Tomorrow shall be my dancing day [3:37]
Epitaph (Here shadow lies) [4:13]
If God build not the house [8:14]
Magnificat (Windsor Service) [4:38]
Nunc Dimittis (Windsor Service) [3:52]
The Transfiguration [5:28]
Te Deum (Windsor Service) [9:25]
Jubilate (Windsor Service) [2:21]
David BRIGGS (b.1962)
Pange Lingua [6:19]
Organ Improvisation on Tantum Ergo [4:54]
Messe pour Saint-Sulpice [26:55]
Vasari Singers/Jeremy Backhouse
Jeremy Filsell (organ) and David Briggs (organ)
rec. Tonbridge School Chapel, Kent, UK, 15-17 February 2013
NAXOS 8.573111 [79:54]
This lovely CD was not at all what I expected. The image I had
of church music was of a genre that is conventional and safe. Neither
composer represented here falls into place on either count. I suspect
many a church choir would see these pieces as very challenging.
The scene is set with Filsell's Tomorrow shall be my dancing
day which is lively and thoroughly entertaining and makes it
obvious that the Vasari Singers are a very classy group indeed.
The Epitaph which follows is also enjoyable and musically
interesting including some lovely effects for double chorus. If
God build not the house is again lively and has a positively
triumphant opening. The organ part is not for the fainthearted.
Here it is in safe hands, those of the composer himself, who is
a virtuoso organist of the highest standard. The prayerful central
section tickles the ear with unexpected harmonies. This is a big
piece in every respect except length: it has a real sense of structure
as well as scale. The ending is appropriately quiet and contemplative,
setting the words 'And draw the curtain to his sleep'. The registrations
chosen by Filsell on the organ in quiet passages draw attention
to the first class engineering of this spacious and true stereo
recording: I say true because it sounds believable and accurate,
high praise coming from me. Filsell's canticle Magnificat
is the first of four selections from his so called Windsor Service,
and includes a highly ornamented organ part. One cannot but note
the composer's sensitivity to the words and he varies the music
substantially given its short duration of less than five minutes.
The canticle Nunc Dimittis treads slowly from quiet to loud
music, again with extensive ornamentation in the organ part. The
ending is triumphant. The Transfiguration is mostly slow
music punctuated by a mixture of decorative figurations and dramatic
outbursts from the organ. The biggest of Filsell's pieces on this
disc is the Te Deum. In this and the following Jubilate
the composer aims for brevity and in common with the preceding pair
of canticles the organ indulges in yet more decorative ornamentation.
There are a lot of words to fit into a mere nine and a half minutes
- think how long Berlioz and Bruckner took - but it never sounds
rushed. Again Filsell displays much skill and imagination in reflecting
the meaning of the words and uses the full dynamic range of these
thirty excellent voices. The Jubilate contains appropriately
joyful sounds from singers and organ ending with haloes of sound.
Briggs is no less absorbing a creative artist. The Pange lingua
is a cappella, a commission from these singers. The crunching
opening chord makes one really sit up. A beautiful, lyrical outpouring
follows making many demands on the singers. The linked organ improvisation
is serenely beautiful. The final work is also the most substantial.
Briggs' Missa pour Saint-Sulpice is almost twenty-seven minutes
long: a big work with grand gestures but also much uncertainty.
To my ears this music is not a confident expression of faith but
a quest for understanding. The Kyrie is introduced by the
organ with the choral appeals for mercy expressed quietly, quite
unlike many mass settings. The Gloria proper, after the intonation,
is introduced by the organ - and I should note that here too the
organist is the composer, like Filsell, Briggs is a superb musician
with a reputation to match. The Et in terra pax is a rather
serious first statement before a big choral outburst on Laudamus
te. Domine Deus is more pensive than confident. Again like Filsell,
Briggs is very aware of the words and has a definite take on the
meaning. The music grows more impassioned towards the Quoniam
which is impressive and tense. The four lines of the Sanctus
text move carefully from muted praise towards a single cry of 'Hosanna
in Excelsis.' This shows remarkable restraint when one considers
how many 'Hosannas' get multiple repetitions elsewhere in the choral
literature. This is a clever compositional ploy injecting a different
feeling into the words. The Benedictus is quiet and contemplative
with a muted second Hosanna not at all like Bach or Vivaldi.
The Agnus Dei is very obviously an appeal for mercy: it grows
in intensity through repetition and finally subsides to the last
call for peace. Here Briggs gives the high voices a striking line
to close the work.
I enjoyed this disc enormously and would urge music-lovers to buy
it at once and wash away their preconceptions. I can't say what
it will do for their sins but it will grace their listening time.
Dave Billinge
Previous review: John
Quinn
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