Rise Up and Wonder
Choir of Salford Cathedral/Alex Patterson
rec. 2023, Salford Cathedral, Salford, UK
Priory PRCD1249 [64]

Two unique aspects of this album are worthy of special attention. It may be the first time when a programme comprises pieces by women who are still with us, except Hildegard of Bingen; they come from the UK, Australia (June Nixon) and Canada (Sarah Quartel, Stephanie Martin, Eleanor Daley and Sarah Macdonald). And this is the first commercial recording made by this mixed-voice choir of adults who sing weekly at the Sunday services in what is officially called The Cathedral Church of St. John that is Salford’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.

On this recording, the choir consists of seventeen voices, six of them sopranos. They make a rounded, well focused and balanced sound. It especially suits this contemporary repertoire, each piece of which has, according to conductor Alex Patterson’s notes, ”been tried and tested within the liturgical contexts, often prompting emotional responses from the congregation”.

The title of the disc has been inspired by the glowing colours of the Cathedral’s great east window, shown on the disc’s cover. William Wailes of Newcastle designed it in 1845 when the Cathedral was built.

I will not discuss all these often pithy pieces in detail, but highlight those I found interesting and attractive. There is a certain sameness about much of this music, both is mood and tempo. It is all performed a capella.

The first four works are settings of Advent and Christmas pieces. Tasmin Jones’s Tomorrow shall be my dancing day stands out with its excitable syncopations and cross-rhythms. The remainder are motets or anthems suitable for any time of the liturgical year. Some are in Latin, like Becky McGlade’s succinct Missa Brevis, ideal for modern-day Eucharists in Cathedrals and in parish churches with a competent choir. Another is Stephanie Martin’s beautiful, simple setting of Ave Verum Corpus. Sometimes you might feel that Arvo Pärt is not far away, as in Emma Brown’s O lux beata Trinitas; at least here some of the harmonies add originality.

I was much taken with the rich part-writing of The Call by Gail Randall, who responded to the call after a musical life and became a lay minister in Manchester Diocese. The text, by her favourite poet George Herbert, is occasionally interpolated by a voice singing out ‘The Call’. The pieces are overall meditative, often homophonic and calming. Perhaps that is suitable for these post-pandemic times, but there is rarely change from track to track. For example, consider Ave virgo sanctissima by Amy Summers, apparently a real favourite with the choir, and the two rather languid and lush motets by Lucy Walker, the youngest composer represented here.

The texts are mostly familiar but Yshani Perinpanayagam, like Hildegard centuries ago, supplied her own words for Bethlehem Above. Eleanor Daley’s O ye who taste that love is sweet sets a text by Christina Rossetti and was given as a wedding anthem. Sarah MacDonald’s impassioned setting of Crux Fidelis is polytextual; it cleverly combines the Latin text with lines by Emily Dickinson and by Emilia Lanier (who may, by the way, have been the Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s Sonnets).

Nearly twenty of these pieces are slow, so you might not want to play the disc through in one sitting. But it is a good plan for a project that promotes largely unknown repertoire, and it may give other choral directors ideas for their services or concerts.

Gary Higginson

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Contents
June Nixon (b.1942)
Adam lay ybounden.
Tasmin Jones (b.1972)
Tomorrow shall be my dancing day
OratioDominica:Pater Noster
Yshani Perinpanayagam (b.1983)
In Bethlehem above
Emma Brown (b.1985)
Sweet was the song the Virgin sang.
O lux beata Trinitas
Sarah Quartel (b.1982)
God with me lying down.
Becky Mc Glade (b.1974)
Missa Brevis
Amy Summers (b.1996)
Ave virgo sanctissima
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
O virtus sapientie
Laus Trinitati
Sarah MacDonald (b.1968)
Crux fidelis
Lucy Walker (b.1998)
O sacrum convivium
Oculi Omnium
Eleanor Daley (b.1955)
O ye that taste that Love is sweet
Upon Your Heart
Stephanie Martin (b.1962)
Ave Verum corpus
Judith Weir (b.1954)
My Guardian Angel