|
|
alternatively
CD:
MDT
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
|
Paul MEALOR (b. 1975)
A Tender Light
Ubi caritas [3:53]
Locus iste [6:32]
She walks in beauty [4:49]
Ave Maria [7:04]
Now sleeps the crimson petal (Four madrigals on Rose texts) [12:49]
Stabat Mater [23:26]
Salvator mundi: Greater Love [6:20]
O vos omnes [5:20]
Wherever You Are* [3:00]
Tenebrae; * Alexander Mason (organ)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Nigel Short
rec. 11-14 July 2011, St. Jude-on-the-Hill Church, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London; *12 December 2011, St Giles, Cripplegate, London
Original texts and English translations included. Notes in English and Welsh
DECCA 4764814 [73:54]
|
|
In terms of exposure for his music Paul Mealor enjoyed something
of an annus mirabilis in 2011. In April, at the request
of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, his Ubi caritas
was sung at their wedding and was heard by a huge global audience.
Towards the end of the year his song, Wherever You Are
was featured in the BBC television series in which Gareth Malone
formed the Military Wives Choir. Their recording of Mealor’s
song, which sets words taken from some of the letters between
the wives and their husbands on active service in the UK Armed
Forces, caught the imagination of the British public and sold
in such numbers that it topped the UK pop charts at Christmas.
Both pieces are included here.
When I heard Ubi caritas during the royal wedding I
thought it was a somewhat grey piece. I now think that was an
unfair judgement or maybe it’s just that the performance by
Tenebrae gives the music a stronger profile? It’s a re-working
of the music for a Tennyson setting, Now sleeps the crimson
petal, which we shall encounter later on in this programme
in its original version as the first of four pieces in the eponymous
cycle. It’s most interesting to compare the two pieces: essentially,
what Mealor did was to put the music into a higher key for Ubi
caritas and, at the very end, a treble soloist sings a
fragment of the Ubi caritas plainchant. Here the same
soloist as sang at the wedding is used. I think the music itself
actually fits the liturgical words rather better than the Tennyson
text for which it was originally written.
At this point I think I should put my cards on the table and
say that I don’t think Paul Mealor has been well served by the
ordering of the music on this disc. There are far too many pieces
following each other that are of a very similar stamp, which
is to say the music proceeds homophonically, very often in block
chords, and at a slow pace. It’s sincere and sometimes, as in
the case, of Ave Maria, rather beautiful but one can
have too much of a good thing and eventually I found myself
yearning for some counterpoint or for music in a swifter tempo
and, frankly, for some relief from block chord a cappella
choral music. Swifter music eventually arrives when we reach
the third of the Now sleeps the crimson petal set,
‘Upon a bank with roses’. This is an attractive setting in which
the singers’ music suggests the sounds made by a trickling brook.
However, one has had to wait rather a long time for this element
of variety.
To be fair, the preceding tracks contain some good music: the
aforementioned Ave Maria, for example, strikes me as
a sincere, prayerful setting and the performance by Tenebrae
is as beautiful as the music itself. The last of the four Now
sleeps the crimson petal songs, ‘A Spotless Rose’, is also
a good setting; it is described by the composer as the emotional
heart of the cycle. We are back to slow block harmonies once
again at the start but eventually some independent melodic lines
break free and to good effect.
The main work on the disc is Stabat Mater, which Mealor
tells us was written at a difficult point in his life. Unsurprisingly,
therefore, it’s an intense piece, as befits the text. It consists
of four movements which are played without a break. In the first,
yet again, slow block harmonies prevail. This is grave music,
which the choir sings unaccompanied. Especially remarkable here
is the depth of the bass part. After 4:15 Mealor has set all
of the text assigned to this music but he then repeats most
of what we’ve already heard, which strikes me as a bit superfluous.
The orchestra, which I take to be fairly small, then joins the
choir for the remaining three movements. The second movement
features an important soprano solo. Grace Davidson sings with
lovely tone but, even when listening through headphones, I found
it very difficult to make out all the words she sings. The music
of this movement – and the performance it receives – is obviously
deeply felt but I had an uneasy feeling that the material was
being stretched a little too far. The third movement takes the
form of a passacaglia and the tempo is vigorous. There’s real
fire in this music, which is enhanced by Tenebrae’s dynamic
singing. The fourth movement revisits material from the preceding
movements, chiefly the first. A big climax is attained at ‘Paradisi
gloria’ before the quiet, harp-decorated close.
Salvator mundi: Greater Love is an interesting piece.
Mealor deploys an SATB solo quartet which sings words in Latin
while the choir sings a different text in English. To spice
things up the quartet’s music is in G minor while the choir’s
material is in G major. The contrast of texture between quartet
and choir is good and is enhanced by the ardour of the quartet’s
contribution.
At the very end of the disc comes a ‘bonus track’, namely Wherever
You Are with Grace Davidson singing the solo. Mealor has
written a nice tune for this piece but I don’t think that was
the real reason it became a smash ‘hit’. Rather it was the context
and the fact that the wives of serving servicemen were singing
the piece to and for their loved ones that made it take off
commercially. The performance on this disc is a more sophisticated
one – not that Gareth Malone’s choir lacked polish – but somehow
the very sophistication is a bit misplaced: it becomes an art
song rather than a song from the heart. Give me the Military
Wives Choir any day.
I’m sorry that I’ve not been able to respond with more enthusiasm
to this disc. Perhaps the contents don’t represent the full
spectrum of Paul Mealor’s compositional style. There is some
very nice music here and there’s absolutely no doubt of the
composer’s sincerity. This is probably a disc better dipped
into rather than listened to all in one go, as the reviewer
is almost bound to do. That said, I can only report my impressions
and, after listening several times, I find a worrying similarity
about much of the music. I’m sure this disc will be a great
commercial success and I hope it is: it’s excellent that a living
composer, who has something worthwhile to say in his music,
is getting this exposure and it’s also important that people
get to know him for more than just two short pieces. The performances
by Tenebrae are excellent, as one would expect from this source.
John Quinn
|
|