This disc was one of the last ones made by Timothy Brown before
he retired, in July 2010, as Director of Music at Clare College.
His tenure at Clare was a long one: he arrived there in 1979,
succeeding John Rutter. Since then he’s developed the
choir and enhanced its international reputation, not least through
their many fine recordings. I recall that at the time of his
retirement John Rutter, in a generous tribute on the BBC Radio
3 programme The Choir, drew particular attention to Brown’s
work in performing music by contemporary composers. He said
that his legacy would be “excellence and dedication to
the highest standards”.
There’s ample evidence on this disc of excellence and
high standards. There’s also evidence of discernment.
In putting together this programme Brown has mingled the familiar
and the less familiar though all have in common that they’re
very well worth hearing.
Though I’m a great devotee of RVW’s music I can’t
readily recall that I’ve previously heard Nothing is
here for tears. It was prompted by the death of King George
V and is for choir and organ. Mostly the choir sings in unison
though they break out into harmony towards the end. It may not
be a masterpiece but it’s effective. Even more effective
is The Souls of the Righteous. This was composed for
the service at which the Battle of Britain Chapel in Westminster
Abbey was dedicated. The text, from the Book of Wisdom, which
begin ‘The souls of the righteous are in the hands of
God’ is one that I always find very moving. How much more
moving must these words have been on that occasion when the
scars and memories of war were so fresh in the minds of those
present and when the sacrifice of The Few lay only a few years
in the past? RVW sets these evocative words in a most eloquent
fashion and one feels that this piece must have been just right
for the occasion and for the times.
The Voice out of the Whirlwind also comes from 1947 and
may be unfamiliar to many but the musical material should not
be. Vaughan Williams based it on ‘The Galliard of the
Sons of the Morning’ from his orchestral masterpiece,
Job, A Masque for Dancing. It’s a spirited
work and it’s fascinating to hear the music from Job
recycled into a new guise. It culminates in a majestic organ
peroration which is superbly voiced here by Ashok Gupta.
The organ is heard to even more spectacular effect in A Vision
of Aeroplanes. This is a motet for choir and organ, setting
words from the Prophecy of Ezekiel. So virtuosic is the organ
writing that this piece might just as fairly be described as
a motet for organ with choir! The organ part is fiendishly challenging,
bristling with difficulties. The choir is here joined by guest,
James McVinnie, who is a former organ scholar of Clare College.
He dispatches the organ part with dazzling virtuosity while
the choir handles RVW’s no less demanding choral writing
with huge assurance. This is a vividly dramatic and thrilling
performance captured in excitingly present sound.
There could scarcely be a greater contrast than that between
A Vision of Aeroplanes and the serene masterpiece that
sits at the heart of this programme. The Mass in G minor is
one of the peaks of the English a cappella repertoire.
Timothy Brown and his choir give it a wonderful reading. The
serene Kyrie is beautifully done, the singing poised
and controlled. All the contrasts - of mood and dynamics - are
brought out in the Gloria while in a magnificent account
of the Credo I particularly admired the sensitivity and
control with which the Et incarnatus section is delivered.
The rapt Agnus Dei sets the seal on a very fine performance
indeed in which besides excellent choral singing we hear four
members of the choir acting as an assured solo quartet.
Throughout this varied and contrasting programme the Clare College
choir is on top form. Their discipline, tuning, intonation and
balance are all beyond reproach and all the performances are
full of sensitivity. All of this bespeaks scrupulous preparation.
The choir makes the fresh sound of youthful and very well trained
voices and it’s very pleasing to hear. In several of the
items the then-Organ Scholar, Ashok Gupta, does splendid work
as their accompanist.
The recorded sound is very good indeed. The choir is clearly
recorded and the sound of the organ - I presume the organ of
St John’s College - has been superbly captured by the
engineers and balanced very well against the choir. There are
very good notes by the conductor.
This disc is a fine reminder of Timothy Brown’s excellent
work at Clare College.
John Quinn
See also review by William
Hedley
Vaughan
Williams on Naxos
Vaughan Williams
review index
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James McVinnie and Ashok Gupta (organ)