Wisdom & Strength
Contemporary Sacred Choral Music
Siglo de Oro / Patrick Allies
† Simon Hogan (organ)
rec. 2024, Waltham Abbey, UK
Texts included
Delphian DCD34337 [69]
This is, I believe, the sixth album that the ensemble Siglo de Oro has made for Delphian. I’ve heard and been greatly impressed by three of the previous releases, two of which focussed on music from the Golden Age (review ~ review). That focus was appropriate because, of course, they take their name from that period. Another disc, ‘Drop down ye heavens’ mixed some Renaissance music and a good deal of contemporary music (review). I missed their disc devoted to Music for Milan Cathedral by Hermann Matthias Werrecore but my late colleague, Brian Wilson welcomed it warmly (review). In this latest project, they focus entirely on music of our own time.
The programme has been designed as what James Potter describes in his excellent booklet essay as an “imagined liturgy”, covering the services that one might attend in the Church of England, running from Compline on the evening before the Sunday, through the morning Eucharist to Evensong; it’s a programming concept that really appeals to me. The planning has been taken one stage further in that the choice of music takes us through that part of the liturgical year that runs from Lent through to Trinity Sunday.
The two Compline pieces are both Lenten. I’ve heard and greatly admired quite a lot of sacred music by Kerensa Briggs, most notably her wonderful Requiem (review). Her setting of Media vita, which I’m sure I’ve heard before, was commissioned by Siglo de Oro. As James Potter observes, “A low tessitura prevails, giving the sense of humanity trapped under the weight of sin, struggling to free itself…” The music seems gentle on the surface but the harmonic language brings real intensity. This is a fine piece. In manus tuas introduces us to Judith Ward, whose music is significantly featured on this programme. Ward makes use of an SATB quartet of solo voices and they offer important contrast with the music for the full choir. This is an eloquent short setting; it impressed me.
The Eucharist section of the programme is built around Judith Ward’s Mass for St Mark, here receiving its first recording, as are many of the other compositions. It’s a Missa brevis (with no Credo) for SATB choir and organ – though the Kyrie is a cappella. Both the Kyrie and Gloria are highly effective settings of the respective texts. I very much like the Sanctus, which begins quietly and grows to a majestic climax at ‘Hosanna’. The music then subsides very naturally and segues into the Benedictus. This, too, begins quietly and Ward makes much use of imitative, contrapuntal lines. The ‘Hosanna’ is even more potent this time, underpinned by a thrilling organ pedal note. The Agnus Dei begins with simple unison lines, though by the time we reach Agnus Dei III the music is much more powerful. James Potter suggests that this shows the music growing in confidence as the Agnus unfolds; that’s entirely plausible, though I wonder if it might just as well signify more urgent pleading. This is a fine Mass setting which makes a very direct appeal to the listener; I hope church choirs will take it up widely.
Included also in the Eucharist section is Haec dies by Sarah Cattley. This a cappella setting is mostly emphatic and joyful and, at one point, makes interesting and effective use of aleatoric technique. Joanna Marsh’s Worthy is the Lamb sets the same text that Handel used to such majestic effect in Messiah. The piece is for double choir and organ. The music has, in James Potter’s phrase, an “inexorable momentum” and the writing for both the voices and the organ becomes increasingly fervent. As a Communion motet we hear Christ, our Paschal Lamb by Kristina Arakelyan. I think this may be the first music by this composer that I’ve heard but I hope it won’t be the last. The piece begins with solo voices (SAT) singing wordlessly against a hushed organ part. Gradually, we move towards an awestruck ‘Alleluia’ for the full choir. The Latin text is then sung by alternating sections of the choir as the piece builds to an ecstatic climax on the word ‘Alleluia’, at which point Simon Hogan contributes a formidable sound from the organ pedals. The music then subsides to a highly effective subdued ending. This is a terrific piece; I loved it. The Eucharist concludes with more music by Judith Ward in the shape of O clap your hands in which she sets words from Psalm 47. Unusually, this is a ‘Choral Voluntary’ rather than the organ piece with which one might expect such a service to finish. The music is highly rhythmical and the members of Siglo de Oro articulate it with ideal crispness.
The imagined service of Evensong opens with an Introit byMarisse Cato. Flamed Tongue is, as its title suggests, appropriate to the feast of Pentecost. The words speak of the descent of the Holy Spirit onto the Apostles. Catto’s music is highly illustrative of the events covered in the texts. This piece is another Siglo de Oro commission. The Responses are by Judith Ward and they strike me as being very effective. The way Ward sets the words springs entirely from the Anglican tradition yet in no sense is the music stuck in any kind of rut. In the second set of Responses, I especially liked the warm harmonies to which The Lord’s Prayer is set. Like the Mass for St Mark, I hope that church choirs will take up these Responses.
