Скачать или смотреть Jonathan Dove: They will rise

The Stanford Chamber Chorale and University Organist Robert Huw Morgan, under the direction of Stephen M. Sano, perform Jonathan Dove's "They will rise."

This performance was presented on 24 June 2019 in Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire, UK.

Jonathan Dove’s "They will rise" was commissioned for the Royal Air Force’s centenary celebrations at Westminster Abbey on 10 July, 2018. The RAF was founded during the First World War, and Dove’s choice of text is telling both in what it encompasses and what it leaves out. The Biblical verse he sets — Isaiah 40:31 — stresses the rejuvenating and strengthening power of faith, with a central simile comparing the faithful to soaring birds. An undulating organ part runs like air currents under the gradually rising voices of the full choir, until the overlapping voices declare that “they will fly up on wings like Eagles.” The piece will return to this joyful climactic statement at the end, but in the middle the upper voices drop away, to leave only the tenors and basses and a somewhat martial organ underneath. The text for this section is far more earthbound, alluding perhaps to the realities of the war that led to the formation of the RAF. It is striking that the verse Dove sets begins with a continuation: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." It hints at the presence of the verse immediately preceding, which reads: “Even youths shall faint and be weary, / and young men shall fall exhausted.” Knowing that this music was written to celebrate those who served and fell in service for their country — particularly in a war famous for creating a “lost generation” — it is difficult not to feel the pathos of those lost lines and lost lives. --Frances Molyneux

For more information and other performances by the Chorale, please visit our website and YouTube channel:

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