Category: Worship Music

‘Music to end the day’ begins tonight with a charming and sprightly Prelude in C, one of the ‘Eight Short Preludes and Fugues’ formerly attributed to J.S. Bach, but now thought more likely to be the work of his finest pupil, Johann Krebs. Krebs was a brilliant performer, second only to Bach, but he found it...

Good evening, friends. As I’m sure you know, the great Italian film composer Ennio Morricone died recently at the age of 91. One of his best-known scores was created for the 1986 film ‘The Mission’, with Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons. ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ is the film’s main theme. It is most prominently used when Jesuit...

Good evening everyone Domenico Scarlatti was born in1685, the same year as Bach and Handel. In many ways he was the most radical of the three composers, creating a new sound and texture which look beyond the mature baroque to the new classical era of Haydn and Mozart. His Sonata in E minor is one of...

Dear Friends Our ‘music to end the day’ begins tonight with the tranquil ‘Tierce en Taille’ in G by Jean François Dandrieu, the gifted French harpsichordist and organist who gave his first public performance at the age of 5 for King Louis XIV! ‘Tierce en Taille’ refers to a particular organ registration, common in French baroque...

In the Lutheran Church, it is common practice for each hymn to be introduced, not by a simple ‘player’ of the tune, but by a fully developed ‘chorale prelude’, either composed or improvised. J.S. Bach wrote hundreds of magnificent chorale preludes, covering every Sunday of the Church’s year and a wide range of liturgical themes. ‘Wenn...

Good evening, everyone. Music to end the day begins with the delightful ‘Les Barricades Mystérieuses’, written for harpsichord by the great French clavecinist Francois Couperin in 1717. It is a fine example of ‘style brisé’ (broken-chord style) characteristic of French baroque keyboard music. The piece is in rondo form, with a recurring theme which appears four...

Dear Friends, I hope you have been enjoying the hymns in our virtual services over the lockdown period. Each week, as well as selecting carefully to reflect the theme of the day and the message of the readings, I have endeavoured to embrace the full range of Christian traditions which make up Cornerstone and to achieve...

Dear friends, To open our music this evening, I would like to share with you Telemann’s sparkling Sonata in F for Treble Recorder and Continuo, in a performance by Rocio Sanchez, one of our guest choir members, at Olney Parish Church last September – part of the special service to conclude the Amazing Grace Pilgrimage Walk....