Gabriel Jackson (b 1962)
Choral Works
The Choir of Canterbury Cathedral / David Newsholme (conductor and solo organ)
Sam Corkin (saxophone)
Jamie Rogers (organ)
rec. 2024, Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, UK
Texts included
Resonus Classics RES10360 [75]
It’s very fitting that this disc of music by Gabriel Jackson should be made by the choir – and organists – of Canterbury Cathedral because, as a boy, Jackson spent three years as a chorister at the cathedral. I’m not sure of the exact dates when he was a member of the choir but it would have been during the time that Allan Wicks served as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Canterbury (1961-1988).
Over the last few decades there has been a most interesting and welcome development among cathedral choirs in the UK with more and more of them opening up their chorister ranks to girls as well as boys. I love to hear the unique sound of an all-male church choir but I’m equally happy to hear such a choir with girls’ voices on the top line. I believe it’s quite usual for the girls and boys not to sing together, though when that happens the blend of the two distinct timbres can be very pleasing. On this disc, however, we hear either the boys or the girls on the top line. There’s a list of choir members in the booklet and I think it’s quite telling that 12 boy singers are listed but the number of girls is 25. Whether we have girls or boys on the top line, there’s no doubting the excellence of this Canterbury choir.
The programme is bookended by pieces that celebrate the admission of girls to chorister ranks at two cathedrals. Praise ye the Lord (2024) was written to mark the tenth anniversary of the admission of girl choristers to the Canterbury Cathedral choir. (David Newsholme, then the Assistant Director of Music at the Cathedral, was also, from 2014, the founding Director of the Cathedral Girls’ Choir; he became Director of Music at the Cathedral in 2021.) Norwich Cathedral admitted girls a bit earlier than Canterbury: O quam gloriosum (2015) was written to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the inclusion of girls in the Norwich choir. Both pieces are for SATB with organ and it’s notable that in both cases the top line has particular prominence. I liked both pieces very much. They’re performed here with splendid conviction and they make, respectively, an ideal beginning and conclusion to the programme.
Earlier, I referenced Allan Wicks (1923-2010) who led the music at Catnterbury Cathedral with great distinction for some twenty-seven years. Gabriel Jackson, and many other musicians, benefitted from him as a mentor. When Wicks died his widow asked Jackson to compose a piece to be sung at his memorial service and she asked that a particular set of words be used. These are from Ecclesiasticus and begin thus: ‘In all his works he praised the Holy one most High’. By a poignant but eminently fitting coincidence this Old Testament passage was the reading appointed to be read at morning service in Canterbury Cathedral on the very day of Wicks’ death. Jackson composed his piece for ATTBB, which voices, as he says in the booklet, are also used by Thomas Tallis in the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The composer is quick to point out, though, that In all his works is not a lament; it’s as much about praise as is the much more extrovert Praise ye the Lord. I’ve previously heard In all his works sung by both a mixed ATTBB choir (review) and by all-male church choir (review). It succeeds admirably here with a mix of male and female voices on the top line. This beautiful and thoughtful piece is a wonderful, quietly eloquent tribute by Jackson to his mentor; it’s excellently done here.
The Mass of St Mary has what may seem to be a surprisingly prominent organ part. There’s a reason for that. The Mass was composed to celebrate the installation of an organ in St Mary’s Church, Maldon, Essex. The instrument is described, correctly, in the booklet as a Klais/Hey organ. I looked for more information on the church’s website and discovered that the organ in question was built for a Catholic church in the Rheinfalz region of Germany by Klais, the celebrated German firm which, inter alia, built the magnificent organ in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. The church for which this particular organ was built closed in 2017, when the organ was “not quite” thirty years old. Thankfully, it was saved and after adaptation and a rebuild by the Bavarian firm, Hey Orgelbau it was installed in St Mary’s, becoming only the sixth Klais organ in the UK. No wonder Jackson wanted to show the instrument’s prowess. Though the St Mary’s organ is no pipsqueak, its scale is right for a parish church (it has two manuals, 26 stops and nearly 1500 pipes). By contrast, the Canterbury Cathedral organ is, of course, a much larger instrument and so the organ part sounds marvellous on this recording. As I listened to the Mass – which is a Missa Brevis; there’s no Credo – I reflected that St Mary’s Maldon must have some pretty good musicians at its disposal. The SATB choral writing is practical – it includes some unison passages and never exceeds four parts – but I’m sure it still requires a very proficient choir to bring it off. Even more demands are made on the organist. On this occasion, the Canterbury singers and organist Jamie Rogers turn in a splendid performance. The varied setting of the Gloria is a highlight of the work and I also admired very much the fairly subdued Benedictus and the pensive Agnus Dei.
