Good night, beloved
The Sixteen / Harry Christophers
Christopher Glynn (piano)
rec. October 2020, St Augustine’s Church, Kilburn, London
Texts included
CORO COR16184 [68:48]
Harry Christophers has put together a varied programme for The Sixteen’s new CD. Many of the pieces are, as he says, “full of tranquillity, peace and hope”. There’s also a good mix of sacred and secular, the latter including some examples of what Christophers rightly refers to as “more raucous songs of an earlier age”. Definitely not in the raucous category are the pieces by Sir James MacMillan and Will Todd which receive their first recordings here. The piece by Roderick Williams, written early in 2020, was commissioned by The Sixteen but perhaps it has been recorded elsewhere because Harry Christophers doesn’t claim this as its recorded premiere.
The programme is bookended by two significant pieces written within ten years of each other. Edward Naylor’s Vox dicentis dates from 1911; it was composed for the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. It’s an arresting composition, setting words from the Prophecy of Isaiah. The Sixteen’s singing is splendidly forthright – the early contributions from the unison basses are really exciting – and later on, as the music becomes more tranquil and nuanced, the singers show great sensitivity. Bax’s Mater ora filium (1921) is a ravishing setting for double choir of an anonymous medieval text. Bax weaves a rich, complex tapestry of choral sound and I very much admire the clarity which Christophers and his singers achieve. It really is a very challenging piece at times, not least for the top sopranos who are consistently sent up to the top of their vocal compass (towards the end of the penultimate stanza of the poem Bax requires them to sustain a top C for no less than 16 beats). This one of the finest performances of the work that I can remember hearing.
The pieces by MacMillan and Todd are in a more tranquil vein. MacMillan’s Children are a heritage of the Lord sets lines from Psalm 127 (‘Except the Lord build the house’). The work was commissioned for The Sixteen, who gave the first performance in 2011 and now record it for the first time. A good deal of the writing is chordal and the writing is in MacMillan’s most approachable and directly communicative style, the music spiced by interesting harmonies. At the very end of the piece there’s some lovely carolling writing for the sopranos. I liked the piece very much, as was also the case with Will Todd’s Whisper Him my name. This too was commissioned for The Sixteen, who premiered it in 2016. The piece, for double choir, is cast in three distinct but linked sections in which all the words are an adaptation of a Prayer to St Joseph. Todd’s writing is beautiful and constitutes an excellent response to the words. The third section is particularly rewarding, I think; here the choral textures are particularly rich and I love the way that the words ‘at the hour of my death’ are harmonised.
The rest of the programme is secular. Four short three-part pieces for men’s voices are included. These are the anonymous I am a jolly foster, the two pieces by William Cornysh and the comic catch or round by William Hayes. Harry Christophers has included these short items for variety and they certainly make a contrast with the rest of the programme. Cornysh’s Ah, Robin, gentle Robin is a melancholic little piece but the remainder are robust offerings.
The event that led to the composition of Peter Maxwell Davies’s Lullabye for Lucy is rather remarkable. It’s a setting of a poem by George Mackay Brown, and both words and music mark the birth of Lucy Rendall in November 1980. Lucy’s arrival into the world was remarkable in that her birth was the first to be registered on the island of Hoy in the Orkneys since the late 1940s. Max’s music is very pure and innocent in tone, as befits such an occasion. It’s a genuinely touching piece and here it’s sung with the sensitivity it deserves. Also originating in the islands to the north of Scotland is Eriskay Love Lilt. The traditional words and music were collected in the early years of the twentieth century from a singer on the Outer Hebridean island of Eriskay. Roderick Williams’ new arrangement was commissioned by The Sixteen. This is one of just two items on the programme that is accompanied. Williams has conceived a beguiling, rippling piano part which is here delivered with great finesse by Christopher Glynn. Williams’ arrangement is most attractive and it breathes fresh life into the traditional song while never suffocating the original. Christopher Glynn also contributes to Bob Chilcott’s very appealing take on the Londonderry Air.
The piece which gives the album its title is Good night, good night, beloved by Ciro Pinsuti, a one-time pupil of Rossini. Pinsuti later taught at the Royal Academy of Music and I learned from the notes that this particular piece became a staple of the British choral society repertoire. I have to admit that I’d not previously heard it. It’s an example of musical Victoriana but it’s by no means to be despised on that account. In fact, it struck me as a very well-crafted and sincere piece. Mind you, there’s a world of difference and, dare one say it, a gulf of inspiration between Pinsuti’s piece and Stanford’s The Blue Bird. Is there a finer piece in the British part song repertoire than Stanford’s little gem? It has attained classic status and here it receives an exquisite performance in which every detail is expertly calibrated yet the music sounds spontaneous and flows beautifully.
This is a lovely, nicely varied album which I enjoyed greatly. As you’d expect from The Sixteen, the singing is superb throughout. Producer Mark Brown and engineer Mike Hatch have recorded the performances extremely well, achieving clarity while letting the acoustic of St Augustine’s Church impart a pleasing natural resonance. As well as a short introductory essay by Harry Christophers, the well-produced booklet also includes very helpful notes by Andrew Stewart.
John Quinn
Contents
Edward NAYLOR (1867-1934)
Vox dicentis [8:26]
Sir Peter MAXWELL DAVIES (1934-2016)
Lullabye for Lucy [5:21]
Anon
I am a jolly foster [3:21]
Sir James MACMILLAN (b. 1959)
Children are a heritage of the Lord [4:20]
Bob CHILCOTT (b. 1955)
Londonderry Air [4:08]
Ciro PINSUTI (1829-1888)
Good night, good night, beloved [3:51]
William CORNYSH (1465-1523)
Hoyda, hoyda, jolly rutterkin [4:07]
Will TODD (b. 1970)
Whisper Him my name [8:50]
Sir Charles Villiers STANFORD (1852-1924)
The Blue Bird [3:33]
William CORNYSH
Ah, Robin, gentle Robin [2:53]
Eric WHITACRE (b. 1970)
Sleep [5:06]
Roderick WILLIAMS (b. 1965)
Eriskay Love Lilt [3:10]
William HAYES (1708-77)
Giles Jolt [1:18]
Sir Arnold BAX (1883-1953)
Mater ora filium [10:24]
