Composer: Edward Elgar
Performer: Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Joshua Ryan, Eloise Irving, Rosemary Clifford, Edward Hughes, Angus McPhee, Clara Kanter, Nathan Harrison, Jenni Harper, Katy Hill, Jonathan Hanley, Thomas Stoddart
Conductor: William Vann
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Somm
Catalogue: SOMMCD278
Release: 2022
Size: 1.32 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Gloria
02. Credo on Themes from Symphonies Nos. 5, 7 and 9 by Beethoven
03. Hymn Tune in F major No. 1 (Drakes Broughton)
04. O Salutaris Hostia
Motets, Op. 2
05. No. 1, Jesu, Word of God Incarnate
06. No. 2, Jesu, Lord of Life and Glory
07. No. 3, Jesu, Meek and Lowly
Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf
08. No. 18, As Torrents in Summer
Elgar: Four Part-songs Op. 53
09. No. 1, There Is Sweet Music
10. Psalm 68
11. Angelus
12. They are at rest
13. O hearken Thou, Op. 64
14. Give unto the Lord (Psalm XXIX), Op. 74
15. Fear Not, O Land
16. I Sing the Birth
17. Good Morrow
18. Queen Alexandra Memorial Ode
SOMM Recordings proposes here the release of a ravishing collection of choral works by Edward Elgar, sung by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, led by director William Vann, accompanied by organist Joshua Ryan. Of the 18 featured works, six are first recordings. They traverse Elgar’s remarkable ascension from lowly lawyer’s clerk to self-taught composer to Master of the King’s Musick. And chart the impeccable fusing of his Roman Catholic heritage with the Anglican church tradition to which he contributed several masterpieces.
They also reveal what Vaughan Williams described as the “mystery and [the] miracle” of Elgar’s flowering into the music laureate of Edwardian England, as Andrew Neill, former Chairman of the Elgar Society, observes in his authoritative booklet notes. Alongside juvenilia such as the 16-year-old Elgar’s Credo on Themes from Symphonies 5, 7 and 9 by Beethoven (in James Olsen’s completion) and Drake’s Broughton, to which the 73-year-old composer would return in his Nursery-Suite, are diverse works that reveal growing confidence, including early settings of the Mass and first recordings (in English) of the Op. 2 trilogy: Jesu, word of God Incarnate, Jesu, Lord of Life and Glory and Jesu, Meek and Lowly.
The masterpiece bitonal setting of Tennyson, There is Sweet Music, one of Elgar’s self-described “choral songs”, is a highlight, alongside twin peaks of his anthem writing: O Hearken Thou (heard as the Latin motet, Intende voci orationis meae) and substantial Give Unto the Lord).
William Vann and the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea’s previous SOMM releases include In Remembrance, described by Gramophone as “almost unbearably moving”, and as “an album that will have enduring value into the future” by MusicWeb International.