This is a very fine program of Easter and Holy Week choral music, featuring some familiar works mixed with attractive lesser-known pieces, sung by a choir we don’t usually hear on recordings. As the liner notes point out, Ripon Cathedral’s roots go back to a time before the existence of England–to around 650 A.D.–and the first mention of a choir there dates from the mid-1500s (six men and six trebles). Today the church sponsors two treble choirs–a boys’ and a girls’–each of which sings several services per week joined by a choir of lay clerks. We hear both configurations here, which lends an appealing variety to the choral sound and most likely plays to the strengths of each group. And overall the singing is nothing if not strong–and confident, technically assured, and very well balanced. The recording goes a long way to create a natural, realistic ambience and to give the choirs a perceivable presence and proper perspective in the cathedral space.
The more familiar works include Duruflé’s motet Ubi caritas, Byrd’s Civitas sancti tui, Casals’ O vos omnes, and Lotti’s amateur church-choir warhorse, Crucifixus. If you’ve heard those pieces a million times before, you probably already have your own favorite versions of them. Indeed, I felt that the Duruflé here lacks an ideal smooth, linear flow and misses the work’s deeper expressive possibilities, inherent in the harmony and phrasing. However, the Byrd and Casals are outstanding, especially the latter, which, like the Lotti, is so often ruined by poor balances and off intonation.
Kenneth Leighton’s Easter Sequence is a gem, displaying his usual mastery of melody combined with unique choral textures and colors. Tantum Ergo is a short and beautifully crafted setting of the well-known Communion text, written in 1920 by the virtually unknown French composer Déodat de Séverac; and among the remaining pieces is Ripon music director Andrew Bryden’s attractive and consummately functional arrangement of the hymn Now the green blade riseth. In all, I found this a very pleasant, enjoyable program, well-recorded, and worthy of a strong recommendation. (It won’t win any fans for its ghastly cover art, however–a shame because it gives the impression of a haphazard production, which is the exact opposite of what you find when you listen.) [3/10/2006]