Recordings by choirs of mixed choral works by mixed composers
can be something of a very mixed bag, the various styles and
moods jostling each other without any sense of purpose and sometimes
without any sense of propriety either. This disc presents a
very imaginative approach to the problem. It centres around
two substantial modern works by Morten Lauridsen and Paul Mealor
(who also conducts the disc) which employ texts from the fifteenth
to nineteenth centuries. These are then contrasted with settings
of the same texts by composers who were working at the same
time as the poets themselves. So for example we get to compare
Mealor’s setting of Now sleeps the crimson petal with
that by Holst, and Lauridsen’s setting of Se per havervi,
ohimè with that by Monteverdi.
Lauridsen comes extremely well out of this competitive sort
of environment. He takes the basic madrigal style and enhances
it with a halo of choral sound which cluster around and reflect
the melodic lines in an admirably close study of the madrigal
texts themselves and their meanings. The translations in the
booklet by Erica Muhl are excellent, precise and comprehensible
without being over-flowery, rather like the original Italian
texts themselves. Lauridsen’s often extremely beautiful music
is well sung by the Con Anima Chamber Choir from Aberdeen in
what sounds (and looks) like a particularly atmospheric local
church, of which we are given lots of session photographs including
some of the composer himself obviously enjoying the performances.
The original madrigals themselves, by Monteverdi, Gesualdo and
others, are a mixed bunch and quite frankly that by Giralomo
Scotto - setting a text by Machiavelli, of all people - is a
laughably bad piece of composition. One reads in the booklet
notes that he was a publisher, and if he had not been one doubts
whether this madrigal would ever have found its way into print.
The madrigals are all sung by soloists from the chamber choir,
who do a fine job by them. Three of the same soloists also sing
the mediaeval English There is no rose (as a near-equivalent
of Mealor’s A spotless rose) and this performance is
an absolute highlight of the disc.
Mealor’s cycle Now sleeps the crimson petal is surprisingly
close in idiom to Harbison; maybe there is a greater degree
of choral blurring in the sounds he achieves, nearly coming
close to Ligeti at times. That said, there is always a strong
sense of melodic line and the harmonies serve to enhance rather
than obscure this. There is another recording of this cycle
- as indeed there is of the Harbison - and both the alternatives
are given with rather larger forces, which means that the intricate
vocal lines are not – as they often appear to be here – reduced
to one voice to a part. This is particularly noticeable in the
setting of Lady, when I behold the roses where the
solo soprano counterpoint, finely sung as it is, overwhelms
the melodic line which it should be accompanying. The recording
by Tenebrae (on Decca) uses more sopranos on the descant line,
and thus integrates it more closely into the texture. In the
end, this sort of approach does the music greater justice. In
fact the Tenebrae recording is obviously the one to go for if
you want an entire disc of Mealor’s often magically gleaming
choral music including the Ubi caritas sung at the
recent Royal Wedding.
The two madrigals by Ward and Wilbye are finely done, but the
Holst setting of Now sleeps the crimson petal for female
voices only really does need a larger body of singers than the
ten we have here; the beautiful setting by Mealor is in any
case much superior to that by the relatively young and inexperienced
Holst. The final two items on the disc comprise another piece
by Lauridsen, a nice book-end to the Madrigali which
open the disc, and an absolutely heavenly setting of Burns’s
My love is like a red red rose by James MacMillan,
which again would benefit from a larger number of singers to
make its full effect.
Obviously there is no competition in this sort of recital, and
the singing by the choir is always perfectly tuned and beautifully
recorded. Lucky Aberdeen to have such a body in their locality!
Could choirs making miscellaneous disc let us have more of this
sort of imaginative programming please?
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Track list
Morten LAURIDSEN (b.
1943)
Madrigali [18.27]
Chanson eloignée [5.25]
Paul MEALOR (b. 1975)
Now sleeps the crimson petal: Four madrigals on rose texts [11.30]
James MacMILLAN (b. 1959)
So deep [2.39]
Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567-1643)
Se per havervi, ohimè [2.08]
Carlo GESUALDO (1566-1613)
Luce serene e chiare [3.24]
Vincenzo RUFFO (c1508-1587)
Io piango [2.34]
Giralomo SCOTTO (c1505-c1572)
Amor, io sento l’alma [2.05]
Yvo BARRY (fl1525-1550)
Quando son piu lontan [1.29]
Henricus SCHAEFFEN (early
16th century)
Ov’è, lass’, il bel viso? [3.17]
Anon 15th century
There is no rose [4.16]
John WARD (1571-1638)
Upon a bank with roses set about [2.40]
John WILBYE (1574-1638)
Lady, when I behold the roses [2.31]
Gustav HOLST (1874-1934)
Now sleeps the crimson petal [1.39]
Con Anima Chamber Choir/Paul Mealor