Mantegna – Hymnody and beyond
Dulwich Choral Society; London Mozart Players / William Vann
James Orford (organ),
rec. 2025 St. Mildred’s Church, Addiscombe Croydon, England
Texts included
Albion Records ALBCD067 [75]

Vaughan Williams was more of a quiet revolutionary than he is often given credit for. The image of an avuncular old man and purveyor of cowpat pastoralism still pervades even amongst those who enjoy his music. Yet through his numerous musical passions and convictions he was a central figure in loosening the bonds of Germanic musical orthodoxy. This allowed the generations of composers that followed – even those who would reject utterly the pastoral/folksong influences – to speak with their own voice. Clearly, folksong and the impact of earlier British composers from the Elizabethan age and beyond were key to his own development. But equally important and enduring was his work editing The English Hymnal published in 1906; in this role he not only wrote new tunes for existing words, he also adapted folksongs and commissioned friends and colleagues to revivify the worthy tradition of hymn writing. To this day, the most recent edition of the most common hymn book used in the Anglican Church – Ancient and Modern – lists 46 entries for Vaughan Williams.

The premise of this new and wholly enjoyable collection from Albion Records is to celebrate not only Vaughan Williams’ direct contribution to the hymn repertoire but the response of other composers to his work. As someone who grew up in a time when hymn singing was a part of the daily school assembly, it is always remarkable how many of these tunes became familiar and indeed loved without any conscious awareness of their composer or origin. At very first glance this programme looks like a slightly odd assembly of ‘straight’ hymns sung with either organ or orchestral accompaniment, some perhaps unexpected orchestral items and even a couple of solo organ items. In fact, I found this to be an extremely well-planned and effective programme that certainly can be enjoyed as single items but in fact works very well indeed as a beautiful – indeed often moving – complete ‘concert’.

Spread across this generously filled disc are significant Vaughan Williams hymn tunes sung as they were originally arranged with either organ or later orchestral accompaniment. The programme is book-ended by two of the most famous of all; All People that on Earth do Dwell (Old Hundredth) and For All the Saints (Sine Nomine). In between, the Dulwich Choral Society – who undertake all the choir/congregational duties here – also perform O God of Earth and Altar, Fierce Raged the Tempest and Lift up your Hearts (Magda). Placed second on the disc is Into the Woods My Master Went to a tune Vaughan Williams called Mantegna– hence the disc’s title. Andreas Mantegna was an Italian Renaissance painter whose powerful painting ‘The Agony in the Garden’ hangs in London’s National Gallery. The hymn was written for the 1931 enlarged edition of Songs of Praise as a Passiontide Hymn and it clearly displays the care and craft Vaughan Williams would lavish even on a quite short and reflective unison hymn.

This care, touched by his unique genius, inspired many other composers, church musicians and arrangers around him. Between these original settings have been judiciously placed other original settings or treatments of these melodies by contemporaries of Vaughan Williams or those who have followed in his footsteps. The result is a sequence of sung works and instrumental/orchestral versions that act as some kind of reflection or meditation on those works. As mentioned, the disc opens with All People that on Earth do Dwell (Old Hundredth); a familiar and always uplifting setting. Perhaps this is the only relative disappointment on the disc. Simply because this grand, festive setting sounds underpowered here. Vaughan Williams’ setting was written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 and, to be blunt, any performance needs to overwhelm. Here it is perfectly well sung by the Dulwich Choral Society and nicely played by the excellent London Mozart players (the solo trumpet counter melody in the third verse/semi-chorus ‘O enter then his gates with praise’ is beautifully played and never fails to move). But this needs “scale” – versions from Paul McCreesh as part of his ‘An English Coronation’ set or David Hill on Argo with the Bournemouth SO in the big acoustic of Winchester Cathedral deliver in spades. The liner mentions that a reduced orchestration by David Stone is used here. Stone is a name that was familiar for many years for producing versions of standard repertoire for school and amateur orchestras – perhaps this is a simplification too far. That said, it remains a glorious and uplifting work.

