It’s sometimes said
of a disc that it "marks the end
of an era". Well in this case that
statement is more than usually accurate.
For thirty-two years the choir of The
Abbey School, Tewkesbury, sang Choral
Evensong in the town’s magnificent abbey
church on most weekday evenings during
term time. Sadly, in 2006 the school
was obliged to shut its doors. So this
disc was recorded as a kind of valedictory
offering. Given the nature of the enterprise,
the decision was made to record a complete
service of Evensong, including the spoken
parts of the service and I’m sure that
was correct. The spoken passages are
separately tracked, so if the listener
wishes they can be omitted but to do
so would, I believe, destroy the sense
of place and occasion that’s at the
heart of this CD.
The music has been
shrewdly chosen not just to show to
best advantage the choir – and the Milton
organ of Tewkesbury Abbey – but also
to reflect the heritage of the church
and its environs. So Gloucestershire
composers, in the shape of Howells and
Vaughan Williams, are represented; one
of the psalm chants is by the late Michael
Peterson, the first Director of Music
at the Abbey School; and, perhaps most
significantly of all, the canticles
are sung to a recent setting by Gabriel
Jackson, here receiving its first recording.
This was one of several sets of canticles
expressly written for the choir. It
should also be said that the two lessons
are read respectively by the Headmaster
of the Abbey School and by the Vicar
of Tewkesbury Abbey.
The choir sings very
well and generally I applaud the direction
of Ben Nicholas. One area in which I
do take slight issue with him, however,
is in the chanting of the psalms. Both
psalms seem to me to be taken very steadily.
In the case of Psalm 131 this is not
inappropriate for both the text and
the style of the chant and, in any event,
the psalm is only four verses long.
However, Psalm 91 has sixteen verses
and Nicholas’s spacious treatment of
it is rather too much of a good thing,
I find. He seems a bit too ready to
indulge expressive points at the expense
of flow and as a result the psalm sounds
laboured.
Elsewhere, however,
his direction is much more assured.
The lovely Tallis introit is well pointed
and here the music does indeed flow.
He also does the Jackson canticles very
convincingly. I hadn’t heard this setting
before but I found it very impressive.
In his booklet notes Nicholas suggests
that these canticles are, in some ways,
a homage to Herbert Howells. In the
Magnificat that’s particularly apparent
in, say, the long, melismatic opening
for trebles alone, accompanied by a
light, bubbling organ part. Later there’s
an enviable tenor line at "He hath
filled the hungry" and I also liked
very much the gentle radiance in the
music at "He remembering his mercy".
The exciting doxology is underpinned
by a toccata-like organ accompaniment
and the setting rises to a majestic
"as it was in the beginning"
of which I’m sure Howells himself would
have approved. The Nunc Dimittis is
prayerful, beginning with tenors and
basses only. The whole choir joins in
at "To be a light" with some
luminous harmonies that evoke Howells.
The music for the doxology differs from
that of the Magnificat – the Magnificat’s
music would have been unsuitable. Here
Jackson gives us a more flowing passage
that suits the canticle ideally. This
is a fine set of canticles, which I
hope will be taken up widely. Their
debut recording is an auspicious one.
Vaughan Williams’s
visionary anthem is well done. The music
can seem episodic but Nicholas makes
it a seamless whole. It’s not usual
to have the Te Deum sung at Evensong
but I’m certainly not going to quibble
when the chosen setting is one of the
finest in all Anglican music. And anyway,
I think the occasion of this recording
warrants its inclusion. It’s performed
here with relish and commitment. At
the end of the piece the magisterial
passage – in Howells’s hands - "Let
me never be confounded", is sung
with wonderful confidence. Was this,
I wonder, something of a statement of
intent?
I’ve mentioned the
singers and conductor but have done
scant justice to the organ playing of
Carleton Etherington. In a word it’s
splendid. He accompanies with finesse
and imagination – there are some lovely,
albeit discreet touches in the psalms.
He plays the opening Howells voluntary
quite beautifully and he gives an exuberant
account of Vièrne’s toccata at
the end – but, enjoyable though that
is, one regrets that the otherwise English
programme could not have been completed
by an English organ work at the very
end.
This is a splendid
recreation of the timeless service of
Evensong in one of this country’s very
finest non-Cathedral churches – and,
frankly a church that puts several cathedrals
in the shade. The music is beautifully
performed by a well-trained and committed
choir. The sound is very good, reporting
both choir and organ clearly and truthfully.
The notes are good, but no texts are
provided. One detail spoils the presentation.
Was it not possible to find an image
of Tewkesbury Abbey itself for the booklet
cover?
So this CD marks the
close of a chapter in the musical life
of Tewkesbury Abbey. However, there
is a happy ending. After the school’s
closure had been announced another local
independent school, Dean Close School,
Cheltenham, offered places which most
of the choristers were able to take
up and, now renamed the Schola Cantorum,
the choir continues the regular rhythm
of the church’s year, singing Evensong
several nights each week during term
time. That’s a cause for gratitude and
celebration.
John Quinn
http://www.tewkesburyabbey.org.uk/
for details
The Abbey School Choir, Tewkesbury/Benjamin
Nicholas 
