Matthew Martin (b. 1976)
Masses, Canticles, Motets
The Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge/Matthew Martin (director & *organ)
Kyoko Canaway, Tammas Slater, Martin Baker (organ)
rec. 2023, St John the Evangelist, Islington, London
Texts and English translations included
Linn CKD 743 [79]
Over the last decade or so I’ve heard quite a number of pieces by Matthew Martin; his music is widely performed and recorded, and rightly so. This new CD is the second that has come my way which is entirely devoted to his sacred music. Back in 2015 I reviewed the first such disc, a very good one, made by the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford conducted by Daniel Hyde with Stephen Farr as organist. At that time, Martin, who had studied as an undergraduate at Magdalen College, was back at his alma mater, teaching music. Things have moved on since then. Martin served as Director of Music at Keble College, Oxford between 2015 and 2020. Since 2020 he has been Precentor and Director of Music at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.
There is some overlap between this disc and Daniel Hyde’s programme. Both CDs include Te lucis ante terminum, the St John’s College Service Magnificat and Nunc dimittis and the anthem I saw the Lord. On the Daniel Hyde disc the latter also carries its alternative title, In the year that King Uzziah died. The duplication of that anthem and the ‘Mag and Nunc’ is a factor that may weigh with purchasers, especially as these are the most important pieces on both programmes, I think. However, there is sufficient music on each disc that does not appear on the other that you can, I believe, safely invest in this new CD, even if you already have Hyde’s recording.
I saw the Lord is a festival anthem in which Martin sets verses from the prophecy of Isaiah. It’s an extensive piece, here playing for 11:21, and it is ambitious in every sense. The writing for both choir and organ is dramatic and powerfully illustrative. Martin’s setting also contains many imaginative touches, such as the dark suspense of the opening, the organ colourings at the words ‘the house was filled with smoke’, and the hushed music towards the end. Midway through, there’s an important tenor solo which is expressively sung by the excellent Finlay A’Court. I was very impressed with this piece when I first heard it on Daniel Hyde’s disc. If anything, I’m even more impressed now; it’s a gripping, intense composition. The choir sings it superbly and the organ playing of Kyoko Canaway makes a significant contribution to this dramatic piece.
The ‘Mag and Nunc’ were composed in 2011 for Andrew Nethsingha and the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. These canticles have great substance. The Magnificat has a lot of energetic, vital music in which the strongly independent organ part (thrillingly delivered by Martin Baker) has a crucial role. The singing is incisive, which is just what the music needs. The setting culminates in a very exciting ‘Glory be’. The composer tells us in his notes that the Nunc dimittis uses some cells, “both melodic and harmonic”, from the Magnificat. Here, the music is much more tranquil though the setting achieves a marvellous climax at ‘to be the glory of thy people Israel’. That’s followed by a reprise of the ‘Glory be’. Martin comments that in this canticle there is “a nod” to settings by Howells and Leighton: could one wish for better exemplars, I wonder?
If those two compositions represent the pinnacles of this programme, the remaining pieces are far from negligible. I was pleased by the inclusion of Laudate Dominum. Not only because the piece itself is most attractive but also because it was written to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the choir which is associated with the schools which Martin himself attended: Tewkesbury Abbey School (now sadly closed) and Dean Close School, Cheltenham, into which the musical side of the Tewkesbury school was absorbed. These, I suppose, are the educational establishments where Martin cut his musical teeth and he celebrates them with a piece that contains a lot of punchy choral writing. It’s an exciting way to open this programme.
There are two Mass settings. Missa Speravimus is, as its title suggests, a Latin setting; it’s for choir and organ. It’s a Missa brevis, so there’s no Credo. The music struck me, perhaps wrongly, as a little austere in tone but the music is interesting and offers a test for the choir. The Oratory Mass, by contrast, is in English. This too is a setting without a Credo and it’s explicitly designed for congregational use. The music is sung in unison and is strongly melodic. It’s simple – in a good way – but definitely not simplistic and the organ adds extra interest. I would imagine that a congregation would find this setting rewarding to learn and once they’ve got the hang of it, probably led by a few experienced singers, it will enrich worship.
I liked all the motets but would single out a few. Sicut cervus (the Latin text which Howells so memorably set in English as Like as the hart) is for unaccompanied choir. It’s gentle and tranquil and the music is so written that the vocal lines blend with each other really effectively. That’s preceded by Haec dies, composed for Graham Ross and the choir of Clare College, Cambridge. As befits an Easter anthem, the music – for choir and organ – is jubilant and emphatic at first, though a more relaxed central section affords very good contrast. The subdued ending, which is very effective, comes as a slight surprise. I also took to Vidi aquam, another unaccompanied piece. Here, Martin displays what I might call a sophisticated simplicity of expression. The piece is chaste and lovely. Those traits are on display also in A Prayer of St Thérèse. This unaccompanied setting is both gentle and also simple in utterance. The choral textures are lovely.
There are two short organ pieces, Conditor alme siderum and Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier which Matthew Martin himself plays for us. The former is subdued and reflective. The latter is based on a Lutheran chorale, to which Martin gives a bit of a twist through the use of 7/8 time.
I enjoyed all the music on this CD. It’s very impressively performed by the Choir of Gonville & Caius College and the three organists who are involved all make significant contributions. The recordings have been engineered very successfully by Philip Hobbs. The choir is heard clearly. Matthew Martin is a considerable organist in his own right, so it’s little surprise that a lot of the writing for the organ is exciting. Hobbs has recorded the organ in the church of St John the Evangelist, Islington thrillingly and he has balanced the choir against the organ very successfully. The composer has written very useful notes about the music.
The contents of this disc show why Matthew Martin has achieved such a strong reputation in the field of English church music.
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Contents
Laudate Dominum (2014)
Missa Speravimus (2017)
Haec dies
Sicut cervus (2018)
I saw the Lord (2013)
Conditor alme siderum*
Adam lay ybounden (2006)
I sing of a maiden
Angelus ad Virginem (2022)
Ave maris stella
A Hymn to St Etheldreda (2013)
Vidi aquam (2004)
Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier*
A Prayer of St Thérèse (2009)
The Oratory Mass
Te lucis ante terminum
The St John’s College Service (2011)
