New College, Oxford: Commissions and Premieres

The opening number on this splendid new CD of “Commissions and Premieres” is William Harris’s Faire is Heaven (1925). This is often touted as being his masterpiece: it certainly retains its popularity in Quires and Places where they Sing. Harris was organist and choirmaster at New College between 1919 and 1929. This anthem was dedicated to Harris’s predecessor, Hugh Percy Allen. The text is assembled from Edmund Spenser’s An Hymn of Heavenly Beauty dating from 1596. This anthem for double choir is timeless. On the one hand Harris looks back to the era of Tallis and Tompkins, and on the other, he is saying farewell to the confident Edwardian Era, so destroyed by the Great War. The span of the anthem is in ternary form, moving from the “Faire Heaven” to a “endless perfectness,” by way of “Those eternall burning Seraphins/Which from their faces dart out fiery light...”  

Herbert Howells wrote several settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for a variety of ecclesiastical foundations. Often, they were tailored to the acoustic characteristics of the particular building. As the liner notes explain, the dry acoustic of the chapel “does not allow for the ethereal atmosphere of the Gloucester or slow-burn grandeur of the St Paul’s Service.” The New College Service was composed in 1949. It is an intimate work that is simple in its progress. I understand that Howells was delighted with it.

Kenneth Leighton composed Crucifixus pro nobis, op.38, for soloist, choir, and organ, in 1961, dedicated to David Lumsden and the present choir. It sets texts by the seventeenth-century poets Patrick Carey and Phineas Fletcher. This is a deeply felt meditation on the Passion of Christ. It is in four movements, or meditations: Christ in the cradle; Christ in the Garden; Christ in his Passion, with a concluding hymn, Drop, drop, slow tears. The three sections use the tenor soloist, the choir and the last, combining the two. The organ provides support and sometimes even commentary, throughout. In the last section, which is “musically and verbally the climax” of the piece, the organ is finally silent, allowing the choir to bring this beautiful but tragic work to a serene close.

The second New College Service on this CD was written in 1968 by Paul Drayton. Multitalented, Drayton has worked in a variety of musical disciplines, including as pianist, teacher, composer, conductor, author, and lecturer. The Magnificat is vibrant, rhythmic, and joyful whereas the Nunc Dimittis is thoughtful and typically pensive. Despite this introspection, it is unusually long and expansive, complete with two climaxes and a “hushed coda.” Piquant dissonances add to the numinous quality of this unaccompanied service.

The final three tracks all date from the 21^st century. The liner notes give little information about Caitlin Harrison’s introit O pastor animarum (2022) save that it sets a text by the German Benedictine abbess and polymath, Hildegard of Bingen. This short piece has delicious harmonies complimenting the “bell-like exchange between sopranos and altos.”  

Deborah Pritchard’s New College Service (2020) is summed up in the booklet as “protean.” Certainly, its progress does assume different forms and gives much variation of emotion. The Magnificat has a “fluctuating tempo in tandem with the intensity of the harmony and vocal tessitura” whilst the meditative Nunc Dimitis uses gentle counterpoint to create its ageless effect. It is a worthy successor to the Howells and the Drayton services.

Toby Young’s O God, make the door of this house sets a text by New College alumni Thomas Ken (1637-1711). This is a vibrant anthem that uses “pop-inflected rhythm and harmony.”  There is a big finish on the “door” being made “the gateway to thine eternal kingdom.” The anthem was premiered in 2016 for the installation of the new warden of the College.

Robert Quinney and the New College Choir give an outstanding performance of all these works. And let’s not forget the valuable contribution from the organist, Dónal McCann. The recording is clear and detailed, reflecting the spaciousness of the Chapel. Yet, the more intimate moments are not any less perfect.

The liner notes by the choir’s director are informative. Dates for all the works in the track listing would have been helpful. All texts are provided.

This new release by the celebrated Choir of New College, Oxford, follow their successful CD of music by “old boy” John Sheppard. (Linn CKD 632, reviewed here). The foundation of this College was founded by William of Wykeham in 1379, so they have a lot of experience.

The choir has explored seven works specially composed for them in the twentieth and twenty-first century. As the CD advert suggests, this “provides a compelling historical tour of changing musical styles and liturgical practices.”

Track Listing:
William Harris (1883-1973)
Faire is Heaven (1925)
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
New College Service (1949)
Kenneth Leighton (1929-88)
Crucifixus pro nobis, op.38 (1961)
Paul Drayton (b.1944)
New College Service (1968)
Caitlin Harrison (b.1996)
O pastor animarum (2022)
Deborah Pritchard (b.1977)
New College Service (2020)
Toby Young (b.1990)
O God, make the door of this house (2016)
Choir of New College, Oxford/Robert Quinney, Dónal McCann (organ)
rec. 18-22 July 2022, New College Chapel, Oxford
Linn CKD 720
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.