When I received this
new disc with one of the first large
works from John Rutter to appear in
a while, I had my hopes up that we might
have another original work the likes
of The Falcon on our hands. Alas,
no. Mr. Rutter has managed yet again
to combine the orchestrational, textual
and rhythmic gestures of Benjamin Britten
with the tunes of Andrew Lloyd Webber
to give us yet another thirty-five minute
cliché. Rutter claims in his
notes that the effect of combining children’s
and adult’s voice is unique. Huh? Since
when? Doesn’t every cathedral choir
in England do that every week?
Perhaps his most annoying
habit is the now tired trick of appending
English poetry to a Latin text. It was
original when Britten did it in his
masterful War Requiem, but the
cartoonish setting of Blake’s The
Lamb in the midst of the Agnus
Dei is nigh on nauseous.
The performance is
found wanting too. Timothy Brown has
made a number of very successful recordings
with the Clare College Choir, but this
one lacks the customarily fine blend
of voices and tight ensemble we have
come to expect from this group. There
are sloppy hangovers at cut-off points,
out of control vibratos in the adult
chorus and some grievously out of tune
woodwind playing. Brown cannot make
up his mind whether to voice his Ss
in the Latin (which is incorrect) or
not, (which is), and thus we get a maddening
combination of Miserere and Mizzerere,
for example. Ms. Gruffydd-Jones has
a pleasant soprano, but Mr. Williams
delivers his solos with an unfocused
tone and nebulous intonation due to
an ungoverned vibrato.
The song-cycle Shadows
fares much better than the Mass
both in the quality of the music and
the performance. Rutter has chosen some
superlative texts, and sets them in
a simple and straightforward manner.
These songs are reminiscent of the music
composed for Peter Pears and Julian
Bream by Britten, Walton and Tippett.
In fact, I found a rather remarkable
similarity in Pears’ vocal timbre and
that of baritone Jeremy Huw Williams.
I also greatly appreciated his rather
Monteverdian approach to the performances,
complete with a bent note here and there
and some intensely emotive singing,
particularly in the Sonnet (Care-charmer
sleep - Samuel Daniel). If Williams’
vibrato is a bit unwieldy at times,
it can be overlooked in favor of clarity
of enunciation and some very refined
and well shaped phrases. Stewart French
is a first rate accompanist, finding
a fine ensemble with the soloist.
The program is rounded
out with a typically tuneful Psalm setting
for choir, flute and guitar. It is serene
enough and well performed, but smacks
a bit of music from the "Godspell"
era, harmless enough, but not particularly
earth-shattering or original.
Kevin Sutton
Angharad Gruffydd-Jones (soprano) 
