Nowel. Advent and Beyond
Rowan Williams (speaker)
Ensemble Pro Victoria/Toby Ward
Cecily Beer (harp)
rec. 2023, All Hallows’ Gospel Oak, London; 2024, Lyddington Parish Church, Rutland, UK
Texts & English translations included
Delphian DCD34315 [72]
Every year the record industry adds to the catalogue yet more CDs on which the performers serve up variants on the traditional Christmas fare, with the occasional unfamiliar piece sometimes added to the mix. Happily, there are usually one or two enterprising exceptions and this latest album from Ensemble Pro Victoria and Toby Ward is one such. The programme includes two or three familiar Christmas items – though all of them more than justify their place in the overall scheme of things – but there’s a very strong focus on music that most of us are unlikely to have heard before; indeed, the items by Piers Connor Kennedy and David McGregor are all receiving their first recordings. As Andrew Mellor puts it in his booklet essay, the programme “channels traditional ancient and more modern, straddling the centuries, the North Sea and the music and poetry of the vernacular and the refined”.
The musical selection has been very carefully and thoughtfully constructed; there are multiple threads running through the section that we hear. I think it’s significant that the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, not only participates as a reader but has also co-curated the programme. He also appears as poet because in the opening item Piers Connor Kennedy sets Dr Williams’ poem Advent Calendar. Andrew Mellor also draws an interesting parallel between the way Hugo Distler’s Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschiste is presented with the inclusion of scriptural readings and the design of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols which was originally devised in 1880 for the new Truro Cathedral by Edmund White Benson (1829-1896) during his time as bishop of that diocese (1877-1883) before he became one of Rowan Williams’ predecessors as Archbishop of Canterbury. As an aside, if you are interested in learning more about the Truro origins of the Festival there is a DVD which includes a fascinating documentary as well as a reconstruction of the very first Festival service in 1880 (review).
We begin with Rowan Williams in partnership with Piers Connor Kennedy, who is not only a composer but a singer also. He has recently become a member of The King’s Singers and he’s one of the basses singing on this disc. I’ve encountered a few of his pieces in the past and they’ve impressed me. Here, Ensemble Pro Victoria sing his setting of Rowan Williams’ poem Advent Calendar. The words are thoughtfully spiritual, as you’d expect from this author, and Kennedy has set them very effectively for choir, bass viol (Matthew Farrell) and chamber organ (Anthony Gray). Andrew Mellor puts it very well in saying that the piece “is shot through with a deep sense of expectation”; that’s true also of the words. Kennedy’s music is very expressive; the spareness of the harmonies is very striking and the instrumental parts are discreet yet make a telling contribution. I had the sense of darkness pierced from time to time by shafts of light.
I don’t think I’ve encountered previously the music of the German composer Hugo Distler. Andrew Mellor relates that Distler, who spent much of his life in Lübeck, was a troubled individual who was so deeply affected by the events of the Second World War that he took his own life in 1942. His Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschiste for a cappella choir is a most interesting work which, Mellor tells us, was structurally inspired by Hinrich Schütz’s St Matthew Passion. Apparently, Distler described his piece as ‘an oratorio with the character of chamber music’. The piece has seven movements, each one of which is a variation on the old chorale Es ist ein Ros entsprungen. Actually, when I say there are seven variants that may not be quite accurate. I haven’t seen a score but it sounds to me as if in the seventh movement Distler reprises the music of the opening movement. In between these short choral movements, Rowan Williams reads a short passage from Scripture. Before the music starts he reads an extract from Isaiah (‘The people that walked in darkness’); the subsequent readings are mostly taken from St Luke’s Gospel and relate the Christmas story from the Annunciation, the Visitation, Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, right through to the Presentation in the Temple; each reading relates to the text of the chorale verse we’re about to hear. After the last sung movement, Dr Wiliams reads as a short epigraph, words from St John’s Gospel (‘God so loved the world’) I’ve come across Rowan Williams before as a speaker during a musical work; he made a distinguished contribution to the recording of Grace Williams Missa Cambrensis (review); here, his task is somewhat different. The scale of this album is smaller than the big Grace Williams mass. Rowan Williams responds accordingly: his readings are calm, clear and intimate in tone; he’s just right.
As for Distler’s music, it’s highly skilful, not least in the use of canons and other such devices. But, though there’s a high degree of compositional accomplishment, this is art that conceals art. One is not conscious of how technically inventive Distler is – though the music is certainly inventive; rather, he allows the chorale melody to make its effect while adorning and enriching it. Only in one movement, the third, is the chorale tune a little less prominent. This happens in the third movement where the chorale is sung in the background while a solo voice (the excellent alto, Elisabeth Paul) sings the German text of the Magnificat in the foreground to a melody which must be Distler’s own. Helped by expertly nuanced singing by the members of Ensemble Pro Victoria, Distler’s work made a strong impression on me. It’s thoughtful, sincere and expertly crafted; I’m delighted that this splendid recording has enabled me to make its acquaintance.
