Joanna Gill (b. 1987)
Love Illuminates
The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge/Sarah MacDonald
Matt Denton (violin) (2,3,4,8,19); Emma Denton (cello) (2,3,4,8,19); Maria Marchant (piano) (4,10,16,17,18,19); Adam Field (organ) (2,3,15)
rec. 2022, Ely Cathedral
Reviewed as download from press preview
Sung texts with comments enclosed
Regent REGCD 574 [75]

In the foreword to this issue Joanna Gill’s composer colleague Paul Mealor lists Gill’s influences – and certainly it is a long list: Morten Lauridsen, Ola Gjeilo, and Eric Whitacre are more or less unavoidable stars in today’s choral firmament, but Mealor goes several steps further and catches glimpses of Mahler, Sibelius, and even Vaughan Williams. He even mentions “the spirit of Kenneth Leighton and William Mathias”. The natural conclusion one can draw from this is that Joanna Gill lacks personality, but Mealor refutes this with emphasis: “… her ‘style’ is very much her own and routed in her deep faith. This, along with a folk-like feel for melody (perhaps inspired by her Scottish upbringing) weaves a thread of wonderfully engaging and ever-changing music.”

It took me some time to find her ‘style’. That the minimalism is one obvious feature goes without saying. But it is a fairly mild form that avoids the monotony of the die-hard advocates of the principle, and the deliverer is her natural feeling for melody, as Mealor also points out. Her harmonic language is also mild without being vapid. Readers with a built-in scepticism towards ‘modern’ choral music should without problems be able to stomach this music, even though there are some harsh harmonies at times.  Another feature is her sensitive choice of texts, from medieval to present day, sacred or profane, and they are suffused with positivism. Even in the tragic and very touching Safe in the arms of He (track 12), the music has an air of reconciliation. The background is the story about Joanna Gill’s first nephew, Oliver, who was born with a rare form of cancer and died on Christmas Day the year he was born. His parents wrote a book in memory of Oliver, and from this book Joanna excerpted a few lines, which she set to music.   

The four movement Mass, which opens the programme, is restrained with discreet accompaniments, and returning to it after having played the whole disc in one go, I realised how well written it is, crowned by a very beautiful Agnus Dei. There are no big gestures – yes, restraint is the key-word here  – and this is symptomatic of her music making in general. Her mottos: love, peace, reconciliation are whispered, not shouted. Smile governs over tears. Light over darkness. Several of the songs are presented with piano accompaniment in a style that has a lot in common with light popular music. One example is Before the paling of the stars, a setting of the well-known text by Christina Rossetti. Likewise, the three Christmas songs I heard the bells on Christmas day, Look to the stable (a lullaby to the newly born Jesus) and Sir Christèmas (tracks 16-18) seem possible candidates to be incorporated in the standard Christmas repertoire. And there are many others of the songs that speak unobtrusively to the open-minded listener. The Shakespeare setting Eternal love doth never fade, the sonnet beginning with Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day, is another highlight. I have an old favourite setting of that text by my compatriot Nils Lindberg, which is forever etched into my musical memory, but Joanna Gill’s version is also worth an outing, and I am happy to have both. 

There is also an instrumental piece, Sono perseguitato dalle acque, for violin, cello and piano, that is a welcome contrast to the choral pieces, and then the whole is rounded off with The Lord’s blessing. It brings comfort at a time when evil rules the world around us. This is more proof that music of the right kind has a force of its own, even when times are bad. Thank you, Joanna!

Göran Forsling

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Contents
Mass for HTB Queen’s Gate
1 Kyrie 2:09
2 Gloria 4:31
3 Sanctus and Benedictus 3:35
4 Agnus Dei 3:13
5 Unfailing love 2:08
6 If ye love me 4:00
7 Immortal peace 4:27
8 A hymn to the Father 3:01
9 Ubi caritas 4:27
10 Before the paling of the stars 4:49
11 A spotless rose 4:34
12 Safe in the arms of He 3:54
13 Eternal love doth never fade 4:28
14 Evening snow 4:15
15 Drop down ye heavens 3:39
16 I heard the bells on Christmas day 4:48
17 Look to the stable 3:54
18 Sir Christèmas 2:36
19 Sono perseguitato dalle acque 4:32
 Matt Denton (violin), Emma Denton (cello), Maria Marchant (piano)
20 The Lord’s blessing 2:36