The Psalm setting is by the Indian-American composer Shruthi Rajasekar. She has set Psalm 59, much of which is very dramatic. The Psalm is set to a double chant and while the chant is respectful of Anglican tradition it moves that tradition forward in an exciting, inventive fashion, not least through the use of dissonance. The chant lends itself to dramatic expression and so it suits the sentiments of the Psalm. My one criticism – a mild one – is that near the end the psalmist changes tack at the words ‘As for me, I will sing of thy power’. Here, an Anglican choirmaster might even have selected a different chant, one in a major key, to signify the change to a more positive sentiment. I’m not entirely sure Ms Rajasekar’s chant ideally suits the last three verses of the Psalm, nor the doxology. But this is not to detract from the imaginative way that she treats the Psalm overall.
The ‘Mag’ and ‘Nunc’ are in the hands of different composers. I learned from the booklet that Alison Willis designed her a cappella Magnificat specifically to “sit alongside” Arvo Pärt’s setting of the Nunc dimittis. Willis’ setting of the Canticle is most interesting. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to play a recording of the Pärt piece immediately after it but that’s something I have every intention of doing. Amy Summers’ setting of the Nunc dimittis is also unaccompanied. I can’t improve on James Potter’s description that the setting “achieves [a] sense of mystical acceptance with a delicate and subtly shifting harmonic texture”. The setting is in Latin and I found it both beautiful and tranquil. The Evensong anthem is O lux beata Trinitas by Kerry Andrew. The music contains a lot of overlapping vocal lines, which create most interesting textures. The composer’s response to the words is original and effective.
The last piece maintains the Trinity connection. Though this is primarily a choral programme I’m glad that it was decided to end, as a service of Evensong would do, with an organ voluntary. Simon Hogan makes many significant contributions to the choral items but it’s good that he gets his moment in the spotlight. The chosen piece is another by Judith Ward. Her Gloria tibi Trinitas is a toccata founded on a plainchant theme. Unusually, though, for a lot of the time the toccata is relatively subdued. It’s only in the last two or three minutes that Ward starts to build her piece to a potent conclusion.
I enjoyed this disc very much indeed. The music is consistently stimulating and inventive. The performances by Sigo de Oro are as accomplished as I’d expect; that’s to say, highly accomplished. Just fourteen singers take part (4/3/3/4) but when required they can make a terrific sound; elsewhere, though, when the music demands it, they observe all the subtle nuances. Patrick Allies has clearly prepared his singers with great care for this assignment; just as importantly, it sounds to me as if he has instilled in them great commitment to all this recent music. (I assume it’s recent, though in only a few cases have I been able to infer or establish the precise dates of composition.) I should imagine that all the composers will be thrilled by the advocacy their music here receives.
Producer/engineer Paul Baxter has recorded the performance in first-rate sound. The documentation is up to Delphian’s usual high standard, not least in terms of the excellent introduction to the music provided in James Potter’s essay.
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Contents
Compline
Kerensa Briggs (b. 1991)
Media vita (2015) [2:48]
Judith Ward (b. 1967)
In manus tuas * [3:32]
Eucharist
Judith Ward
Mass for St Mark – Kyrie * [1:47]
Mass for St Mark – Gloria † * [3:19]
Sarah Cattley (b. 1995)
Haec dies (2018) [4:38]
Joanna Marsh (b. 1970)
Worthy is the Lamb † [4:42]
Judith Ward
Mass for St Mark – Sanctus & Benedictus † * [3:41]
Mass for St Mark – Agnus Dei † * [2:05]
Kristina Arakelyan (b. 1994)
Christ, our Paschal Lamb † * [4:55]
Judith Ward
O clap your hands * [3:02]
Evensong
Marisse Cato (b. 2002)
Flamed Tongue * [1:56]
Judith Ward
Responses I * [1:09]
Shruthi Rajasekar (b. 1996)
Psalm 59 † * [4:32]
Alison Willis (b. 1971)
Magnificat (2017) * [4:20]
Amy Summers (b. 1996)
Nunc dimittis * [4:00]
Judith Ward
Responses II * [5:52]
Kerry Andrew (b. 1978)
O lux beata Trinitas [5:30]
Judith Ward
Gloria tibi Trinitas † * [7:14]
* premiere recordings
