Cecilia Without The Heartbreak

We are at least in the vicinity of the feast day for St Cecilia ( 22nd of November, she is the patron saint of musicians of course ) so it seems reasonable to pick off this BBC music mag cover disk from 2002. The disk includes a full performance of Purcell's Hail ! Bright Cecilia and then moves on to Bright Cecilia Variations, specially commissioned by BBC Music magazine from a number of contemporary composers. Celebrating the feast was a big deal in late 17th century London and Hail ! St Cecilia was Purcell's fourth setting, this time to a text by Nicholas Brady. It is a fine example of his work and is played here in a live concert performance by the King's Consort directed by Robert King with solo singers Susan Gritton soprano, James Bowman countertenor, tenors Rogers Covey-Crump and Mark Milhofer, Colin Campbell baritone and bass Michael George. The Variations were commissioned to celebrate ten years of the magazine and Colin Matthews was given the role of co-ordinating the project, allocating a section to set in a variety of moods. Matthews himself launches the theme and it moves through changes produced by Judith Weir, Poul Ruders, David Sawer, Michael Torke, Anthony Payne and Magnus Lindberg. The sections segue one into another and the piece is played here by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. The variations are brief and don't outstay their welcome but offer a link between the spirit of musicians over the centuries, even if Cecilia's link to the art is at best a little tenuous.