It is quite some time
since I last heard Manchester Cathedral
Choir, maybe twenty years, and that
was on Choral Evensong. Certainly the
sound they produce now is a great improvement
on that time, and the credit for this
must go to Christopher Stokes. Even
so the disc is uneven, the Stanford
coming off much better than the Elgar,
and sounding much more to the choir's
liking and capabilities - or is it heresy
to suggest that the former was the better
composer in these types of works at
least?
The three anthems,
and Beati quorum via in particular,
are well known and receive sound performances.
Coelos ascendit in particular suits
the ambience of this venue and has a
very justifiable rejoicing tone. The
wonderful Evening Service in A also
benefits from an excellent organ accompaniment
and good firm singing. The solo item
of A Song of Peace is given to the full
trebles - surely there are girls' voices
here? - and very nicely sung, though
one could quibble about the lack of
Ds and Ts at the end of words. The hymn
and final anthem in this part are sympathetically,
and where necessary, joyfully sung.
The Elgar pieces are
a very different matter. Admittedly
they were written for much larger forces
than here available, and for orchestral
rather than organ accompaniment, but
there seems here a certain hesitancy,
one could almost say insecurity, in
the performances. The extracts from
"The Light of Life" are the worst affected,
with the treble offering the most successful.
"The Spirit of the Lord" is of course
the prologue to "The Apostles" and receives
a decent enough rendition but without
the enthusiasm from the choir which
is so evident in the Stanford. "Give
unto the Lord", being a full blown anthem,
has probably the best of the singing,
but is marred by the trebles’ tendency
to sing flat.
John Portwood
Manchester Cathedral Choir/Christopher Stokes.
