Titled
A New Heaven this is an outstanding
collection of English sacred choral music for the Anglican church.
The choice
of repertoire is not one I generally associate with The Sixteen
who have built their reputation mainly around performances of
early English polyphony and music of the Renaissance. The last
occasion that I had the pleasure of hearing them was in 2007
at Kendal Parish Church, as part of the Lake District Summer
Music Festival. Then they were directed by assistant conductor
Eamonn Dougan and singing their more familiar
Music from the
Sistine Chapel. Here The Sixteen, accompanied in some of
the scores by an organ, are directed by their founder and regular
conductor Harry Christophers.
With collections of English sacred choral music it is hard to
ignore the strong associations with Stanford and his pupils and
colleagues at the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London and
also Cambridge University. Stanford is represented by a single
score
Beati quorum via and there are three works by the
distinguished choral composer Sir Hubert Parry; a fellow RCM
teacher from 1884 who became college director in 1894-1918. Of
the nine other composers: Charles Wood, Edgar Bainton and Herbert
Howells were all Stanford pupils at the RCM. Although I’m
unsure if William Harris, another Royal College student, had
formal lessons with Stanford he would certainly have come under
his sphere of influence.
Parry was a pillar of the British musical establishment and the
first of his three scores is the famous anthem
I was Glad.
Written
in 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII it has been performed
at each subsequent coronation. A setting of words from Psalm
122, Parry’s anthem for double choir was revised in 1911
with the addition of an introduction. I note that another Stanford
pupil at the RCM, Gordon Jacob made an orchestration of the score
for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The heavy and rich
organ texture is a feature of this uplifting Parry anthem. Somehow
the 26 or so strong chamber choir sound like a massed chorus.
The section
O Pray for the peace of Jerusalem provides
a calming contrast to the overtly stirring character of the music.
The anthem concludes with majestic organ writing of a quality
certainly fit for a king.
The hymn
Jerusalem along with
Blest pair of Sirens and
I
was Glad are Parry’s most famous works. In 1916 during
the terrors of the Great War, Parry was requested by poet laureate
Robert Bridges to set verses from William Blake’s famous
epic poem
Milton. The intention was for Parry’s
music to be used at a meeting of the
Fight for Right campaign
at the Queen’s Hall in London.
Jerusalem is commonly
heard today in the 1922 orchestral version by Sir Edward Elgar
and is used as an anthem at sporting occasions by some English
national teams. Moving, memorable and imposing seem to be the
most appropriate words to describe this towering music. In this
outstanding performance I was left with a sense of security and
comfort by the strong and resilient quality of the setting.
Parry's motet
My soul, there is a country is a setting
of words by Henry Vaughan. The score from around 1915/16 is the
first and best known of the set of six motets entitled
Songs
of Farewell. Throughout the Sixteen are able to educe a serious
and introspective character to Parry’s rather tragic setting.
Irish-born Charles Wood became one of the inaugural class of
fifty students at the newly instituted RCM. There he studied
with Stanford and Parry. A teacher of some note himself, Wood
included both Vaughan Williams and Howells amongst his pupils.
Certainly one of the most underrated of Stanford’s pupil’s,
Wood is represented on this disc by two works
O Thou, the
central orb and
Hail gladdening light.
Wood’s anthem
O Thou, the central orb,
published
in 1915 is a setting of text by Henry Ramsden Bramley. This is
a reassuringly reverential setting with a weighty conclusion
of real splendour. Published in 1919, Wood’s anthem
Hail
gladdening light sets a Greek hymn text translated by John
Keble. Wood’s magnificent setting has an underlying sombre
quality in spite of much of the music inhabiting high registers.
Sir William Harris studied under Charles Wood at the RCM. Harris
is principally remembered today for his tenure as organist at
St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle serving British royalty
between 1933 and 1961. Completed in 1925,
Faire is the heaven uses
words by Edmund Spenser and is one of Harris’s best known
scores. The anthem bears a dedication to Sir Hugh Allen whom
Harris had succeeded in 1919 as organist at New College, Oxford.
