Info & track listings
The Wakefield Cathedral Choir consists of up to twenty boys, twenty girls and ten lay clerks, and undertakes a full programme of services, concerts, recordings, radio and TV appearances. There are six choral services each week Parish Eucharist, Cathedral Eucharist and Evensong on Sunday and Evensong on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The Yorkshire Three Choirs Festival (boys and men) and the Yorkshire Cathedral Choirs Festival (girls and men) take place in October and March respectively. The Cathedral has had only four Organists: Joseph Naylor (1888-1930), Newell Wallbank (1930-1946), Percy Saunders (1946-1970) and Jonathan Bielby (1970-2010). The formidable past record of Assistant Organists includes John Scott (organist of St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York), Peter Gould (organist of Derby Cathedral), Keith Wright ( assistant organist of Durham Cathedral), and Louise Marsh (director of the Girls Choir at Ely Cathedral).
Famous previous members of the Choir include the composer, Kenneth Leighton, and the former Archbishop of York, David Hope. The Cathedral Choir has done a tremendous job in promoting the city and diocese of Wakefield and the cause of English cathedral music. Besides appearing at many UK venues, the boys and men have visited Germany three times, the United States twice, France, Austria, Italy and Holland; the girls and men have sung in Sweden, the Rhineland and New York; and the men have made an enjoyable trip to Dublin.
Jonathan Bielby was born in Oxford, and appointed Organ Scholar of St Johns College, Cambridge. He became Assistant Organist of Manchester Cathedral before his appointment as Organist of Wakefield Cathedral in 1970. Without substantial funding or endowment, Jonathan has built up the fine reputation of the Cathedral Choir, which regularly broadcasts on national radio and television. He is a sensitive composer who has written extensively for his choir and the organ. He has nurtured the careers of many choristers and organists; among his former choristers are David Hill, Roger Wright and John Scott.
| Track | Duration | Title | Composer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 02:56 | Except the Lord build the house (1982) | Psalm 127. vv. 1, 2 |
| 2 | 03:11 | Let the roring Organs loudly play (1985) | Edmund Spenser (?1552-1599) Epithalamion |
| 3 | 02:37 | Love divine (1989) | Charles Wesley (1707-1788) |
| 4 | 01:43 | Exsultet (1991) | The Easter song of Praise. Words are Archbishops Council. Used by permission |
| 5 | 03:54 | Love’s endeavour, love’s expense (1992) | W. H. Vanstone (1923-1999). Words are W. H. Vanstone and his Publisher Darton, Longman, Todd Ltd.used by permission. |
| 6 | 06:06 | Finale from Sequence for All Saints – Kenneth Leighton (1978) | Propers for All Saints and Isaac Watts (1674-1748). |
| 7 | 02:49 | When I needed a neighbour (2001) | Sydney Carter (1915-2004). By Permission of Stainer and Bell Ltd. |
| 8 | 02:27 | Carol of the Birds (1998) | John Wheeler |
| 9 | 00:57 | Three kings are here (1990) | Flemish, Translated Robert Graves (1895-1985). The words from Three Kings are Here are set to music by permission of A. P. Watt Ltd on behalf or the trustees of the Robert Graves Copyright trust. |
| 10 | 02:18 | Carol for Grimethorpe (2006) | Jonathan Bielby, after A. F. Bayly (1901-1984) |
| 11 | 03:31 | Brightest and best (2005) | Reginald Heber (1783-1826) |
| 12 | 02:44 | Sans Day Carol (2006/8) | Traditional Carol from St Day, Cornwall |
| 13 | 05:43 | It is a thing most wonderful – Philip Moore (1988) | William Walsham How (1823-1897) |
| 14 | 02:27 | Kyrie eleison from Millennium Mass (1999) | Anonymous |
| 15 | 05:14 | Psalm 66 (1970s) | Anonymous |
| 16 | 02:27 | Psalm 119 vv 49-56 (1999) | Anonymous |
| 17 | 03:28 | Magnificat from Trebles Service (2003) | Anonymous |
| 18 | 04:03 | Nunc Dimittis from Wakefield Service – Andrew Carter (1988) | Anonymous |
| 19 | 01:58 | O taste and see (Psalm Sequence, No. 1) (1993) | Psalm 34, v. 8 |
| 20 | 02:03 | The Lord from out of Sion (Psalm Sequence, No. 3) (1994) | Psalm 128,vv. 6, 7 |
| 21 | 02:46 | Lord, I have loved the habitation (1999) | Psalm 26, v. 8. and RSCM Chorister Prayer |
| 22 | 03:13 | Millennium Resolution (1999) | Peter Trow (born 1963) |
| 23 | 02:37 | God’s Garden (2008) | Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858-1932) |
| 24 | 03:27 | Strengthen for service – Sean Farrell (1994) | Syrian, 4th century Translated C. W. Humphreys (1840-1921) and Percy Dearmer (1867-1936) |
| 25 | 03:07 | O my Saviour, lifted (Carharrack) (2007) | William Walsham How |
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