Harry BRAMMA (b. 1936)
The Church Music of Dr. Harry Bramma
Alleluya. This is the day (2009) [7:45]
The souls of the righteous (1987, rev. 2005) [3:31]
O salutaris hostia (1999) [1:42]
Tantum ergo Sacramentum (1999) [3:03]
Benedicite, omnia opera (2010) [11:11]
O salutaris hostia (2005) [1:44]
Tantum ergo Sacramentum (2005) [3:03]
It is high time to awake out of sleep [2:45]
People, look East [2:04]
God is light. A sequence for Candlemas (1982) [2:55]
I will go unto the altar of God [5;25]
I will receive the cup of salvation [4;22]
Be filled with the spirit (1989) [1:10]
The Kontakion of the Departed [3:39]
Late have I loved thee [2:52]
The Choir of All Saints, Margaret Street, London/Paul Brough.
Henry Parkes (organ)
rec. 18-19 March 2011, All Saints, Margaret Street. DDD
English Texts and Latin texts; English translations included
PRIORY PRCD1060 [58:49]
Harry Bramma has been a most influential figure in English church
music over the last five decades. His career is detailed in the note by
Nicholas Frayling that accompanies this CD, the main points of which
I’ll summarise. After studies at Oxford University he embarked on a
teaching career but his life took a decisively different turn in 1963 when
Christopher Robinson, then the Organist of Worcester Cathedral, invited him
to become his Assistant. Two years later Bramma also became Director of
Music at the King’s School, Worcester. His work there and at the
cathedral - and that of Christopher Robinson - was instrumental in the
development of what was, by any standards, a pretty exceptional cohort of
students at the school at that time, including Nicholas Cleobury, Stephen
Cleobury, Andrew Millington, Jonathan Nott, Adrian Partington and Geoffrey
Webber, as well as others who have also gone on to have distinguished
musical careers. Bramma went to Southwark Cathedral as Organist and Director
of Music in 1976 from whence he moved in 1989 to become Director of the
Royal School of Church Music, retiring in 1998. It appears that his
retirement has been anything but quiet for his has continued to compose and,
it seems, regularly pops up in church organ lofts in London as a welcome
guest organist. The booklet contains a substantial list of the names of
colleagues, friends and former students who have helped to underwrite the
production of this disc; the list in itself speaks volumes for
Bramma’s beneficial influence.
During his period as Director of the RSCM Bramma served as Organist
and Director of Music of All Saints, Margaret Street, believing strongly
that someone in his position at the RSCM ought to have regular involvement
in church music at the “sharp end”: what a wise thought! So
it’s highly appropriate that his former choir should have been the one
to record this selection of his church music. In fact no less than seven of
the pieces in this programme were composed for the choir while three more
were written for the choir of Southwark Cathedral.
The music included here was all written between 1982 and 2010. It
is, without exception, very well crafted and falls pleasingly on the ear.
Bramma clearly has deep experience and understanding of church choirs and
their role in the liturgy. Moreover, it’s evident that he has a fine
feel for the import of words in the liturgy. There is a discriminating
choice of texts in the programme of this CD. I was struck also by the expert
way in which in a couple of the works Bramma selected words from a number of
religious texts - mainly from scripture or hymns - and weaves them together
into a satisfying and seamless whole. Prime examples of this facility are to
be found in Alleluya. This is the day and I will go unto the altar
of God.
Among other pieces that I particularly admired was I will receive the cup
of salvation. This is primarily a setting of a poem by St. Teresa of Avila
and it’s lovely. I was equally impressed by The souls of the righteous.
The words, from the Book of Wisdom, are wonderful and Bramma responds to them
with eloquent music. The Benedicite was written for inclusion on this disc.
The canticle is extensive and varied in its imagery and it’s a challenge
for a composer to let his music move, as it were, with the frequently changing
images. It seems to me that Bramma’s music reflects the varying aspects
of this exhortation to praise very successfully. Some of the choral writing
sounds pretty challenging - without access to scores and relying on the ear
alone, I fancy this may be the most difficult piece to master on the disc
but Paul Brough’s well-schooled choir surmounts all its difficulties
with seeming ease.
Most of the pieces include organ accompaniment. One that
doesn’t, unsurprisingly, is The Kontakion of the
Departed, Bramma’s own arrangement for mixed choir of Kiev chant.
Another a cappella setting is It is high time to awake out of
sleep, an Advent introit. Here Bramma manages to reflect the
prayer’s movement from darkness towards the light most effectively in
a short space of time.
Late have I loved thee, a gently radiant setting of
well-known words of St. Augustine, makes a very satisfying conclusion to the
programme.
The choir is not large - 4 sopranos, two altos, 2 tenors and three
basses - but they sing well and sensitively. When required to do so - for
example, towards the end of Alleluya. This is the day - they
can produce a good body of sound. Paul Brough, a highly experienced choral
conductor, has clearly trained them well. Henry Parkes plays the
church’s four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ. The instrument was
installed in 1910 though I believe it has undergone some re-modelling over
the years. It’s clearly a fine organ and Parkes makes the most of its
resources. All Saints is a Victorian Gothic church completed in 1859. I
don’t know how large it is but this recording suggests it has good
acoustics; the sound is very good.
This CD is a fine tribute to an influential figure in the recent
story of English church music. All the music on it was new to me but
I’m very glad to have had the opportunity to discover it in these
excellent recordings.
John Quinn
A fine tribute to an influential figure in the recent story of English church music.