Christmas with The Bevan Family Consort
Contents listed after review
rec. 2023, St. Nicholas’ Church, Upper Court, Kemerton, UK
Signum Classics SIGCD909 [64]

We have all heard of – and indeed heard – Sophie and Mary Bevan. Many of us, however – myself included – did not know how many other musicians form part of the extended Bevan family. The Bevan Family Consort, like the Bevan Family Choir a generation earlier, is made up of a variable number of close or more distant siblings. On this album, they are 14, split evenly between women and men. The booklet notes make clear that all the members have a strong background in music, especially singing, and that in spite of wide participation in amateur music-making, few of them earn their living from performing. A first album, released in 2023, offered a varied collection of unaccompanied choral pieces; this time they step courageously into the Christmas music minefield.

The only large-scale work in the programme is Palestrina’s five-voice Missa sine nomine. It is a canon mass, and those who don’t know what that means can learn from Francis Bevan’s booklet note. He goes into considerable technical detail, to the point that many might find daunting, though his parting shot is to let us know that, between takes, the singers spent their time doing cryptic crosswords in Palestrina’s honour. The five sections of the Mass are split and distributed throughout the programme. This leads to variety when playing the disc in order, but listening only to the Mass from beginning to end will require a fair amount of manipulation. Renaissance polyphony is not my special subject, but it certainly is in the case of Francis Bevan, as I feel sure it is in the case of Graham Ross. This means that the performance is convincing, as is the performance of Victoria’s much better known O magnum mysterium, as well as Weelkes’s Gloria. There are also two passages of plainchant, the first sung by the men only, the second very pleasingly combining all voices.

Christmas music completes the programme, some of it familiar, so less so. Old favourites include Harold Darke’s In the Bleak Midwinter, with the organ accompaniment skilfully incorporated into the choral parts. Handl’s Rorate caeli is described as ‘barnstorming’ in the booklet, and this exuberant reading certainly supports that view. Performances of Howells’s beautiful Chesterton setting, Here is the Little Door, and Warlock’s Benedicamus Domino, are perfectly in tune with the contrasting nature of each piece.

These are all beautifully done, but it is the lesser known pieces that give this collection its particular flavour and attractiveness. I will not be the only listener who has never heard Imogen Holst’s The Virgin Unspotted. It was provided by the staff at the Red House in Aldeburgh following a request from Sophie Bevan for something by Imogen Holst that was, as yet, unrecorded. For three upper voices, its folk-like nature might lead listeners to think of it as an arrangement rather than an original work. Quite a different musical language is exploited in David Bevan’s Lute-book Lullaby, its serene and beautiful close preceded by a few dissonances that sound out of place in this recital of Christmas fare. The name Stanley Vann was new to me. He was master of music at Peterborough Cathedral for more than 20 years, and died in 2010 at the age of 100. There is a flower is very much in the Anglican tradition of sweet, reflective Christmas music, completely tonal, with one verse in the minor key to provide a little contrast, and the words of the first verse repeated at the end. John Joubert’s There is no rose, with its two-part writing for the upper voices enriched by responding tenors and basses, is a real gem. And I was particularly pleased to find, at the end of the recital, Jesu, dulcis Memoria by Pierre Villette (1926-1968). Francis Bevan is right to say that this composer’s output – not quite so slim as the note leads us to believe – is ‘not nearly as well known’ as it should be. Whether you agree that the harmonies are ‘deliciously slushy’ is another matter, but those harmonies certainly do make you wonder about his assertion that the piece is ‘easy enough for amateurs to put together’. Published, together with two other short motets, by UMP, I encourage groups to give it a try. It’s a lovely piece, and it brings this pleasing collection to a serene and satisfying close.

I think it is fair to say that most choirs, professional or amateur, recruit by audition. Many factors are taken into account, one of which is whether a particular voice is right for the group. Will it blend with the others, or will it stand out? The Bevan Family Consort is probably not a choir in this sense, though they have no doubt taken all relevant matters into account. In certain pieces the very different nature of each of the 14 voices is sometimes in evidence. This is most noticeable in those pieces where there are solos: The Holly and the Ivy, where a different soloist is lined up for each verse, is a case in point. It is to everyone’s credit, though, that when the whole group is singing this is rarely in evidence. Technically impeccable otherwise, under the fine direction of Graham Ross and beautifully recorded, these performances fizz with Christmas spirit and will enrich any seasonal get-together and/or quiet evening when everyone has gone home.

William Hedley

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Contents
plainchant
Alleluia. Veni Domine noli tardare
Jacob Handl (Jacobus Gallus) (1550-1591)
Rorate caeli
Darke, Harold (1888-1976) arr. Francis Bevan
In the Bleak Midwinter
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 or 1526-1594)
Missa sine nomine in 5 voices – Kyrie
Trad. arr. H. Walford Davies (1869-1941)
The Holly and the Ivy
Palestrina
Missa sine nomine in 5 voices – Gloria
Stanley Vann (1910-2010)
There is a flower
Palestrina
Missa sine nomine in 5 voices – Credo
John Ireland (1879-1962)
The Holy Boy
Palestrina
Missa sine nomine in 5 voices – Sanctus
Thomas Weelkes (c.1576-1623)
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Palestrina
Missa sine nomine in 5 voices – Agnus Dei
John Joubert (1927-2019)
There is no rose
plainchant
Ave Maria…virgo serena
David Bevan
Lute-book Lullaby
Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
Benedicamus Domino
Imogen Holst (1907-1984)
The Virgin Unspotted
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Here is the Little Door
Tomás Luis de Victoria (c1548-1611)
O magnum mysterium
Pierre Villette (1926-1998)
Jesu, dulcis Memoria