Patrick Hawes studied
music at Durham and went on to teach
music at Pangbourne College before becoming
a full-time composer. He has been composer-in-residence
at Charterhouse and wrote the music
for the film, ‘The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie’.
The present disc, which was recorded
in 2002, forms a showcase both for Hawes’
talents and the talents of his own choir,
Conventus. The programme consists of
9 shorter items plus the more substantial
variations on Stanford’s part-song ‘The
Blue Bird’.
The disc opens with
‘Quanta Qualia’, a setting for choir
and orchestra of a short Latin poem
written by his brother Andrew, who was
responsible for the texts of many of
the pieces on the disc. The choir’s
diction is disappointing, but the sound
is stunning, with haunting repetitions
of choral chords over a long arching
melody in the orchestra. Conventus make
a very clean and pure English sound
which suits Hawes’ music well.
In ‘Swan’, the dialogue
of solo violin and cello over throbbing
strings is intended by Hawes to evoke
the tranquillity of summer afternoons,
but for this reviewer the piece also
had unnerving reminiscences of Sondheim’s
‘Send in the Clowns’.
‘Italian Song’ sets
a text by Guarini originally used by
Monteverdi in his 8th book
of Madrigals. Opening with a lovely
alto solo before being taken up by the
whole choir, the piece is very romantic
in feel and does not really reflect
the pain of the poem’s suffering lover,
though, part of the way through, Hawes
creates music of heartbreaking loveliness
on the words Dolcissimo uscignolo
(Sweetest Nightingale).
‘O Waly Waly’ uses
the traditional words and melody in
a new arrangement by Hawes. Again the
orchestration and textures are stunningly
lovely. But there is little sense of
the pain and bitterness inherent in
the words, just the enjoyment of sound
for its own sake.
‘Dressed in Blue’ is
the first unaccompanied piece and is
reminiscent of the close harmonies beloved
of the King's Singers. ‘Pavane’, which
comes from the film ‘The Incredible
Mrs. Ritchie’, is an attractive little
piece for guitar with reminiscences
of ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’.
‘The Waters of Love’
is from Hawes dramatic cantata, ‘The
Wedding at Cana’ which was premiered
in 1990 at Pangbourne College. Written
for just 2 voices and harp, it evoked,
for me, memories of ‘Impossible Dream’
from ‘Man of La Mancha’.
Hawes has a gift for
writing stunning over-arching melodies,
rich with yearning and longing. These,
combined with his stunning orchestrations,
mean that the pieces on this disc are
undeniably lovely. Their atmosphere
and eternal longing would not seem out
of place in one of those compilations
entitle ‘Agnus Dei’ or ‘Sanctus’. Taken
individually, each piece is charming,
but nearly all of them partake of the
same mood and after listening to them
one after another, I felt rather sated
and longed for something to break the
mood; something which added greater
depth.
The final piece on
the disc, the Blue Bird Variations,
signally fails to add any depth to the
programme. Written for choir and orchestra,
it presents Stanford’s original with
some unnecessary added orchestral accompaniment
and then a series of five variations.
It provides a mood picture based on
a fragment of the original. These variants
are titled ‘Lake’, ‘Bird’, ‘Sky’, ‘Moment’
and ‘Image’. The chorus are generally
restricted to Stanford-esque homophony
with the orchestra adding commentary.
The piece is full of lovely moments,
but for me these failed to add up to
a coherent whole. Only rarely is the
atmosphere of melancholy longing broken.
Hawes is well supported
by his musicians. Conventus make a stunning
sound and the English Chamber Orchestra
give good support. Soprano soloist Janet
Coxwell makes light of some of Hawes’
stratospherically high lines.
Hawes is undoubtedly
a fine composer and I can see individual
pieces from this disc becoming popular.
But taken as a whole, the programme
does not really do justice to Hawes
as it seems to showcase just one aspect
of his talent. There is only so much
melancholy yearning that I can take,
no matter how attractive it is.
Robert Hugill
Conventus