In
Faire is the heaven the two groups of voices are clearly
distinguishable and one can easily picture the
decani and
cantori sections
in their respective choir stalls. This is vocal ensemble singing
of diamond cut quality with the silkiest of timbres distinguishing
The Sixteen from other groups.
Stanford the pedagogue presided over two generations of composition
students as professor at both Cambridge and the RCM. His remarkable
success as a composition teacher was unprecedented; metaphorically
speaking he was ‘sprinkling stardust’ on two generations
of young composers, who numbered some of the most successful
and individual British composers of the twentieth century. Today
probably the best known of his former students are Ralph Vaughan
Williams, Gustav Holst, Herbert Howells, John Ireland, Samuel
Coleridge Taylor, Ernest John Moeran, Sir Arthur Bliss, Sir George
Dyson, Haydn Wood, Ivor Gurney and Leopold Stokowski.
Stanford is often known as the father of English choral music
for his influential redesigning and enriching of the genre. His
sacred music is still regularly heard today in churches and cathedrals
up and down the UK. He was most prolific in the genre of sacred
music and there are numerous scores to choose from. Here Stanford
is represented by his
Beati quorum via from 1892, the
third of his
Three Latin Motets, Op. 38, a setting of
words from Psalm 119. The stylish counterpoint and subtle textures
provide a graciously soothing character to Stanford’s exquisite
setting that demonstrates his mastery of the church choir.
Sir Edward Bairstow, the renowned Yorkshire-born organist, teacher
and composer is best remembered as organist at York Minster serving
from 1913 to 1946. The majority of Bairstow’s oeuvre is
liturgical music such as services, anthems and numerous works
for organ. Bairstow is represented on this disc by the substantial
anthem
Blessed city, heavenly Salem based on music and
texts from the anonymous 6th or 7th century plainsong hymn
Urbs
beata Hierusalem, dicta pacis. Bairstow’s setting has
a distinct contemporary feel. A mainly grey and languid score
of an introspective character steeped in seriousness contrasted
with several episodes of increased dramatic weight. I love the
way the organ weaves its thread through the choral textures.
Henry Balfour Gardiner was one of the group of students, known
as the
Frankfurt Gang, who studied at the Hoch Conservatory
in Frankfurt, Germany in the late 1890s. The
Evening Hymn from
1908 is a setting of the Ambrosian hymn
Te lucis ante terminum (
To
thee, before the close of day). A classic work of the English
sacred choral repertoire, the anthem is probably Balfour Gardiner’s
most celebrated score, often sung at evensong service. Remarkable
is the writing for unaccompanied organ that opens the anthem
to a spine-chilling effect. The attractive setting has a generally
tender hue bordering on the meditative with long flowing melodic
lines.
Popular composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall is today certainly
the best known composer on this disc. Goodall has made a considerable
reputation for himself as a light music practitioner of popular
choral music, musicals, films and television scores such as
Blackadder,
QI,
Red
Dwarf,
Mr Bean,
The Catherine Tate Show and
The
Vicar of Dibley. At the time of writing three memorable extracts
from his new release
Enchanted Voices - a contemporary
take on ancient chants - are being regularly played on the Classic
FM radio station where he is currently composer-in-residence.
There cannot be many readers that have not heard a section from
Goodall’s setting of Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd,
universally
known as the theme music to
The Vicar of Dibley, the BBC
Television sitcom staring Dawn French. Heard out of its usual
context and in its entirety
The Lord is my shepherd is
magnificently appealing - so melodic and extremely accessible.
Soprano soloist Elin Manahan Thomas demonstrates outstanding
control and a most glorious timbre.
