The Bruton Capella, Rebecca Davy, conductor, JanEl Will, organist, present choral music sung in Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia. Eight anthems and two hymns were commissioned by the church; seven are set to texts written by poet Angier Brock, a Richmond native and Williamsburg-area resident. Most are accompanied by JanEl Will playing the 2019 Dobson organ, op. 98. Some pieces include solo voice, oboe, flute, and handbells.

The Bruton Cappella was born out of the Covid 19 pandemic that brought a temporary halt to our Parish’s vibrant volunteer choir program. We are all grateful to our Bishop and Rector for allowing our section leaders to continue singing for live-­streamed services through the shutdowns, keeping the music ministry alive and well. This talented group of singers forged a remarkably unified and nuanced sound that we wish to celebrate and share via this recording, made just as vaccinations allowed our volunteer singers to return.

Central to the repertory of this recording are ten commissioned anthems, filled out with additional music written by living or recently deceased composers. These selections are in the style of music we regularly sing at Bruton Parish, drawing from the Episcopal Church’s roots in the cathedral music of Great Britain. Although our choirs appropriately sing music from many eras, this CD concentrates on the present, melding together a varied yet cohesive collection of anthems.

Texts of seven of the works are written by poet and Virginia native Angier Brock (b. 1947), who has specialized in hymn and anthem texts during the past two decades or longer. Her work has been sung in churches of various denominations worldwide. An undergraduate of  Mary Baldwin University, she holds graduate degrees in Christian education from Union Presbyterian Seminary and in creative writing (poetry) from Virginia Commonwealth University, both in Richmond. Retired from longer than thirty years of teaching at middle, secondary, and collegiate levels, she lives in Yorktown, Virginia, where she is active at Grace Episcopal Church and is an Education for Ministry mentor. In addition to poetry, she also writes reflective prose. She is a Master Naturalist and enjoys birding on the Yorktown battlefield.

Stopford began his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey in London, studying organ, piano and violin. Stopford started composing choral music during his early years as organ scholar at Truro Cathedral and has continued writing primarily for the choirs he directs. His own vocal abilities infuse the music, making it always a joy to sing. It is this feature of his music that led me to commission an anthem from him, resulting in a soaring setting of Psalm 98, which directs us to sing and make music because of all God has done for us.

Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978) composed Ubi Caritas II: Through Infinite Ages as a sequel to his earlier successful setting of Ubi Caritas. The initial work was inspired by memories of Gjeilo’s obligatory high school choir class which read through Maurice Duruflé’s iconic setting of the text in his first class. Ubi caritas II, published in 2007, sets the second verse of the original chant text, concluding the initial piece, and can be sung alone or paired together. The textures of this a cappella work is lush and evocative, words commonly used to describe Gjeilo’s music.

unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.                —Anonymous, medieval chant

O God We Praise You by British composer Will Todd (b. 1970) was written in memory of William Wirt Brock and William Edward Weekley with the intention of adding an All Saints anthem to the sacred repertory. Angier Brock and especially Carolyn Weekley were the guiding forces behind this and most of our commissions. The idea to commission a piece from Todd began with our choirs’ love of his popular anthem, The Call of Wisdom, coupled with an invitation to host him for a choral workshop during one of his U. S. tours. Members of Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Norfolk, Virginia, and their director Kevin Kwan, joined our choirs at Bruton Parish for an ambitious In Remembrance concert on October 21, 2017. The music selected was all composed by Todd and included the premiere of O God We Praise You. Todd spent the afternoon rehearsing the choirs and adding his finishing touches to the pieces they had prepared with both great musicality and humor.

Alan Smith’s Listen, Sweet Dove was published shortly before his death in 2017. Born in 1962, Smith began organ lessons at the age of 10 and attended the Royal School of Church Music as a youth. He earned his bachelor’s degree from King’s College, London, where he served as Organ Scholar. After graduation in 1984, he pursued a teaching career concurrent with positions in church music as organist and music director. His catalog includes more than 150 compositions, most of which are choral or vocal works.

Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree is one of some 300 known works by Elizabeth Poston (1905-­1987), but it remains her most purchased and performed work, often included in renditions of the Nine Lessons and Carols service. Poston was a multi-talented composer, writer, and pianist, and her music was much influenced by her interest in collecting folk songs. She shared that interest with other composers of her day, especially Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose friendship in the 1940s helped lead her back to composing after more than a decade pursuing other interests. Poston worked for the BBC from the beginning of World War I, apparently working in part as a secret agent, using gramophones to encode messages for allies.

Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951) became a fast friend after she travelled from London to Williamsburg for the premiere of Advent Moon in December of 2013. Interest in her music stemmed from a Bruton performance of her stunning setting of Ave maris stella for choir and orchestra. Angier Brock wrote the evocative poem for Advent Moon; her words and McDowall’s music perfectly capture the magic of winter with waiting, watching for light, and the miracle of Christ’s birth. Published in 2014 by Oxford University Press (OUP), this anthem has been widelyperformed in Great Britain and the U. S. McDowall added an optional handbell part after becoming intrigued by handbells on her visit here, and John Rutter kindly agreed to include them in the recording he made for OUP.

