Fantasies and Verse anthems
Phantasm and The Choir of Magdalene College, Oxford/Daniel Hyde
rec. Chapel of Magdalen College, 6-9 May 2013
LINN SACD CKD 427 [59.48]
It is gradually becoming clear that John Ward was one of the finest composers
of the period between Byrd and Purcell. His flame has only slowly started
to glow, however. It was in 1981 that Anthony Rooley’s Consort of
Musicke recorded Ward’s so-called First book of Madrigals of 1613
along with four viol fantasias (Decca
Eloquence 480 1818) then they recorded some again and some other madrigals
in manuscript for Hyperion in 1983 (CDA66256). Things went quiet until
2009 when Phantasm recorded Ward’s entire output for five and six
part viols also on Linn.
This new disc completes the set with six ‘Oxford’ Fantasias
in four parts. Making up the main bulk time-wise are the verse anthems,
six in all, accompanied by viol consort. These are likely to be unknown
even to aficionados of Jacobean church music. I doubt that any cathedral
choir would have any of these in their repertoires; indeed some have not
yet have been published. Two have had to be reconstructed by Ian Payne.
Hearing them made me almost convinced that they are finer and certainly
more developed pieces than those by Orlando Gibbons. It was Payne incidentally
who also edited the complete works of John Ward published by Corda Music.
The eloquent and detailed booklet notes by Laurence Dreyfus, director
and treble viol player in Phantasm, remarks that “these verse anthems
and viol fantasies were penned by a young ‘gentleman’ composer
attached to the household of a highly cultivated Italianophile, Sir Henry
Fanshaw.” Fanshaw was an inspiration to Henry Stuart, Prince of
Wales who died so tragically young in 1612. Hence the text found in This
joyful, happy holy day “Our happiness and joy is much increas’d
/ By the creation of our prince, /of public peace and joy”. Ward
had sung at Canterbury Cathedral but by 1607 he had been taken up the
Fanshaw family and never looked back. The anthem probably dates from the
following year.
In the verse anthem the main thrust of the text is taken by the soloists
with the choir commenting at the end of a section and repeating the last
words of the solo. Knowing some of Ward’s madrigals quite well,
as I do, I was pleasantly surprised by the madrigalian style adopted for
the verse anthems and less surprisingly for the viol pieces. By that I
mean, a sure sense of polyphony and word-painting. In his notes, Dreyfus
goes into some considerable detail about one of the reconstructed anthems
Praise the Lord, O my soul. In this case Ward’s often quite
subtle word-painting is looked at in depth and is utterly revealing in
the way the music illustrates the text from Psalm 104. It's also
very helpful that the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford have such superb
diction, especially the boys, in the hands of Daniel Hyde. Hyde treats
these pieces with calm and poise although the full texts are clearly supplied.
Ward was probably a rather sober Protestant. We have for example Down
caitiff, wretch, fall low and prostrate lie and the second
part of this anthem Prayer is an endless chain of purest
love. There is also the anthem How long wilt thou forget
me O Lord, for ever, taken from the rather gloomy Psalm 13. The
Fantasias also tend toward the serious. Let God Arise and This
is a joyful, happy holy day and the exuberant Fantasia 6
demonstrate the opposite side of his character.
The Fantasias are a midway house between Byrd and Matthew Locke. As in
the madrigals they take a ‘point’, develop it, imitate it
and then move on to another ‘point’ which will be nicely contrasted,
mostly polyphonic but with juxtaposed homophonic sections. In addition
we may be treated to some exploratory harmonies. As Phantasm play with
such an understanding of musical direction ones attention never wavers,
helped also by the fact that none last much longer than three minutes.
The group consists of four players but are joined by an extra tenor and
bass viol for the anthems. This proves useful for adding depth to the
harmony.
This is somewhat rarefied repertoire but there is no reason to assume
that it should always be so. Indeed Praise the Lord, O my soul
should be taken up by college and cathedral choirs without delay.
The recordings, and as I’ve implied the performances, are incisive
and invite you into the music without fuss and without getting in the
way.
Gary Higginson
Contents
Fantasia 2 a 4 [2.13]
Fantasia 5 a 4 [2.49]
Fantasia 1 a4 [2.53]
Fantasia 3 a4 [2.25]
Fantasia 4 a4 [3.11]
Fantasia 6 a4 [2.53]
Praise the Lord, O my soul [8.17]
Mount up, my soul [7.04]
Down Caitiff down (Part 1) [5.40]
Prayer is an endless chain (Part2) [5.27]
How Long wilt thou forget me, O Lord [4.51]
Let God Arise [6.13]
This is a joyful, happy holy day [5.50]
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