William Turner in common
with many composers in English music
history is largely neglected because
of the greatness of his contemporary.
In Turner's case the eclipsing contemporary
was Henry Purcell (1659–1695). He was
one of the composers who was active
at the time of the Restoration, which
began in 1660 after Oliver Cromwell’s
Commonwealth. During this period church
music was banned from English cathedrals.
A restoration in music was needed, just
like the political restoration of the
monarchy.
Turner started his
career as a treble in Christ Church
in Oxford, but moved to London to sing
in Westminster Abbey, together with
John Blow and Pelham Humfrey. After
his voice broke he became Master of
the Choristers at Lincoln Cathedral.
In 1672 he returned to London, where
he was active as composer and singer.
As an alto he sang on the stage as well
as in church, in particular St Paul's
Cathedral (1683-1699) and Westminster
Abbey again (from 1699). Although he
grew very old most of his oeuvre dates
from before 1700.
According to Geoffrey
Webber there are several reasons why
his musical output has never become
standard church repertoire. No collected
edition of Turner's music is available.
In addition, Turner's anthems "contain
comparatively little writing for trebles,
and include almost no 'full anthems',
i.e. settings predominantly for full
choir. (...) Moreover, as with many
other London verse anthems of the period,
the sometimes long and taxing solo parts
for the lower voices (counter-tenor
downwards) may have been better suited
to Turner and his London colleagues
than the provincial lay-clerks of the
period. … This recording presents a
cross-section of Turner's sacred music,
ranging from small-scale liturgical
works to one of his grandest creations,
the Te Deum and Jubilate in D, and is
the fruit of an editorial collaboration
with Peter Seymour (University of York)
and Bryan White (University of Leeds)."
This collaboration has resulted in a
very interesting disc which gives additional
insight into the musical world of the
Restoration in England.
The Te Deum and Jubilate
are part of the Morning Service in D,
which dates from 1696, and was written
for the annual celebrations of St Cecilia's
Day in London. In the previous years
the settings had been written by Henry
Purcell (1694) and John Blow (1695).
The Service can be interpreted as a
musical tribute to Henry Purcell, as
his influence is audible in several
instances and Turner apparently deliberately
refers to the setting by Purcell of
two years before. The scoring is also
comparable, with two trumpets, strings
and bc. The solo parts are sung by members
of the choir and by the additional soloists
mentioned in the track-list. On the
whole – here and in the other pieces
on this disc – the voices from the choir
do blend better than the soloists from
outside the choir. In particular in
sections from the Te Deum they use a
bit too much vibrato and tend to overdo
things a little. The performance as
such is good, though, and there are
many places where Turner shows his talent
for expressing words in music. "O Lord,
save thy people" is especially fine
in this respect.
All other pieces are
with basso continuo only – with the
exception of 'The Queen shall rejoice',
which was written for the coronation
of Queen Anne in 1702, and which is
for choir a cappella. It is a sign of
Turner's reputation that he also was
asked to write two anthems for the coronation
of James II in 1685, which unfortunately
are lost. Interesting also is the anthem
'The Lord is righteous', dating from
around 1700, which has an obbligato
part for the organ, perhaps featuring
the new organ which Bernard Smith had
built for St Paul's.
Turner's works as recorded
on this disc show his versatility and
his individual dealing with harmony.
In several places it is used to highlight
specific elements in the text, like
in "he hath scattered the proud in the
imagination of their hearts" from the
Magnificat. He also uses the false relations
which are so typical of English church
music of the 17th century.
Although I prefer performances
of this kind of repertoire by all-male
cathedral or college choirs I am very
positive about this recording. The Choir
of Gonville and Caius College is a fine
choir, which is technically reliable
and sings with flair and enthusiasm.
The Yorkshire Baroque Solists give excellent
support and Thomas Hewitt Jones realises
the obbligato organ part in 'The Lord
is righteous' very well.
All in all I recommend
this disc without hesitation. Considering
the lack of recordings of Turner's oeuvre
this recording is very important, and
the quality of the music justifies the
efforts of everyone involved. I sincerely
hope more of Turner's music shall be
recorded – and performed live! – in
the future.
Johan van Veen
for details
Julia Doyle (soprano); William Purefroy,
William Towers (alto); Paul Thompson (tenor);
Daniel Jordan (bass) 
