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James Cook is a young
composer (his date of birth is not given
and I have been unable to discover it
but from his photo in the booklet I’d
say he’s probably aged around 30.) He
studied composition at Oxford University
and after a brief spell working at Eton
College has specialised in writing church
music for choirs. The music here recorded
is all of pretty recent vintage. (Though
the date of composition of Vespers
is not specified I think it’s reasonable
to assume that it’s roughly contemporaneous
with the other pieces.)
There’s an interesting
and rather unusual thread running through
the programme in that all the music
sets texts dating from the period between
the 16th and 18th
centuries and taken from theological
works written by authors who belonged
to the religious group known as the
Puritans. Some of the words are from
original Puritan writings while the
rest, drawn from the scriptures and
the Book of Common Prayer, would have
been very familiar to them. In fact,
James Cook, who provides the liner notes,
devotes at least as much space to setting
out the historical background as he
does to describing his own music. In
this review I shall draw quite freely
on his notes to discuss the music.
The opening and closing
items in the recital come from larger
works. The first of these, Triptych,
"explores the idea of female
self-sacrifice" the composer tells
us. The extracts included here are the
only items with accompaniment and, indeed,
Cook comments that organ accompaniment
is a rarity in his work. This is a bit
surprising in a composer whose focus
is so much on liturgical choral music
but he obviously finds the a cappella
medium one in which he is very comfortable.
I can only imagine that there was some
practical constraint that prevented
a complete recording of Triptych
since on the face of it there would
have been sufficient room on the CD.
The music is clearly very deeply felt
(as is everything on the disc) and is
well written for the forces involved.
However, for some reason that I can’t
easily articulate these extracts did
not appeal to me as much as did the
remainder of the programme.
The concluding two
tracks are extracts from Cook’s Gradualia.
The very title suggests homage to William
Byrd but Cook doesn’t comment on this
in his notes. (The notes are good but
I would have welcomed just a little
more information of this nature to understand
the context in which the works were
written.) The first extract, "There
is no wrinkle on the brow of eternity"
consists of just two lines of text.
One line is the title of the piece and
is sung exclusively by the (unnamed
but good) soprano and tenor soloists.
The other line, "In heaven is no
war-fare, but all well-fare", is
sung as a harmonised ostinato in the
background by the choir. The whole is
mightily effective. In terms of intensity
the piece is a kind of arch, beginning
quietly and rising to a central climax
before subsiding back to stillness.
This piece illustrates,
I think, a central point about James
Cook’s music. It is pleasing to listen
to on a superficial level. However,
beneath the surface there’s much going
on and the music is technically very
clever. His harmonic language is resolutely
tonal, though the harmonies are often
original and unexpected. Thus, in "There
is no wrinkle on the brow of eternity"
the soloists sing a melodic palindrome
in 3 / 4 time while the choir’s ostinato
is in 4 / 4 time. (All this information
comes from the composer’s notes; I haven’t
seen any scores.) Of course, the listener
does not need to be aware of this to
enjoy the music. However, the description
suggests that Cook’s music is far from
easy. It’s a tribute to the singers
here that they make it sound
easy.
The CD contains two
complete works. Vespers is a
sequence of eight pieces. The title
is a clever one for the texts are either
traditionally associated with evening
(Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis), the funeral
service (Psalm 23, The Lord’s Prayer)
or employ metaphors for the evening
of human life. I imagine the pieces
are designed to be sung as a sequence
because neither the Magnificat nor the
Nunc Dimittis concludes with a doxology,
as would be normal in liturgical use,
yet after last piece, the setting of
"The Lord is my Shepherd,"
there is a doxology. I was impressed
with this work. The music is beautiful
and evocative and it complements the
texts excellently. The settings of the
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (especially
the latter) are fine ones but the lack
of a doxology would prevent their use
as separate liturgical pieces. I wonder
if it would be possible for Cook to
add doxologies for if so I’m sure the
pieces would be welcome additions to
the Evensong repertory. The settings
of The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 are
also very effective. The fifth movement,
"Sarabande" (the dance of
death, Cook reminds us) is the most
complex musically, involving two antiphonal
SATB choirs. It sounds to me a most
accomplished piece of writing.
Hymnus Divinus
is another impressive achievement. It
is a series of seven pieces that, in
the composer’s words, aims "to
capture the nature of, and portray the
mystical journey to, the heavenly realm."
The first movement is a short and deceptively
simple chorale-like piece. Cook describes
the music as "meditative"
and some unexpected harmonies give the
music an otherworldly feel, I think.
Other movements include a cleverly worked
fughetta and, in the third section,
an example of more extended chordal
writing. I was impressed by the fourth
movement, "He whose name is Love",
an expansive choral song, which contains
the music that is perhaps melodically
the strongest. The final section, "Lead
me in the way to Heaven", is very
effective and eloquent. At its close
Cook reverts to the chorale style of
writing with which the whole work began,
thus bringing it full circle in a satisfying
way.
On the evidence of
this disc James Cook writes sincere,
accomplished and assured music. He is
obviously inspired by his chosen texts
and he responds imaginatively to the
rich language and powerful images contained
in these Puritan writings. By sheer
coincidence I finished off this review
on the morning of Good Friday and that
seems to me to be highly apposite given
the nature of these pieces. Cook ably
builds on and renews the traditions
of the music that has been written for
the English Church in the last few centuries
and that in itself is a cause for celebration.
It is hard to imagine
that his music could have been better
served than by the expert singers who
constitute Voces Oxoniensis. They are
directed by Michael McCarthy in flawless
performances. Tuning, ensemble and diction
are all excellent and the engineers
have recorded them clearly. The documentation
is good and includes full English texts.
I had not encountered
the music of James Cook before but I
hope to hear more of it in the future.
I hope that this enterprising release
will bring his music to a wider audience
and will encourage other choirs to take
it up – though they’ll have to be good!
Strongly recommended
John Quinn
Voces Oxoniensis/Michael McCarthy