Recently I reviewed
a disc of Howard Goodall’s new work, Eternal Light. A Requiem,
also performed by the choir of Oxford choir under Stephen Darlington.
As will be evident from the recording dates above, the present
disc comprises some of their earlier recordings of his music.
In an introductory
note Richard Coles refers to a Goodall ‘house style’, which
he characterises as “undeniably English; lyrical and tuneful,
with hints of the contemporary rhythms and harmonies that
are the inheritance from Goodall’s work in popular forms.”
I think that judgement is quite valid. I have some reservations
about Goodall’s music, which I expressed in writing about
Eternal Light, chiefly that his melodies are often
rather short-breathed and the instrumental accompaniments
to his choral music are not always the most interesting one
has heard. However, there is no denying that his music is
accessible and appealing and that view is reinforced by this
present disc.
The most substantial
work in the programme is the Missa Aedis Christi, which
Goodall wrote for this choir, in which he had been a music
scholar, in 1993 and which was first performed by them on
Ascension Sunday in the following year. Since listening to
this performance I’ve discovered from the Faber Music website
that the Mass was revised in 1999 and is now described as
being scored for an accompaniment by organ or by organ with
string orchestra but we hear the original version for organ
and string quintet here. It’s interesting to learn that Goodall
has now expanded the scoring because in his own booklet notes
on the music he refers to the “small and dry acoustic of Christ
Church” and when I was listening I wondered if the string
quintet would be audible in a larger acoustic. As it is, the
strings aren’t very prominent, even with the aid of microphones
and in the very acoustic for which the work was composed.
It’s an approachable and attractive Mass setting, well written
for voices and making good use of lively, crisp rhythms, most
notably in the engaging ‘Gloria’. The movement that caught
my ear particularly was the ‘Sanctus’, which seems to have
been the fons et origo of the whole work. Goodall tells
of being inspired by the sound of bells from various churches
while staying in a hilltop village in southern France. He
replicates the effect of those distant pealing bells in his
‘Sanctus’, which is a most imaginative piece of writing.
The set of canticles
written for the public school, Marlborough College, are also
very attractive. Goodall acknowledges his debt to the Anglican
‘Mag and Nunc’ tradition and his canticles are respectful
of that lineage. The music of the Magnificat is fluent and
pleasing, with flowing melodic contours. The Nunc Dimittis
opens with an appealing, pure treble solo, excellently sung
here by Daniel Collins, after which the material is repeated
in full harmony. The canticles have different doxologies,
the music for the Nunc Dimittis being the stronger in tone.
I don’t know if either the Mass or the canticles occupy a
regular place in the repertoire of many church or cathedral
choirs but if not they should do, for I can imagine both works
being welcomed both by singers and congregations.
In Memoriam
Anne Frank and They Were Not Here were both commissioned
for performance by an adult choir with a semi-chorus of children
– here the Sherborne School Girls Chamber Singers. The former
sets three poems, including ‘Remember’ by Christina Rosetti;
an extract from ‘North West Passage’ by Robert Louis Stevenson;
and the famous lines written in 1642 by Richard Lovelace while
awaiting execution for treason, which begin “Stone walls doe
not a prison make.” Goodall begins with an effective homophonic
setting of the Rosetti words but during the poem’s second
stanza the children’s chorus is introduced, singing the Stevenson
words simultaneously. The melody to which the Stevenson text
is set is quite haunting and the tone of the young singers
adds an additional dimension to the texture. I find that the
combination of the two sets of words works well. At 8:50 all
the forces unite to sing the Lovelace lines. Despite the circumstances
under which they were written the words are affirmative and
hopeful and Goodall responds with music that catches that
mood. In Memoriam Anne Frank is an evidently sincere
work and I think it’s an effective one.
They Were Not
Here is a setting of a single poem, by David Geraint Jones.
Jones was killed in action during the Second World War and
I infer from Goodall’s note that the lines were written during
that conflict. Goodall says that because Jones fell in battle
“his text is particularly poignant and challenging”. To be
quite honest I’m not sure how good a poem it is or if it would
have the same appeal had not the poet been a casualty of war
but it obviously resonated with Goodall, who sets it well
and with evident meaning. It’s another effective piece but
I think In Memoriam Anne Frank is the finer achievement.
Hearing this disc
relatively soon after listening to Eternal Light. A Requiem
prompts a couple of thoughts. One is that Goodall may
be a more effective composer when working on a smaller canvass.
The other is to wonder if Eternal Light, written as
recently as 2008, represents a significant advance on the
music Goodall was writing more than a decade earlier: I’m
not sure that it does. This present disc serves Goodall’s
music very well for the performances are of a uniformly high
standard. It’s an appealing collection of attractive pieces.
John Quinn
Choir of Christ
Church Cathedral; Oxford/David Goode (organ); ^Sherborne School
Girls Chamber Singers; *String Quintet (John Bradbury and Clive
Lander (violins); Ian Rowbotham (viola); Dave Bucknall (cello);
Adam Precious (bass); Stephen Darlington 
