Clive Osgood (b. 1977)
Magnificat (2023)
Amy Carson (soprano)
Excelsis
London Mozart Players/Robert Lewis
rec. 2023, St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, London
Text and translation supplied
Reviewed as 16-bit lossless download
Convivium Records CR093 [32]

I was unaware of Clive Osgood until MWI published a very complimentary review of his chamber music recently. He is an organist, music director and teacher of music based in Surrey, south of London. His style is very much traditional and tonal, and some, though not me, would say anachronistic. Not for him, the crashing dissonances, meandering tonalities and strange combinations of instruments that seem to pervade much of what is seen as contemporary classical music.

His Magnificat comprises seven movements, the first six short at under five minutes. Let me give you some stylistic signposts: Fauré’s Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Karl Jenkins’s Armed Man and also John Rutter. The soprano gets solo duties in the second and sixth movements, and these are sweetly beseeching. There is good variety across the five choral movements in terms of mood, rhythms and dynamics. Without question, the best movement is the final and longest – Suscepit Israel – which begins with heavenly voices over quiet strings and winds, before bursting out into the exuberant and exultant Gloria after revisiting the dramatic opening of the piece.

Choral music is apparently Osgood’s major interest, and this is a very well-thought work that entertains throughout. I would imagine that this piece would be a delight to sing, and ideal for an amateur choir, though definitely a very proficient one.

The booklet notes are relatively brief, and possibly undermine themselves at the very start by describing this work as being a “companion piece for Bach’s famous setting”. I’m sure it’s not intended, but it comes across as a little presumptuous, as though the two works are equivalents. Performances by all concerned are all that the composer could possibly have wanted, and the sound quality is good. It is of course only a short piece, and that is reflected in the pricing on the Convivium website, with a CD costing £7.99 at time of writing, and downloads less.

Without scaling any heights of originality, Clive Osgood’s Magnificat is a thoroughly enjoyable work, which deserves to find a place in the schedule of the UK’s Classic FM, which some will see as criticism, but is intended as sincere praise.

David Barker

Availability: Convivium Records