George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Song for St Cecilia’s Day [54:09]
Concerto Grosso in B flat, Op. 6 No. 7 [14:02]
Look Down, Harmonious Saint [11:44]
Mary Bevan (soprano); Ed Lyon (tenor)
Ludus Baroque/Richard Neville-Towle
rec. Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, 8-10 August 2011
DELPHIAN DCD34110 [79:55]
Ludus Baroque are a once-a-year outfit who come together every
August to give two performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Their
conductor, Richard Neville-Towle, is director of music at the Canongate
Kirk, where they give their performances, and the players and singers are
drawn from a range of highly respected bodies such as the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra, the Sixteen and the Monteverdi Choir. They’ve built quite a
reputation for themselves in the limited confines of Scotland’s
capital, but their recent recording of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast for Delphian (I was at the live performance) has helped their name to go semi-global.
They follow up that very well received recording with another of
Handel’s large-scale Cecilian Odes.
The first thing you notice about the recording is the exquisite
quality of the sound. The Delphian engineers have done an outstanding job of
capturing the acoustic of Canongate Kirk, placing the listener right in the
midst of the sound rather than at some distance in the pews. This brings
every aspect of the music alive. Each instrumental detail gleams,
particularly the pungent quality of the winds and the lovely lilt of the
strings, but there is sufficient sense of ensemble so that each component
feels as if it is pulling towards a greater goal. The nature of
Dryden’s text means that there are plenty of opportunities for
soloists to shine, and shine they do. “The trumpet’s loud
clangour” rings out brilliantly, supported by natural timps, the
“soft complaining flute” has a slightly pathetic lilt to it,
while the “sharp violins” are flexible and agile in conveying
“depths of pains and height of passion”. “Jubal’s
chorded shell” caused Handel more problems, but the cello playing that
accompanies it here is sensitive and warm. The highlight of this whole
section is the one celebrating the organ (track 9) which turns into a
sublime duet for a gentle chamber organ and the soprano. Mary Bevan sings
this, and everything else, with divine purity, touching wonderful heights
with her crystal clear voice: a delight to listen to. Ed Lyon’s tenor
sounds a little more pale than I have heard him elsewhere, and he
doesn’t sound quite within his comfort zone. He manages the coloratura
leaps with plenty of skill, but the voice lacks a little colour in his
arias. He also sings Look down, harmonious saint with good phrasing
and understanding of the words, but here too he seems to lack the final edge
of comfort and fullness.
Still, this doesn’t detract too far from a very fine
performance, which is crowned by the brief appearances of the chorus, who
create an excellent impression when we hear them. They are clean, brisk and
open at the beginning, the men intoning beautifully on their bass line,
“the diapason closing full in man”, and they summon martial
excitement for “the trumpet’s loud clangour”. The whole
rises to a superb contrapuntal climax in the final chorus when Dryden
invokes the ultimate power of music when, with the sounding of the last
trumpet, “Music shall untune the sky”. The orchestra support the
vocalists brilliantly throughout, and Neville-Towle shapes the whole
enterprise with the skill of someone who knows and understands this music
very well indeed. The concerto grosso feels a little slight in comparison
with the works around it, but it is beautifully played, and it benefits from
the “lived-in” acoustic, giving just enough bloom on the sound
while being close enough to provide intimacy.
In many ways this sort of release is exactly what Delphian, a
Scottish label, is for. They are taking a local, hugely talented musical
enterprise and making it deservedly much more widely known. While
Delphian’s releases may be grounded in their local, Scottish context,
with such quality releases they are rapidly taking on an international level
of significance.
Simon Thompson
A local, hugely talented musical enterprise made deservedly much more widely known.