There Was a Child was commissioned by Rosemary Van Allan,
widow of the distinguished bass, Richard Van Allan (1935-2008),
in memory of their son, Robert, who had been drowned at the
tragically young age of 19 in 1999. Poignantly, Richard Van
Allan was rehearsing Jonathan Dove’s opera, Flight,
at Glyndebourne when news of Robert’s death was received.
However, the choice of Jonathan Dove to write this work arose
because Rosemary Van Allan had previously been impressed by
Dove’s theatre music and, in the 1990s, had worked with
him on his first concerto commission.
Jonathan Dove has chosen a variety of texts to illustrate the
life of a child from birth, through the delights - and the rough
and tumble - of growing up to the sorrow - inescapable in this
instance - of a young life cut short. However, very deliberately
he ends not on a sombre note but, as we shall see, with some
much more positive sentiments expressed by Walt Whitman. The
soprano and tenor soloists represent, respectively, mother and
son and as well as an adult chorus Dove deploys, very understandably,
a children’s chorus. The music is very colourfully and
imaginatively scored for what sounds like quite a large orchestra.
The work is in nine sections, which play continuously. The first
concerns the birth of the child and sets poems by Charles Causley
and Langston Hughes. The Causley poem, which acts as a kind
of prelude, is for chorus and orchestra and listeners may be
reminded, especially in the orchestral writing, of John Adams,
particularly his Short Ride in a Fast Machine
and Harmonium. The orchestral writing is busy and the
choral lines are optimistic in tone: this is a very strong and
positive start. The Langston Hughes setting introduces the soprano
soloist who has a high-lying line against a glittering, mainly
quiet orchestral background. Here, as elsewhere in the work,
Joan Rodgers makes some beautiful sounds but her vibrato prevented
me from hearing many of her words distinctly, even though I
was following the libretto closely.
The second movement is entitled ‘Childhood’ but
in fact all the movements from here up to and including movement
seven address the scrapes and adventures of childhood. One of
the two poems set in movement two is an excerpt from Wordsworth’s
‘The Prelude’ and this introduces the tenor. Toby
Spence is in fine voice, as he is later on in the seventh movement,
‘Romance’, which is a lyrical, expressive setting
of words by William J Turner (1889-1946). Spence sings this
Turner solo with particular ardour.
Movement three, ‘A Song About Myself’, is a setting
of John Keats and, fittingly, it’s given to the children’s
chorus. The music is perky, even cheeky, and in the orchestra
the bulk of the work is done by the brass and woodwinds; when
the strings play they do so pizzicato. The Birmingham
children put in a show-stealing performance, singing with delightful
freshness and clarity. They reappear in the fifth movement,
Emily Dickinson’s ‘Over the Fence’, which
they sing to the same high standard. I’ve seen these young
singers perform on several occasions in Symphony Hall and they
never cease to delight me with their enthusiasm, discipline
and excellent singing: so it is here.
With the eighth movement we come to the premature death of the
child. There are several poems in this section, the longest
so far. First the adult choir sings words by Thomas Traherne
and once again the music put me in mind of John Adams’
Harmonium. Then Dove sets ‘High Flight (An Airman’s
Ecstasy)’ by John Gillespie Magee Jr. (1922-1941). Magee
was a young Spitfire pilot in the Second World War and, as you’ll
guess from his dates, he didn’t survive the conflict.
His poem conveys the thrill experienced by a young man when
flying. It’s only a few months ago that I came across
another recent setting of these same words by Bob Chilcott (review).
I thought the Chilcott setting, which is an unaccompanied choral
one, a most imaginative and impressive piece of writing. I mean
absolutely no disrespect to Bob Chilcott when I say that Jonathan
Dove seems to have captured the essence of the poem even more
successfully. This is because he’s set the lines for a
solo voice - the tenor - which seems most appropriate. The ecstatic
vocal line and the orchestration, which I can only describe
as “airborne”, seem to convey the spirit of the
poem marvellously. This passage is a peak in There Was a
Child and Toby Spence is excellent.
Then darker, more powerful music introduces a solemn setting
for chorus of lines from a poem ‘On the Eve of his Execution’
by the Englishman, Chidiock Tichborne (1563-1586), who was executed
in the gruesome manner of the day for his part in the Babington
Plot against Queen Elizabeth I. There follows Constance’s
speech, ‘Grief fills the room up of my absent child’
from Act III, scene 4 of Shakespeare’s King John.
Naturally, this is for the soprano soloist. Miss Rodgers sings
this quasi-operatic music with great emotional commitment and
the sound of her voice is exciting though, once again, words
are not ideally clear.
Dove was determined to finish the work on a positive note, however,
and for this he turns to Walt Whitman and his poem ‘There
Was a Child went Forth’ which the composer describes as
“a radiant vision of a child absorbing everything around
him and connecting with the whole world.” In this movement
all the forces combine and Dove weaves together several strands
in an often complex ensemble. Once more one is reminded of John
Adams, especially from 5:01 onwards, and the tone of the music
is optimistic. Even a life cut short will have contained many
achievements and will have touched the lives of others.
I think this is a fine work. Jonathan Dove has approached his
task with conviction and has produced a moving piece, helped
by his discerning choice of texts. In fact it strikes me that
There Was a Child sits very firmly in that strong British
tradition of anthology choral works established by composers
such as Vaughan Williams, Britten and Mathias. As for the music,
I’ve indicated that it reminds me at times of John Adams
and I’m sure others will detect other benign influences
such as Finzi and Britten, perhaps. That’s not to denigrate
the music in any way: all composers are influenced by predecessors
and peers and take what they want and need from such influences
and then adapt and renew it. Let no one doubt that Jonathan
Dove is very much his own man. I hope that Rosemary Van Allan
is pleased and moved by the outcome of her commission: I’m
sure she is.
As for the performance, well one word will describe it: splendid.
I’ve commented on the soloists and the children’s
choir. The adult CBSO Chorus sings with the assurance and excellence
that has become their stock in trade and the orchestral score,
which sounds chAllanging, couldn’t be in better hands
than those of the CBSO. Simon Halsey obtains a tremendously
committed performance from all concerned. I’m sure that
the warm applause at the end was equally for the excellence
of the performance and in appreciation of the work itself. It
only remains to say that the recording itself is excellent and
though there’s applause at the end I couldn’t detect
any other audience noise.
I’m delighted that this impressive work by one of Britain’s
leading composers has made it onto disc so quickly. I hope that
this first class recording will gain a wide audience for There
Was a Child and that it will be taken up by other choirs
and orchestras.
John Quinn
Joan Rodgers (soprano); Toby Spence (tenor) 