This CD gets off to a wonderful
start. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s gorgeous poetic fragment ‘Music, When Soft Voices
Die’ is given a near perfect five-part choral setting. The poem majors on the
permanence of events and sensations and the power of human memory. It was composed in 1984 for the Galway based
Cois Cladaigh Chamber Choir. Buckley has
nodded to the madrigal traditions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to
create his musical canvas. It is a beautiful, restrained setting that uses a
largely tonal language to express the ‘haunting beauty’ of the text, although
there are some delicious moments of chromatic writing added to provide
contrast.
John Keat’s poem ‘To Sleep’
contrives to create ‘the delicious drowsiness of the lines’ (Andrew Motion).
Words such as ‘embalmer, shutting, gloom-pleased, embowered,
enshaded, forgetfulness, lulling, deftly hushed’ lend effect to the
somnolent mood of this text. John Buckley has maintained this temper through
most of the work, However, there is a ‘declamatory’ section with the words ‘Save
me…breeding many woes…’ which is almost operatic in effect. The work concludes
with ‘a sense of deep resignation’ on the line ‘And seal the hushed casket of
my soul.’’
Few composers seem to have taken
up the challenge of Lewis Carroll’s slightly disturbing nonsense poem the ‘Jabberwocky’.
Exemplars included settings by George Whitefield Chadwick and Lee Hoiby. John
Buckley has composed a musically diverse version that makes use of just about
every choral device in the book including ‘counterpoint, homophonic block
chords, and a type of recitative for the dialogue.’ There is even a whispered
section. The flow of the music, between harsh dissonance, unison and
declamation well-represent the fearsome Jabberwocky.
A great piece that deserves to be in all choral societies’ repertoire. The
piece dates to May 1996 when it was premiered at the Cork International Choral
Festival.
I was not so delighted by the
Five Two-Part Songs for Children, settings of texts by the Irish poet Michael
Hartnett (1941–1999). I guess that I found the two-part choir a little hard to
bear for nearly eleven minutes. They are performed here in the Irish (Gaeilge)
original, although John Buckley has provided an English translation in the
liner notes. On the other hand, I am aware of a perfect simplicity in these
settings that is quite lovely. Themes include, ‘Lullaby’, ‘I have a cat at home’,
‘The beautiful garden’, ‘Spring music’ and ‘Ireland is our country’.
Most people interested in English
(and Irish) art song will know Thomas Dunhill’s setting of William Butler
Yeats, ‘He wishes for the cloths of heaven’ from The Wind Among the Reeds (1899). I first heard this at a recital
given by Janet Baker in Glasgow back in the early 1970s and it remains one of
my favourite songs. Other composers have had a go at setting it, including Ivor
Gurney, Peter Warlock, and William Denis Browne.
John Buckley’s realisation for
five-part choir is restrained and contemplative. It does succeed in capturing ‘the
delicate and rarefied poetic imagery, with its mesmeric interweaving of light,
colour, and dreams.’ This is a truly perfect fusion of words and music.
Equally successful is ‘There is
Spot mid barren hills’ written by Emily Bronte. For all those who have been
fortunate in exploring the austere moorland back o’ Haworth, this piece will
literally strike a chord. The composer has selected and reordered Emily’s
verses to allow for a satisfactory musical take on the poem’s temper. The first
and third verse begin with terse and bleak music before becoming warmer and
more dreamlike in the second and fourth verses. It is an ideal balance between ‘Top
Withens’ on a windy autumn day and a summer’s reverie in the garden of the
Parsonage.
