Alpha & O: Music for Advent & Christmas
Caius Lee (organ)
The Choirs of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge/Edward Wickham
rec. Chapel of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, 15–17 March 2020. DDD.
Texts and translations included
Reviewed as 24/96 press preview from
resonusclassics.com.
RESONUS RES10268
[54:29]
Despite all the trials and tribulations which 2020 has brought, we still
have almost the usual complement of new Christmas recordings this year. I’m
working on a round-up of as many as I can, but I’ve already posted separate
reviews of two: Ave Rex (CRD –
review) and Baroque Christmas Concertos (Naxos, review pending).
Like the CRD, this was an early release, in late September. The CRD is not
unusual in containing several first recordings, but, apart from the plainsong
‘O’ antiphons which mark the end of Advent, the music on the new Resonus is
all by living composers. With several world premiere recordings, this is an
apt successor to St Catharine’s earlier Resonus recording of contemporary
Christmas music, Nova! Nova! (RES10159). We don’t seem to have
reviewed that when it appeared in 2015, so I requested the 24/96 files for
that, too. CD and downloads, up to 24/96, are available from
resonusclassics.com
and from
Presto;
mp3 and CD from
Amazon UK;
CD from
ArkivMusic.
Most of the texts on that recording are traditional, as, for example, the
opening The Holly and the Ivy, but the settings are modern, in
this case by Richard Rodney Bennett. Bennett is not the only well-known
composer: there’s James MacMillan’s work which gives its name to the album, Nova! Nova! Ave fit ex eva. Not surprisingly, that’s the highlight
of the programme, closely followed by John Tavener’s A Cradle Song, Giles Swayne’s There is no Rose and Roxanna Panufnik’s Alma Redemptoris Mater. The MacMillan apart, these received their
first recordings on this album, alongside the music of some less well-known
composers. The selling point of both albums is the inclusion of several
first recordings.
The chants on the new recording are included largely because they are the
peg on which Christopher Fox has hung his own seven antiphons. It’s Fox’s
music which forms the backbone of this recording, but they are by no means
the only reason to choose it.
The opening work by Judith Weir, My guardian Angel, sets the tone
for an enjoyably thoughtful and predominantly beautifully soothing
programme. That’s not to imply that it’s soporific: Judith Weir is hardly
known for easy-going music, though this piece is not one of her toughest.
In fact, even a crusty old duffer like me, always guarded in approaching
contemporary music, can live with it and appreciate it. It’s an excellent
opening to the programme.
Diana Burrell’s slightly angular setting of the traditional Green groweth the Holly challenges comparison with Henry VIII’s
setting (Complete Music of Henry VIII, Chandos CHAN0621). I
thought that recording of the musical monarch a little insipid –
July 2009
– I can’t say that of this recording of the Burrell setting.
Christopher Fox’s antiphons are also cast in a different mould from the
plainsong, but, like the best modern choral music – James MacMillan, for
example, whose work features on the earlier St Catharine’s recording – they
are clearly anchored in the long line of tradition. With Edward Wickham
directing these performances – better known to me for his recordings of
renaissance music with The Clerks’ Group for ASV – that link with tradition
is especially apparent. He had already made a fine recording of renaissance
music in honour of the college’s patron saint with the St Catharine’s Choir
(RES10246 –
review
–
Autumn 2019/2).
Jeremy Thurlow’s Magnificat, which ends the programme, sung in
English, unlike Paul Chiara’s earlier, more placid, setting of the Latin,
is perhaps the most challenging work here – with noises off as of spirits
in the air (‘the isle is full of noises’, not all of them friendly) as
Gabriel hails Mary with the news that she is to give birth to Jesus. Angels
are usually painted as friendly souls, but in Isaiah’s vision they are a
bit scary, and the shepherds were certainly in awe of the angels of the
Nativity. Yet it’s not just Cranmer’s timeless English translation that
keeps the music from veering too far from more familiar, more comfortable,
settings.
St Catharine’s Choir rises to the challenge of all the music on both these
albums, and they make it perfectly accessible even to someone as chary
about contemporary music as me. None of the music can have been easy to learn,
but the female voices and the Girls’ Choir in particular make it sound
easy. If you look every Christmas for new material, this could well be your
choice for 2020. As heard in 24-bit sound, the recording is very good. My
only reservation concerns the spelling of the college’s name – apparently
the ‘a’ in the middle dates only from around 1860, when, oddly enough, my
own college, St Catherine’s, Oxford, with an ‘e’, was founded, initially as
an offshoot of Hertford College.
Other albums contain some contemporary Christmas music, but these two
Resonus releases are solely dedicated to it, and the performances make it
all palatable without trivialising it. As such, both are well worth having.
Brian Wilson
Contents
Judith WEIR (b.1954)
My Guardian Angel [2:12]
Hannah KENDALL (b.1984)
Nativity [4:28]
Joanna Forbes L’ESTRANGE (b.1971) Advent ‘O’ Carol [6:14]
Paul CHIHARA (b.1938)
Magnificat anima meum Dominum
[4:31]
Diana BURRELL (b.1948)
Green groweth the Holly * [4:53]
Anon.: O Sapientia [0:54]
Christopher FOX (b.1955)
O Antiphons: I. Alpha and O * [2:57]
Anon.: O Adonai [0:56]
Christopher FOX O Antiphons: II. In a Flame of Fire * [2:35]
Anon.: O radix Jesse [0:55]
Christopher FOX O Antiphons: III. Our Grace * [1:59]
Anon.: O clavis David [1:05]
Christopher FOX O Antiphons: IV. Open the Gate * [1:53]
Anon.: O Oriens [0:47]
Christopher FOX O Antiphons: V. Morning Star * [2:13]
Anon.: O Rex gentium [0:51]
Christopher FOX O Antiphons: VI. A Cornerstone * [3:21]
Anon.: O Emmanuel [0:53]
Christopher FOX O Antiphons: VII. Trust Above All * [3:51]
Jeremy THURLOW
Magnificat
* [6:49]
* World premiere recordings
