St Paul's Cathedral | Blessed be the God and Father | 2015

Wesley's life and career were turbulent to say the least. He was the first child of Samuel Wesley and his housekeeper, Sarah Suter a brilliant musician and composer who along with Mendelssohn was largely responsible for the recognition of Bach's music in Britain he also suffered periodic bouts of insanity. Samuel Sebastian inherited the family musical abilities in full he spent some time as a chorister at the Chapel Royal under the guidance of William Hawes. There then followed a series of appointments in various London churches until in 1832 the twenty-two year-old Wesley was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Hereford Cathedral.
His anthem 'Blessed be the God and Father ' dates from Wesley's time at Hereford, it was written for an Easter Day service and the circumstances of its premiere were bizarre. Apparently on that particular Easter Sunday only the trebles and one bass (the Dean's butler) were available to sing. Despite this unpromising start 'Blessed be the God and Father ' is Wesley's best-known anthem sung in Anglican cathedrals and churches throughout the world. Structurally it's a very taut piece of music consisting of five sections linked in an unbroken chain and characterised by a remarkable variety of musical textures. The opening is unaccompanied and well worth listening to in its own right but it's the anthem's central portion - a wonderful dialogue between a solo treble and the treble chorus, that lifts the piece from the merely very good to the extraordinary. This central section is flanked by passages for deeper voicess while the final fughetta after 'But the word of the Lord endureth forever' is announced by the (in)famous dramatic dominant seventh chord of E flat on full organ. (Saturday Chorale)
It is beautifully performed here by the Choir of St Paul's Cathedral, conducted by Andrew Carwood with Simon Johnson on the organ. The treble soloist is Gabriel Ali.

[@janethenry4572]

What glorious SINGING

[@hinlee4610]

Heavenly singing.

[@stephenhoneyman9743]

Excellent singing, but terribly terribly slow!!