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31 JULY 2006 TONUS PEREGRINUS *Hymns and Songs of the Church*
"We have come to expect great things from TONUS PEREGRINUS, one
of the leading small choirs of today..." says Naxos about this
August release (Naxos 8.557681).
"Since my childhood I have been aware that the music that moves
me most stems from chorales and hymns", said Canadian pianist and
20th-century icon Glenn Gould,"Indeed I always said the most
fascinating beautiful little piece in all of music is a hymn by
Orlando Gibbons, by the name 'Thus Angels Sang'. I couldn't
count the times I've let these bars wander through my mind, or
how often I've played them on the piano, or how often I've
listened to the Deller Consort sing them - hundreds, probably
thousands of times." 'The Song of Angels', as Gould's favourite
is also known, features in both The Naxos Book of Carols and in
this new disc, Hymns and Songs of the Church.
In fact, this new disc starts where The Naxos Book of Carols - a
sonic Advent Calendar with one carol for each of the first 24
days of December - reached its climax: Hymns and Songs of the
Church traces the liturgical year from Christmas Day itself right
round to the beginning of Advent again. This new disc is
believed to be the first complete recording of all of the
melodies ascribed to Orlando Gibbons and included in '[The]
Hymnes and Songs of the Church' as it was originally published in
1623. His exquisite tunes and rock-solid basslines - for what is
essentially the first English hymnbook - were written to be sung
and played both at home and in church. For this recording made
partly in Finchcocks, Goudhurst and partly in Bromley Parish
Church, Gibbons' melodies have been specially realized and
arranged by Antony Pitts and Alexander L'Estrange, and the
collection is interleaved with new hymns both by them, and by
younger brothers James and John Pitts.
In an enterprising move, the scores (as well as full texts) of
the music of these HYMNS AND SONGS OF THE CHURCH are being made
available exclusively through www.tonusperegrinus.co.uk and
www.thewelcomestranger.org. For a one-off fee, each score is
available with a unique licence to print unlimited copies for
local/personal use (i.e. for your church, your choir, your home).
TONUS PEREGRINUS
Joanna Forbes - soprano
Rebecca Hickey - soprano
Kathryn Oswald - alto
Alexander L'Estrange - countertenor,
double bass (Mo Clifton, 2002)
Richard Eteson - tenor
Alexander Hickey - tenor
Francis Brett - bass
Nick Flower - bass
Antony Pitts - director,
chamber organ (John Byfield, London 1766, Finchcocks)
NOW OPEN 24/7 *shop.thewelcomestranger.org*
http://shop.thewelcomestranger.org - browse for information
and/or securely order CDs and scores with a credit card. All
TONUS PEREGRINUS recordings are currently available, and orders
received by the end of July for the CD 'Hymns and Songs of the
Church' (Naxos 8.557681) will be dispatched in the first week of
its release. All of the hymns recorded on 'Hymns and Songs of
the Church' are available in score, and as a special offer, the
score of 'There is a green hill' is available for just £1.00 -
http://shop.thewelcomestranger.org/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=118.
Following payment by credit card a personalized pdf will be
created by hand and emailed to you with a simple password. All
feedback about the new shop will be gratefully received, and we
continue to stock its electronic shelves each week.
1996-2006 *Virtual Strangers reunite for the Pool of London*
Almost ten years after their groundbreaking multitrack
improvisation project for BBC Radio 3, Virtual Strangers played
live in public together for the first time. Saxophonist Andy
Williamson and Antony Pitts on electric piano were joined by
Jonny Gee - standing in for original Virtual Strangers
bass-player Alexander L'Estrange - on top of a 40-foot
scaffolding tower in The Scoop just across from the Tower of
London and Tower Bridge, as part of a festival celebrating the
River Thames. The musical journey flowed in and out of the
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book into extreme contemporary grooves, and
climaxed with a masterpiece by the original funky Gibbons
himself. Watch this space for more from Virtual Strangers...
BLACK HOLE
As part of the transfer to a new internet service provider and
website rebuilding, I lost a lot of incoming email - if you wrote
to me in the last two months and I didn't respond, please try
sending your message again.
Next month, streaming video from TONUS PEREGRINUS
and a première on BBC Radio 3's Choral Evensong...
Happy listening and browsing,
Antony Pitts
www.tonusperegrinus.co.uk
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