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             


CD REVIEW
RECORDING OF THE MONTH


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

alternatively AmazonUK AmazonUS

 

Elizabeth MACONCHY (1907–1994)
Music for Voices
Creatures (1979) [14:54]
Nocturnal (1965) [6:27]
Four Miniatures (1978) [8:43]
Sirens’ Song (1974) [5:33]
Prayer before Birth (1972) [6:08]
This Day (1966) [2:05]
On Stephenses Day (1989) [0:44]
Two Epitaphs (1975) [3:13]
Propheta mendax (1965) [5:14]
A Hymn to God the Father (1931) [4:07]
The Ribbon in her Hair [3:49]a
The Voice of the City (1943)a [7:40]
The Armado (1962)a [3:06]
Still Falls the Rain (1985) [8:09]
Richard Pearce (piano)a
BBC Singers/Odaline de la Martinez
rec. St. Paul’s Knightsbridge, London, 10, 16-17 August 2007
Texts included
LORELT LNT127 [79:57]
Experience Classicsonline

Although she may be best-remembered for her orchestral music and her thirteen string quartets as well as her chamber music, Elizabeth Maconchy also wrote a lot of vocal music – solo and choral as well - throughout her entire composing life. Her first major choral work (Hymn to God the Father) dates from 1931 whereas On Stephenses Day is her last work completed in 1989. Besides the unaccompanied works recorded here, she also composed several works with orchestral or ensemble accompaniment. It is to be hoped that these might also find their way onto record before long. So, most works here are unaccompanied, but for three somewhat shorter pieces with piano accompaniment (The Voice of the City, The Armado and The Ribbon in her Hair). The most striking common feature of all these works is the remarkable variety of the choral writing that perfectly responds to the wide literary sources chosen by the composer. Another remarkable feature is the contrapuntal mastery already evident in the earliest work here and a constant characteristic of Elizabeth Maconchy’s music in whatever genre.

Completed in 1931, Hymn to God the Father for double mixed chorus is as assured a setting of John Donne’s poem as one might dream. It is a highly accomplished work by any count, full of many typical Maconchy hallmarks, in particular her contrapuntal skill, although the music may still be indebted to that of her teacher RVW. I find this magnificent work one of the most impressive items in this generous selection. The Voice of the City is a setting for female voices and piano of a poem by Jacqueline Morris written as a lament for the fall of Stalingrad. This very fine setting was composed for the Workers Music Association and is rather more straightforward though quite effective and without compromise. We are not told when the Sean O’Casey setting of The Ribbon in her Hair for men’s voices and piano was composed, but probably in the mid-1940s. The music is quite comparable to that of The Voice of the City, though with a hint of folksong. I was reminded of Lads of Cotswolds from RVW’s opera Hugh the Drover. Although apparently much later, The Armado, a setting for mixed chorus and piano of a 17th Century ballad celebrating Drake’s victory, is quite similar in its straightforward, rumbustious manner. Nocturnal, composed for the 1963 Cork Festival, sets three poems by different authors (William Barnes, Edward Thomas and Percy Shelley) linked by a common phrase appearing in all three texts (“Will you come”) that thus also functions as a refrain. This magnificent cycle is one of many examples of Maconchy’s sympathetic writing for voices that nevertheless puts some considerable but not extravagant demands of the singers. Also composed in 1965, Propheta mendax, a witty setting of some satirical Latin texts from an 11th-century collection, was commissioned by the Vienna Boys Choir for whom Britten also composed his vaudeville The Golden Vanity Op.78 at about the same time. The often humorous character of the words is reflected in an alert setting, moving along at great speed. From about the same time dates the short, beautifully done and relatively simple carol for women’s voices, This Day. The 1970s were a fertile decade that witnessed the composition of a various instrumental and orchestral works as well as a number of choral pieces. These include Prayer before Birth (1972) for women’s voices setting a beautifully moving poem by Louis MacNeice, Sirens’ Song (1974) for mixed chorus to words from William Browne’s masque Ulysses and Circe, Two Epitaphs (1975) for female choir, Four Miniatures (1978) for mixed chorus on poems by Eleanor Farjeon and one of my favourites here, Creatures (1979), also for mixed chorus setting a wide range of poetry including another poem by Farjeon. The latter cycle is a splendid example of the way in which Maconchy responds to the diversity of her literary sources. These settings of poems about animals are in turn humorous, mildly ironic, serious (William Blake’s celebrated Tiger! Tiger!) and deeply moving (Cat’s Funeral). The concluding work is a marvellous setting of Edith Sitwell’s Still Falls the Rain completed in 1985 and is one of gems of this anthology. I suppose that Britten’s setting for tenor, horn and piano – his Canticle III Op.55 – composed in 1955 will be familiar; but Maconchy’s own setting for unaccompanied chorus adopts another view, but does so in a completely satisfying way, “contemplative but energised, the music creating a forcefulness that complements that of the poem” (Nicola Le Fanu). This magnificent setting is, no doubt about it, a minor masterpiece that definitely deserves wider exposure. I hope that this performance by the BBC Singers will prompt other choirs to take it into their repertoire.

I cannot praise enough the dedication and immaculate singing of the BBC Singers throughout this generously filled release and Odaline de la Martinez for conducting vital readings of these consistently fine, often demanding and certainly rewarding works. This generous and beautifully produced release is a definite must for all admirers of Maconchy’s music, but also for all lovers of finely wrought, compelling and eminently singable choral music. It should not be missed. My Record of the Month, and it will feature high up in my list of recordings of the year.

Hubert Culot


 


 




 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos 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

 

 


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




Return to Review Index

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.