Alistair Warwick - enabling music : enabling musicians

Friday 25 July 2008

Current projects
ISSC brochure cover

RSCM International Summer School

Alistair Warwick will be at the RSCM's International Summer School and Conference in Canterbury from 11–13 August 2008.

 

 

With Revd. Wendy Wilby (Precentor, Bristol Cathedral) he will be presenting two sessions:

  • Pray? I haven't got time to pray!
  • Musicians and clergy working together

 

Dunblane Chamber Orchestra

The first concert of the Dunblane Chamber Orchestra, founded in February 2008, was a sell-out success.

The programme featured music for string ochestra, including Britten's Simple Symphony, Elgar's Serenade for Strings, Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, and, with solo oboe, Barbirolli's Oboe Concerto on themes of Pergolesi along with Morriconi's Gabriel's Oboe.

We are currently planning the next concert for October or November. The programme will include Schubert's 5th Symphony. More details will be anounced here.

 

 

 

 

 

About Alistair Warwick

Alistair Warwick is a conductor/music director, organist, and singer.

He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in music from Surrey University, and has undertaken studies in theology and liturgy. His freelance company, The Art of Music, combines these skills by providing music and typesetting services, including the music for Common Worship, as well as other original scores and publications.

Alistair was Director of Music and Master of the Choristers at Arundel Cathedral from 1992 to 2002, succeeding Philip Taylor, Stephen Dean and Catherine Christmas. Invited personally to apply for the post by Bishop Cormac Murphy O'Connor (now Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster), he built up both the reputation and the competence of the Cathedral Choir, mainly by the introduction of boy and girl choristers in 1994 – making Arundel one of the first cathedrals in the British Isles to have girl choristers.

He is currently the RSCM's Programme Director for Sacred Music Studies and Co-ordinator for Scotland.

On this site you can see something of his experience and skills in music: a gift that can help us all to live more fully.

Conducting

Conducting studies include work with Sebastian Forbes, Owen Rees and Alasdair Mitchell.
He has also participated in master-classes in choral direction with Mike Brewer and David Hill.


Orchestral performances

  • Britten: Simple Symphony
  • Copland: Happy Anniversary
  • Copland: Quiet City
  • Corelli: Christmas Concerto
  • Delius: Brigg Fair
  • Elgar: Serenade for Strings
  • Franceschini: Sonata in D for two trumpets *
  • Gabrieli: In ecclesiis
  • Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
  • Handel: The Pendlebury Water Music *
  • Handel: Messiah
  • Haydn: Nelson Mass
  • Haydn: Trumpet Concerto
  • Ives: The Unanswered Question
  • Judd, Graham: Earthwork
    (First performance: University of Surrey, 12 March 1997)
  • Judd, Graham: Russian Ballet
    (First performance: University of Surrey, 1997)
  • Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture
  • Morricone: Gabriel's Oboe
  • Mozart: Mass K197
  • Mozart: Coronation Mass K317
  • Mozart: Serenade in B flat K361
  • Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik K525
  • Pergolesi arr. Barbirolli: Oboe Concerto *
  • Purcell: Trumpet Sonata *
  • Stravinsky: Suites for Small Orchestra
  • Telemann: Concerto for three trumpets
  • Vivaldi: Guitar Concerto in D RV93 *

* directed from organ/harpsichord

Choral performances

  • Bach, JS: Cantatas 11, 129, 147
  • Elgar: The Spirit of the Lord
  • Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
  • Fauré: Requiem
  • Gabrieli: In ecclesiis
  • Grainger: Brigg Fair
  • Handel: Messiah
  • Haydn: Nelson Mass
  • MacMillan: Nunc Dimittis
  • Mozart: Mass K197
  • Mozart: Coronation Mass K317
  • Mozart: Laudate Dominum K339
  • Parry: I was glad
  • Rutter: A Gaelic Blessing
  • Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs

