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Contents:
DDD Recorded: Queens’ College Chapel, Cambridge 24, 26 and 27 June 2001 and 27 June 2000 (tracks 18 & 19) This disc contains choral music covering both the earlier and later parts of the twentieth century. Two long established composers are represented, as well as some of the choral works (some premiere recordings) of Brian Brockless, a highly respected figure of the London church music circle. The most well-known works by Jonathan Harvey and Howard Skempton, both represented on Queens’ previous disc, Flight of Song, are also included. The texts of the secular works focus on the beauty of creation on earth, while the sacred works included were mostly written for specific occasions, and as a consequence many of the texts contain numerous outbursts of praise. Nowhere is this more the case than in the settings of texts by Bishop Miles Coverdale (1488-1569) who was one of the early translators of the Bible into English, inspiring many composers for the church. His translations of three “variations on a theme” of Christian rejoicing are presented in two comparable settings by Vaughan Williams and Brockless. Brockless’ settings of Christ is now rysen agayne and Now blessed be thou, Christ Jesu, as well as the setting of Thomas Campion’s poem There is a garden in her face (inspired by the accession of Queen Elizabeth), show his most characteristic choral writing: functional tonality with a modern twang elaborated with rhythms, stresses and underlays of a medieval influence. The writing is strophic and possesses other hymnal qualities: each verse starts afresh with the same tune, modified each time to fit the different words. Four part writing is the norm, although the texture is subjected to some variation in Now blessed be thou, Christ Jesu. Come Holy Spirite is a later work and contains some more unusual compositional techniques which combine to produce an introit embedded in depicting the mystery of the Holy Spirit; an aura of mystique (in the form of a soprano descant) still being present even at the triumphant ending. It was written for Brockless’ own choir at St Bartholomew the Great, London. Vaughan Williams also looks to the past in his settings of the Coverdale texts with the use of modality (which correspond with the keys of the Lutheran tunes supplied with the original translations). These three settings, known as Three Choral Hymns, were composed for the silver jubilee of the Leith Hill Festival in 1930, originally with orchestral accompaniment. The set is one of three works written for the three divisions of the choirs: the Choral Hymns being for the Higher Division, the Hundredth Psalm (another hymn setting) for the Lower Division and the Benedicite for the best choirs. Like the Brockless settings, a clear melody is present in each of the Hymns, strong enough (particularly in the first hymn) to maintain its identity even after slight intervallic and rhythmic alteration from verse to verse. It is also clear where the verses are, even though Vaughan Williams permeates these settings with many more proclamations of Alleluya and Kyrie eleison. The Alleluyas provide outbursts of joy in the Easter Hymn, separating each verse, while the Kyrie Eleisons intertwine with the soothing pastoral melody of the Christmas Hymn. The Whitsunday Hymn, unaccompanied after the organ’s introduction, evokes a more chamber style of music, divisi writing becoming the norm. This is used to angelic effect in the female voices, who chant their Alleluyas as a response to the verse, sung by a lone tenor (who then reflects on the third verse in the same way). Such is the extent of the divisi that the last few bars of this hymn, with the many proclamations of Alleluya piling on top of each other, are momentarily confused, but this only serves to add to the finality of the triumphant last chord. The other two pieces by Vaughan Williams (at the start of the recording) are settings of texts that reflect Vaughan Williams’ own agnosticism by only making passing references to the Christian faith. A suitably strophic setting of another poem from Campion’s Book of Ayres is contrasted with the narrative setting of Mr Valiant-for-Truth’s speech in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Vaughan Williams’ appreciation for Bunyan’s texts was lifelong: he composed the hymn tune for Who would true valour see at the beginning of the century, and embarked on a setting for the entire Pilgrim’s Progress in the 1940s (of which fragments of the abandoned work found their way into his symphonies). The composer’s respect for the texts is demonstrated in both pieces through the way that most of each text is allocated to just one of the four parts in order that the single melodic line can fully reflect both the mood and shape of each individual phrase. The end of Valiant-for-Truth is majestic yet solemn, and follows an effective choral depiction of echoing trumpets. After composing the two choral masterpieces Rejoice in the Lamb and Hymn to St Cecilia, Benjamin Britten started work on the opera Peter Grimes. The only choral work composed during Britten’s Grimes period was the Festival Te Deum, commissioned for St Mark’s, Swindon, and composed in