Relayed from the Park Hall.
May Blyth (Soprano); Olive Kavann (Contralto); Hughes Macklin (Tenor); Robert Maitland (Baritone); Choir of the Cardiff Musical Society; The Station Symphony Orchestra

Mendelssohn's Lauda Sion
Chorus, 'Praise Jehovah, Bow Before Him'
Soprano Solo and Chorus, 'Sing of Judgment, Sing of Mercies'
Quartet and Chorus, 'Ye, Who from His Ways have Turned'
Chorus, 'They that in Much Tribulation'
Soprano Solo, 'Lord, at all Times I Will Bless Thee'
Chorus, 'Save the People Who Adore Thee'
Quartet and Chorus, 'When they Thirsted, Rocks were Riven'
Quartet and Chorus, 'Thou Didst Free Them from Oppression'

The Sequence Lauda Sion is sung to a plainsong melody at Mass on the Feast of Corpus Christi. The words were written about 1264 by St. Thomas Aquinas. Mendelssohn composed his setting of the words (in a modern adaptation) for the Feast at Liege in 1846, the year before he died. His music is, of course, independent of the old plainsong, though a fragment of this is used in the Chorus which is given in the English version as 'They that in much tribulation wait and long for His salvation have with Him their dwelling-place'.

Parsifal is Wagner's last work. He called it a 'Sacred Festival Drama'; its subject is the life of the Knights of the Giail (the sacred relic of the Holy Eucharist).
The Prelude, from its first bars, invokes the emotional atmosphere of the whole Drama. In particular, we hear much of the music that is associated with the Holy Grail, and with the sufferings and heroism of the Knights.

Olive Kavann and Orchestra
Kundry's Song, 'Herzeleide' (Act II, 'Parsifal')

The Orchestra
Flower Maidens' Scene (Act II, 'Parsifal')

An evil magician, Klingsor, angry at his exclusion from the sacred Knighthood, has created an enchanted castle and garden. Here, with the help of Kundry, a beautiful woman, and her attendant Flower Maidens, he tempts the Knights. Parsifal is led there, and in this second extract we hear their seductive music.

The Messiah (Handel)

Part II
Chorus, 'Behold the Lamb of God'
Air, 'He was Despised'
Chorus, 'Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs'
Chorus, 'And with His Stripes'
Chorus, 'All We Like Sheep'
Recit., 'All They that See Him'
Chorus 'He Trusted in God'
Recit., 'Thy Rebuke hath Broken His Heart'
Air, 'Behold and See'
Recit., 'He Was Cut Off'
Air, 'But Thou Did'st Not Leave'
Chorus, 'Lift Up Your Heads'
Chorus, 'The Lord Gave the Word'
Air, 'How Beautiful Are the Feet'
Chorus, 'Their Sound is Gone Out'
Air, 'Why Do the Nations?'
Chorus, 'Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder'
Air, 'Thou Shalt Break Them'
Chorus, 'Hallelujah'

Part III
Air, 'I Know that My Redeemer Liveth'
Chorus, 'Since By Man Came Death'
Recit., 'Behold, I Tell You a Mystery'
Air, 'The Trumpet Shall Sound'
Chorus, 'Worthy is the Lamb'

(to 22.20)