The heart of this new album is the world premiere recording of Leighton’s Missa Christi: Festival Mass completed in the year of his death. The work had was by Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis to celebrate its sesquicentennial anniversary. It travels in a trajectory from the “anguished opening” of the Kyrie to the “serene coda” of the Agnus Dei. These two movements bookend the exuberant Gloria and the Sanctus with its bell-like rejoicing and triumphant Hosanna and the introspective Benedictus. This Mass blends his characteristic contemporary sharpness with the gentler, more rounded character of older styles.
Two short anthems by Leighton are included. The penitential Drop, drop, slow tears dating from 1961 is a perennial favourite. It was originally the final chorus from the Cantata Crucifixus pro nobis. A Hymn to the Trinity (1973) is a glorious “paean” to the doctrine’s ultimate radiance: lots of syncopation and vocal fanfares.
The bulk of the disc explores composers who studied with Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music (RCM). A notable, lovely exception is the first recording of Imogen Holst’s Out of your sleep arise and wake (1968) based on an anonymous fifteenth-century carol.
The first of four pieces by Gustav Holst is the haunting miniature This have I done for my true love, op.34, no.1 (1916). It was dedicated to the ‘Red Vicar’ of Thaxted, Conrad Noel. Holst did not set much Anglican Liturgy: there is a Festival Te Deum and the present Nunc Dimittis. This latter was probably written at the behest of Richard Terry, Master of Music, at Westminster Cathedral. Holst set the Latin text from the Office of Compline rather than the one from the Book of Common Prayer. It was forgotten for many years until published by his daughter Imogen, in 1979. The Ave Maria, for eight-part women’s voices dates from 1900, and was dedicated to Holst’s mother. It is a splendid example of the creation of stillness and rapt contemplation. The final Holst number is a setting of Psalm 148, Lord, who hast made us for thine own. Based on the hymn tune ‘Lasst uns erfreun’ from the Geistliche Kirchengesänge (1623), this powerful anthem begins with an unaccompanied statement of the tune and builds up into a great song of praise celebrating the psalm’s exuberant call for all creation to join in thanksgiving.
Rebecca Clarke’s beautiful Ave Maria (1937) reflects her study of Palestrina’s counterpoint. Scored for three-part women’s chorus this short work was not published until 1998, some nineteen years after Clarke’s death.
On 16 April 1920 Rebecca Clarke confided
to her diary: “Didn't do a blessed thing all day but sit and compose. Suddenly
quite thrilled over a setting for another Psalm - He that dwelleth in the
secret place of the Most High. Wrote like mad all day…” This challenging setting
of Psalm 91 was not published until 2003. Marin Jacobson (The Choral Journal,
April 2016) explained that the structure of the anthem plays a significant role
in developing the exposition of the text, which portrays God as one who shelters,
protects, and rescues followers from evil. The use of SATB choir and SATB
soloists “displays the greatest variety of textures…and [a] complex sound
tapestry.”
The lovely unaccompanied anthem O brother man (1935) by Harold Darke sets words by the American Quaker poet and abolitionist J.G. Whittier. This call to universal brotherhood where love becomes true worship, healing humanity and bringing lasting peace was dedicated to fellow colleague at the RCM, William Harris. Written in the middle of the First World War, Harold Darke’s motet Blessed is the man that endureth temptation (1916) sets a catena of verses from the New Testament epistles of James and 1 Corinthians. These focus on themes of temptation and endurance. Dedicated “to the members of the Choir at St. James's Paddington,” this five‑minute meditation well reflects early twentieth‑century English sacred style. With the late Be strong and of good courage (1964) Darke turned to the Biblical books of Joshua and Kings. Created for the Jubilee of the Diocese of Chelmsford, this is an inspiring festive anthem that balances quieter moments with “stirring organ and choral fanfares.”
The booklet gives an essay length discussion of the music, the complete texts and translations and résumés of the Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford, and their director Owen Rees. Dates of each piece in the track listing would have been helpful. There are no details about the two Organ Scholars Rudyard Cook and Arthur Barton who both make a splendid contribution to the success of this album.
This thoughtful programme, handsomely performed, restores neglected twentieth‑century choral music to vivid life, balancing major new discoveries with smaller gems and reaffirming the choir’s gift for revealing the depth and variety of England’s sacred repertoire.
Track Listing:Kenneth Leighton (1929-88)
A Hymn to the Trinity (1973)
Harold Darke (1888-1976)
O brother man (1935)
Kenneth Leighton
Missa Christi: Festival Mass (1988)
Drop, drop, slow tears (1961)
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
This have I done for my true love (1916)
Nunc Dimittis (1915)
Imogen Holst (1907-84)
Out of your sleep arise and wake (1968)
Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979)
Ave Maria (1937)
Harold Darke
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation (1916)
Gustav Holst
Ave Maria (1900)
Rebecca Clarke
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High (1920/1)
Harold Darke
Be strong and of good courage (1964)
Gustav Holst
Lord, who hast made us for thine own (1912)
Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford/Owen Rees; Rudyard Cook (organ); Arthur Barton (organ)
rec. 7-9 December 2024, Chapel of Merton College, Oxford.
Signum Classics SIGCD 979
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