Edgar Bainton studied with Stanford at the RCM before embarking
on a fascinating and eventful music career. After several years
as a teacher Bainton in 1912 became the Principal of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Music Conservatory. Whilst visiting Germany, Bainton was one
of a large group of British nationals that were arrested and
interned at the Rühleben camp near Berlin where he spent
four years. At Rühleben there was a strong musical group
including a madrigal society known as ‘
Bainton’s
Magpies’. In 1933 he was appointed director of the
New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, serving until his retirement
aged 65. Published in 1928 Bainton’s most celebrated composition
is his anthem
And I saw a new heaven from his small body
of sacred music. His text for
And I saw a new heaven is
taken from the book of Revelations and the anthem remains a standard
in the Anglican service. The setting makes a considerable emotional
impact with the gentle conclusion a welcome release from the
underlying tension and foreboding.
Sir John Stainer became one of the leading organists of his time,
serving at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and becoming
Professor of Music at Oxford. Stainer wrote a large amount of
sacred music but today he is known primarily for
The Crucifixion -
one of the most popular and enduring choral works in the history
of Anglican choral music (
see
review). Designed to be within the capabilities of a typical
provincial amateur choir
The Crucifixion at its peak of
popularity became as admired as
Handel’s
Messiah and
Mendelssohn’s
St. Paul and
Elijah. The anthem
I
saw the Lord was published in 1876 with Stainer using a text
from Isaiah and an anonymous Latin hymn translated by John David
Chambers. Stainer’s counterpoint has a rousing almost raucous
energy. At 3:27 the gentle soprano solo of Elin Manahan Thomas
provides an appealing contrast to commence the admirable section
for the quartet of SATB soloists. Highly impressive is the hymn-like
conclusion to the setting ending with a splendid
Amen.
Yet another Stanford pupil at the RCM, Herbert Howells is recognised
as a master composer of sacred music. Following the tragic death
of Howells’ son Michael in 1935 the composer tended to
concentrate more on sacred music that has gained a prominent
place in the Anglican service. One such score is the anthem
Like
as the hart desireth the waterbrooks a setting of words from
Psalm 42 that Howells wrote in 1941 - it seems in a just a single
day. In
Like as the hart The Sixteen convey a meditative,
almost haunting quality to the music that is surely redolent
of the composer’s personal loss.
Certainly John Rutter is the most notable British composer of
sacred music writing today and I read that he is now the most-performed
choral composer in the world (
Michael
Church, The Independent, 13 December 2005). Spending his
formative years as a chorister at London’s Highgate School,
from 1975 to 1979 Rutter went up to study music at Clare College,
Cambridge, later becoming director of music. His setting of Psalm
23
The Lord is my shepherd clearly demonstrates the emphasis
he places on accessibility and wonderful melody. Rutter’s
expertly performed
The Lord Is My Shepherd is a rather
uneventful setting containing distinct elements of anxiety and
tension.
A sensible piece of marketing on this release from UCJ Music
would have been to fill up the remaining space on the disc with
a sacred work by Vaughan Williams. I would have preferred the
inclusion of any of the following motets:
Prayer to the father
of heaven,
O clap your hands,
O vos omnes or
the anthem
O, how amiable. Maybe even a short work from
Elgar, who did not write exclusively for the Catholic liturgy
- possibly his
O harken Thou composed for the Coronation
of King George V at Westminster Abbey.
Superbly presented this release is quite outstanding with flawless
performances. The Sixteen moves effortlessly from singing of
a tender, meditative beauty to an impressive intensity that is
both robust and dramatic. That said, the devotional nature of
the sacred texts is always the paramount concern. The smooth
velvety timbre of The Sixteen may take some getting used to as
opposed to the harder-edged choral sound more usually heard in
say the Parry scores. It seems unfair to single out individual
singers for special praise from this wonderful group achievement
however soprano Elin Manahan Thomas is in especially glorious
voice. From St. Peter’s Italian Church, Clerkenwell the
sound quality is excellent being especially warm and well balanced.
There are interesting and informative booklet notes but unfortunately
no texts are provided.
This is more than just a mere compilation of English sacred choral
music. The Sixteen make this indispensable listening. Certainly
a contender as one of my 2009 Records of the Year.
Michael Cookson
The Sixteen/Harry
Christophers 
