{"id":1070,"date":"2013-01-04T12:58:34","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T11:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.org.uk\/?p=1070"},"modified":"2013-01-03T17:16:12","modified_gmt":"2013-01-03T16:16:12","slug":"new-years-day-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/new-years-day-2013","title":{"rendered":"New Year&#8217;s Day 2013 @ 2.15 p.m."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ST.DAVID&#8217;S CATHEDRAL, Pembrokeshire\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>The Singers&#8217; traditional New Year&#8217;s Day concert where you come and go in the light.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong><em>with<\/em> DANIEL COOK<em> Organist and Choirmaster of St.Davids Cathedral\u00a0<\/em> and Christopher Williams <em>piano<\/em><\/strong><\/span><strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0ELGAR\u00a0 \u00a0 Benedictus and The Snow<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Richard Elfyn JONES\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Good King Wenceslas<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0William MATHIAS\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hodie Christus Natus est<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0John RUTTER\u00a0\u00a0 Arise, shine<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Meirion WYNN JONES (premiere)\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Bethlehem\u00a0\u00a0that noble place<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Paul\u00a0WILLIAMS\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cwsg fy Maban<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Eric JONES\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I orwedd mewn preseb\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0VAUGHAN\u00a0 WILLIAMS\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Fantasia on Christmas\u00a0\u00a0Carols<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Morten LAURIDSEN\u00a0 \u00a0 O Magnum mysterium<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0James MACMILLAN\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A New Song<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Eric JONES\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gweddi&#8217;r Arglwydd<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0J.S.BACH \u00a0 Gloria from Cantata 191<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0traditional etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The 22nd consecutive New Year afternoon performance in St.Davids Cathedral reached a new high.\u00a0 To hear the comments of many at the interval and on leaving, illustrated they had listened with an appreciation of the underlying purpose of the event. This is never a concert so to speak, but an affirmation <\/strong><strong>that darkness can be lightened.\u00a0 John Rutter\u2019s <em>Arise, shine <\/em>was an encouraging reminder.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The familiar was mingled with the more contemporary, in a carefully arranged Christmas and New Year depiction of what the majority of Christian and others <\/strong><strong>seek for answers in a complex world.\u00a0 Remarkable that Vaughan Williams in spite of his agnosticism, had the insight to question himself and his listeners, <\/strong><strong>as witness the <em>Fantasia on Christmas Carols<\/em> traditionally performed at this particular event. \u00a0 The <em>bass\/baritone<\/em>\u00a0 Tom Hunt, of Worcester \u00a0lineage, was the impressive soloist.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>There was\u00a0boundless enthusiasm from a group of singers, with several young choristers coming early to a realisation that making music together can become a lifetime\u2019s dedication. This especially comes through the inspiring and insistence of the Director John S. Davies, that the best must be conveyed to those who listen. To that on this occasion, add the excellence of accompanists at organ and piano, who shared and added immeasurably to the ambience created by such a leader.\u00a0 The <\/strong><strong>preparation brought a spontaneous response of thrilling beauty.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>In this context, James MacMillan\u2019s <em>A New Song,<\/em> Lauriden\u2019s <em>O Magnum\u00a0 Mysterium,<\/em> Mathias\u2019s <em>Hodie, Christus Natus est (soloists<\/em> Fflur and Osian Rowlands)\u00a0and J.S.Bsch\u2019s transcendent <em>Gloria <\/em>from <em>Cantata 191<\/em> (also in the <em>B minor Mass),<\/em> bore witness.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>There are too many items to comment on each piece, but from Wales came a new work dedicated to John S.Davies.\u00a0 This was <em>I<\/em><em>n Bethlehem, that noble place<\/em> by Meirion Wynn Jones, who as a \u00a0member of the Singers\u00a0took part.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul Williams was also present to hear another performance of his <em>Cwsg fy Maban.\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0 Music from Eric Jones included his devotional <em>Gweddi\u2019r Arglwydd<\/em> which preceeded the granduer of Elgar\u2019s <em>Benedictus<\/em> ending the programme.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>But not quite the end \u2013 after the tumultuous applause, came the spellbinding and loveliest of \u201cold\u201d hymns, <em>The day Thou gavest Lord, is over<\/em>, with the Singers revealing themselves at close quarters, processing round the aisles and departing into the distance, singing the last lines of the 19<sup>th<\/sup> century hymn.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The chiming bells brought the realisation that the sunshine which had blessed the proceedings was almost gone.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ST.DAVID&#8217;S CATHEDRAL, Pembrokeshire\u00a0 The Singers&#8217; traditional New Year&#8217;s Day concert where you come and go in the light.\u00a0 with DANIEL COOK Organist and Choirmaster of St.Davids Cathedral\u00a0 and Christopher Williams [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","iawp_total_views":0},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":74,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1074,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions\/1074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnsdaviessingers.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}