John Pickard: Mass in Troubled Times BBC Singers & Martyn Brabbins

• John Pickard (b. 1963): Three Latin Motets:
• 1 Pickard: Three Latin Motets: I. O nata lux 01:43
• 2 Pickard: Three Latin Motets: II. Te lucis ante terminum 03:05
• 3 Pickard: Three Latin Motets: III. Ubi caritas et amor 02:58
• O magnum mysterium:
• 4 Pickard: O magnum mysterium 03:01
• Orion:
• 5 Pickard: Orion: I. Nebula 04:24
• 6 Pickard: Orion: II. Alnitak 06:34
• 7 Pickard: Orion: III. Betelgeuse 06:12
• Ave Maris Stella:
• 8 Pickard: Ave Maris Stella 04:14
• Ozymandias:
• 9 Pickard: Ozymandias 04:27
• Tesserae:
• 10 Pickard: Tesserae 11:37
• Mass in Troubled Times:
• 11 Pickard: Mass in Troubled Times: Introitus 02:37
• 12 Pickard: Mass in Troubled Times: Kyrie 02:15
• 13 Pickard: Mass in Troubled Times: Gloria 05:58
• 14 Pickard: Mass in Troubled Times: Credo 07:07
• 15 Pickard: Mass in Troubled Times: Sanctus 03:50
• 16 Pickard: Mass in Troubled Times: Agnus Dei 04:03
• Total Runtime 01:14:05

Info for John Pickard: Mass in Troubled Times

Previous BIS releases of works by John Pickard have mainly featured instrumental compositions. This recording presents another facet of the British composer’s work, with compositions for choir under the expert direction of Martyn Brabbins as well as two instrumental pieces. The five short Latin motets as well as Ozymandias, Pickard’s opus 1, can be described as ‘occasional pieces’ composed during the composer’s student years or for the choir he conducts at the University of Bristol. They display solid tonal grounding and mainly homophonic writing and provide a stepping-stone to some of the more dissonant style found in the latter works. Written for the BBC Singers, whose reputation is well established, the Mass in Troubled Times is an ambitious work bearing witness to a context of global uncertainty. The Mass is a collaboration with the writer Gavin D’Costa, who conceived a complex text based on multiple sources in five languages, combining Western and Middle Eastern religious texts with poetry evoking the plight of refugees. Orion for trumpet and organ, which is partly programmatic, evoking the most splendid constellation and allowing trumpeter Chloë Abbott to shine, and Tesserae for solo organ, with its dazzling virtuosity, played here by the work’s first performer, David Goode, complete this album.

Chloë Abbott, trumpet
David Goode, organ
BBC Singers
Martyn Brabbins, direction

Chloë Abbott
is a British trumpet player, musician and curator. She is the first ever female trumpeter to be cast as ‘Michael’ in Stockhausen’s Licht, for performances of Luzifer’s Tanz in The Holland Festival 2019.

Chloë regularly performs with Modelo62, Musikfabrik, Asko Schönberg and Apartment House. She has recorded several CDs for the label Another Timbre with the UK-based group, Apartment House; recorded for the BBC with Music We’d Like to Hear and An Assembly, performed the solo part in Richard Ayres’ ‘Noncerto 31; played in a musical pilgrimage with the ‘Trumpets aus Licht’ at Klangspuren; collaborated closely with contemporary choreographer Sze Chan as part of a movement and sound exploration called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), performed with Ensemble Modelo62, and worked with various London-based new music collectives. Recent performances in 2017/18 include being selected to join the Ulysses Ensemble at Ircam’s Manifeste Academy, Aldeburgh Music, Voix Nouvelles Academy at the Royaumont Foundation and collaboration with IEMA as well as workshops and open spaces at Darmstadt Ferienkurse 2018. In these projects she has worked with conductors and composers such as Beat Furrer, Helmut Lachenmann, Lucas Vis, Peter Rundel, Heinz Holliger, Jean-Philippe Wurtz, Rebecca Saunders and Milica Djorjevic.

She also both performed in and curated a contemporary concert day at the Musique Cordiale Festival in southern France in August 2017.

She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2015, she completed both an MMus and BMus Hons. She studied under John Kenny, Noel Langley, Paul Cosh, Paul Beniston, Steve Keavy and Will O’Sullivan. Whilst at Guildhall Chloë was also a Britten-Pears Young Artist during 2014 and 2017. She finished further studies at Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag in 2019. Studying on the unique music course - Master Aus Licht - learningintensely with Marco Blauuw, focusing primarily on Stockhausen repertoire, but also covering a wide range of new and recent repertoire for the trumpet.

Chloë has performed in masterclasses with Hakan Hardenberger, Thierry Caens, Tine Thing Helseth, David Blackadder, Alison Balsom, Patrick Harrild and Philip Cobb. She has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, The Tallis Society, London Handel Society, London Arts Orchestra and Jersey Chamber Orchestra in venues such as Dutch National Opera House, Centquatre, TivoliVredenburg, Cafe Oto, Centre Pompidou, Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, The Place and LSO St Lukes, playing both baroque, classical and new contemporary repertoire for trumpet.

This album contains no booklet.