Bob Chilcott (b. 1955)
Canticles of Light (1999)
Move him into the sun (2018)
Cecilia McDowell (b. 1951)
Standing as I do before God (2013)
Francis Pott (b. 1957)
Lament (2011)
Sir James MacMillan (b. 1959)
A Child’s Prayer (1996)
Bob Chilcott
Sing the Colour of Peace (2019)
Instrumentalists of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic
NFM Choir /Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny
rec. 2019, Main Hall of the National Forum of Music, Wrocław, Poland
Texts included
Signum Classics SIGCD729 [60]

I’ve encountered the singing of the NFM Choir on several previous occasions. They collaborated with Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli on a number of memorable choral recordings, and they also have to their credit a previous disc of music by Bob Chilcott (review). In this programme they are conducted by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, who directed the choir from its foundation in 2006 until 2021.

I’ve heard and enjoyed a lot of music by Bob Chilcott over the years but the pieces on this CD were new to me. Canticles of Light sets three Latin texts for SATB choir and instrumental ensemble. The first is ‘Te lucis ante terminum’, a text which is said or sung at the office of Compline. An important feature of the accompaniment is a tubular bell which tolls at frequent intervals throughout. The setting is notable for Chilcott’s trademark attractively melodious writing for chorus. The second piece also sets a Compline text, ‘Christe, qui splendor et dies’. In this piece the writing takes on a darker hue and though the music is slow-moving there’s still urgency in this supplication for protection in the darkness. The piece rises to a powerful climax before achieving a hushed but uneasy conclusion. Finally comes ‘O nata lux de lumine’, a text associated with the morning service of Lauds. The bell returns, but now the mood has changed. The night has passed and the music is slow and tranquil. The soprano line is reminiscent of plainchant. At the end of the piece the other voices fall silent and we hear just the sopranos’ melody, their singing punctuated by the bell. It’s a lovely conclusion to an impressive set of pieces.

For Move him into the sun Bob Chilcott turned to the poetry of the celebrated poet of the Great War, Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). We have become very accustomed to hearing musical settings of Owen poems that lay bare the horror and futile sacrifice of war – Britten’s War Requiem is the exemplar. However, while Chilcott doesn’t by any means overlook that aspect of Owen’s output, he adopts a slightly different approach. As he reminds us in a booklet note, Owen also wrote a lot of poetry which explored the themes of beauty and love – love of nature and of his fellow human beings. So, in this piece “the image of the sun as a source of light, life and energy is that on which I have focused”. The work is scored for SATB choir and instrumental ensemble. There’s a prominent tenor solo in one movement and, in addition, a quartet of upper voices (two sopranos and two altos) has an important function.

The first section combines extracts from two Owen poems, ‘The Promisers’ (for the quartet) and ‘Song of Songs’. The opening is fresh and optimistic in tone. However, ‘Song of Songs’ follows the progress of a day and as the imagery moves from daylight into night time the musical colours assume a darker hue. The second section also begins with an extract from ‘The Promisers’ but then the main choir sings lines from the famous war poem ‘Spring Offensive’. Inevitably, the mood becomes darker, though even here Chilcott’s natural melodiousness is not compromised. The central section is a tenor solo, setting words from Owen’s ‘Apologia pro Poemate Meo’, a title perhaps inspired by John Henry Newman’s famous book. The accompaniment is restrained – and all the more effective for that – while the tenor’s music is plangent and melancholic. The soloist, Sebastian Mach (who is a member of the choir), sings well and with feeling. The next movement is mainly devoted to lines from Owen’s ‘Futility’, from which the title of the work itself is drawn. The music is nowhere near as bitter as the setting by Britten in War Requiem but the mainly gentle sadness of Chilcott’s approach is no less valid. This is an eloquent setting. The concluding movement includes words from two more poems: ‘Winter Song’ and ‘Happiness’; I was struck in particular by the confident bright opening.

Wilfred Owen was killed on 4 November 1918, just a week before the Armistice. Had he survived the war and gone on to write more poetry I’m sure his war poems would still be highly regarded. But, whilst his war experiences would undoubtedly have continued to influence him, might he also have reverted to writing verse in a different, more positive tone away from the horrors of the trenches? What Bob Chilcott has done in this sequence of Owen settings is to mix the familiar war-torn verses with rather more positive non-war poetry; thus, he has given us a rounded portrait of this great poet and he has set Owen’s poetry to eloquent music.

Right at the end of the disc we hear one more Chilcott piece. Sing the Colour of Peace was written for the NFM Choir and in it Chilcott sets verses specially written by one of his frequent collaborators, Charles Bennett. Bennett builds his poem around the image of the rows upon rows of immaculately tended war graves, each with their brilliant white headstone; it’s a memorable conception. The setting is unaccompanied and is scored for tenor soloist and choir. Mostly the chorus sings wordlessly in support of the soloist. Sebastian Mach returns and his timbre is ideally suited to the music. The composition is simple and direct in expression and I found both the piece and the performance moving.

The programme is completed by three works for unaccompanied choir by British composers; I’ve heard and greatly admired all three before. Cecilia McDowell’s Standing as I do before God is a reflection on the execution by the German army of the nurse, Edith Cavell in 1915. Both the text and the music to which McDowell sets it are very affecting. The NFM Choir sings it very well and the important soprano solo is nicely taken by one of their members, Dagmara Kolodziej-Gorczyczyńska. Lament by Francis Pott is another fine piece. This was composed in memory of Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, a British Army bomb disposal expert who lost his life in Afghanistan. Pott set some dignified words by Wilfrid Wilson-Gibson (1878-1962). The music is deeply-felt but never overwrought. James MacMillan’s A Child’s Prayer was composed in memory of the children killed in the dreadful Dunblane school shooting in 1996. He set a traditional prayer which he remembered from childhood. This is simple, direct music that speaks to the listener’s heart and, once again, these Polish singers do it really well. The challenging solo soprano parts are sung with great accomplishment by Aleksandra Turalska and Dagmara Kolodziej-Gorczyczyńska.

This is a very rewarding disc on two counts. Firstly, all the music is well worth hearing. Secondly, the NFM Choir sings everything very well indeed. There are forty singers on duty (10 voices per part) and the sound they make is excellent. The blend and balance are consistently well judged and I like the clear, fresh sound the choir makes and the discipline of their singing. Clearly, they had been prepared very thoroughly indeed by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny who conducts the performances expertly. The instrumental ensemble offers first-rate support to the singers in the two Chilcott works.

Bob Chilcott himself was the producer. His extensive choral expertise and the skill of engineer Agnieszka Szczepańczyk have ensured that the performances have been recorded clearly and sympathetically.

John Quinn

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