PHI CD 503

AMPHION PHI CD 503:
THIS ENDRIS NIGHT - Music of Christopher Rathbone Volume One
[1] Puer Nobis, op 71, Toccata for Organ (1998)
Christopher Rathbone, organ
[2] This Endris Night op 69, Carol for Choir and Organ (1998)
Choir of Leeds Parish Church, Jonathan Lilley, organ Directed by Simon Lindley
Sonatina for Organ op 64 (1998)
[3] Prelude [4] Andante [5] Scherzo [6] Passacaglia
Christopher Rathbone, organ
Sonata for cello and piano op 52 (1991)
[7] Introduction and Allegro [8] Adagio [9] Scherzo [10] Passacaglia and Epilogue
Tom Rathbone, cello Christopher Rathbone, piano
Stations of the Cross, Seventeen meditations for organ op 77 (1999)
[11] Introduction; [12] Jesus is condemned to death; [13] Jesus receives the cross;
[14] Jesus falls (Disposer supreme);
[15] Jesus meets his mother; [16] The cross is laid upon Simon of Cyrene;
[17] Veronica wipes the face of Jesus;
[18] Jesus falls (Take up thy cross); [19] Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem;
[20] Jesus falls (When I survey the wondrous cross);
[21] Jesus is stripped of his garments; [22] Jesus is nailed to the Cross; [23] Jesus dies;
[24] Jesus is taken down from the cross;
[25] Jesus is laid in the sepulchre; [26] Vigil - the harrowing of Hell;
[27] Resurrection - Easter Alleluyas and Epilogue.
Christopher Rathbone, organ.
[28] Nunc natus est altissimus op 72, Carol for Choir and Organ (1999)
Choir of Leeds Parish Church, Jonathan Lilley, organ Directed by Simon Lindley
[29] Fantasia on 'The Old Bath Road' (1976)
Christopher Rathbone, organ
[2] & [28] Rec. Leeds Parish Church 21/1/2000. [3]-[6] & [11]-[27] Rec. Leeds Parish Church, 21/2/2000.
[7]-[10] Rec.Oakwood House, Leeds, 25/6/1999.
[1] & [29] recorded at public recitals at Leeds Parish Church, February 2000

Notes on the music
Puer Nobis takes the carol 'Unto us a boy is born' and submits it to toccata treatment, fiery semiquaver chords with the melody in the pedal. The piece was composed for Peter Gunstone in 1998.
This Endris Night was composed for the Morley Music Society in September 1998 and first performed by them, with Geoffrey Dunn at the organ, at their Christmas concert at St. Andrew's Church, Morley in December 1998. It is a setting of words selected from the 15th century carol in which the Virgin Mother addresses her Son, asking why he, the King of Heaven, should be born in a stable. The original text was fifteen verses, here reduced to five. The carol is dedicated 'to the Morleyites'.
The Sonatina was composed in early 1998 and first performed at Mill Hill Chapel in central Leeds in May of that year. It is dedicated to the composer's wife Isobel. There are four movements. The Prelude has elements of March and Fanfare. This leads via an inconclusive chord into the melodious cantilena of the Andante, followed by a Scherzo which develops a tendency to rumba rhythm before the reprise and the gentle tracery of the coda. The final Passacaglia is based on a 12-note theme, which remains in the pedal throughout. The build-up is inexorable, until the fanfares of the Prelude are recalled before the final variation.
The cello sonata was written before and after a sabbatical term in the winter of 1990-91 during which the composer visited Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and both coasts of the USA on a round-the-world ticket. The first movement, after a short introduction, is rhythmical, impulsive and energetic, with an abrupt ending. The slow movement is a complete contrast, full of heartfelt melody from the cello which rises to a high B flat at the climax. Both the highest and lowest notes of the piano are heard in this movement. The scherzo is whimsical, even humorous, but almost violent at the height of the argument. The tentative opening owes something to the scherzo of Elgar's cello concerto. Finally another passacaglia. The theme, initially in the piano bass, then pizzicato on the cello, becomes the subject of a variety of treatments: a canon in which the parts are exact pitch inversions of each other but rhythmically as different as possible; a forceful variation in which small segments of the theme are separated by recurring repeated notes; a scurrying quasi-canonic variation; and finally an extended epilogue in which the cello sustains each note of the theme against thudding chords from the piano.
'The Stations of the Cross' comprise seventeen short pieces for organ, written in September and October 1999, and dedicated to Richard Wiggen, vicar of Meanwood. It was designed to be played between the meditations based on the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, as the congregation moves from one Station to the next. The pictures used for the 1999 service by Mr. Wiggen included, in addition to the traditional fourteen stations, extra ones for the vigil of Easter Saturday and the glory of Resurrection on Easter Day, so this suite includes appropriate music for the Harrowing of Hell and the Resurrection followed by an extended epilogue to help the congregation to meditate on the pain and sorrow of Good Friday which is such an important part of the triumph of Easter. The three pieces depicting Jesus falling under the weight of the cross are miniature hymn-tune preludes, using fragments of three Passiontide hymns in the bass. The meditations were first performed complete in public in February 2000 as the final recital of the series including the composer's complete organ works to date.
Nunc Natus est Altissimus was requested by Simon Lindley in February 1999 for a festival to mark the dedication of the new Angel Screen in Leeds Parish Church. It was first performed during the Angelfest in September 1999 by the Parish Church Choir under Mr. Lindley's direction, with Jonathan Lilley, organ. The text is a 15th century poem by James Ryman, and describes the angels appearing to the shepherds on the first Christmas night. The words are macaronic - half English and half Latin.
The Fantasia on 'The Old Bath Road' is based on a school song written by John Ivimey in the thirties while Director of Music at Marlborough College. Two variations on the melody are enclosed by modernistic music, which provides an element of surprise when Ivimey's splendidly Elgarian melody appears on the tuba.

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