John AMNER (1579-1641)
Complete Consort Music
Fretwork
Dublin Consort Singers/Mark Keane
rec. 2018 at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, UK
Full texts included
RUBICON RCD1032 [72:71]
Driving through the fens of Eastern England, few sights are as awe-inspiring as the gradual emergence on the flat horizon of the unique octagonal tower of Ely’s extraordinary cathedral. While the city that gives it is name is tiny, five centuries back it was renowned for its choir and its composers. Two of the most renowned were Christopher Tye and his son-in-law Robert White, each of whom served as the cathedral’s Master of Choristers between 1543 and 1566. A later successor in this role was John Amner who was born in Ely and took up the post in 1610, three years prior to receiving his BMus from Oxford, and seven before being ordained. He thus combined his musical duties with liturgical ones as a canon at the cathedral.
I can only trace one previous disc entirely devoted to Amner’s work, a 1994 Hyperion release devoted to his cathedral music and performed by his old choir under the direction of Dr Paul Trepte, whose stint as Master of Choristers lasted just short of three decades and ended earlier this year. As luck would have it, I picked it up in a Lancaster charity shop a couple of months back and was astonished at the quality of Amner’s music and by the Ely choir’s glorious sound. I wondered at the time about Amner’s neglect (I had never heard of him) and this new Rubicon issue provides the opportunity to hear more, specifically the twenty-odd numbers from his one published collection, Sacred Hymnes of 3, 4, 5 and 6 Parts for Voyces and Viols, which appeared in 1615 and was dedicated to Amner’s patron William Bourchier, the third Earl of Bath.
Mark Keane’s Dublin Consort produce an airy yet intimate sound. Their readings are consistently focused, their voices are most mellifluous and they blend most satisfyingly. The first half of the disc (up to and including track 18) presents a sequence of unaccompanied motets; their very brevity and textural homogeneity begins to jar rather too swiftly, alas. This is not helped by the tiny pauses that separate each number. This creates a sense of unnecessary rush which does Amner’s sensitive and expressive word-setting few favours, accomplished though the singing is. The effect is cloying; it becomes difficult to distinguish the real gems. After a few hearings the morose Distressed soul, and thou deceitful eye, and the jaunty madrigalian pair Sweet are the thoughts and Come let’s rejoice are the standouts that lodge in the memory. In his note Keane speculates that the more ornate five-part settings Thus sings that heavenly quire and the resplendent The heavens stood all amazed might well have been submitted by Amner to Oxford in 1613 in order to fulfil its requirements for awarding the degree. In each case the clarity of the Dublin Consort’s projection of the text is most impressive.
The tripartite Yuletide anthem O ye little flock was familiar to me from the Ely choir’s atmospheric account on the Hyperion disc (accompanied by Peter Holman’s Parley of Instruments). The Dublin Consort are supported here by viol masters Fretwork in a more intimate reading. It is very different from the spacious Ely account (boy trebles and all) which arguably better conveys something of the spirit of the season. The solemn opening to the following Lo, how from heaven like stars the Angels flying is beautifully done though, and Fretwork’s presence in itself seems to raise the bar somewhat. But the pauses between items still barely afford time for the listener to exhale.
The last four tracks include Amner’s only extant instrumental music; a Pavan and Galliard performed with Fretwork’s signature nobility and elegance. Their accompaniment to the sombre Consider, all ye passers by which follows also provides unalloyed, if dark delight. Some commentators may mark Amner down as a somewhat limited, provincial talent but it is abundantly clear he produced some beautifully crafted little pieces that deserve much wider currency. The Dublin Consort provide sterling advocacy.
Richard Hanlon
Contents
1. Love We in One Consenting
2. Let False Surmises Perish
3. Away With Weak Complainings
4. O Come Thou Spirit Divinest
5. O Love Beseeming Well
6. Distressed Soul
7. Sweet Are the Thoughts
8. Come Let's Rejoice
9. Saint Mary Now
10. At Length to Christ
11. But He the God of Love
12. Woe Is Me
13. Remember Not, Lord, Our Offences
14. Thus Sings That Heavenly Quire
15. The Heavens Stood All Amazed
16. Now Doth the City Remain Solitary
17. He That Descended Man to Be
18. I Will Sing Unto the Lord
19. O Ye Little Flock
20. Fear Not
21. And They Cry
22. Lo, How from Heaven
23. I Bring You Tiding
24. A Stranger Here
25. My Lord Is Hence Removed and Laid
26. An Elegy in Memory of Master Thomas Hynson
27. Pavan
28. Gaillard
29. Consider, All Ye Passers By
30. I Am for Peace
