Jean MOUTON
(c.1459-1522) Nesciens Mater
[5:51]
Sergei RACHMANINOV
(1873-1943) Ave Maria [3:05]
Paul MANZ (b.
1919) E’en so, Lord Jesus, quickly
come [2:39]
Herbert HOWELLS
(1892-1983) A Spotless Rose
[3:15]
Elizabeth MACONCHY
(1907-1994) There is no rose
[1:51]
Anton BRUCKNER
(1824-1896) Virga Jesse [3:48]
John GARDNER
(b. 1917) Tomorrow shall
be my dancing day [2:24]
Herbert HOWELLS
Tryste Noel [5:08]
John TAVENER
(b. 1944) The Lamb [3:27]
Philip LEDGER
(b. 1937) arr. On Christmas
Night [1:57]
David WILLCOCKS
(b. 1919) arr. Away in a
manger [2:41]
Richard Rodney
BENNETT (b. 1936) I saw three
ships [2:34]
William MATHIAS
(1934-1992) A babe is born
[3:21]
Mark BLATCHLY
(b. 1960) arr. Silent Night
[3:12]
Roxanna PANUFNIK
(b. 1968) arr. Sleep, Little
Jesus, Sleep [2:54]
Stephen JACKSON
(b. 1951) arr. Noël
Nouvelet [4:05]
John JOUBERT
(b. 1927) Torches [1:36]
Peter WARLOCK
(1894-1930) Bethlehem Down
[3:51]
Charles WOOD
(1866-1926) arr.
Ding dong merrily on high [2:01]
Ralph VAUGHAN
WILLIAMS (1872-1958) The
Blessed Son of God [2:45]
Arthur WARRELL
(1900-1970) arr. We wish
you a merry Christmas [1:55]
Harold DARKE
(1888-1976) In the bleak
midwinter [4:41]
David WILLCOCKS
arr. O come, all ye faithful
[3:49]
David WILLCOCKS
arr. Deck the hall [1:30]
To put it mildly, there
is no shortage of Christmas CDs on the
market. So, to be competitive, a newcomer
to this crowded field must be differentiated
either in terms of quality of performance
or interest of content – or preferably
both. Even excellence of performance
is not always enough. Only last year
one of the Christmas CDs I reviewed
was expertly performed but the safe,
predictable choice of music bored me
to death. I’m glad to report that this
latest CD from Gloucester Cathedral
scores highly on both the excellence
and interest indices.
As the track-listing
shows there are several old favourites
here. We find some of Sir David Willcocks’
well-loved arrangements and listening
again to his verse three descant for
O come, all ye faithful is a
timely reminder that sometimes the old
ones are still the best. I must admit
to a little surprise that, after this,
Deck the hall has been chosen
as the closing item. Well though it’s
performed it seems to me a rather limp
choice with which to round off proceedings.
It’s good, too, to hear Philip Ledger’s
arrangement of The Sussex Carol
– dare I say it, I prefer this arrangement,
with its effective organ part to Vaughan
Williams’ classic. RVW is represented
by the timeless The Blessed Son of
God, always welcome, and I’m glad
to see that Warlock’s beautiful Bethlehem
Down has made the list.
As the recital stems
from Gloucester it’s highly appropriate
that Herbert Howells should be represented.
After all, he was an articled pupil
of one of Andrew Nethsingha’s predecessors
in the Gloucester organ loft, Herbert
Brewer. His A Spotless Rose
is a perennial Christmas favourite,
albeit one that is perhaps a little
over-exposed, despite its many felicities.
It’s well done here, with a very good
baritone solo from Greg Skidmore. But
what’s this? More Howells, and a much
less familiar offering at that. Tryste
Nowell was commissioned in 1978
for the third volume in the series Carols
for Choirs. Many’s the time
I’ve looked at the music in my well-thumbed
copy of that book and thought "Gosh!
That looks difficult." But I can’t
remember ever hearing it before. Well
now I have, thanks to Andrew Nethsingha,
and it is indeed difficult. It’s in
Howells’s most richly chromatic vein
and this unaccompanied piece is a challenging
one, both for performers and listeners.
Anyone expecting a piece in the same
mellifluous style as the much earlier
A Spotless Rose will be disappointed
but this powerful Christmas anthem is
very well worth hearing and I’m delighted
by its inclusion here and by the assured
performance it receives.
Much of the music is
twentieth-century but, among many delights,
special mention must be made of the
earliest composition on the disc. Jean
Mouton’s Nesciens Mater was new
to me and I count this arresting piece
as a great discovery. It’s a setting
for two unaccompanied four-part choirs
of men. The music unfolds slowly and
with a real sense of wonder as the two
choirs sing in canon. The Gloucester
lay clerks sing it splendidly and it
forms a superbly atmospheric opener
to the programme.
Two anniversaries that
fall in 2007 are celebrated fittingly
with the inclusion of carols by John
Joubert, eighty this year, and by John
Gardner, ten years his senior. The speed
adopted for Gardner’s Tomorrow shall
be my dancing day is, perhaps, just
a notch too steady. However, given the
resonant acoustic in which the recording
was made, that’s probably a sensible
decision for it ensures the clarity
and rhythmic precision that are essential
to a successful performance of this
piece. Another item marks an anniversary,
in this case the seventieth birthday
of Richard Rodney Bennett, which fell
in 2006. To mark the occasion Gloucester
Cathedral commissioned a new carol from
him. His I saw three ships was
unveiled at the Christmas services last
December and it now receives its first
recording. Bennett sets an almost identical
text to that used by Peter Warlock in
his The Sycamore Tree but Bennett’s
is much less jaunty. Some of its harmonies
sound jazz-inflected to me, especially
near the end. I find that it needs to
be listened to a few times to appreciate
it properly but it’s an interesting
setting and fully justifies its inclusion.
I’m a little less enthusiastic
about another anniversary piece. Elizabeth
Maconchy’s There is no rose is
lively but I don’t find the melodic
material all that memorable. But that’s
probably my fault and in her centenary
year it’s good to find her music featuring
on this programme.
All the pieces on the
programme are well executed by the Gloucester
choir. The men sing well and with good
tone. The trebles often sing with quite
an appreciable edge to their tone, which
I find attractive. Once or twice it
sounds as if high-lying lines tax their
pitching, Bruckner’s demanding Virga
Jesse offering a case in point.
However, such examples are isolated
and certainly didn’t spoil my enjoyment.
If I have a criticism it’s that the
choir sometimes doesn’t sing quietly
enough. I would have expected quieter,
more intimate singing in Away in
a manger and Mark Blatchly’s lush
arrangement of Silent Night would
also have benefited from a little less
volume, I think. The first verse of
that carol features a good treble soloist,
Ciaran Walshe, and indeed all the solo
opportunities in the recital are very
well taken. The choir has been recorded
clearly but the engineers have also
captured a good sense of the acoustics
of the cathedral.
Gloucester Cathedral’s
Assistant Director of Music, Robert
Houssart, contributes some effective
organ accompaniments, not least in the
appropriately French-sounding organ
part that Stephen Jackson wrote for
his setting of Noël Nouvelet.
Houssart is equally good as an annotator;
his notes are succinct but interesting.
I have just one very minor quibble about
the otherwise excellent documentation:
it would have been nice if the sources
of the words for each carol had been
provided.
So this very enjoyable
CD easily passes my excellence and interest
tests and represents an excellent seasonal
purchase.
John Quinn
This very enjoyable
CD represents an excellent seasonal
purchase. ... see Full Review
Gloucester Cathedral Choir/Andrew
Nethsingha 
