Praise Him with Trumpets
Contents listed after review
Charlotte Mobbs (soprano)
Steven Kings (piano); Richard Moore (organ)
Jo Harris & Neil Brough (trumpet); Evva Mizerska (cello)
Bristol Choral Society/Hilary Campbell
rec. 2023, Clifton College Chapel, Bristol, UK
Texts included
Delphian DCD34310 [73]
This is the second disc that Bristol Choral Society has made for Delphian; I enjoyed the first CD, which they made in 2020 (review) so I was pleased when I was sent this follow-up.
Andrew Stewart provides a valuable booklet essay in which he explains that “[t]he works on this recording convey the value and the reward of praise”. I read that after listening to the disc the first time and, in retrospect. I ‘get’ the idea behind the concept of the album. Even so, I’m not wholly convinced that the chosen repertoire entirely hangs together as a programme. Of course, each item can be appreciated on its own merits.
Rejoice in the Lamb was commissioned in 1943 by that most enlightened and discerning twentieth-century clerical patron of the arts, Rev. Walter Hussey (1909-1985) when he was vicar of St Matthew’s, Northampton (1936-1955). Britten selected for his text lines from the poem Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart (1722-1791). Much of this poem was written when Smart was confined to a mental asylum, though it was not published until 1939 and then, as Andrew Stewart tells us, only “the surviving fragments”. Stewart also very fairly points out that Smart may have been eccentric rather than mentally ill. I have to admit that I’ve never really warmed to Rejoice in the Lamb; it’s a very clever and skilful composition, but I find Smart’s poetry a significant challenge. If I’m honest, I wonder if this was an ideal choice for this programme. The singing per se is very good – and the four members of the choir who sing solo episodes all acquit themselves splendidly. The trouble is that the music is sung by a large choir – if I’ve counted correctly, 89 singers are involved – and in the very resonant acoustic of Clifton College Chapel the words are often indistinct, especially when the music is fast-paced. I found that even when listening through headphones. I’m used to hearing this piece performed by smaller ensembles and I’m not convinced it works with a large choir.
At the other end of the programme, we hear another St Matthew’s commission in the shape of Elizabeth Poston’s Festal Te Deum. I presume this was not a Walter Hussey commission – he had moved to be Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1955 and Poston’s piece was commissioned for the church’s patronal festival in 1959. Here, the work is receiving its recorded premiere because, as Andrew Stewart relates, the manuscript slumbered in the Northamptonshire Record Office until 2018 and was published two years later. A valuable 2023 Naxos disc devoted to some of Elizabeth Poston’s choral music demonstrated that there is a lot more to her output than the too-ubiquitous Jesus Christ the Apple Tree (review). This premiere recording of the Festal Te Deum further proves that point. It’s scored for SATB choir, trumpet and organ. I liked both work and performance very much. The members of Bristol Choral Society give a spirited account of the music and I admired the way in which they make the most of the dynamic contrasts in the music. Interestingly, the words came across more clearly to me than was the case in some of the other pieces; I wonder if that is because the text is more familiar to me. Poston’s setting is very effective – she responds well to the various demands of the text – and the clarion trumpet adds to the texture very successfully. It’s very good that this piece has achieved a first recording; Hilary Campbell and her singers make a fine job of it.
Although the primary focus of the programme is on choral music there are several solo items which feature soprano Charlotte Mobbs, partnered very well indeed by pianist Steven Kings. She sings the Four Shakespeare Songs by Cecilia McDowall. Over the years I’ve heard quite a lot of this composer’s music – mainly choral – and I’ve admired what I’ve heard. In this set of songs, McDowall chooses extracts from four different plays by the Bard. Charlotte Mobbs does them well. The sound of her voice is attractive and I like the expressiveness that she brings in particular to the second song (‘Give me my robe’) and the third (‘How should I your true love know?’). She also successfully negotiates the florid writing in the last song (‘First rehearse’), where quite often the writing takes her into the upper reaches of her vocal compass. Ms Mobbs also gives us Elizabeth Maconchy’s Ophelia’s Song, which uses the same text that Cecilia McDowall set in the third of her songs. I have to confess that I rather prefer Maconchy’s approach to Shakespeare’s lines. Elizabeth Maconchy’s songs are too little known. That can’t be said of Vaughan Williams’ Orpheus with his lute. It’s a lovely song and I very much enjoyed hearing Charlotte Mobbs and Steven Kings perform it.