Once again, I would have thought
that every choral society in Ireland and the UK would demand to have John
Buckley excellent Three Irish Folksongs in their repertoire. It opens with a
charming setting of Yeats’s ‘reconstructed’ folksong ‘Down by the Salley
Gardens’ which was later matched to a simple but subtle ‘ancient’ tune. Buckley
has produced a gentle version that shares the tune between the tenors and
sopranos. There are beautiful descants and spine-tingling harmonies. ‘Kitty of
Coleraine’ is a jaunty little number whose melody was used by Beethoven no
less. John Buckley takes the syllables of ‘beautiful Kitty’ to create a
rumbustious setting of this humorous song. It would bring the house down at any
concert. More serious is ‘My Lagan Love’ with the text by the Irish poet Joseph
Campbell (1879-1944). The word ‘Lagan’ refers to the river which Belfast is
built on. These words are just as much a meditation as a love song. The three
folksongs were originally composed for choir and piano in 1983. The present
version for a-cappella choir were made in 2010 (‘Down by the Salley Gardens’)
and 2017 (‘Kitty of Coleraine’, ‘My Lagan Love’).
The only overtly religious work
on this disc is Lux Aeterana (2017) with words derived from the Roman Catholic
Requiem Mass. It is conceived for four-part choir with soprano and alto
soloists. Buckley is correct in stating that he has created a ‘serene work’
that presents a mood of ‘of resignation and consolation. The idea of ‘eternal
rest’ and ‘perpetual light shining upon them’ is well-imagined.
We turn to the Irish (Gaeilge)
with the final work, ‘To the North East’ on this stunning disc. It is a setting
of ninth-century Irish lyrics which have been translated/paraphrased by the
composer. Buckley explains that the
lyrics are:
‘frequently meditative in tone, reflecting on
the marvels of nature: land, sea, wind, animals, birds, fish. With an
extraordinary freshness of approach, they evoke striking images, which have
lost none of their immediacy with the passage of time; the winds still awaken
the spirit of the waves, cascades of fish can still remind us of flights of
birds, and seals are still joyous and noble.’
The three movements are ‘To the
North East’, ‘On the Plain of Lir’ and ‘Harbour Song.’ The first portrays musically
the mood of a witness looking out over the Irish Sea towards, I guess Scotland.
This is deeply felt, almost mystically challenged music. For those walkers and
climbers who have looked for the Isle of Man from the top of Scafell Pike, the
Great Orme or the Merrick know all about Lir and more especially his son Manannán
Mac Lir. This pair were Celtic sea-gods. The latter seems to always shroud
Mona’s Isle in [Manannán’s] mist. In this song the ‘Plain’ is the sea itself.
John Buckley has created a vibrant impression of the wind – ‘east wind, north
wind, west wind, south wind.’ It is a vivacious offering. The final song is ‘Harbour Song.’ This is
complex, in fact the most intricate piece in this CD. An eight-part choir is
creatively involved in singing both in unison and with wonderful harmonic
commentaries on this plainsong-like theme. The composer modulates through all
twelve minor keys. Offsetting this tonal resource is a raft of beautiful chords
that progress with slow majesty. The words present an idealised impression of
fishermen landing their catch in the anchorage. ‘To the North East’ was written
for the present choir in 2016.
The singing is ideal on this
recording. Mornington Singers and their director Orla Flanagan present a purity
of sound, a perfect balance of parts and an enthusiastic understanding of the
music and texts.
The liner notes are ideal: they
are written by the composer, John Buckley. For information on the composer see
his excellent website.
I cannot fault this CD. It is
already shaping up to be one of my major discoveries of the year. I am making a
belated New Year’s Resolution to explore more of John Buckley’s music at every
opportunity.
Track Listing:
John BUCKLEY (b.
1951)
Music, When Soft Voices Die (1984)
To Sleep (1983/2017)
Jabberwocky (1996/2012)
Five Two-Part Songs for Children (1978)
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (1995/2017)
There is a Spot Mid Barren Hills (1998/2012)
Three Irish Folksongs (1983/2010/2017)
Lux Aeterna (2017)
To the Northeast (2016)
Mornington Singers/Orla Flanagan
Rec. St John the Baptist Church of Ireland, Seafield Road,
Clontarf, Dublin 13-15April and 8-9 June 2018
DIVINE ART dda25187
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