Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
The Reeds by Severn Side
Joshua Ryan (organ)
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea/William Vann
rec. 2021, Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square, London
Texts included
SOMM RECORDINGS SOMMCD278 [80]
This intelligently planned programme charts the development of Edward Elgar as a composer of choral music. He ended his life as a figure of national importance and with a string of masterpieces to his credit. His achievement was all the greater, though, because he came from quite humble provincial origins and was self-taught as a composer.
A key factor in Elgar’s early development was the fact that his father, William, was organist of St George’s Roman Catholic church in Worcester; Elgar himself was to take on that role in 1885. The first few pieces on William Vann’s programme were written by the youthful Elgar for his father’s choir to sing during services at St George’s. Thus, we find an 1872 setting of the Gloria, based on a movement from a Mozart violin sonata and a Credo which Elgar fashioned in the following year based on themes from three Beethoven symphonies. It would be idle to pretend that these teenage works foreshadow the mastery that was to come. However, they are skilfully put together. The Mozart is, more or less, a literal transcription of Mozart’s original music but the Beethoven Credo is rather different in that Elgar shows discernment in matching the themes to the text: I especially liked the way he uses the main theme of the slow movement of the Ninth for the section beginning ‘Et incarnatus est’.
The first original Elgar that we hear is his hymn tune Drakes Boughton. This he wrote for the hymn ‘Hear thy children, gentle Jesus’, which strikes me as a prime example of Victorian Catholic piety. Indeed, it’s noticeable that this and the four succeeding pieces are all fairly quiet and devotional in tone. The 1880 setting of O Salutaris Hostia is a well-crafted little devotional anthem, which shows the young composer gradually learning his craft, even if he is still far from the finished article. The next three pieces, which all date from 1887, were originally composed as settings of Latin texts – therefore suitable for Catholic liturgy. Subsequently, Novello published the three pieces, to which Elgar retrospectively allotted opus numbers, but English texts were substituted. The Latin originals have been recorded previously but not these English versions. The harmonic language is still pretty conventional; however, as Andrew Neill justly observes in his booklet essay, we can experience here early evidence of Elgar’s ability to write long melodic lines.
The next stop on our evolutionary journey through Elgar’s choral music takes us to 1896. We’re only a few years on from those three motets but, my goodness, Elgar had come a long way in the meantime. Critically, he had produced his overture Froissart, Op 19 for the 1890 Three Choirs Festival, a score which we may count as his first major step towards orchestral mastery. He had also begun to get opportunities to write large-scale choral/orchestral works such as The Black Knight (1892), The Light of Life (1896) and Scenes from The Saga of King Olaf (1896). An a cappella chorus from the latter work, ‘As Torrents in Summer’ represents, in the context of this programme, a major advance on the earlier works in terms of expressiveness and technique. It’s a gem. Fast forward a few more years, to 1907, and we’re in yet another world again. There is sweet music is a choral song for SSAATTBB. This shows remarkable confidence – and daring – on Elgar’s part in the use of bitonality: the male voices sing in G major and they’re answered antiphonally by the ladies singing in A flat major. As I know from personal experience, this music
can be the very devil for amateurs to keep in tune and Elgar’s willingness to stretch singers in this way shows the confidence of the man with a symphony, three oratorios and the ‘Enigma’ Variations already to his credit. How easily that roll call of major works slips off the tongue nowadays. But it should never be forgotten that Elgar had produced them all without the benefit of formal training: he had learned his craft the hard way.
The remainder of William Vann’s programme consists of music from the composer’s maturity and most – though not all - of it will be familiar. The less familiar pieces include Fear not, O Land. This was described by the composer as a “Harvest Anthem for Parish Choirs”. As such, it’s less ambitious than, say, Give unto the Lord. However, it’s a very good piece and it deserves to be better known.
William Vann has included two touching memorial pieces. They are at rest was composed to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria. It’s an a cappella setting of lines by John Henry Newman. It’s always struck me as a very lovely, sincere piece and the present performance brings out the best in the music. So many true princesses who have gone is a setting of words by John Masefield, then the Poet Laureate. Elgar composed the piece for the unveiling by King George V of a memorial to Queen Alexandra, the consort of King Edward VII. The music is suffused with noble melancholy and, above all, dignity. This was Elgar’s very last choral work and a fitting close to that side of his creative output. It’s given a lovely performance here.
There could not be a greater contrast than the one between So many true princesses who have gone and the work which, for me, is the highlight of this disc. If the memorial to Queen Alexandra shows the introverted melancholic side of Elgar, then Give unto the Lord represents him at his most extrovert and opulent. It’s a 1914 setting of Psalm 29 and for the most part the music is big, grand and confident. Here, we encounter Elgar displaying tremendous compositional technique and also imagination in his word-painting. Much of the choral writing requires – and here receives – full-throated, acclamatory singing. Though the choir as a whole is terrific, I must single out for special praise the tenors, who are simply superb, especially in the passage referencing cedars of Lebanon. The piece has a magnificent independent organ part and this is spectacularly delivered by Joshua Ryan. It helps, too, that the recording captures the organ so thrillingly. This is a vivid, dramatic performance by all concerned.
There’s a great deal to enjoy on this disc. The programme has been shrewdly chosen to illustrate Elgar’s development as a choral composer – the works are largely presented in chronological order – and there are some welcome rarities. Without exception, the performances are deeply impressive. The members of the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea respond keenly and expertly to William Vann’s direction. I’ve singled out Joshua Ryan’s playing in Give unto the Lord but he’s just as fine elsewhere.
Producer Siva Oke and engineer Adaq Khan have recorded the music very successfully. The balance between choir and organ is very well judged and all sections of the choir can be clearly heard. Finally, Andrew Neill’s booklet essay is first-rate, giving an expert and stylishly written commentary on the music in the context of Elgar’s creative life.
This fine disc is a must-have for devotees of Elgar’s music.
John Quinn
Previous review: John France
Contents
Gloria (based on the Allegro from Mozart's Sonata in F for violin and piano, K. 547) (1872)
Credo on Themes from Symphonies 5, 7 and 9 by Beethoven; completion by James Olsen (1873)
Hymn Tune in F major, No 1 (Drakes Boughton) Hear thy children, gentle Jesus (1878)
O Salutaris Hostia in F (1880)
Jesu, word of God Incarnate, op. 2, No. 1 (1887)
Jesu, Lord of Life and Glory, op. 2, No. 2 (1887)
Jesu, Meek and Lowly, op. 2, No. 3 (1887)
As Torrents in Summer (Scenes from The Saga of King Olaf, op. 30) (1896)
There is sweet music, op. 53, No. 1 (1907)
Psalm 68 (Novello’s New Cathedral Psalter) (1909)
Angelus (Tuscany), op. 56, (1909)
They are at rest (1909)
Intende voci Orationis Meæ (O Hearken Thou), op. 64 (1911)
Give unto the Lord, (Psalm 29) op. 74 (1914)
Fear not, O Land (1914)
I sing the birth (1928)
Good Morrow (A simple carol for His Majesty's happy recovery) (1929)
Queen Alexandra's Memorial Ode (So many true princesses who have gone) (1932)
