the performers
throughout the course of the year due to isolation and distancing.
The resulting sound is a gentle tapestry of music where the listener can focus in on any one singer
when in close proximity to them whilst being aware of a more general sound created by the full
ensemble. The listening experience should be similar to walking round a sculpture garden and being
able to admire individual objects whilst taking in the garden as an arranged whole. Therefore, for the
purposes of making our virtual online concert as realistic as possible, we used microphones outside
the group as well as small microphones placed within groups of singers to mimic the sound of
hearing the singers up close. As well as microphone placement, the cameras are also taken through
the choir on a ‘walking journey’ during the video.
Jack Sheen is a composer and conductor based in Manchester. Jack’s music has been performed
by orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and Aurora Orchestra.
He is also one of the curators behind London Contemporary Music Festival.
www.jacksheen.com

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) - O nobilissima viriditas, Part II (soloist Sarah Keirle)
(39.33)
Tu circumdata es You are surrounded by
amplexibus the embraces of the service,
divinorum ministeriorum. the ministries divine.

Tu rubes ut aurora et ardes As morning’s dawn you blush,

ut solis flamma. as sunny flame you burn.

arr. Áine Mallon (b.1994) – The Parting Glass (soloist Hugh Beckwith)
(41.06) Áine’s arrangement of The Parting Glass was commissioned by Manchester University
Chorus and performed by Ad Solem and the Cosmo Singers on their tour to Dublin in 2018. A soft
hummed introduction opens the piece with the sopranos and altos sharing a melody. The first verse
is introduced by a solo tenor voice singing in a high falsetto range, soon joined by a trio of tenors to
accompany. The sopranos and altos introduce verse two, eventually followed by the full chorus.
Verse three hears the choir singing in complete unison and forms the loudest part of the
arrangement. Following this, we wind down to the end of the piece and the end of our concert.
‘Goodnight and joy be with you all.’
Áine is an Irish born composer, musician and performer. As a composer, she has written a range
of music varying from large scale theatrical works to smaller choral, chamber and solo pieces in a
range of styles including contemporary classical and Irish folk. She has been the recipient of
several prestigious awards including the ORA Singers Composer Competition 2019, and she has
been selected as the 2020 ‘Emerging Composer’ for the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland.
www.ainemallon.com
 Artistic Director – Ellie Slorach
Sound – Sarah Keirle
Video – Jamie Chapman

With huge thanks to Alice and Ian Herbert.

THE CHOIR
Grace Gammell Benoît André
Eleanor Hobbs Hugh Beckwith
Marie Lemaire Charlie Perry
Amy Ma Ed Roberts
Laura Pullin Robin Wallington
Laura Rushforth
Molly Toolan-Kerr
Lydia Wonham Peter Brooks
Joe Chesterman-March
Anya Chomacki Sam Gilliat
Jess Conway Hugh Morris
Rachel Gilmore Edmund Phillips
Olivia Hamblyn Dom Skingle
Jenny Taylor Max Thomas

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