We return to the music of Piers Connor Kennedy for his Nowell el el, a piece commissioned by the artists who perform it here. Kennedy’s piece is most interesting. It has been designed as a partner piece for Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols but whereas Britten’s masterpiece is for upper voices and harp, Kennedy has written for adult male voices (TTBarBarBB) and harp. The use of the harp is not quite the same as in Britten’s work in the sense that here the harp part is less virtuosic than is sometimes the case in A Ceremony of Carols; Kennedy’s harp part is more of a true accompaniment. Yet the writing is still mightily effective and Cecily Beer’s playing is a constant delight. Nowell el el is bookended by an unaccompanied processional and recessional (another echo of Britten) in which the Magnificat plainchant antiphon for 23 December (‘O Emmanuel’) is sung. In between, we hear ten movements, each of which is a setting of medieval English poetry. I won’t discuss them all, save to say that each and every setting is inventive and full of interest; I’ll just reference a few which were particular highlights for me. The first of the settings ‘The lovely lady sat and sang’ features mainly a baritone solo; the movement is most attractive. The following ‘Owt of your slepe aryse and wake’ is very lively and joyful; the syncopated rhythms provide drive and edge. I like the innocence of ‘Puer nobis natus est’ and also the fast and joyous ‘Nowel el el’ which requires – and here receives – pin-point articulation from the singers. ‘O sisters too’ is the well-known Coventry Carol. It opens with wordless, soft singing over a gentle harp accompaniment before the verses are sung to music which features original and intriguing harmonies; Connor’s use of dissonance emphasises the tragedy that the carol describes. Perhaps the most searching harmonies of all occur in the penultimate setting, ‘This rose is reed of colour bryght’; this is a slow, pensive setting. I think Nowell el el is a terrific piece. The music is very varied and each setting features a most acute response to the words. The singing of the six members of Ensemble Pro Victoria is superb; perhaps spurred on by the presence in their ranks of the composer, they show his music in the best possible light.
The remaining pieces on the programme bring cross-connections. Initially, I wondered at the inclusion of Howells’ A Spotless Rose amid so much else that is new or unfamiliar. But a closer acquaintance with the booklet reminded me that Howells used for his text an English translation of the first two stanzas of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen; so, we have a connection with the Distler piece. Piers Connor Kennedy used one of the so-called ‘Great O’ antiphons in Nowell el el and in O Oriens David McGregor has used another, in a five-part setting. His piece is interesting but, on a purely subjective level, it didn’t appeal to me as much as did the other pieces. The Coventry Carol, another text employed in Nowell el el is the basis for Byrd’s Lulla, Lullaby. Toby Ward leads what is, I think, the most urgent performance that I can remember hearing of Byrd’s little masterpiece. I presume he wants to emphasise the links with the Coventry Carol tragedy rather than any lullaby aspect; it’s a provocative, most interesting approach. In Lully, Lulla, Lullaby Philip Stopford takes what I might term as a more conventional approach to the Coventry Carol. This is a lovely piece and in the outstanding performance by Toby Ward and his singers, the clear, pure soprano solo near the end (Fiona Fraser) is a special delight. Finally, the programme comes (almost) full circle with the chorale Es ist ein Ros entsprungen on which we hear two ‘takes’: the familiar and very lovely harmonisation by Michael Praetorius interspersed with a round on the tune by his contemporary Melchior Vulpius. It would have been so easy just to sing the Praetorius version but the inclusion of Vulpius’s round and the involvement of the bass viol and chamber organ speak to the thoughtful, imaginative approach to the whole of this programme.
This is an exceptional disc in every way. The programme contains a fascinating blend of a little bit of familiar music and a substantial amount of new and/or unfamiliar material. All the music is extremely worthwhile and I count the Distler piece and Piers Connor Kennedy’s Nowell el el as significant discoveries. As for the performances, both the singing and the instrumental playing is immaculate; all the music is vividly communicated. Just as importantly, you’ll go a long way to find a programme that has been more thoughtfully and perceptively constructed. In short, this is a winner on all counts.
The presentational side is up to Delphian’s usual top-drawer standards. Producer/engineer Paul Baxter has recorded the performances, as is his wont, in exemplary fashion. The sessions took place in two locations and over a year apart but I felt the sound quality was consistent. One small but telling detail is that when Rowan Williams is delivering his readings, not only can he be very clearly heard but also there’s just a small but very welcome trace of the acoustic round his voice. The booklet essay by Andrew Mellor is perceptive and guides listeners through the music expertly.
This disc will see you through the Advent and Christmas seasons in a stimulating and very satisfying way.
John Quinn
Contents
Piers Connor Kennedy (b 1991) – Advent Calendar (2021)
Hugo Distler (1908-1942) – Seven Chorale Variations from Die Weihnachtsgeschiste, Op 10 (1931)
(interspersed with Scriptural readings)
Piers Connor Kennedy –Nowell el el (2023)
Herbert Howells (1892-1983) – A Spotless Rose (1919)
David McGregor (b 1995) – O Oriens (2022)
William Byrd (1539/40 – 1623) – Lulla, Lullaby
Philip W J Stopford (b 1977) – Lully, Lulla, Lullaby (2008)
Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) & Melchior Vulpius (1570-1615) Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
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