Choral and orchestral rehearsals

  • Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No 3
  • Bach: Concerto for Oboe and Violin
  • Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
  • Beethoven: Egmont overture
  • Beethoven: Symphonies nos 4, 5, 7, 8, 9
  • Copland: Three Dances from Rodeo
  • de Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat
  • Elgar: Sea Pictures
  • Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
  • Holst: The Hymn of Jesus
  • MacMillan: A New Song
  • MacRae: Adam lay y-bounden
  • Mahler: Symphony No 4
  • Orff: Carmina Burana
  • Sibelius: Karelia Suite
  • Sibelius: Symphonies 2 & 5
  • Stravinsky: Concertino for 12 instruments
  • Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks
  • Stravinsky: Petrouchka
  • Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations
  • Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast
  • Weber: Der Freischütz overture
  • Webern: Concerto Op 24
  • Yeadon, Joseph: "Ummm.... (can't think what to call it!)"
Workshops

In facilitating workshops, Alistair provides an enriching opportunity for those using music.

For those involved in music in the life of the Church, he offers an approach that develops sensitivity, spirituality and understanding.

Practical skills training is available for:

  • cantors / animateurs
  • choir trainers
  • choir directors
  • organists
  • other keyboard players
  • music groups
Organist

Alistair has studied with Janet McCleery, Andrew Millington, Peter Hurford and Matthew Beetschen.

He plays in a number of churches in the Stirling area, including:

  • Alloa, Parish Church
  • Bridge of Allan, St Saviour's
  • Dunblane Cathedral
  • Dunblane, St Blane's
  • Dunblane, St Mary's
  • Stirling, Allan Park South
  • Stirling, Holy Rude Church

His repertoire ranges from alternatim Mass settings (from French and Spanish schools) to 20th works.

 

Instrument king
The organ was played so delicately … at Arundel Cathedral … Alistair Warwick … took us on a short European tour of the king of instruments. Once again, the audience was privileged."

Arun News

…thank you for the lovely music which contributed so much to the atmosphere and helped to make the service special. We really appreciated your contribution…

Recordings

TV/Radio, CDs for Herald AV Publications, Ocean Records and other labels.


Recordings

These include TV and radio broadcasts, CDs for Herald AV Publications, Ocean Records and for other labels, including the Church of Scotland's CD of Hymns from Church Hymnary 4 (see Other labels).

The particular role played by Alistair Warwick is noted after each recording.

Television & Radio

Celebration for the launch of Churches Together in England (ITV)
organist

The Promise of His Glory (BBC1 live)
organist

Christmas Morning Mass from Arundel Cathedral (ITV live)
conductor

Easter Sunday Mass from Arundel Cathedral (BBC1 live)
conductor

Remembrance Day Service from Dunblane Cathedral (BBC Radio Scotland)
associate conductor

Herald

Alistair Warwick's work for Herald AV Publications has been in several roles, ranging from music director to sound engineer and producer.

The following discs feature world-famous artists, including Mary Berry, David Hill, James O'Donnell, Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and were recorded at a number of venues, including Abbey Road, Canterbury, Ely and Winchester cathedrals and St George's Chapel, Windsor.

You can buy these Herald CDs – and more – from Amazon by clicking on the appropriate link.

What is our life? cover

Byrd, de La Rue, Gombert, Josquin, Ramsey, Weelkes etc.:
What is our Life?
Cambridge Taverner Choir / Owen Rees
executive producer
> buy this CD from Amazon
By Special Arrangement cover

Bach, Barber, Chopin, Delius, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Widor etc.:
By Special Arrangement: Familiar tunes in fresh guises
The Rodolfus Choir / Ralph Allwood & Ben Parry
assistant sound engineer
> buy this CD from Amazon
Mass of the Annunciation cover

Gregorian Chant:
Mass of the Annunciation
James O'Donnell / Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge / Mary Berry
assistant sound engineer
> buy this CD from Amazon
The Ceremony of the Shepherds and Midnight Mass cover

Gregorian Chant:
The Ceremony of the Shepherds & Midnight Mass
Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge / Mary Berry
assistant sound engineer

 

Gregorian Chant:
The Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket
Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge / Mary Berry
assistant sound engineer
cover of Chants for St Benedict CD

 

Gregorian Chant, Philip Gaisford OSB & others:
Chants for St Benedict
The Benedictine Monks of Worth Abbey
(as featured in BBC Television's "The Monastery")
conductor
> buy this CD from Amazon

