Composer: Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
Performer: Christopher Whitton, Choir of St. John’s College Cambridge
Conductor: Christopher Robinson
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8555794
Release: 2003
Size: 249 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Morning, Communion & Evening Services in C Major, Op. 115
01. Te deum laudamus
02. Benedictus
3 Latin Motets, Op. 38
03. Justorum animae
04. Coelos ascendit hodie
05. Beati quorum via
Morning, Communion & Evening Services in C Major, Op. 115
06. Magnificat
07. Nunc dimittis
08. Kyrie
09. Credo
10. Sanctus
11. Benedictus
12. Agnus Dei
13. Gloria
6 Short Organ Preludes & Postludes, Op. 105
14. Organ Prelude in G Minor
Morning, Communion & Evening Services in G Major, Op. 81
15. Magnificat
16. Nunc dimittis
6 Short Organ Preludes & Postludes, Op. 105
17. Organ Postlude in D Minor
18. For lo, I raise up, Op. 145
The mean old saying, ‘Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach’, would have withered in the presence of Stanford; and no doubt one of the reasons why he was such a great teacher is that he could and did, and so set an example. His C major services (Morning, Evening and Communion, all included in this programme) are so eminently the works of a master who knows how to get from here to there in one move, to keep always something in reserve for later use but never to write without a good clear melodic idea in the first place. Everything in this programme has freshness and well-founded assurance. It’s music with clarity of purpose: it knows where it’s going and doesn’t put a foot wrong.
Under Christopher Robinson, the choir has enjoyed a period in which the distinguishing mark has been a renewed vitality of style. It’s well caught in this CD. The start of the first track, the C major Te Deum, has it straightaway – the praise carries spirit and conviction. The final track opens still more strikingly. This is For lo, I will raise up, for which Stanford, writing in 1914, set his imagination free to bestir the choir-stalls into an almost fiercely dramatic life. The St John’s choir bite into the words with relish, while the acoustic and their well-judged tempo reinforce the rhythmic energy of the passage.
Even in the best-stocked collection this would prove a welcome addition, and for those who have as yet nothing of the master, it should provide a lively introduction.