Herald AV Publications

HAVPCD370 – Follow the Star – Wakefield Cathedral Choir

	Disk Title	Follow the Star – Wakefield Cathedral Choir
		Carols for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
	Choir	Wakefield Cathedral Choir
	Location	Recorded in Wakefield Cathedral by kind permission of the Dean & Chapter.
	Date Recorded	27, 29 & 30 June 2011
	Audio Tracks	20

This latest CD release by the choir of Wakefield Cathedral seeks to bring to public attention some of the lesser known and unusual compositions and arrangements of the Christmas repertoire, whilst including favourite melodies every listener will enjoy. The tracks take the form of a journey through Advent to the birth of Christ, ending with the visit of the Magi at the Epiphany.

Many of the tracks are composed or arranged by contemporary composers, including ‘O leave your sheep’ by Wakefield old chorister, Kenneth Leighton. Perhaps of particular interest is the treble voices arrangement of “People look East” by Paul Trepte, and the Spanish Carol ‘Riu riu chiu’ by Mateo Flecha. Mack Wilberg’s playful arrangement of ‘Ding dong merrily on high’ has gained in popularity since it was performed during Carols from Kings in 2009, but has rarely been recorded.

The CD displays well the independent top lines of boy and girl choristers, gloriously bringing them together for some tracks, and there is also the opportunity to hear two contrasting organ works,“Epiphanie” by Gaston Litaize being particularly little known. Throughout the disc however, the organists manage to extract many of the outstanding and varied colours from the Cathedral’s Compton organ.

This recording marks the first collaboration on CD of the new music department in Wakefield Cathedral, Simon Earl and Thomas Moore having been appointed to their respective positions in January 2011.

Thomas Moore was born in Leicester, and was a treble in Leicester Cathedral Choir. He studied music at the University of Huddersfield graduating as a Bachelor of Music in 1997, and during his time at University was successively Organ Scholar at Huddersfield Parish Church and Bradford Cathedral. After undergraduate studies, Tom was appointed Assistant Organist of St. James the Greater Church in Leicester, and concurrent with this appointment completed further studies for a Master of the Arts qualification. In autumn 1998 Tom assumed the appointment of Assistant Organist of Peterborough Cathedral, a position he held until the summer of 2002.

In September 2002, Tom returned to West Yorkshire to take up the post of Assistant Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral. A particular duty of this appointment was to direct the girl choristers of the Cathedral Choir which inspired Tom to focus more on choir training and direction. At the retirement of Jonathan Bielby in 2010 Tom was invited to take up the position of Acting Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, and his permanent appointment to the role was confirmed in January 2011. He is the first full time Director of Music at Wakefield Cathedral, and only the fifth Cathedral Organist since the formation of the Wakefield Diocese.