My own journey in the world of commissions began with Arise in Beauty. When then-­chorister and handbell-ringer Carolyn Weekley lost her mother, Catherine Minor Weekley, in 2009 at just short of 90 years old, Carolyn approached me about memorializing her mother in a meaningful, musical way. We talked about commissioning an anthem, and the planted seed grew into a contract for a new work from American composer Dan Locklair (b. 1949). Poetry from noted poet and friend Angier Brock followed, and the first of many future collaborative ventures began. The text is perfect for the celebration of a remarkable life and includes a fun, personal reference to Carolyn, who was affectionately called “Stuffy” by her mother;  thus, “All the great stuff of heaven and earth” contains a dual meaning. Locklair’s setting of the poem is evocative and expressive, marrying text to sound, even painting words like “wind,” “dance,” and “silence” intrinsically and masterfully into the music. Locklair was first an organist, and his immense skill at the instrument is always apparent in his writing for it, as in the exquisite accompaniment of this anthem.

James Hopkins (b. 1949) composed Thy Name Is Love for the Church of the Ascension in Sierra Madre, California. Published in 2006, the anthem includes an expressive oboe part and sets Charles Wesley’s text, Come O Thou Traveler Unknown. The vocal melody is based on the traditional Scottish melody, Candler, lending an appealing, folk-like flavor to the anthem. The oboe part weaves between the vocal lines, sometimes as an obbligato addition and sometimes as introduction or answer to the voices.

Easter Light was our second commission from Cecilia McDowall. The restricted space in Bruton Parish’s historic colonial building makes including the typical Easter brass ensemble impractical, and hence much music for the feast day unusable for us. I longed for an Easter anthem that didn’t require such forces and instead grappled with the mystery of the resurrection. The text from Angier Brock led McDowall in the perfect direction. Softly rising melodies, bird calls (specifically the eastern meadowlark) cascading alleluias, and increasing urgency bring us to the garden and Christ’s empty tomb and invite Him into our presence now.

The anthem is inscribed for Jane, Lida, Henry, Lucy and Casey, the grandchildren of author Angier Brock, and the Bruton Choirs premiered the music on March 27, 2016.

Alice Parker (b. 1925) has been an important trailblazer for women composers in the United States. She began composing at an early age but received recognition after collaborating with Robert Shaw (1916-1999) in arrangements of folk songs, hymns, and spirituals while studying conducting with him at the Juilliard School of Music. Her fascination with the combination of words and music has kept her focus primarily on choral and vocal music throughout her long career as a conductor, teacher, and composer.

Still, Still with Thee includes a virtuosic flute obbligato over the organ accompaniment and voices. The composer Fred Gramann (b. 1950) retains the strophic structure of the poem, repeating the melody four times, but otherwise varies the setting. The overall effect of the memorable melody, bird-like flute part, and lush harmonies is appropriately haunting for another anthem about death. This time focusing on the faith that death is but a journey to the presence of God.

Gramann is a native of Washington State, where he began his organ studies with Edward Hansen in Seattle and eventually travelled to Paris to study with famed organists Marie-­Claire Alain and Maurice Duruflé. After earning a master’s degree from the University of Michigan with Marilyn Keiser, he returned to Paris where he accepted a position as music director at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, a church in the Anglican tradition that welcomes international and multi-cultural worshipers. There, Gramann has built an active handbell program and composes music for them and for choirs.

The hymns, God, We Gather by Alvez Barkoskie IV (b. 1986) and, Christ! Who Was Before the World Began by Brenda Portman (b. 1980) were born out of Bruton Parish’s 300th anniversary celebrations in 2015. The Parish’s music ministry offered a competition to college students across the nation to write the music to any of three hymn texts Angier Brock wrote for the occasion. Out of many submissions, we chose two as standout offerings that we continue to sing in Sunday worship services. Barkoskie was a student at the University of Oklahoma where he has since received a master’s of music degree. He continues to compose and serves as music director and organist of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Oklahoma City. Portman was finishing her D. M. A. studies in organ performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music at the time of the competition. She has since established a thriving career as a church musician, concert organist, and composer.

Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendour by Malcolm Archer (b. 1952) was also part of the Parish’s 300th anniversary celebrations. The choice of an established British composer made the connection with Bruton’s Anglican roots, and we premiered the anthem on Sunday, April 12, 2015, when the Presiding Bishop, The Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, preached for our morning worship services. The traditional Eucharistic hymn text, included in The 1982 Hymnal, where it is paired with the tune Bryn Calfaria, is especially appropriate for either Easter or Christmas, as it broadly tells the story of Christ’s life from birth to resurrection. The jaunty rhythms and changing meters of the setting create a compelling and spirited anthem.

American composer Michael John Trotta (b. 1978) composed Source of All Healing for Bruton Parish in 2018. The text for this commission is again by Angier Brock, and grew in part out of my request for an anthem that could be appropriate with the many Gospel readings about Jesus’s miracles of healing. The anthem became deeply personal for me when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, after the idea of such an anthem had been determined. Mr. Trotta created a refrain out of the words, “Source of all healing…,” which serves as a musically unifying and memorable feature. As is typical of his writing, the harmonies are tonal with striking dissonances that add urgency and interest to the texture, along with elegant and singable melodies.