 

Gregorian Chant, John Sheppard:
Midnight Mass for Queen Mary Tudor
Musica Contexta / Simon Ravens
executive producer

 

Francis Grier:
Twelve Anthems (premier recording)
The Rodolfus Choir / Ralph Allwood
assistant sound engineer

 

C Hubert H Parry:
Songs of Farewell
The Rodolfus Choir / Ralph Allwood
assistant sound engineer

 

Max Reger:
Seven Organ Pieces Op 145
Roger Judd
assistant sound engineer

 

Stephen Watson:
O Captain! My Captain! (premier recording)
London Philharmonic Orchestra / David Angus
executive producer

 

Arthur Wills:
The Praises of the Trinity (premier recording)
Ely Cathedral Choir / Paul Trepte
producer
> buy this CD from Amazon

 

various composers:
Anthems
St Thomas-on-the-Bourne Choir / David Swinson
producer

 

various composers:
Hymns from the Westminster Hymnal
Worth Abbey Choir / Michael Oakley
producer

 

various composers:
Kindle a Flame
Arundel & Brighton Lourdes Pilgrimage / Anne Ward & Mike Carver
assistant producer

 

various composers:
The Organs of Winchester Cathedral
David Hill and Stephen Farr
assistant sound engineer

 

various composers:
Hymns and Psalms from Winchester
Winchester Cathedral Choir / David Hill
assistant sound engineer

 

various composers and arrangers:
Among the Leaves so Green: English and Scottish Folk-Songs
The Rodolfus Choir / Ralph Allwood
assistant sound engineer

 

various composers:
Here in this Place (Music from Worth Abbey)
Worth Abbey Lay Community
conductor & producer

 

various composers:
The Organ of St George’s, Windsor
Roger Judd
assistant sound engineer

Ocean Records

Tsunami Ride record sleeve

John Warwick and Steve le Hardy:
Too far by far / If I had (premier recording)
Tsunami Ride
keyboards, backing vocals, brass & choir arranger
(Ocean Records: OCEAN 1)

 

Other labels

 

John Mundy (ed. Lynne Weston):
In te Domine, speravi (premier recording)
University of Surrey Chamber Choir
director
 

Paul McNamara, Simon Caplehorn, Paul Jelliman, Clare Lowe:
Peruvia / Peruvia (Latin mix) (premier recording)
The Planets
technical support – along with Tony Bridson
(Music Lab Records: MLR 02-A)
Take up the Song sleeve

various composers:
Take up the Song:
Hymns, Songs and Psalms from Church Hymnary 4
This double CD contains 40 songs taken from the four main sections of the Church Hymnary:
Psalms, The Living God, Life in Christ, The Holy Spirit.
It includes a number of items performed by the Choir of Dunblane Cathedral, Matthew Beetschen organ, Alistair Warwick conductor
> buy this CD from Amazon.co.uk
Research
Masters dissertation on the Dunkeld Music Book

Alistair Warwick received a distinction for his Masters dissertation in Music at the University of Surrey on the Dunkeld Music Book (otherwise known as the Dowglas-Fischer or Lincluden Partbooks GB-EdU MS 64); more information on this manuscript can be found here.

In the Dunkeld Music Book is an anonymous motet for eight voices, Te Sanctum Dominum. As a result of his research Alistair Warwick has provisionally identified Nicholas Gombert as the composer of this work. A critical edition of the prima pars appears in the dissertation.

Other research
  • work on chant
  • parody technique (especially in Victoria's Missa O magnum mysterium)
  • the Wode Partbooks
  • Monteverdi's Vespers
  • Inegalité (both in French Baroque and possible use in the music of JS Bach)
  • attitudes to the Victorian Organ (especially relating to the 1893 Hill organ at Arundel Cathedral)
  • the identity and nature of music, and especially of sacred music
Writing

Alistair's published writing includes articles, contributions to other works, his MMus dissertation, references in other works, and reviews.


Articles

  • The Psalms
    Faith Alive – The Universe (1986)
    An article on historic and liturgical use of the psalms in the liturgy.

