This collection, the first purely choral disc from Amemptos, has a simple premise: many organists, choir directors, choristers etc. have written good music that deserves a wider audience and this CD showcases twenty-three such pieces. From solos up to works for SSAATBB, eleven are a-cappella, the remainder accompanied by organ and even a trumpet, the difficulty ranges from “reasonable church choir” to “competent singers and accompanist required”.
Sung by “Concordia”, an 18-voice choir assembled specifically for the project, this CD was recorded in just one evening session – a remarkable achievement bearing in mind the quality of the finished product. Fortunately, Tim Noon was able to find the time to act as Music Director, bringing James Orrell, his (then) head Chorister from Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral for some of the solos, and Michael Smith competently accompanied on the organ he knows from playing it weekly in Stand just north of Manchester.
What is apparent immediately upon listening to this disc is the beautifully clear recording, which would instantly show up any shortfalls in the singing – were there any to speak of. Keith Caple’s “Evening Prayer” demonstrates this perfectly with James singing “The sun is sinking fast” to the first of two original hymn tunes. This is followed by the choir singing “Round me falls the night”, with its abundance of suspensions & resolutions, with the two tunes eventually combining for the final verse with James’s tune as the descant.
Similar in difficulty is Simon Slater’s exuberant “Gaudent in coelis”. An organ well-specified with reeds and plenum, along with a competent organist, is needed to really get the best out of this work – and the Nicholson, with Michael at the helm does not disappoint at all. Charlotte Vivian and Lynne Rogers spar and sparkle with their respective solo lines in the opening dialogue, remaining prominent as the choir assist in their accompaniment throughout the original sections of this piece. “How brightly shines the morning star” makes a re-harmonised appearance in the middle, with the soloists plus organ transitioning us to the joyful recapitulation and conclusion. This is already lined up for performance by one choir with which I sing – and it cannot come soon enough! This piece is contrasted by three more short anthems from the same composer - “Remember not, Lord” and “Infant holy” are both SATB, with the latter, particularly, setting the simple scene of the birth in the stable. Finally from Simon is a short “Ave verum corpus” for solo treble voice.
Ron Law also has four items on the CD; three of them from his “Requiem”. As many others have done in the past, Ron has added pieces to the traditional Requiem Mass. “Nothing in my hand” (Bass solo) is the cry of a sinner before the Cross realising its power to save. “Pie Jesu” (Treble solo) and “Agnus Dei” (SATB Acc) continue in what sounds at first to be perfectly conventional harmony, but one starts to hear in places just the slightest influence of Ron’s love of jazz. Finally, we have a simple setting of “Balulalow” (SATB) - probably the first one I have heard which made me realise the strophic nature of the words.
I had a similar revelation on hearing the joint shortest piece – Derek Bevan’s setting of the carol “Adam lay ybounden”. Very simple and attractive, it is a worthy alternative to that by Boris Ord et al. Within the same length of 1.04, Kenneth Beard’s “Ave Maria” is equally appealing, with beautiful SATB harmonies flowing organically from the moments of chant-like unison. Starting deceptively simply as a solo verse is Paul Freeman’s “I wonder as I wander”. However, luscious harmonies take over in the following verses to construct a distinctly “mysterioso” atmosphere. The same description can be applied to Dr. John Ellis’s “Drop, drop slow tears”; the calm but scrunchy organ introduction leads to the opening section for the Altos & Basses, before the added note chords return in full SATB.
There are two pieces which warrant a “5” for difficulty: the unaccompanied “Dixit Maria” by Lloyd Buck (the SSAATBB piece) and “Sing a New Song” by David Meacock – (merely!) SATB + organ. I have a bugbear about discords for their own sake. However when, in these pieces, Concordia prove they can sing other than concordantly, there is little sense of the discords being there for any reason other than to carry the words and they are sung with such conviction that they prove the composers right.
Two well-known names represented on this disc. Chris Hutchings’ evocative “O vos omnes” (All ye who pass by”) perfectly captures the mood of the words, with SSATBB voices using the various added-note chords to portray the sense of desolation at this point in the Passion narrative. “Crux fidelis” uses similar chromatic patterns, this time with just four voices and, at little over a minute, has a sense of great calm. Tim Knight is represented twice on the CD: ”God with me” and “I will lift up my eyes” (both SATB + Organ). Both are typically accessible, each starting with treble voices only, with the carefully-crafted vocal harmony joining in later above the simple (sounding) organ.
Should you be looking for a new hymn, you could do a lot worse than Jonathan Amysson’s tune and Timothy Dudley-Smith’s words “Draw near to God”. A good solid and singable tune, raised to new heights (literally) by a cracking descant and the appearance of the promised trumpet. As an aside, I was present at the recording at the point when it was realised that there was no music stand for Andrew Blewitt. Guess who ended up holding the music for him! James Orrell returns to sing Jonathan’s second piece “O Son of God” and effectively captures the intercessory feel.
The penultimate track is “An evening prayer” set by Rod Mather. The restfulness brought about by the lush harmonies in the first verse “When I lay me down to sleep..” give way to rather more strident lines in the “waking” verse. However, a return to the calmness for the “Amen” implies a certain faith at the end.
And so to the final track, about which, understandably, I am keeping my thoughts to myself. You will just have to buy the CD to decide whether you like it as well as a local MD who, upon being given a copy of the track inadvertently (honestly) did describe it as “scrumptious” even before he knew who had written it.
If this all sounds very good, well it is! Truthfully, there are just a few moments when everything gets really busy when the words can get slightly lost in the texture, but this is minor and nothing that you will not get with virtually every other choral recording out there. I listened to this disc via headphones and was amazed at the clarity overall and the complete lack of extraneous noise – surprising, as All Saints, Stand is not that far from a fairly busy road. Buy it, enjoy it and, if you have a choir up to the task, order the sheet music from Amemptos (www.amemptosmusic.co.uk) as well.