In alliance with Somm
Recordings, Paul Spicer, directing his Birmingham
Conservatoire Chamber Choir is putting together an impressive group of
recordings of British Choral Music. This is the third of their
recordings I have heard and I would judge it the most impressive to
date. The Howells completist will want it for the three first
recordings it contains. For others it provides as good an overview of
Howells' writing for chorus be it
a cappella,
accompanied, sacred or secular as any.
Spicer recorded much of the repertoire previously with his Finzi
Singers on Chandos the best part of twenty years ago. Where I have been
able to make direct comparisons there has not been a great change in
interpretation. His Finzi Singers are more evidently are maturer group
of singers with a more consciously lush tone - helped in part by the
more resonant Chandos recording. His young Birmingham singers perhaps
do not have the technical resource or lustre but in many ways - and
certainly in some of the pieces - their slightly plainer sound allied
to the freshness of their sound makes for very appealing performances.
As a programme this has been well planned. What at first sight might
seem to be another disc of Church Music proves to be far wider than
that. We are given Carol-anthems such as
Long Long Ago,
simple folk hymn-like pieces of great beauty such as
O
Mortal Man to secular madrigals -
In Youth is
Pleasure. Standing at the centre of the programme is the
powerfully austere
Mass in the Dorian Mode
written for Westminster Cathedral. Indeed, the particular interest of
this recital is that it chooses
not
to focus on the 'bread-and-butter' Anglican church music for which
Howells is best known and most often remembered. Likewise the span is
remarkable; some sixty five years from the Mass to the late setting of
the George Herbert
Antiphon (textually familiar
as the last of Vaughan Williams'
Five Mystical Songs).
It is worth focusing on the Mass setting, not only as the largest work
here but its significance. I find it remarkable to realise that this
was written as early as 1912 - a full nine years before Vaughan
Williams' justly famous G minor Mass. More remarkable when one
considers that the composer was just twenty when he wrote it. Two
quotes from Howells, mentioned in Jonathan Clinch's fine liner are
worth repeating; "all through my life I've had this strange feeling
that I belonged somehow to the Tudor period not only musically but in
every way" and "[the Mass is a] vivid, powerful, pervasive and
irresistible part of the mental and spiritual nature of man." Add to
that two other life experiences; attending the 1910 premiere of Vaughan
Williams'
Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
and that Royal College of Music student were encouraged to visit the
then new Westminster (Catholic) Cathedral to hear "polyphony for a
penny". No surprise that this Mass should seek to emulate the Mass
settings of Byrd or Tallis. The young Howells was not able to achieve a
work as remarkably timeless and unique as the Vaughan Williams setting
but it is remarkably assured for all that. Set for simple SATB,
Howells' eschewing of excess or display, it is both striking and
effective. This is where this new recording pays dividends; Spicer's
singers have an unaffected directness of utterance that is both wholly
appropriate and very moving.
For some the use of male and
female voices may be an issue but to my ear this is an irrelevance.
What is notable is that a year on from the recording of the Stanford
Part-Songs disc Spicer has moulded a more refined and nuanced vocal
group. Of the previous 23 singers, 11 sing again here (including four
of the five tenors but only one of the basses). There is bound to be a
high turnover of performers in any college-based group, but I think the
presence of a core of singers experienced in working together and with
Spicer is audible. Across the entire disc there are a couple of very
minor fluffs in ensemble but overall the blend and balance is much more
successful.
Aside from the Mass, this is a disc full of musical gems of
considerable beauty. As with any such compilation there will be
overlaps and duplications with other favourite recitals. I have a
particular affection for the recital by Ralph Allwood and his young
Rodolfus Choir on Signum. There are similar benefits of fresh-voiced
brilliance. Allwood's sounds like it is a larger group, slighter closer
recorded in a warmer acoustic. This seeks to emphasise the more
sensuously overtly expressive style that Allwood favours which sits
between the style of Spicer/Birmingham and Spicer/Finzi Singers. Just
possibly I find that the most appealing of all but fortunately there is
very little overlap in repertoire so I do not have to make a choice.
Returning to the music on this current disc; the previously mentioned
Long,
long ago
is a delight, and one I had not previously heard. The closing page's
ecstatic chromatic climax over the phrase "Christ was born in
Bethlehem" is archetypal of both Howells at his finest and became the
embodiment of British Church music in the 20th Century - listen to how
he slips to onto a beautifully resolved E major chord for the final "to
heal the world's woe." In contrast the simplicity of
O
Mortal Man - based as it is on the melody of the Sussex
Mummer's Carol - is disarmingly moving. The 1916
Regina Coeli
appears on Spicer's earlier Mass disc too - I find it remarkable how
much variety Howells finds working within what would seem to be a
fairly limited genre within a genre. Jonathan Clinch hears a similarity
with Parry's late choral works - the comparison is a valid one, the
older composer's great
Songs of farewell being
exactly
contemporaneous. Again, it seems astonishing that Howells' youthful
works can sit alongside those mature masterpieces and not pale in the
comparison. But these are just a couple of the riches this disc
contains - indeed, one of the things that impresses most is the
consistently high quality of both the music and its execution.
All in all a very high quality product from Somm. As mentioned,
Jonathan clinch contributes a good, English only, liner note, all the
texts are given in full clearly printed on good quality paper. Paul
Arden-Taylor's engineering is discreetly fine and for those with an eye
on value, this is an extremely well-filled disc running just shy of
eighty minutes. Most importantly, Paul Spicer and his choir seem wholly
attuned to many facets of Howells' choral personality. A precious
addition to the Howells discography.
Nick Barnard
Previous
review:
John Quinn
Track listing
Walking in the Snow (1950) [4:19]
Long, long ago (1950) [5:03]
Levavi oculos meos (1959)* [5:10]
In Youth is Pleasure (1915) [3:21]
Before me careless lying (1918) [5:05]
O Salutaris Hostia (1913) [2:08]
Mass in the Dorian Mode (1912) [24:51]
Salve Regina (1916) [4:12]
My eyes for beauty pine (1925) [2:20]
When first thine eies unveil (1925)* [6:09]
O Mortal Man* [2:40]
Haec Dies (1918) [3:14]
Regina Caeli (1916) [3:32]
Nunc Dimittis (1914) [2:49]
Antiphon (1977) [4:10]
