Hear Us Sing
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Music Extracts (The
music extracts will open and play in your default media player)
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Handel's Messiah –
Chorus 'And the glory of the Lord...' (2mins 44 secs)
Messiah
was the first work which the choir performed when it was
officially formed in 1958. This performance took place in
the Grange School with Isobel Baillie, a famous soprano
of the time as one of the soloists. We have given complete
performances of the work at least 13 times since then with
4 conductors and in various local venues. We have also sung
the Hallelujah chorus countless times! We did the first
ever ‘Messiah from scratch’ in St Mary’s
Church in May 1973, and in February 1985 Helen Blakeman
conducted a performance in the Civic Centre to mark the
tercentenary of Handel’s birth. To mark the link with
our foundation we also performed and recorded Messiah
in Aylesbury Civic Centre 2009 during our 50th anniversary
season. A
double CD is available at £12.00
including p&p. Please enquire via our contact page. |
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David Aylett's With Voice Divine (2mins 56
secs)
This
work was written by the choir’s founder and long-time
conductor David Aylett. It does not really conform to any
standard choral format – it is simply a choral celebration
of what music means to the human spirit. Scored for soprano
and baritone soloists, mixed voice choir, orchestra and
organ, it sets Dryden’s “Song for St. Cecilia’s
Day” together with other poems which enlarge on music’s
influence on human relationships and emotions, and is set
out in two main sections. It had its first performance at
a celebration concert for the choir’s 50th anniversary;
a happy coincidence is that this concert was held on the
annual commemorative date for St. Cecilia! |
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David Aylett's Elegy (2mins 54 secs)
"I
wrote 'Elegy' in 2003, following the deaths of my son Mark
and Pamela Bowden, the choir's much-loved President. The
work comprises two-thirds of Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy
written in a country churchyard", and is scored for
clarinet, piano and mixed voice choir. After setting the
scene in this quiet graveyard at Stoke Poges, the poet's
thoughts turn to the early inhabitants of the village, whose
graves he considers, and whose simple lives laid the foundations
for the civilised society that we enjoy today."
David Aylett |
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