No doubt there will be plenty of recordings issued in 2012
to celebrate - or cash in on, the cynic might say - the Diamond
Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. This is John Rutter’s contribution.
You may ask, what have Schubert’s psalm setting or a movement
from the Brahms Requiem to do with the British royal family?
It may be similarly objected that a piece such as the one by
John Tavener has little to do with jubilee celebrations. After
all, its sole connection with royalty is that it was sung at
the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. The answer
to such questions lies in the title of the disc. “Music
on Royal Occasions” allows John Rutter to cast his net
wide. In fact, all but two of the pieces included here have
been performed either at a royal wedding or funeral between
1947 - the marriage of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh -
and 2011 - the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The two exceptions are the piece by Richard Rodney Bennett,
which was written for the diamond wedding anniversary of the
Queen and Prince Philip, and the extract from Britten’s
opera, written to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.
In case you were wondering, the Schubert was sung at the 1960
wedding of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones while
the Brahms was heard at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen
Mother in 2002: I didn’t know those last two facts but
the booklet helpfully tells us which piece was heard at which
royal event.
Both of the new pieces written for the 2011 Royal Wedding are
included. Rutter’s own offering is a nice, readily accessible
piece. To be frank - and I speak as an admirer of Rutter’s
music - it’s a trifle disappointing in that it’s
pretty predictably Rutter-ish. Then, to be fair, an occasion
such as the Royal Wedding is one when a composer probably ought
to write something that is readily appreciated by a worldwide
audience. As I wrote recently, when reviewing a disc of music by Paul Mealor, I’ve
revised my view of his Ubi caritas since I first heard
it. At the Royal Wedding I thought it a somewhat grey piece
but hearing it again on the Mealor disc I thought it came over
better. However, I clearly recall thinking when I first heard
it that it wasn’t a patch on the Maurice Duruflé
setting and hearing the two one after the other merely confirms
that view. The Mealor piece is nice and sincere but Duruflé’s
fluent setting is simply inspired.
New to me was the Richard Rodney Bennett piece and I’m
delighted to make its acquaintance. Written for unaccompanied
choir it’s a very fine setting of the famous passage from
St. Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians - ‘If I speak
with the tongues of men and angels …’ It receives
a very fine performance, as do all the
other pieces on the programme. It’s enterprising to include
this unfamiliar piece and it’s equally enterprising to
include the extract from Britten’s Gloriana.
Soprano Elin Manahan Thomas is on hand to sing the solos in
the Mozart and Handel selections. She sings both very well,
though, to my taste, her ornamentation in the Handel is a bit
too florid. Incidentally, the Handel is also distinguished by
excellent silvery trumpet solos by Simon Cox.
The Brahms piece is given in English. I’d much rather
hear it in German but I can understand why it’s done in
English here since that’s how it’s done as a separate
Anglican anthem - and, presumably, that’s how it was given
at the Queen Mother’s funeral. The Elgar piece that follows
is the prologue to the oratorio The Apostles and it,
too, is often heard as a separate anthem. I was mildly disappointed
to hear it done here with organ accompaniment - though Andrew
Lucas plays splendidly. It’s a bit illogical to do the
Brahms with orchestra and the Elgar without; I can only think
that the Aurora Orchestra isn’t sufficiently big for Elgar’s
scoring.
So, to anyone who might glance at this CD on a shelf and dismiss
it as ‘just another Jubilee potboiler’ I’d
say: think again. I must honest and say that’s what I
expected when I saw the disc advertised but I was wrong. This
selection is a bit different and a bit more thoughtful and reflective
than one might expect. Perhaps one should coin a phrase and
say ‘don’t judge a CD by its cover’. The performances
are all expertly done and the recorded sound and documentation
are very good. This is a very good and well-conceived musical
celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.
John Quinn
Contents list
John RUTTER (b. 1945)
This is the day [4:24]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
(1756-1791) Laudate Dominum (Vesperae solennes de
confessore, K.399) [4:00]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Psalm 23 [5:05]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
How lovely is thy dwelling place [5:28]
Sir Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
The spirit of the Lord is upon me (The Apostles) [7:38]
Sir William McKIE (1901-1984)
We wait for thy loving kindness [2:59]
Paul MEALOR (b. 1975)
Ubi caritas [3:53]
Maurice DURUFLÉ (1902-1986)
Ubi caritas [2:30]
Sir William HARRIS (1883-1973)
Holy is the true light [1:53]
John TAVENER (b. 1944)
Song for Athene [5:43]
Sir Richard Rodney BENNETT
(b. 1936) These Three [5:24]
Sir William WALTON (1902-1983)
Set me as a seal upon thy heart [3:14]
Sir Henry Walford DAVIES
(1869-1941) God be in my head [1:38]
Irish Folk Tune (arr. Rutter) I would be true [2:57]
Sir William WALTON Touch
her soft lips and part (Henry V) [1:33]
Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-1976)
Choral Dances from Gloriana [9:25]
Georg Fredric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Let the bright seraphim and Let their celestial concerts
all unite (Samson) [6:10]
Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano); Andrew Lucas (organ) 