Conductor William Vann is Musical Director of the Dulwich Choral Society and this disc is their first together. The choir are well suited to this style of repertoire.  The liner lists some 64 voices and they are clearly well trained but without the level of blend or unanimity that smaller professional ensembles now achieve – however the sound they make is wholly appropriate for these unison or relatively simple hymn settings – in fact these fairly straightforward hymn settings are all the better for this approach. A case in point is the performance of Mantegna – a tune and setting I did not know. What is even more of a surprise, and an unexpectedly delightful one at that, is Francis Jackson’s extended Homage to Vaughan Williams that follows. This is a set of variations for full orchestra that runs to 17:13 on the Mantegna theme. Jackson is best known as having been Organist and Director of Music at York Minster for 36 years from 1946 – 1982.  He died at the mighty age of 104 in 2022 and after his death this score was found amongst his papers in the York Minster library. Malcolm Riley – one of the co-directors of Albion Records – was responsible for the considerable task of editing the score and producing a new score and set of performing parts used here. The work was originally written in 1960 and it seems to have had a couple of performances before being forgotten until now. The Wikipedia entry for Jackson mentions some 164 opus numbers, including a symphony and organ concerto alongside the perhaps more predictable solo organ and church music. According to Jackson; “it’s a set of variations which roughly follow the events of the Garden of Gethsemane…” which of course ties the work back to the original painting by Andreas Mantegna.

The liner includes the members of the London Mozart Players which shows this work is for a full orchestra of double wind, four horns and standard full brass, timpani and percussion as well as the usual strings. One observation is that the string strength listed here is 8.6.4.4.2 which is perhaps a little light when confronted with a full complement of wind and brass. I would assume there was an economic constraint that enforced that choice. But with that minor caveat, the result is genuinely impressive both as piece and performance. Perhaps ‘homage’ does occasionally risk tipping over into ‘pastiche’ and there are passages which further recall specific works by Vaughan Williams and even his great friend and colleague, Holst. Jackson clearly has a sensitive ear for orchestral textures and ‘registrations’ – the very opening with the theme clearly and beautifully present on cor anglais has the feeling of a chorale-prelude-like meditation on the theme that gradually unfurls. The modal horn writing in parallel thirds echoes the Vaughan Williams Fifth symphony perhaps but that seems appropriate to the spirit of the work. As well as being a satisfying varied and differentiated set of variations, Jackson was skilful at following a generalised narrative arc of the events that took place at Gethsemane. The result is a piece that is genuinely satisfying both formally and narratively. The orchestra plays very well and William Vann’s interpretation strikes me as very well paced and sensitive to the idiom – which is very Vaughan Williamsesque(!) So, a genuinely enjoyable, indeed impressive, discovery. 

More attractive rarities follow. In 1945 Percy Whitlock published a set of Six Hymn Preludes one of which was based on Vaughan Williams’ hymn tune King’s Lynn. Whitlock had been a composition pupil of the older composer some twenty years earlier but his fame until his untimely death aged just 43 in 1946 was as organist of the Bournemouth Pavilion. Again this Prelude is very much in the flowing pastoral prelude style of his teacher. Here it is given the full orchestral treatment in a very effective arrangement by Malcolm Riley. Riley is an organist himself and a Whitlock specialist – he was responsible for much of the material and featured on the Marco Polo ‘British Light Music’ disc devoted to Whitlock. This arrangement is a delight. Another orchestral arrangement of King’s Lynn follows here by William H Harris but here as an accompaniment to a unison choir version of the tune. The liner, written with insight and enthusiasm by Malcolm Riley and John Francis neatly describes this as a “sturdily deluxe arrangement” which is exactly how it sounds.  Quite what occasion merited such a substantially scaled version is not disclosed although Harris’ long-held post as organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle suggests a Royal occasion.  The words to this hymn (all texts included, as usual with Albion) are by G K Chesterton whom I associate more with the Father Brown mysteries rather than hymn lyrics.

Organist James Orford then makes the first of his four solo contributions, all of which are genuinely a delight, not least because the organ of St. Mildred, Addiscombe where the entire programme was recorded sounds very fine indeed; it has been perfectly recorded – rich and full in a good, generous church acoustic but with plenty of detail retained – by the technical team of producer Andrew Walton and engineer Tim Burton. Indeed, the entire disc benefits from those same technical qualities, whether featuring the orchestra alone, or the choir or the ‘full’ complement of performers. Part of the pleasure of the programme is the variety and Orford’s four solos embody this.  Henry Ley’s Prelude on Down Ampney is a gently reflective chorale-prelude that you imagine Vaughan Williams would have enjoyed as much for its homage to Bach as to himself. This was written shortly after Vaughan Williams’ death and surely it was intended as a personal, moving tribute by Ley to his close friend. A sense of reflection continues into Vaughan Williams’ adaption of Orlando Gibbons’ 1623 setting of part of the Song of Solomon.  In The English Hymnal the melody, known as Song 13,was set to the words Jesu, grant me this I pray. This simple yet touching setting is sung unaccompanied by the Dulwich Choral Society.  Vann favours a flowing, unsentimental tempo, which is surely right and certainly effective. All the more so when sent in tandem with a transcription for strings by Helen Glatz of Vaughan Williams’ own piano arrangement of the same hymn. Vann treats this version in a more thoughtful, gentler manner, which works very well indeed. The intimate approach is very effective. This arrangement appeared as a filler on Richard Hickox’s Chandos recording of Symphony No.5with the LSO (review). The LSO clearly has a larger body of strings, which brings benefits, but both versions are genuinely fine and this little work deserves to be added to the ‘standard’ body of this composer’s string works.