two days. The unusual feature of the work, even amongst Britten’s compositions, is the lack of rhythmic alignment: the organ plays equidistant chords (with grace notes) while the barlines of the choral parts change constantly. Harmonically however, these parts are very restrained (the choir, for the most part, sings in unison), to the point of having a chanting quality about them. After the quicker, syncopated central section, a treble solo (sung on this recording by a soprano) restores the calm. The Five Flower Songs were also composed for an anniversary, this time for a silver wedding anniversary of a couple who shared a passion for botany. While Britten could occasionally be disparaging about other genres of English composers, that of the part-song he had a deep respect for, and thus continued the line of composers who had composed in genre: Stanford, Moeran and Finzi. Britten nonetheless develops the genre significantly, especially with his use of as many different choral textures as possible, whilst keeping within the confines of four parts (the last section of the final song being the exception). As well as glissandi and imitative accompaniment (in the form of a strummed lute for the opening of Ballad of Green Broom), extensive use is made of various technical contrapuntal devices, almost to the point of exhaustion, but never sounding musically contrived. The counterpoint of the Flower Songs is immediately made evident in the first Herrick setting, To Daffodils, beginning with a bare two-part texture. The entry of the voices in The Succession of the Four Sweet Months is, appropriately enough, successive, each part being allotted one month. The similarity between each of the entries, as well as the intervallic relationship between the parts suggests a strict fugue. However, each line is modified to fit the different texts and characterize each month, and the placing of each entry is ingeniously manoeuvred in order for the name of each month to be heard on the first beat of each bar. Marsh Flowers is a setting of words by Crabbe, whose poem The Borough formed the basis for the libretto of Peter Grimes. This setting returns to the bare two part texture (this time in the more normal combination of soprano with tenor against alto and bass) and features some strident clashes. Britten’s setting of Clare’s The Evening Primrose is expressive enough to obscure some masterful counterpoint, finishing with a double canon by inversion. The Ballad of Green Broom provides a suitably romping finale. Jonathan Harvey’s setting of the well-known plainsong hymn Come Holy Ghost has become an acknowledged choral classic. Written in 1984 for Winchester, the work vividly depicts the apostles speaking in tongues after being filled with the Holy Spirit, with a verse-by-verse abandonment of textual coherency. Furthermore, each successive verse applies a progressively modern treatment to the plainsong melody, gradually transforming the melody into a ghostly presence that can be felt but not easily traced. The resulting anthem outlines the history of musical composition, beginning with plainsong, finishing with a daring passage of aleatoricism (chance music - the first of its kind specifically composed for choral liturgical use), journeying through fugato texture, melodic augmentation (the melody disguised as the bass part of some slow-moving chords), increased chromaticism, frequently changing time-signatures, and microtonality in the form of very slow-moving vocal glissandi. The chaos dies down as each individual voice settles and the doxology returns to the plainsong that began the piece (beginning with organum parallel fourths), but now without any background vocal presence. Harvey’s first major anthem to establish itself in the repertoire, I love the Lord, again showcases his tendency to expand simple tonal resources in unexpected directions (as mentioned in reference to the later Thou mastering me God in the notes of Queens’ previous disc). The source this time, instead of a single note (a G natural in Thou mastering me God) is three notes forming the chord of G major, which, in Harvey’s own words, “depicts the joyful love and irrepressible faith of a soul that clings to its Lord despite its suffering and anguish.” No other note is heard until “The sorrows of death” when the most distant triad possible is introduced, resulting in a violent clash. The pleading for deliverance witnesses the most dissonant section of the piece, the tension electrifyingly dispelled on the “soul” chord, but with the G major lost. It is only after persistant pleas of “I love the Lord” that the G major resurfaces in a rich eight part chord, before reducing back to the simplicity of the opening. Simplicity (sometimes to the point of minimalism) also features strongly in the music of Howard Skempton. The two exquisite settings of poems by Edward Thomas (originally intended for release on Queens’ previous disc) encapsulate the mastery of Skempton’s word-setting within this economical style of writing: from the swoop and dive of the opening pewits to the placidity of the 'long-stretched hour' and the unlooked-for repose of the final 'Goodnight'. Page revised 18.09.03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
