Cantata for string orchestra and chorus. Triptych represents the concatenation and re-orchestration of two extant works. Movement I was commissioned with funds from The RVW Trust for the inaugural concert of the Choir of London conducted by Jeremy Summerly in Christ Church, Spitalfields on 18th December, 2004 - the work, premiĂšred as Threnody, was subsequently toured by the Choir to Jerusalem and the West Bank from 19th-26th December, 2004. Movements II and III, commissioned by Portsmouth Grammar School with financial support from the PRS Foundation, were premiĂšred as And There Was a Great Calm in a contiguous version for lower strings and upper voices by the Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir and the London Mozart Players in a concert at Portsmouth Anglican Cathedral on 13th November, 2005 conducted by Nicolae Moldoveanu. The title of this latter section is taken from Thomas Hardy's poem of the same name, written at the signing of the Armistice on 11th November, 1918 - a couplet from which is set, in a moment of tranquillity, in the final movement. Relatively new to living in New York, I am much more aware of the independent, vibrant cultural plurality that exists today - it's probably the single most dazzling facet of the City and is largely responsible for the infamous 'edginess' that pervades daily life there. With this in mind, I set to work on Threnody (movement I here) in 2004 - I wanted to write something that was relevant to the Israeli/Palestinian issue without losing that City 'edge'. The texts, in English, are excerpted from a variety of sources: William Penn, William Blake, the Psalms of David and Muhammad Rajab Al-Bayoumi, an Egyptian poet of the early twentieth-century. Fast and rhythmically influenced by the music of North Africa in its syncopations, this movement was the first composition that evolved entirely from my New York perspective. From the moment that the commission for And There Was a Great Calm (movements II and amp - III here) was offered, I knew the piece I was about to embark upon would end up being linked with Threnody in some way. I realized that what I had been aiming for in Threnody served as a template for this new piece, originally composed for a Remembrance Sunday concert. Musical works connected with commemoration or memorials are often suitably pensive and slow - I wanted to start with that concept, but to bring in some of the relentless urban rhythms that had been such a large influence on my life in the preceding two years. The result is that that the second movement is quiet and gentle (a moment of recollection), while the final movement is much faster and vibrant, returning to a more openly elated rendering of the start of Triptych (the texts here dealing with transmigration and the future). and nbsp - I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Bruce Ruben and Judith Clurman, as well as that of my parents, with the collation of the texts. Tarik O'Regan New York, February 2006 / Soprano, SATB Et Orchestre De Cordes

Fassung Ii. Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. The St. John Passion ranks alongside the St. Matthew Passion, the Christmas Oratorio, the Magnificat and the B minor Mass as one of the great vocal works from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Leipzig years. In contrast to his other large-scale choral works, however, Bach never gave this work a definitive final form. Rather, for every performance he substantially revised the general concept of the piece and also changed numerous details. All previous editions of the St. John Passion have combined readings from various layers of sources and thus present the work in a form which was never heard during Bach’s lifetime. Consequently, the wish often expressed by conductors to perform anauthentic version by Bach could not be easily achieved. The present critical, new edition of the St. John Passion fulfills this wish and for the first time makes available the complete music of the second version of the work as it was performed under Bach’s direction in 1725. Since a number of movements were replaced by others, including the opening chorus, this version differs most dramatically from the “standard” version which is well known today. J. S. Bach's Johannes Passion BWV 245 for SATB and Piano. Die Johannespassion zĂ€hlt neben der doppelchörigen MatthĂ€uspassion, dem Weihnachtsoratorium, dem Magnificat und der h-Moll-Messe zu den groß en Vokalwerken der Leipziger Jahre Johann Sebastian Bachs. Im Gegensatz zu den ubrigen oratorischen Werken hat Bach / Musique religieuse / Date parution : 2005-12-01/ RĂ©pertoire / Solistes SATBB, Choeur SATB, 2 FlĂ»tes TraversiĂšres

Par VIVALDI / BLANCHARD. As one of the great Baroque composers, Antonio Vivaldi 's (1678-1741) compositions remain hugely popular to this day. His motets, including Motetti A Canto Solo Con Stromenti continue to be popular, large-scale performance works. Vivaldi is best remembered for his Four Seasons and for his Violin concertos. However, his motets number to over 60. The second volume of Motetti A Canto Solo Con Stromenti contains the last three movements of the work. For all aspiring solo vocalists of the Baroque genre, Vivaldi 's Motetti A Canto Solo ConStromenti cannot be missed./ RĂ©pertoire / SATB