Lament & Liberation
Alexander Robson (organ)
The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge/Christopher Gray
rec. 2024, St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge, UK
Texts & English translations included
Signum Classics SIGCD893 [68]
This is Christopher Gray’s first recording with theChoir of St John’s College, Cambridge since he succeeded Andrew Nethsingha as Director of Music in April 2023. He has certainly jumped in at the deep end with the stated intention to “lean into the College’s well-established tradition of championing new music”. Thus, the pieces by Joanna Marsh, Helena Paish and Martin Baker were all commissioned by the College and here receive, I’m sure, their first recordings.
I’ll consider first the three items in the programme which have previously appeared on disc.
I’ve heard Roxanna Panufnik’s ‘Deus, Deus meus’ which is a motet that forms part of her Westminster Mass; I’ve heard two previous recordings of the entire Mass. The motet sets verses from Psalm 65 which speak of a longing for God. I think Jeremy Dibble puts it very well in his notes when he refers to “the motet’s bitter-sweet demeanour of yearning and desire”. The present performance is excellent.
One of the two keystone works in this programme is James MacMillan’sCantos sagrados, of which this may be the fourth recording of. Oddly, both of the previous ones of which I’m aware were released by the same label: Signum Classics. The version by which I came to know the work was made in 2003 by The Elysian Singers (review). A subsequent recording was made by the National Youth Choir of Scotland and my colleague William Hedley indicates in his review that there’s been another recording, of which I wasn’t unaware, conducted by the composer himself. Even for an ensemble of the accomplishment of the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, this work is a formidable technical and intellectual challenge; we shouldn’t forget that in this performance the top line is sung by children. The work is founded in MacMillan’s interest in the Liberation Theology which was at the time that he was writing the piece so influential among many Roman Catholics in Latin America. He set three poems by Latin American poets, two by Ariel Dorfman (b 1942) and one by Ana-Maria Mendoza. All three are highly intense in nature. The central one, by Mendoza, is a poem in honour of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the slow, prayerful nature of the music – to say nothing of the devotional tone of the text – provides much-needed contrast between the two Dorfman settings. The first of those, ‘Identity’ concerns the discovery of the naked body of a man who has been murdered by the soldiers or police of a repressive regime. MacMillan uses harsh, uncompromising music to set this text of terror. The last element in the triptych, ‘Sun Stone’ is inspired. Dorfman’s poem tells of a prisoner facing a firing squad at dawn. Unsurprisingly, MacMillan sets the poem itself to intense, jagged music. What makes the setting so inspired, though, is that the setting of the poem itself is underpinned by other members of the choir singing gently, as a kind of background chorale, Latin words from the Creed (‘Et incarnatus est…Crucifixus etiam pro nobis’). Cantos sagrados is a disturbing, harrowing work. I haven’t listened to the Elysian Singers recording for a long time but I was very glad – if that’s the right word – to encounter it again in this searing St John’s performance.
Dobrinka Tabakova’s Turn our captivity, O Lord was commissioned by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen for their 2023 Choral Pilgrimage, the title of which was ‘A Watchful Gaze’. I remember it made quite an impression on me when I heard them sing it during their visit to Tewkesbury Abbey in September 2023. Byrd’s setting of the same text from Psalm 126 was included on the same programme and the two works, though not sung consecutively, complemented each other well; in the programme, Tabakova commented that she sought, through some of the ornamentation in her writing to introduce a reference to Byzantine chant. Christopher Gray comments that he chose this piece, at the end of a programme “that is not for the faint-hearted” to offer some comfort. It was a perceptive choice. Broadly, the music consists of slow-moving homophony over which the trebles have florid, decorative lines. The piece is beautiful and intense and brings this programme to a reassuring conclusion.
The remainder of Christopher Gray’s programme consists of pieces written specifically and very recently for St John’s College.
