University
College in Durham University occupies the much expanded
and rebuilt Norman castle begun on the site in 1072. It
contains two chapels: the Norman Chapel, which dates from
the late eleventh century and, as I remember from a visit
many years ago, contains some lovely sculpture and the
Tunstall Chapel, begun in the 1540s and extended later.
The Chapel Choir, which sings regularly at Eucharist in
the Norman Chapel, is made up of eighteen students. An
earlier CD featuring the choir - Cantate Domino (Lammas
LAMM 162D - see review) – was recorded in the two chapels
of their ‘home’ castle.
This second CD, however, was recorded in the altogether
grander space of York Minster. There are just a few places
where one senses the difficulty of adjusting to such a
different acoustic.
Choral
Director David Jackson has selected an interesting and
challenging programme for this recital. It begins with
a relatively simple extract from that great piece of Victoriana,
Stainer’s The Crucifixion, of 1887; later on it
encompasses John Sanders’s remarkable setting of the ‘Reproaches’ (the
Improperia) - Sanders’s dissonances and idiomatic sophistication,
wonderfully responsive to the words of the text, make this
piece one of the most striking recent works in the Anglican
tradition. Elsewhere the choir tackle the considerable
demands of one of Bruckner’s motets and – very different,
but also very demanding – Tallis’s ‘Salvator Mundi’.
The
choir perhaps seem most naturally at home in the nineteenth
century works, and in the more conservative twentieth century
works in their programme. I confess that I have never been
able to find much to excite me in the thoroughly competent
work of Sir Edward Bairstow, and these performances, decent
as they are, haven’t converted me to his cause. The romantic
harmonies of Richard Shephard’s familiar setting of Campion’s
lovely poem ‘Never weather-beaten sail’ are, though, handled
particularly well.
In
all the areas of this recital the choir give a creditable
account of themselves. Of many of these pieces, let it
be said, there are more ‘professional’ recorded performances
to be found. The youthfulness of all the voices of this
Chapel Choir has its attractions – but also some inevitable
limitations. There are moments when they seem slightly
underpowered, especially in the lower voices. They are
unable, for example, to bring quite the necessary weight
of calm gravity to Brahms’s ‘Geistliches Lied’.
This
is a very accomplished student choir, whose recital can
be enjoyed without any special pleading, without making
any special ‘allowances’. There is much to admire and enjoy
here.
Glyn Pursglove
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The Chapel
Choir of University College, Durham / David Jackson;
Oliver Bond (organ) 
