MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

CD: MDT AmazonUK

Choral Evensong from Tewkesbury Abbey
Herbert HOWELLS (1892-1983)
Master Tallis’s Testament
[7.00] Te Deum (Collegium Regale) [9.31]
Thomas TALLIS (1505-1585)
Sancte Deus
[6.43]
Heathcote STATHAM (1889-1973)
Preces
[1.34] Responses [6.27]
Walter ALCOCK (1861-1947)
Chant for Psalm 91
[5.52]
Michael PETERSON (1924-2006)
Chant for Psalm 131
[2.11]
Gabriel JACKSON (b. 1962)
Magnificat
[8.57]; Nunc Dimittis [4.50] ‘The Tewkesbury Service’
Hymn ‘The Day thou gavest’ [3.28]
Readings from Isaiah Chapter 6 [1.52]; Corinthians Chapter 1 [2.45]
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Valiant for Truth
[5.39]
Louis VIERNE (1870-1937)
Organ Voluntary: Toccata in B flat minor [4.10]
The Abbey School Choir, Tewkesbury/Benjamin Nicholas
Carleton Etherington (organ)
rec. 26 June-5 July 2006, Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire. DDD
DELPHIAN DCD 34019 [74.37]

Experience Classicsonline
Listening to this disc dating from 2006 but only recently presented for review has been a trip down memory lane. I will indulge myself - and perhaps you - in thoughts of happier times when the choir school at the Abbey in Tewkesbury was a flourishing concern. Let me explain.

It was back in 1974 that a prep school - a choir school no less - was established in a beautiful house just down the road from the abbey town of Tewkesbury to sing Evensong four times a week. The founder was Miles Amherst who had been a singer in various places over the years. I saw an advert for singers in the Church Times in the spring of 1975. I went from London to meet Miles and to sing counter-tenor for him. I didn’t work at the school but taught a few miles away and sang three times a week for four years, under the direction of the abbey organist and choirmaster, Michael Peterson.

The men of the choir joined to form a successful group and we called ourselves ‘The Tallismen’. We sang together for eight years. A memory of singing the music of Tallis and Howells particularly stands out for me. It’s good that both composers feature on this CD along with a wonderful psalm chant by Michael Peterson himself. He would surely have approved of the repertoire here but whether he would have liked the rather lumpy psalm singing I’m not so sure. His chant for Psalm 131 begins in the minor and evolves effortlessly into the major. It suits the words for ‘Lord I am not highminded/I have no proud looks”. Indeed, Michael himself was such a modest gentleman of the old school and one admired by all.

It was quite sudden however, it seemed so anyway, that in 2006 the school closed. The moment came for the very last Evensong which is here recreated. The present recording evokes a special memory of the school, its aims, achievements and its singers. At the invitation of the headmaster of Dean Close School Cheltenham, the boys from Tewkesbury simply moved venue. They continued to sing Evensong but under the inspired direction of Benjamin Nicholas, Director of Choral Music and of Carleton Etherington also Director of Music at Tewkesbury Abbey. Etherington contributes two contrasting organ solos: the quasi-Renaissance ‘Master Tallis’s Testament’ by Howells and the brilliant Toccata by Louis Vierne. Incidentally there are two organs in the Abbey: the Milton is a 17th Century chamber instrument used sometimes for Renaissance anthems and services. In addition there is the magnificent Grove organ, restored in 1997 as featured here.

As the booklet-writer tells us, Miles Amherst had always wanted a ‘Tewkesbury Service’ from Herbert Howells, a Gloucester man through and through. The aged composer never did get around to it; instead Amherst had Gabriel Jackson’s Canticles. These are not merely a substitute but a sensitive and expressive response to the oh-so-familiar texts. They at times impart a Howellsian atmosphere in harmony and melody. There is even a quote from the great man’s Gloucester Service. This was just one of several commissions and first performances, including one of my own, which the choir gave during its thirty or so years. I always felt that the repertoire was extraordinary wide and on this CD we range from Tudor music to the new via a little known figure like Heathcote Statham. I think that it’s only his Preces, Responses and Lord’s Prayer settings that get an airing now. Apart from church music and much stuff for the organ there are, I’m told, some interesting orchestral works which are probably ripe for revival.

The VW anthem ‘Valiant for Truth’ is a typically challenging choice as an anthem. Written when the composer was deep into John Bunyan it is, I suppose a chipping from the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ workshop. It is rather solemn and is beautifully and affectingly performed.

The Te Deum does not normally feature in an Evensong service but it’s good to hear it in such a committed performance. It is an exceptionally fine work conceived by Howells on an almost symphonic scale for King’s College Cambridge.

The readings and prayers (including one for music) are clearly recorded. The two very well chosen passages are some of the finest and best known in the entire Bible.

The standard of the choir has much improved too over the years. This is their third CD for Delphian. In fact I reviewed their Weelkes disc earlier this year (DCD34070). It would be churlish of me to criticize it as it no longer exists in quite this form. The sound of the boys, which does not always appeal to me is however clear and the men are warm of tone and well balanced. I will say however that I am glad that all texts have been included in the extremely useful booklet. There is also an attractive photograph of the Norman abbey’s glorious interior.

Gary Higginson

see also review by John Quinn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.