The St Albans Chamber
Choir was founded in 1958 and has been
under the direction of David Hansell
since 1997.
I think the first thing
I should say is that, as a choral singer
myself, I’d be delighted to be a member
of this choir which performs a very
wide-ranging repertoire with evident
commitment and no little skill. This
CD gives what appears to be a good overview
of the choir’s repertoire. It is, in
many ways a very thoughtfully planned
disc. Little things deserve praise:
for example the musical programme has
been devised as a satisfyingly varied
concert sequence but the useful booklet
note (by the conductor) discusses the
music in chronological order, which
makes for a more logical essay. A more
substantial touch, of which I approve
very much is the decision to preface
the two Marian Vespers antiphons by
Victoria with plainchant settings of
the same texts. Again, what a good idea
to preface one of Bach’s motets with
a short motet by one of his distant
cousins! (Johann Ludwig Bach was mainly
employed at the court of Meiningen.).
As David Hansell observes Johann Ludwig’s
piece is relatively old-fashioned but
it’s valuable to hear it and it’s marvellous
to find a non-professional choir exploring
such rare repertoire with evident relish.
Yet, for all the virtues
of the programme planning I’m not sure
that I’d recommend listening to this
CD straight through for I may as well
mention my main reservation straightaway.
The choir consists of 19 sopranos, 10
altos, 6 tenors and 8 basses and much
of the repertoire that they sing on
this disc is for double choir. It seems
to me that the choir is shown at its
best in the twentieth century repertoire
with which the CD opens and closes.
The trouble with the middle of the programme
is that, so far as I can tell, the full
choir is deployed in all the pieces.
Unfortunately, though they sing well
the choral textures, at least as recorded,
sound somewhat unvaried.
For, example, as I
said, I think the inclusion of some
plainchant is admirable. But it appears
to be sung by the full choir. If the
men’s voices only had been used this
would have provided a much more effective
contrast with Victoria’s polyphony (it
would also have been more authentic.)
The polyphonic items themselves, while
sympathetically sung, would have sounded
better, I believe if a smaller group
of singers had been used. As it is,
the use of some 43 singers (I presume)
results in the sound being somewhat
diffuse and there is insufficient clarity
in the polyphony. Of the two Victoria
settings, Regina cœli comes off
best in terms of clarity, perhaps because
the two choirs are of differing sets
of voices (SSAT and SATB)
The same criticism
applies, I’m afraid to the pieces by
both Bachs and by Schütz. Things
improve when we get to the Mendelssohn
piece (and again, a nice programming
touch to follow a piece by J. S. Bach
with one by one of his earliest champions.)
Here it seems that the contrasts that
Mendelssohn builds in between high and
low voices works to the choir’s advantage.
As I indicated earlier,
the twentieth century items are very
successful. Finzi’s marvellous Ascension
anthem makes for a strong start, with
the tenors showing to particularly good
advantage. The Howells piece is a demanding
choice and it’s good to hear it, as
it’s a comparative rarity. As David
Hansell observes, much of this music
is "absolutely the quintessence
of Howells." The choir copes admirably
with the complexities of Howells’ harmonic
palette. The work opens and closes in
dramatic vein but the middle is much
more subdued. The unnamed tenor soloist
sings the taxing solo at "Thou
wast seen in the temple of God"
(track 2, 3’44" – 5’15") very
well and the imaginative quiet choral
passage that follows is done with equal
sensitivity.
The Leighton Te
Deum, here receiving its first recording,
is an interesting and arresting piece.
It starts in a subdued mood but Leighton
ups the tempo before too long and the
singers articulate the punchy rhythms
very well. The last few pages are much
broader, building to an impressive climax
on the words "O Lord, in Thee have
I trusted." The piece includes
an important organ part and this is
a good time to mention the excellent
contribution, in a variety of styles,
by Roger Judd.
Judd was at one time
the Master of the Music at St. Michael’s
College, Tenbury, the very place for
which Britten wrote his Antiphon
in 1956. This setting of words by George
Herbert makes imaginative use of three
distinct groups of singers. It’s very
well done here. To close the recital,
we hear another first recording. Malcolm
Singer’s Jubilate was commissioned
by the choir to open the concert with
which they celebrated their fortieth
anniversary in January 1999. It’s an
exciting and resourceful piece for unaccompanied
choir and it makes a strong impression,
especially when sung as well as it is
here.
This recital is something
of a mixed bag, then. I can’t give it
a wholly unqualified recommendation,
much though I would like to. But there’s
much here that will give pleasure and
the enterprising programme is one of
the more thoughtfully devised that I’ve
come across on CD for quite some time.
John Quinn
St. Albans Chamber Choir/David Hansell. 
