From Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor, Five Mystical Songs

Here is the latest in a series of Vaughan Williams choral works recorded by David Willcocks for HMV in the 1960s. These transfers are all from vintage EMI vinyl sources.

The previous posts in the series were Hodie, Sancta Civitas and Benedicite.

David Willcocks

Of the Mass in G minor, Vaughan Williams authority Michael Kennedy has written, "The temptation is strong to describe the Mass in G minor as the greatest choral music Vaughan Williams wrote. It was one of three outstanding works which he composed shortly after the end of the First World War, the others being A Pastoral Symphony and the one-act "pastoral episode," The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains. All three are similar in mood, their outward tranquility masking a profound inner intensity."

Opinions are split on the performance here: some critics thought it was fine, others took issue with the choir's white tone and slack intonation (which really isn't as bad as all that). Despite the Turner painting of the King's College Chapel on the cover above, the choir actually decamped for the Chapel of Trinity College for this recording.

John Shirley-Quirk

For the Five Mystical Songs and accompanying Motet, O Clap Your Hands, the choir was back at home base and joined by the English Chamber Orchestra and baritone John Shirley-Quirk. The songs are setting of texts by the metaphysical poet George Herbert, and both the poetry and music are inspired. Vaughan Williams' varied settings are by turns rapt and joyful, and brought to life in these exceptional performances, particularly by Shirley-Quirk. As Alec Robertson wrote in his Gramophone review, "John Shirley-Quirk's singing of these songs is worthy of the highest praise in point of fervour, interior feeling and clarity of enunciation."

The songs are complemented well by the celebratory motet, O Clap Your Hands, with words from Psalm 47, which concludes the album. As Robertson wrote, it is "a triumphant sound to fill a great church with." The songs date from 1906-11, the motet from 1920.

King's College Chapel

There is some dispute about the dates of the recording. It's possible that some of it was recorded in 1966 and some in 1968. It wasn't published until 1969. The sound is excellent, showing that producer Christopher Bishop and balance engineer Neville Boyling had mastered the art of recording in these vast spaces. The download includes several reviews and the texts, among other items.

The recording of the Five Mystical Songs has long been a favorite of mine; I enjoyed transferring it and its discmates for this post. As with other entries in this series, the transfer is from an HMV vinyl source, in this case a boxed set of Vaughan Williams' choral music, which will also be the source of future entries in this series.

From The Gramophone, May 1969

More Vaughan Williams First Recordings: 'Sancta Civitas' and 'Benedicite'

Let's continue our series of Vaughan Williams recordings from early UK vinyl incarnations. Following the Hodie post of a month ago, today we have more choral/orchestral works - Sancta Civitas and Benedicite. 

As with Hodie, David Willcocks conducts the London Symphony and the Bach Choir, adding the King's College Choir for Sancta Civitas. The soloists are again among the best that the UK had to offer - baritone John Shirley-Quirk returns for Sancta Civitas, with soprano Heather Harper the soloist in Benedicite. Tenor Ian Partridge makes a brief but effective appearance in the first work.

The recordings derive from January 18-20, 1968 sessions in London's Kingsway Hall. Leading the recording team were producer Christopher Bishop and engineer Christopher Parker.

Ralph Vaughan Williams and David Willcocks, circa the 1940s

Sancta Civitas

In his Gramophone review, Roger Fiske remarked that neither Sancta Civitas nor Benedicite are heard in the concert hall - they require elaborate forces and are too short to command a program by themselves.

The longer work, Sancta Civitas, calls for orchestra, three choirs (one off-stage) and two soloists, one of whom (the tenor) has only one line. It lasts barely more than a half-hour. Still and all, Fiske called it "a masterpiece and among Vaughan Williams' greatest achievements."

While the composer termed Sancta Civitas an oratorio, it will not remind you of The Messiah, or closer to Vaughan Williams' time, The Dream of Gerontius. As with the latter work, however, Vaughan Williams' intent was spiritual. In his notes, Michael Kennedy quotes the composer as writing, "The object of all art is to achieve a partial revelation of that which is beyond human senses and human faculties, of that in fact which is spiritual." The work is from 1923-25, and sets texts from the Book of Revelation and other sources.

As Fiske wrote, the performance is superb, and the recording is all one could wish. (Perhaps a bit more than one would wish; it is quite bright sounding.) Shirley-Quirk and Partridge are excellent.

