Although they’re available singly, the slipcase edition contains
all three CDs. None is new, and the most recent, which is the
Tallis disc, dates from 2004. The Grier was recorded in 1994
and the Arrangement album at various times over half
a decade.
It’s that one with which we’ll begin as it serves up variety
and unexpected things in good measure. You’ll find choral arrangements
of such as Chopin Etudes, Peer Gynt, the Nutcracker Suite, and
the Toccata finale from Widor’s Symphony No.5 for organ, rendered
as ‘Sing!’ by David Willcocks. The arrangers are a wide-ranging
group – Ralph Allwood, one of The Rodolfus Choir’s directors
is prominent. Inevitably perhaps there is one of Clytus Gottwald’s
Mahler refashionings, but we also find the (authentic) Barber
in one of its composer-sanctioned guises. I took to the Grieg,
which works nicely, whilst the Ave verum corpus is, in
a sense, half way there. The Schubert has piano accompaniment,
but inflating An die Musik in this way is not especially
worthwhile, I have to say. The dance from the Nutcracker is
arranged by Leo Hussain and is good fun, though Robert Quinney
turns the same composer’s Quartet movement into an Ave Maria.
That said Jonathan Rathbone turns the ‘Air on a G string’ into
a Requiem aeternam. I suppose that’s the problem with
this sort of thing in the end; an excess of piety.
The Tallis disc is reflective and intimately shaped. Suscipe
quaeso Domine is a very beautiful piece of music and I happen
to prefer this interpretation to that of the Tallis Scholars
on Gimell [GIM006], by virtue of its greater sense of reflective
intimacy. Another difference between them is tonal. The Tallis
group prefers a more ringing top line, less blended, and in
this sense more angular in phrasing, with voices occasionally
emerging piping out of the texture. They generally too prefer
faster tempi, and more abrupt accenting, as can be heard in
their respective performances; Loquebantur variis linguis
is a case in point. The Rodolphus is a touch more measured,
more obviously blended. The English motet If ye love me,
though very brief, generates great tonal warmth and is an
example of this group at its very best.
The disc devoted to Francis Grier is an exceptionally fine one.
It helps that the writing is so clever and sympathetic; also
that Grier has a nice line in declamation. The passionate co-exists
with introspective reflection – a real mulling over of the material
in single or mass lines – in Let us invoke Christ. The
Three Short Anthems might suggest the influence of Rachmaninoff,
with the last one almost exultant in its affirmation. Day
after Day was written for the soloist, here, James Bowman
and The Rodolfus Choir. It’s a setting of Tagore and is a haunting
piece, maybe influenced by Vaughan Williams. What is so impressive
about Grier’s settings is the sense of devotional athleticism;
there’s nothing slumbering here. The pirouetting element throughout
Thou, O God, art praised in Sion attests to the vitality
of the writing, and to the surety of the design.
The performances are generally excellent, so too the recordings.
I suggest picking and choosing rather than going for the box,
unless you’re a real fan of the choir, since the repertoire
is so divergent.
Jonathan Woolf
By Special Arrangement
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Prelude and Fugue Book 1 No. 22 in B flat minor, BWV867: Prelude
(arr, Ralph Attwood as 'Die mit Tränen säen') [2:53]
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV1068: Air ('Air on a G
String') (arr. Jonathan Rathbone as 'Requiem æternam') [4:46]
Samuel BARBER (1910-1981)
Agnus Dei (‘Adagio for Strings, op.11’) [6:49]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E major 'Tristesse' (arr. Leo Hussain
as 'How do I love thee?') [3:34]
Prelude Op. 28 No. 20 in C minor (arr. Ralph Attwood as 'Pro
peccatis suæ gentis') [2:06]
Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934)
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring (arr. Robert Quinney)
[6:31]
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Peer Gynt: Solveig's Song (arr. Alex Milner/Lora Sansun) [4:06]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791):
Ave verum corpus, K618 (arr. Ben Parry) [3:04]
Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (Rückert-Lieder) (arr. Clytus
Gottwald) [6:52]
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924)
Crisantemi (arr. Ralph Allwood/Lora Sansun as 'Christo smarrito')
[5:55]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
An die Musik D547 (arr. Lydia Smallwood) [2:44]
Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen, D343 (arr. Ralph Attwood)
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY
(1840-1893)
The Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (arr. Leo Hussain)
[5:06]
Andante Cantabile (arr. Ralph Attwood as 'Ave Maria') [1:42]
Charles-Marie WIDOR (1844-1937)
Toccata from Organ Symphony No. 5 In F Minor, Op. 42 No. 1 (arr.
David Willcocks as 'Sing!') [6:07]
The Rodolfus Choir/Ralph Allwood and Ben Parry (directors)
rec. 1995-99, Eton College Chapel and School Hall
Texts included
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD243 [67:03]
Francis GRIER (b.1955)
Let us invoke Christ (1993) [7:18]
Three Short Anthems; Great is the power of thy Cross (1989)
[4:08]: God, who made the earth and sky (1989) [1:40]: Proclaim
his triumph (1989) [1:47]
Day after Day (1994) [7:07] ¹
Salve Regina (1993) [13:19]
Three Devotions; Corpus Christi Carol [3:13]: O King of the
Friday [3:38]: Christ's Love-Song [2:26]
The voice of my beloved (1991) [3:38]
Dilectus meus mihi (1987) [7:10]
Thou, O God, art praised in Sion (1993) [7:49]
James Bowman (counter-tenor) ¹
Christopher Hughes (organ)
The Rodolfus Choir/Ralph Allwood
rec. 1994, Eton College Chapel
Texts included
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD242 [64:32]
Thomas TALLIS
(c.1505-1585)
Sancte Deus [6:22]
Suscipe quaeso Domine [9:05]
Salvator Mundi [2:14]
Miserere nostri, motet for 7 voices [2:36]
In ieiunio et fletu [3:55]
If ye love me [1:49]
Loquebantur variis linguis [3:37]
Candidi Facti Sunt [4:59]
O Lord, give thy holy spirit [2:18]
O nata lux de lumine [1:30]
Videte miraculum [8:25]
Verily, verily I say unto you [1:36]
O salutaris hostia for five voices [2:18]
O sacrum convivium [3:26]
Thou wast, O God [3:08]
Jesu salvator saeculi [4:04]
Short Service (Dorian) for 4 voices: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis
[3:12 + 1:47]
Te lucis ante terminum [1:58]
The Rodolfus Choir/Ralph Allwood
rec. December 2004, Eton College Chapel
Texts included
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD241 [68:19]
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD240 - Set of all three CDs in slipcase
The Rodolfus Choir/Ralph Allwood and Ben Parry (directors) 