  • Herald Triumph! –
    The Wire (1995)
    – online at www.heraldav.co.uk (2000)
    – reprinted in Newsletter of The Association of Latin Liturgy (September 2003)
    An account of the recording of Dupré's Les Vêpres de la Vierge Op. 18.

  • Choir-training notes
    Bulletin of Panel of Monastic Musicians (1999)
    – reprinted in Music & Liturgy (2000)
    Following a workshop at the Panel of Monastic Musicians 1998 residential course, this article explores rehearsal and warm-up techniques, particularly directed at monks and nuns who sing the Mass and the Office daily.

  • Just Treble-makers?
    Church Music Quarterly     (July 1999)
    An introduction to the Voice for Life choir-training programme.

  • Gregorian Chant sung in Latin
    Church Music Quarterly     (September 2003)
    – reprinted in The Church Times (June 2004)
    The title of this article immediately poses the question: why sing in Latin, when our services are in our own language? For that matter, we might well ask if our services are in English/Welsh/whatever, since we actually use a ritual language rather than that spoken in everyday use. More …

  • Musick fyne: Scottish Church Music up to 1603
    Church Music Quarterly (June 2005)

    We are very familiar with the names of William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, perhaps also with those of Robert Parsons, Christopher Tye and John Shepherd. But what about those from England's neighbours? While the names of many English composers trip off the tongue, until recently it has been harder to name many composers writing music for the Scottish Church. More …

  • Mind the Gap
    Choir & Organ (January/February 2007)
    Interviewed by Maggie Hamilton, deputy editor of Choir and Organ, about gap-year study for organists and choral scholars. The Sacred Music Studies course from the University of Wales, Bangor and the Royal School of Church Music fills the gap nicely.

    "…There have been some exciting and unexpected results already, with students looking at what they're doing in a new light and developing their practice. I certainly wish that when I was a cathedral director of music that this course had been available; if it had, I'd have approached it more confidently – and achieved much more."

Contributions to other works

  • New editions of Marbeck 'Nicene Creed' and 'Sanctus' in Music for Common Worship I (RSCM Press, 1999). These editions for the new Common Worship texts reflect Marbeck's original notation, breathing new life into this music.
  • New editions of Pergolesi 'Stabat mater' (two movements) and Dering: 'Gaudent in caelis' in Songs for Life 2:(RSCM Press, 2002)
  • Voice for Life: Choir Trainer's Book and four Singer's Workbooks (RSCM Press, 2004)

MMus Dissertation

References in other works

Reviews

Compositions and arrangements

Various choral pieces and psalm settings have been composed for use at Arundel Cathedral and elsewhere.

SATB arrangement and descant for Coe Fen
"How shall I sing that majesty".

This choral arrangement was made for, and first sung at, the RSCM 2006 Scottish Triennial Festival at St Michael's, Linlithgow on 4 November 2006. It was featured in a choral-reading session with David Briggs, formerly of Gloucester Cathedral, at the 12th Annual East Carolina Religious Arts Festival held from January 24-26, 2008.

Over 500 copies have been bought by choirs in Europe and North America.

Buy it now from The Art of Music and Sarum College Bookshop

Diary
2008
16 March conductor Rosenethe Singers concert
20 April singer Stirling City Choir concert
27 April conductor Choral Evensong
St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen
15 June organist St Mary's, Dunblane
22 June conductor Dunblane Chamber Orchestra concert
02 July organist St Mary's, Dunblane
06 July organist Holy Rude Church, Stirling
13 July organist Holy Rude Church, Stirling
20 July organist Alloa Parish Church
27 July organist Alloa Parish Church
28 July –
1 August		 tutor Sacred Music Studies study week
Bangor University
10 August organist Dunblane Cathedral
12–13 August tutor RSCM International Summer School, Canterbury
21 September director Exploring Music, Ministry and Worship
Dunblane Cathedral
21 September director Plainsong Workshop and Compline,
Dunblane Cathedral
November (tbd) conductor Dunblane Chamber Orchestra concert

 

Contact

You can contact Alistair Warwick at:

Address: 25 Ramsay Drive, Dunblane, FK15 0NG  Scotland

Telephone: +44 (0)1786 823000

Email: aw-website-enquiries(at)theartofmusic.co.uk