Ms Mobbs also joins the choir in one of the three movements that comprise A Memory of the Ocean by Grace-Evangeline Mason. This is a very recent piece; Andrew Stewart tells us that it was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, with support from the Vaughan Williams Foundation, to mark the 150th anniversary of VW’s birth in 2022. Hilary Campbell and Bristol Choral Society gave the first performance of the work in 2023 and they now have the distinction of making its first recording. The work, which was inspired by VW’s A Sea Symphony, is scored for SATB choir, cello and piano. The role of two instruments is greater than “just” accompanying the choir; indeed, at times the piano is, by design, particularly prominent in the texture. (In the first of the three movements I struggled to hear the cello, but its contribution is more obvious elsewhere.)
Mason sets her own words in the first movement, ‘A memory of the ocean’. The music is very atmospheric and the choral writing, with frequently overlapping vocal lines, evokes the surges and eddies of the sea. I had the impression, perhaps wrongly, that in this movement Mason uses the words more as a vehicle on which to carry vocal sounds – the text per se seems to matter more in the other two movements. Both of these are settings of verse by the American, Sara Teasdale (1894-1933), whose poetry has become very attractive to composers, such as the Latvian Ēriks Ešenvalds, in recent years. The first Teasdale setting comes from her poem The Sea Wind; Mason entitles her movement ‘I am a pool’. The writing for the choir is expansive, largely homophonic and rather beautiful. The cello, here more audible than in the first movement, enriches the music with several lyrical interjections. Mason holds back the piano for some time and that makes its delayed entry into the texture all the more effective. The third and final movement is entitled ‘Sea of Amethyst’ and uses lines from Teasdale’s poem Off Gibraltar. For this movement, Charlotte Mobbs joins the choir, singing an important soprano solo. Both she and the choir sing ardently. ‘Sea of Amethyst’ brings the whole work to an impressive conclusion.
There’s one more recorded premiere on this disc: Judith Weir’s Praise Him with Trumpets. This is a setting of words from Psalms 148 and 150 scored for choir with two trumpets and organ. It dates from 2015 and, to be honest, I’m surprised that no one has recorded it before. All credit to Hilary Campbell and Bristol Choral Society for remedying that. The trumpets contribute significantly to the jubilant tone of the piece. The choir sings it very well and I enjoyed the piece as well as their rendition of it.
Two familiar pieces by English composers complete the programme. One is Vaughan Williams’ little gem, O taste and see, which was composed for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The choir sings it sensitively, though because such a large group of singers is involved, the singing doesn’t come across as quietly as I’d like it to be. Holst’s setting of Psalm 148 is much better suited to this size of choir. Bristol Choral Society make a fine impression here, not least in the last stanza, where the fervour of their singing ensures that Holst’s piece comes to an exciting conclusion.
I’ve expressed one or two reservations, chiefly about clarity of diction in this acoustic. I rather suspect that in a less resonant venue that would not be an issue; I don’t recall any such concerns when I reviewed the choir’s previous disc. I have no reservations, however, as to the enterprise of the programme. It’s great to hear Bristol Choral Society in fine fettle and rising to the challenges of this varied selection of pieces.
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Contents
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Rejoice in the Lamb, Op 30
Judith Weir (b. 1954)
Praise Him with Trumpets
Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951)
Four Shakespeare Songs
Grace-Evangeline Mason (b. 1994)
A Memory of the Ocean
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Psalm 148
Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1984)
Ophelia’s Song
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Orpheus with his lute
O taste and see
Elizabeth Poston (1905-1987)
Festal Te Deum