While I’m on the subject of organs, this album contains two works for solo organ. Canterbury Concertos (2024) was composed specifically for this recording and for Jamie Rogers, who plays it. The piece plays for just under 10 minutes and it’s ingenious in design. There are ten short sections and each of them is derived, Jackson says, from the numerical position in the alphabet of the letters that form the word ‘Canterbury’. I have to say, I couldn’t identify every single one of the sections simply by listening but that is because Jackson knits his little sections together into a coherent whole. The resulting piece is a fine exploitation of the resources of the Canterbury organ. A standout moment for me comes at 6:03, when in the toccata section of the piece we hear thrilling, deep pedal notes underpinning everything. Jamie Rogers gives an exciting performance of the work. Later in the programme comes Southwark Symphonies (2005), which Jackson describes as a “prequel” to the Canterbury piece. It was commissioned by the organist Michael Bonaventure and has a similar design to the Canterbury piece in that it consists of short sections; this time, each one is derived from the alphabetical positioning of the letters in the commissioner’s surname. The composer comments that he and Michael Bonaventure “[concocted]…often strange, sometimes slightly sinister, and even on occasion rather silly colours” to characterise the various sections of the work. Again, I think the design works very well and the piece is a fine display piece both for the organist who plays it and for the instrument on which it is played. Listen, for example, to the growling pedal notes very near the start or, in other episodes, the way the treble registers of the organ are shown off. This piece is played by David Newsholme; I admired his performance very much.
Elsewhere in the programme we get the chance to hear the Coronation Canticles which were written for SATB choir and organ. The commission came from the choral foundation of the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace to mark the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. These are inventive settings of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. I’d not heard them before but I was very glad to experience them for the first time. In the Magnificat, Jackson pays homage to the musical form of the Elizabethan verse anthem. This produces a design in which the music divides into short episodes and I was very taken by the way he uses contrasts between the various sections; it’s most imaginative. Equally imaginative is Ave maris stella, in which the SATB choir is accompanied not by the organ but by an alto saxophone. This is an instrument which I’ve heard Jackson deploy in other choral works; its penetrating, distinctive timbre unfailingly contrasts most arrestingly with the vocal forces, as happens here. One more interesting feature of this piece is that Jackson sets not only the traditional Marian hymn for Vespers (in Latin) but also interpolates a contemporary Marian poem. This poem is by the Latvian poet, Anna Rancāne (b 1959) and the choice of her words is, I’m sure, significant because the piece was written for the State Choir ‘Latvija’. I believe that Jackson has enjoyed a fruitful association with this superb choir; some years ago they made a marvellous CD of his music (review). In Ave maris stella the combination of saxophone and voices works well and the almost primitive sound of the instrument adds to – and contrasts with – the textural richness of Jackson’s choral writing; the interweaving choral lines are almost kaleidoscopic at times.
I haven’t specifically referenced some of the other pieces on this disc but all are excellent, as are the performances they receive.
This is a very fine survey of just some of the very many choral works with which Gabriel Jackson has enriched the contemporary repertoire. I’m glad, too, that it was decided to include the two solo organ pieces. I’ve never been disappointed in music by Gabriel Jackson and I thoroughly enjoyed this disc, which includes no fewer than six premiere recordings. The music has been extremely well served by the performers. The Canterbury Cathedral choir has evidently been trained very well indeed by David Newsholme. I’m sure the music is challenging – and very rewarding – to sing; these singers pass all the tests that Jackson sets them with flying colours. I’ve commented already on the splendid performances of the two solo organ works; Jamie Rogers accompanies a good number of the choral pieces and does so to splendid effect. The performance of Ave maris stella benefits from an appropriately assertive contribution by saxophonist Sam Corkin.
The technical aspect of this CD is a conspicuous success. Adam Binks is the producer and he also acted as engineer for the two solo organ works. The engineering for the choral pieces was in the hands of Tom Mungall. I particularly like the way that the generous acoustic of Canterbury Cathedral has been allowed to add attractive ambience and resonance to the sound – most notably in In all his works- yetwithout compromising clarity. Gabriel Jackson himself has written the excellent booklet essay.
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Contents
Praise ye the Lord (2024)*
In all his works (2010)
Canterbury Concertos (2024)*
Mass of St Mary (2024)*
Ave maris stella (2017)
Coronation Canticles Magnificat and Nunc dimittis* (2023)
O Virgo virginum (2016)*
Southwark Symphonies (2005)
O quam gloriosum (2015)*
* World premiere recordings
