Yesterday was a huge day here at the Three Choirs Festival, starting with a Festival Eucharist in Worcester Cathedral where Charles Marie Widor’s Messe à deux chœurs & deux orgues was the communion setting—set for two choirs and two organs. After lunch we attended a concert by the Corvus Consort, then rushed off to Choral Evensong. The day ended with a concert called “The Cloud Messenger,” after Gustav Holst’s large-scale work with the same name.

However, in this post I’m going to write about the seemingly incongruous saxophone brunch we attended, which was followed by saxophone Byrd!

Huh? What’s that? What does a saxophone have to do with brunch, or the music of William Byrd?!

After the Eucharist, as we were walking out, Bill Potter and I spotted Rich Arenschieldt, the chair of the American Friends of the Three Choirs Festival, who generously invited us to lunch at Cote’s, a nearby restaurant, which had a large sign, “SAXOPHONE BRUNCH.” There was a saxophonist playing nearby, with an accompaniment track. It was not too loud, but created a festive atmosphere for all the patrons dining inside.

This is the tenth anniversary of the American Friends, who are “Singers, retirees, church musicians, educators and Choral Evensong enthusiasts arrive each summer, ‘desiring the waterbrooks’ of English music, cathedrals and countryside. Created in 2014, the American Friends are a group of devoted music lovers spanning the breadth of the United States. We support the work of the Three Choirs Festival, publicize its activities and provide sponsorship for its work.”

According to Rich, I’m one of the original members, or close to it. I started coming to the Three Choirs Festivals in Gloucester in 2016, and while I haven’t been able to come every single year, I believe this is my sixth Festival—I’ve been to Gloucester three times, Worcester twice, and Hereford once.

After lunch, as we were seating ourselves for a concert called “Byrd Takes Flight,” Bill remarked, “What’s a saxophone doing in a concert of William Byrd?” After all, one of the reasons we have chosen this concert was that there were so many familiar pieces on the program:

William Byrd 1543–1623 Ave verum corpus 4′
Shruthi Rajasekar b 1996 Byrd Transubstantiated 7′
Thomas Tallis 1505–85 O nata lux 3′
William Byrd Christe qui lux es et dies 4′
William Byrd Rorate caeli desuper 4′
Derri Joseph Lewis b 1997 Rorate caeli desuper 6′
Thomas Tallis Thou wast, O God, and thou wast blest 4′
William Byrd Kyrie from Mass for Three Voices 1′
William Byrd Vigilate 4′
Harry Baker b 1997 Vigilate 6′
Thomas Tallis Sancte Deus 5′
William Byrd Justorum animae 3′ Ne irascaris, Domine 8′
Anna Semple b 1997 Ecce respice 8′

Corvus Consort: Izzi Blain, Freddie Crowley, Ailsa Campbell, Jack Harberd, Tom Lowen
Music on the Edge: Susie Hodder-Williams, flute; Chris Caldwell, saxophone

The Corvus Consort is a vocal ensemble based in the UK. Founded and directed by Freddie Crowley, the group draws its members from a pool of young professionals in the early stages of their singing careers. The consort enjoys musical versatility, performing a wide variety of genres and styles, ranging from the Renaissance to the present day.

What we found out is that the Corvus Consort presents the repertoire in three different ways:

• Music in its purest form without alteration or addition
• Music with improvised instrumental lines in a jazz style (adding saxophone or flute)
• Existing compositions which are used as inspiration for new music (using the same text)

Here’s a short video by Freddie Crowley, the founder of Corvus Consort, explaining this in more detail.

Here’s an example of the addition of improvised instrumental lines to Tomas Luis Victoria’s O vos omnes.

All this in an effort to make the “old music become new”—It was all quite exciting! I especially liked the pairing of the traditional texts to new music, for example, contrasting Byrd’s Rorate Caeli with Derri Joseph Lewis’ composition with the same name, which sounded like raindrops falling. The composer was in the audience today and received much applause.

The consort’s performance of Byrd’s Vigilate (presented without alteration or additions) was stunning and brilliantly performed. My husband, Carl, taught this difficult anthem to the choir at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu four decades ago, and I remember how they struggled with it, yet finally mastered it after many rehearsals!

In addition to presenting the traditional music in such a unique way, frequently the singers and instrumentalists were moving in procession as well, adding drama and spaciousness to the performance.

This concert immediately caught my attention!