The second keystone work in the programme is Joanna Marsh’s triptych, Echoes in time. This, Jeremy Dibble tells us, was commissioned specifically to act as “a foil” to the MacMillan triptych. The work sets three poems by the poet, academic and Anglican priest, Malcolm Guite (b 1957); two were existing poems but the text for Marsh’s middle movement ‘Refugee’ was commissioned specially by St John’s College. Like Cantos sagrados, Marsh’s work can be performed as a sequence of three pieces, just as it is recorded here. However, it’s not without significance, I’m sure, that the three elements were each premiered separately as suitable elements in different liturgical services. So, the first piece, ‘The hidden light’ was first heard at the Advent Carol Service in 2023. The poem references the pregnant Mary, journeying to Bethlehem; the hidden light of the title is her unborn son, Jesus. There’s weariness and apprehension in both words and music. The piece is for unaccompanied double choir and the textures are often quite rich. I sense also an air of mystery. ‘Refugee’ was first heard a few weeks later at the 2024 Epiphany Carol Service. Here, Guite’s words reference the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt after the massacre of the Holy Innocents. Understandably, the music seems tense and troubled but despite this there’s fulness in the choral textures. Last comes ‘Still to dust’, first heard on Ash Wednesday 2024; as the title indicates, Guite’s words speak of Lenten repentance and the distribution of Ashes. The music is slow-moving but often stark; here. as elsewhere in the triptych, the St John’s choir demonstrate formidable technical precision in placing the harmonies. The piece ends with an unexpected major chord – unexpected, that is, until one takes to heart where Guite’s words have been leading. Echoes in time may have been designed as “a foil” to Cantos sagrados but the subject matter and the tone of the two works are very different. I think Joanna Marsh’s work is most interesting.
Helena Paish’s The Annunciation is another St John’s commission. It sets a poem written late in his life by Edwin Muir (1887-1959). I liked this piece. It seemed to me that the melodic lines and the harmonies in which they are clothed emphasise the mystery which is at the heart of the Annunciation. Paish uses three soloists – two trebles and an alto – and their contributions, especially the timbre of the male alto, impart an otherworldly feel to the music.
Ecce ego Ioannes by Martin Baker is an organ solo, written specially for this recording. In Christopher Gray’s words, the title of Baker’s piece “takes us into the book of Revelation, and St John’s vision of the world’s destruction”. Baker’s music is graphically descriptive. The mood of suppressed tension in which the piece opens gradually builds and becomes more overt. About halfway through, the tone of the piece becomes spikier and more potent, moving towards a potent climax. The St John’s organ includes a famous Trompeta Real stop and just before the end (at 7:27) this stop is deployed, its sound cutting through the loud, dense sound of the full organ like a knife. Alexander Robson gives a stunning account of the piece. (Incidentally, if I read Jeremy Dibble’s note correctly, a supernumerary organist is required to play the notes voiced by the Trompeta Real.)
This programme is very challenging for the listener and for the performers. I structured my review so as to deal first with the pieces that have been previously recorded. However, Christopher Gray makes the important – and very fair – point that the programme has been devised as a sequence and is best heard as such. I listened to it in that way and found that it hung together very well and was rewarding. By his own admission, Gray has designed a programme which is “not for the faint hearted”; the music is serious and, especially in the MacMillan work, often confronts the listener but all the pieces, in their different ways, repay careful listening and compel attention. The Choir of St John’s College tackle this demanding programme not just with great accomplishment but also with evident commitment. Alexander Robson contributes significantly from the organ console. On the evidence of this album, Christopher Gray’s tenure as Director of Music has begun auspiciously. However, whilst I applaud his decision to begin his Cambridge recording career with a programme of contemporary music, I would be interested to evaluate his work with the choir in more mainstream repertoire also; perhaps on their next CD?
The technical side of this project was in the safe and experienced hands of producer Adrian Peacock and engineer David Hinitt. They’ve done a fine job: the singers and the organ are clearly heard – and are well balanced against each other – whilst the resonant acoustic of the College Chapel has been harnessed most effectively to put bloom on the sound. The booklet essay by Jeremy Dibble offers a valuable introduction to all the pieces.
Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free.
Contents
Roxanna Panufnik (b. 1968)
‘Deus, Deus meus’ (Movement from Westminster Mass, 1997)
Joanna Marsh (b. 1970)
Echoes in time (2023)
Helena Paish (b. 2002)
The Annunciation (2024)
Martin Baker (b. 1967)
Ecce ego Ioannes (2024)
Sir James MacMillan (b. 1959)
Cantos sagrados (1989)
Dobrinka Tabakova (b. 1980)
Turn our captivity, O Lord (2022)
