The
English glee was generally a domestic affair. They were written
for communal singing in the home and in taverns. Larger Glee
Clubs did flourish, but the musical material was generally
of modest quality, though the results can be appealing when
well done. Glees were mainly sung by men, so this tradition
meshes in well with another tradition, that of the adult
male members of Cathedral Choirs providing alternative, lighter
entertainment.
The
Clerks of Christ Church was formed in 2001. It is made up
of current and previous members of Christ Church Cathedral
choir. On this disc the group consists of two counter-tenors
(John Cotton and Tom King), two tenors (Adrian Lowe and Brian
Chapman), a baritone (Angus Wilson) and a bass (William Gaunt).
The
disc is themed around settings of Elizabethan poetry. The
Clerks start with a group of Elizabethan madrigals followed
by a group of glees. Then follows a group settings of Shakespeare
by well known composers, Schubert, Gounod, Vaughan Williams,
Poulenc, Walton, all in arrangements by John Cotton. Finally
they perform the Five Elizabethan lyrics by Richard
Pantcheff, an ex-Christ Church undergraduate and a keen supporter
of the group.
The
madrigals are all sung transposed down and work well, partly
because of the outstanding bass of William Gaunt. He has
a wonderful dark voice and is capable of singing with a fine
sense of line, even at the low pitches. I was less convinced
by the voices on the upper lines; the counter-tenors have
useful, musical voices but of a timbre which seemed less
suitable to such solo exposure. But counter-tenor voices
are a very personal preference and it may be that others
will like the group’s sound.
It
is a testament to the lightness and verve that the Clerks
bring to these madrigals that they never sound heavy. But
whilst their delivery is light and vivid, the words just
do not come over as well as I would have liked. Whilst these
versions would not be my first choice for the library, they
are lively and attractive and give us a fine picture of English
domestic music-making of the period.
Because
glees demand less, there is a danger that they will be more
interesting to the performers than to the listener, but the
Clerks have chosen and give us an enchanting anthology. Ye
spotted snakes by R.J. Stevens (Gresham Professor of
Music in London) is particularly apposite and wonderfully
pointed. His Doubt that the stars with its haunting
echo effects is rather moving and might even stand a choral
performance. William Shield’s Poor Barbara is so wilfully
perverse in its lively setting of the sad text as to be highly
entertaining - John Cotton in his notes describes it as being
almost a calypso.
Cotton
describes his arrangements of songs by well-known composers
as part-songs. But though he uses a multi-part texture, the
subsidiary parts are generally sung to ah or nonsense syllables
so I’m not really sure that the term part-song is completely
correct. The results are discreet and effective, never overwhelming
the original, but somehow Cotton succeeds in massaging the
textures of the pieces so that the original composer’s own
personality is diffused and not as distinct as one would
hope. But perhaps that is the intention of the arrangements.
Some people will find these pieces charming and apposite,
others will simply ask why bother?
It
is with the Five Elizabethan lyrics by Richard Pantcheff
that the programme takes a leap upwards. Pantcheff’s style
is basically tonal but he has a wonderful turn of melodic
phrase using expressionist dissonance. The overall feeling
is sharp and quite spiky modulated by a good feel for texture;
but Pantcheff’s chromaticism is always in the service of
the words. Pantcheff varies the texture of the pieces well,
ranging from the quietly expressive opening of Beauty
is but a painted hell to the lively dance rhythms of Hey
nonny no. The set uses lyrics chosen by John Cotton; Dear,
if you change from John Dowland’s ‘The First Booke of
Songs or Ayres’, Hey nonny no from a manuscript held
at Christ Church, Beauty is but a painted hell Thomas
Campion’s ‘The Fourth Book of Ayres’, O stay, sweet love from
John Farmer’s First Set of English Madrigals and Shall
I come, sweet love, to thee from Thomas Campion’s ‘The
Third Book of Ayres’.
With
such a distinguished group of lyrics and with their strong
links to Elizabethan/Jacobean music, it would have been easy
for Pantcheff to have been overawed and to have produced
music which was a pale copy of the Elizabethan. It is a testament
to Pantcheff’s talent that he has taken his own path, providing
a response to the poems which is always musical but sometimes
unexpected.
This
is a recital which deserves to be heard for Pantcheff’s settings
of Elizabethan lyrics; the accompanying items are attractively
done even if you might question their necessity in the programme.
Robert
Hugill
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The Clerks
of Christ Church (John Cotton, Tom King, Adrian Lowe,
Brian Chapman, Angus Wilson, William Gaunt) 
