This is a disc of contemporary settings of texts in honour or in praise of
the Virgin Mary. They are mainly by Scandinavian composers and are sung by
an all-female Norwegian choir. There is a gorgeous and jolly colour photo of
them in the booklet and there are over twenty of them. The sound can be big
and warm but also encompasses sensitivity and light. As the brief booklet
notes admit, “Mary is the saint above all others”, adding later “in Mary’s
Song she is given a voice and she is astonished and troubled by the small,
helpless saviour left in her custody”.
The standard texts for this subject include Mary’s prayer at the foot of
the cross - the
Stabat mater - a thirteenth century poem sometimes
attributed to Pope Innocent III. There is
O Magnum Mysterium - a
Christmas text about the mystery of Christ’s birth. Both of these are set by
a name new to me:
Frank Havrøy who is also one of the
producers of this CD. Also appearing here is the
Magnificat, the
words of Mary at the annunciation, words sung or said every day in every
British cathedral. There is the simple and popular prayer
Ave Maria
gratia plena and the
Salve Regina ‘Hail Queen of Mercy’, very
popularly set in the medieval and renaissance periods although the text is
probably ninth century.
The Havrøy settings — the
Magnum Mysterium and the
Stabat
Mater — top and tail the disc and centrally placed in the programme are
his
Ave Maria and the very lyrical
Salve Regina. His style
is as demonstrated by the short former motet which is deceptively simple,
diatonic and beautifully crafted. It is not especially original but
elegantly written for the voices. Intonation would be a regular challenge
but is well controlled by these voices and by the conductor whose ear for
textural balance is exemplary. These pieces are often homophonic and to my
ears the great
Liber Canticorum of Vagn Holmboe is not that far
away. In the
Salve Regina I was reminded, just a bit, of
Poulenc.
The recording gets its title from
Knut Nystedt’s setting
of
Mary’s Song - a poem by the English Christian poetess Luci Shaw.
His setting demonstrates a penchant for harmonies built around pedal points.
Nystedt climaxes the piece, in suitably dissonant style, with the poem’s
last lines “… and for him to see me mended I must see him torn”. Nystedt
didn’t want to end it there and so repeats the first half a dozen lines in a
mood of beautiful desolation. Like many of the other pieces on the CD the
tempo is slow and reflective throughout. This is the only piece on the CD in
English and for this piece only I felt that the choir’s diction let them
down somewhat.
There are two pieces by the Spaniard
Javier Busto. You
might think when the
Magnificat starts that it is a setting ‘in
alternatim’; that is with plainchant on alternative verses. However this
does not quite work out as the chant develops into a sort of free monody to
contrast with the homophonic writing. There are also changes of tempo and
the whole composition is beautifully structured. Busto’s setting of the
Salve Regina also alternates monody with homophony. To give it an
even more ‘antique’ flavour there are several passages of great beauty with
rising and falling first inversion harmonies.
The only other work on this rather short CD is by Canadian composer and
choral conductor
Ramona Luengen. Her
Salve Regina
makes a hat trick of settings on this CD and it’s the one I will probably
return to most. It has a calm ethereal quality coupled with wide-ranging,
lyrical lines especially in the top soprano. It must be an absolute joy to
sing.
The CD comes in the now quite common, cardboard casing. The booklet has
photographs with all of the texts translated into English and Norwegian. The
recording is clear and beautifully evocative.
Gary Higginson
