A Year at Newcastle Cathedral

The tradition of Newcastle Cathedral dates back for more than nine hundred years. Along with the castle and the large stretches of city wall it represents the medieval city. As the liner notes explain, “music is central to the…Cathedral’s daily life of prayer, worship and witness.” 

The programme has “concentrated on the rich treasury of 20th century music, along with some more recent compositions.” Several are receiving their premiere recordings.

The Church’s Year opens with Edward Elgar’s Benedictus with words drawn from the Book of Common Prayer Mattins. It was written for the Hereford Three Choirs Festival, 1897 and was dedicated to George Sinclair, organist at Hereford Cathedral. Generally restrained, the final Gloria is a “celebratory treatment” of the text. It is a splendid accessory to the Church’s Advent meditation on John the Baptist’s preparation for the coming of Christ.

William Drakett, pianist and baritone, and Vicar Choral at Wells Cathedral contributes a sympathetic Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis for Advent and Candlemas, respectively. They are infused with plainsong.

The York-born composer and organist Dr. Alan Gray is represented on this disc by his Three Grace Anthems. No dates of composition are given in the booklet. A distinguished performer, Gray succeeded Charles Villiers Stanford as organist at Trinity College, Cambridge. Best recalled nowadays for his four organ sonatas, Gray wrote much church music, cantatas, vocal music, and part songs, as well as a string quartet and violin sonata. The Grace Anthems were unpublished during Gray’s lifetime but were rediscovered and edited by Matthew McCullough of Durham University. The Christmas anthem Laetabundus exultet is a vibrant celebration of the “Matchless maiden” who “Bringeth forth the Prince of Peace.” The second, the Sanctus, is suitable for Trinity. It is a beautifully wrought and “expansive” eight-part setting of the Mass Ordinary that glows with the superb fugue on the words Hosanna in Excelsis. Equally satisfying is Justorum animae set for double choir. The text is taken from the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed and provides fitting music for All Souls Day.

A rare treat is an extract from Ralph Vaughan Williams’s opera The Pilgrim’s Progress (1951), The Bird’s Song. This setting of the 23^rd Psalm was arranged by him as a standalone piece. It translates well from the stage to the chancel. Equally lovely is the opening Kyrie from RVW’s Mass in G minor (1921). It is an ideal fusion of a modern idiom and Tudor polyphony.

Best known for the song The Cloths of Heaven to a poem by W.B. Yeats, Thomas F. Dunhill wrote in a wide variety of genres including his operetta Tantivy Towers and his Symphony in A minor. A generation or so ago, aspiring pianists would have enjoyed playing his graded character studies and suites. Amongst this considerable catalogue were several anthems. To the Queen of Heaven (1926), suitable for the Annunciation, was originally devised for soloist and piano, but is valuable in this arrangement for trebles and organ.

Assistant Director of Music at Newcastle Cathedral Kris Thomsett contributes Ubi caritas. This antiphon for Maundy Thursday is sung during the Washing of the Feet. It is quiet and restrained as befits the notion that “wherever charity and love are to be found/God is there.”

Edward Bairstow’s Sing ye to the Lord was published in 1911 whilst he was organist at Leeds Parish Church. This anthem has a strong organ accompaniment, with the opening tuba stop fanfare appearing at intervals, some delicious unison passages exploding into four parts, and a powerful reprise of the opening figure in the Alleluia Amen.

British born, but Canadian based Healey Willan made a wonderful setting of words from the Song of Solomon - Rise up, my love. This is one of a series of Liturgical Motets that appeared in 1929. The sheer beauty of this short piece ensures that it remains Willan’s best-loved work. This motet can be used at Eastertime, or for a Festival of Our Lady.

A recent work, Ben Ponniah’s Litany to the Holy Spirit (2018) was composed for the trebles of the choir of St Thomas Church, 5^th Avenue, New York. It is reflective and makes use of soft, jazzy harmonies.

Bearing in mind that Gerald Finzi hailed from a Jewish background and was of an agnostic persuasion, it is remarkable that his extensive anthem, Lo, the full, final, sacrifice (1946) is such an important meditation on the Christian doctrine of the Eucharist. It uses metaphysical poet Richard Crashaw’s translation of St Thomas Aquinas’s Adore te and Lauda Sion Salvatorum. This long anthem is sectional, following the stanzas of the text, allowing Finzi to provide variety of expression and word painting. It is given a gratifying performance here by the choir, which explores the power and the mystery of the words.

The recital closes with a sterling performance of the Te Deum from Herbert Howells’s Collegium Regale. Written in 1944, it was the first of his Services for King’s College, Cambridge. It is a perfect equilibrium of glorious climaxes and hushed quieter moments.

The organ is a four-manual instrument built by T. C. Lewis around 1880 which incorporated older pipework. It has been rebuilt since by Harrison & Harrison in 1911 and 1954 and was reordered by Nicholson & Co. of Worcester in 1981. Most recently the instrument has been reinstated after “some years of silence.”

The liner notes by Ian Roberts are helpful, however it would have been useful for the dates of all the works to be included. I have provided these where possible. All texts and translations of the works are given. The recording is ideal, with an excellent balance between choir and organ (when used).

The repertoire is very varied and always interesting. It explores a wide range of 20th century church music but with a few more recent compositions added for good measure. Performances by the Choir of Newcastle Cathedral, organist Kris Thomsett and musical director, Ian Roberts are always sympathetic and spiritually uplifting.

Track Listing:
Advent
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Benedictus op. 34, no 2 (1897)
William Drakett (b.1992)
Magnificat from The Wells Service
Christmas
Alan Gray (1855-1935)
Laetabundus exultet from Three Grace Anthems
Candlemas
William Drakett
Nunc Dimitis from The Wells Service
Lent
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Psalm 23 The Bird’s Song from The Pilgrim’s Progress (1951)
Kyrie from Mass in G minor (1921)
Annunciation
Thomas F Dunhill (1877-1946)
To the Queen of Heaven (1926)
Maundy Thursday
Kris Thomsett
Ubi caritas
Easter
Edward Bairstow (1874-1946)
Sing ye to the Lord (1911)
Healey Willan (1880-1968)
Rise up, my love (1929)
Pentecost
Ben Ponniah (b.1984)
Litany to the Holy Spirit (2018)
Trinity
Alan Gray
Sanctus from Three Grace Anthems
Corpus Christi
Gerald Finzi (1901-56)
Lo, the full, final sacrifice (1946)
All Souls
Alan Gray
Justorum animae from Three Grace Anthems
Christ the King
Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Te Deum (Collegium Regale) (1944)
Kris Thomsett/organ
The Choir of Newcastle Cathedral/Ian Roberts
rec. 21-23 March 2023, Newcastle Cathedral
Regent REGCD582

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.