One look at the head-note
will show that there’s an unusually
broad compositional breadth to this
conspicuously successful disc. It reaches
back to Elgar’s Op.2, the three anthems
he wrote after having succeeded his
father as organist at St George’s Worcester,
and as far forward as the 1914 Psalm
setting Give Unto the Lord. That later
setting brims with power and confidence
but has a characteristically meditative
central panel as well that reflects,
with perfect simplicity, Elgar’s sense
of contrast, colour and drama. The early
anthems demonstrate his melodic gift
heightened by a kind of innocent delicacy
and in two of the settings real beauty
of utterance. The Ave Maria is particularly
fine and in this performance the tonal
blend of the choir succeeds in heightening
its beauty of expression. If anything
Ave maris stella is just as fine, maybe
even finer, with the solo voice imbued
with a touching refinement.
Whether in Latin or
in English, whether for contemplative
or for grand state occasions, Elgar’s
technical control, and his command of
emotive potential, remains paramount.
Thus O hearken Thou, a setting written
for George V’s coronation in 1911 is
very much, as the Abbey organist of
the time Sir Frederick Bridge put it,
full of "reverent supplication."
But it’s Great is the Lord that more
certainly catches the ear. Written the
following year this ten-minute setting
of Psalm XLVIII is an anthem scored
for six-part choir and bass solo (well
taken here). It has an effective (and
indeed quixotically) quicksilver quality,
with harmonic richness, jaunty freedom
and maestoso swagger all held in apposite
balance. The 1897 Te deum laudamus shows
Elgar’s accustomed confidence in his
handling of material – it’s also the
piece that comes nearest Imperial jaw
jutting – and one of the pleasures of
the disc, aside from the strong musical
virtues of the performances, is to be
aware of musical juxtapositions such
as this piece and, say, the moving compression
of the 1909 Go Song of Mine. This was
a Dante Gabriel Rossetti translation
of a poem by Guido Cavalcanti written
during the Elgars’ stay in Italy. The
more familiar pieces from The Apostles
and The Light of Life emerge, in this
context, entirely appositely.
Christopher Robinson
has impressed before on disc with Elgar
and he does so here, in spades. The
choral performance is exemplary, the
acoustic unproblematic, and the direction
at all times centred on the real musical
virtues of this immaculately chosen
selection.
Jonathan Woolf
Jonathan Vaughn (organ) 