Recordings of cathedral services often prove disappointing as concert programs because, well, that’s not what the sequence of service music, psalms, responses, and anthems are for. The music has a specific purpose to come before or after spoken prayers, scripture readings, sermon, and so forth and thus doesn’t always lend itself to a satisfying, uninterrupted musical listening experience. If you want a recording of great cathedral anthems or more substantial service music such as a Mass or Magnificat, you might not want the program interrupted by chanted psalms or responses that have little or no purpose as “performance” pieces. Well, if you’re concerned about such things, you need not worry in the case of this magnificent–and magnificently recorded–program from Westminster Abbey.
Divided into three sections–Matins; Eucharist; Evensong–the disc offers intelligently chosen repertoire that maximizes the content, context, and power of each service in sheer musical terms. There’s certainly no filler here–not even the chanted service music, which not only flows easily from its preceding work and into the next, but also makes a fine impression on its own, especially the psalms by Barnby (No. 24) and Macfarren (No. 93), two of the more glorious and justifiably well-loved settings of these texts.
And speaking of glorious: We also hear resounding renditions of Finzi’s God is gone up, Britten’s Festival Te Deum in E (which we don’t hear often enough!), and Vaughan Williams’ O clap your hands. Organist Robert Quinney is an important–make that vital–part of these proceedings, and he’s an extraordinary musician whose solo Toccata–a nearly 10-minute tour de force by Francis Pott that closes the disc–is an unforgettable highlight.
Of course, this venerable choir gives every reason for us to sit back and enjoy, from the very solid and pleasingly round brightness of the trebles to the strong, full-bodied lower voices and overall well-balanced ensemble. As we might expect from a choir so used to singing this repertoire, so well-versed in its purpose and style, there’s not a weak moment in the singing. Among the choral works, particular mention must go to the Walton “Chichester Service” Mag and Nunc and to Patrick Gowers’ Ascension anthem Viri Galilaei, the latter a substantial and original masterpiece that everyone who loves choral music must possess. (Many listeners will remember Gowers as the composer of the marvelous music for the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes TV series; this work, which already has received several fine recordings, shows his command of and obvious comfort with an entirely different genre.)
Whenever you record music like this in a cathedral acoustic, you almost inevitably sacrifice something in specifics of ensemble clarity; but you also gain the impressive sensation of the enormous space that gives the sound its intended larger-than-life presence. You can help matters by choosing the right repertoire, works designed for such spaces, and that’s what happens here (the Stanford Caelos ascendit hodie being the most “detail-challenged”–but then, it always is), and you quickly appreciate how the engineers have placed us relative to the choir for the best listening perspective, both for antiphonal passages and for full ensemble with organ. I have to say, though, that if you love the organ, you will have no complaints at all regarding its sound–it’s simply awesome!