John Shirley-Quirk and Ian Partridge

Benedicite

In his High Fidelity review, Alfred Frankenstein noted that Benedicite "is quite different from Sancta Civitas. It is rugged, vigorous, effervescent with reminiscence of English folk song in tune and text."

The text leaflet optimistically calls the work a setting "of the familiar canticle." A canticle is a liturgical setting, in this case "Benedicite, omnia opera Domini, Domino" in the Latin Rite, or "O all ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord" in the Book of Common Prayer. Vaughan Williams set the latter version, interpolating a 17th century poem by John Austin.

Heather Harper

The work, which dates from 1930, is half as long as Sancta Civitas, but no less worthy. Frankenstein considered it "one of the most important of Vaughan Williams' numerous brief choral works." Here, the soloist is Heather Harper, who distinguishes herself, as do the choral and orchestral forces under Willcocks.

The download includes reviews, texts, and front and back cover scans. Although I possess both the original HMV and Angel pressings of this coupling, I made use of a lossless transfer of the HMV from Internet Archive, which seemed marginally cleaner than my LPs.

In later posts, I will have more of Willcocks' Vaughan Williams choral recordings from the 1960s. 

Vaughan Williams' Christmas Cantata 'Hodie'

Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a great deal of Christmas music, primarily carol settings, but also the well-known Fantasia on Christmas Carols, the relatively obscure "masque" On Christmas Night, and this cantata, Hodie.

The work dates from relatively late in the composer's career, in 1953-54, when he was 82. By this time, Vaughan Williams had explored a variety of styles; this work reflects many of them, from the pastoralism of his youth to the visionary quality of The Pilgrim's Progress.

Accordingly, in Hodie he set words from a variety of sources: from the Bible to Myles Coverdale, George Herbert and Thomas Hardy and his wife, the poet Ursula Wood Vaughan Williams.

In this regard, the work's anthology nature is similar, surprisingly, to Benjamin Britten's Spring Symphony of 1949. In that work, the composer remains at some distance from his material; nonetheless, the music is dazzling.

In the same way, Hodie is not consistently in the warm, consoling manner that we associate with holiday fare. This is a much different composition than the Fantasia on Christmas Carols. In his notes, Michael Kennedy notes that the work primarily expresses joyful exuberance, but to me, its visionary quality is to the fore.

The Performance

David Willcocks

Hodie had to wait until 1965 for its first recording, led by David Willcocks, who recorded a great deal of Vaughan Williams' choral music. By this time, the conductor had become well known for his work with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. He also was the director of the Bach Choir, which performs on this recording. The boys' voices are from Westminster Abbey. The orchestra is the London Symphony. The organist is Philip Ledger, who himself was to become the director of the King's College Choir.

Janet Baker

John Shirley-Quirk

Two of the solo voices were of the generation that came to prominence in the 1960s - mezzo-soprano Janet Baker and bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk. The other voice was tenor Richard Lewis, who was 20 years older than his colleagues. None of the soloists were particularly associated with Vaughan Williams. This appears to be the only recording of the composer's music from both Baker and Lewis. Shirley-Quirk also can be heard in Willcocks' recording of Sancta Civitas and Previn's of the Sea Symphony. All distinguish themselves in this music, as was their pattern with all their recordings.

A few of the contemporary reviews thought that Willcocks' conducting could have been more incisive, citing the Narrations, which function as recitatives. These do tend to drag as the trebles and organ make their way through the biblical passages. But that's inherent in Vaughan Williams' writing. All told, the work is exceedingly beautiful, although its inspiration is not as consistent as the composer's best works. 

Richard Lewis

The Recording

Hodie was one of the many large-scale recordings of the time to have been recorded in London's Kingsway Hall. The sound on this record is a notable achievement by producer Ronald Kinloch Anderson and engineer Neville Boyling.

Kingsway Hall in 1970 - Sir Adrian Boult is the conductor

For EMI recordings of this vintage, the best sound is generally derived from the UK pressings. In this case, I have transferred my copy from a 1970s-vintage box set of Vaughan Williams' choral music from HMV. That's not to say that it is perfect in all respects: as with many classical LPs, the dynamic range is compressed.

The download includes many contemporary reviews of the LP, the front cover of the original UK Columbia pressing and the back cover from the US issue, which includes the texts.