It seems to be more and more the case that people approach Christmas through the medium of music whether via Christmas FM on the radio, familiar hymns and carols in church or through the sublime settings of seasonal texts which are increasinly the preserve of cathedral choirs and specialist ensembles.
For over a decade Tim Thurston has been bringing sacred music to the listeners of Lyric FM on his weekly programme, Gloria, originally on Saturday evenings and now on Sunday mornings. Now both his words and choice of music are available in book form. Gloria. An Introduction to 1000 Years of European Sacred Music has been published by Associated Editions and includes a CD with 21 tracks with an Advent and Christmas theme from the Hyperion music label.
Like his radio programme, Tim Thurston’s book is arranged chronologically, and so there is music from the age of chant, the period of renaissance polyphony, the baroque and classical ages, the romantic movement and from the 20th century. There are short discussions of each of these sections and pen portraits of the stellar cast of composers featured on the CD among whom are Hildegard of Bingen, Palestrina, Byrd, Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Bruckner and Part. And if the music is of the highest standard so too are the performances from such as the choirs of Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and St John’s College, Cambridge, Gothic Voices, Polyphony and the King’s Consort.
In addition, this is a beautifully illustrated book with images of sacred art from or associated with Irish collections – a 13th century stained glass panel of an angel blowing a trumpet from the Hunt Museum, the Virgin and Child from the Book of Kells, the nativity scene from the Waterford Magi cope, and, most appropriately, on the cover the miniature of monks singing at a lectern from the Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, psalter, now in the Bodleian Library.
Gloria is available through the bookshops.
C of I notes Irish Times