William Harris makes two more contributions as composer – the fairly simple setting of another Gibbons melody as Eternal Ruler and then his extended Fantasia on an English Folk Tune (Monk’s Gate). The tune is one Vaughan Williams collected and then used as the melody for the familiar hymn ‘He who would valiant be’. At 9:31 this is the second most substantial work on the disc and is a genuinely impressive one at that. James Orford plays with real authority and again the organ sounds very fine. This is a thoroughly enjoyable work on so many levels – the liner, neatly echoing Bunyan’s original words – describes this as “a veritable pilgrimage” of organ technique and contrapuntal writing. The liner does not indicate when Harris wrote the work – but again one can imagine Vaughan Williams (a church organist himself for four years in his youth) appreciating the sheer range of technique as well as the homage it pays to the great organ fantasias of the past. Curiously for such an appealing work, there appears to have been only one other recording – on Priory as part of a two-disc survey of Harris’ complete organ works (review).

Another neat pairing has David Briggs’ Carillon on White Gates following straight on from Vaughan Williams’ hymn Fierce raged the tempest (White Gates).  Briggs, of course, has been a stalwart of several Albion releases over the years – perhaps most notably his two disc set ‘Bursts of Acclamation’ (review). It’s fair to say he is as immersed in the essence of Vaughan Williams and how that applies in the organ loft as any single person. His Carillon makes a jubilant ‘recessional’ after the sung hymn and again it receives a virtuosic and compelling performance by James Orford. At a compact 4:07 I would like to think that this work could and should become part of many organists’ repertoire.

Malcolm Riley was a busy man creating this programme. For the hymn tune ‘Magda’ Lift up your hearts he has written a brief but noble and dignified introit sonorously played by the brass and percussion of the London Mozart Players. The hymn follows at a more bracing no-nonsense tempo which yet again is an effective pairing. Riley then acts as arranger for the pair of organ preludes on Welsh themes that Vaughan Williams wrote very late in life. In their original form they are included in Briggs’ survey mentioned above but in some ways I think these slight and late works are even more suited to the string treatment they get here. Certainly in this form there are echoes of the Household Music. There is nothing technically demanding here at all but the performances are predictably sensitive and polished.

As mentioned, the programme is completed by the Henry Ley arrangement of For all the Saints, here orchestrated by Malcolm Riley.  It makes for a rousing conclusion to a very enjoyable survey.  The pleasure – as always with Albion’s releases – is increased by the quality of the accompanying documentation and the insights it affords into this music. I must admit that at first glance, given the variety of material and performers, I thought this might prove to be something of a mish-mash as a programme. In fact it turns out to be a very skilfully researched and compiled sequence of music, lovingly performed and beautifully presented. Even for those not immersed in the Anglican Church tradition – which I am not – there is a great deal to enjoy.

Nick Barnard

Previous review: John France and Jim Westhead (both November 2025), John Quinn (December 2025)

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Contents
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune ‘All people that on earth do dwell’
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Into the woods my master went
Francis Jackson (1917-2022)
Homage to Vaughan Williams
Percy Whitlock (1903-1946) orch. Malcolm Riley (b. 1960)
Prelude on King’s Lynn
Ralph Vaughan Williams orch. William H. Harris (1883 – 1973)
O God of earth and altar (King’s Lynn)
Henry Ley (1887 – 1962)
Prelude on Down Ampney
Orlando Gibbons (1583 – 1625)
Jesu, grant me this, I pray (Song 13)
Ralph Vaughan Williams arr. Helen Glatz (1908-1996)
Hymn Tune Prelude on Song 13
William H Harris
Eternal Ruler of the Ceaseless Round
Fantasia on Monk’s Gate
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Fierce Raged the Tempest (White Gates)
David Briggs (b.1962)
Carillon on White Gates
Malcolm Riley
Introit on Magda
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Lift Up Your Hearts (Magda)
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Romanza ‘The White Rock’ (Arr. for Strings by Malcolm Riley)
Toccata ‘St. David’s Day’ (Arr. for Strings by Malcolm Riley)
Ralph Vaughan Williams arr. Henry Ley orch. Malcolm Riley
For All the Saints (Sine Nomine)