Carols for Choirs with Sir David Willcocks

One of the greatest contributions of the eminent choral director Sir David Willcocks (1919-2015) was the Oxford University Press' series of Carols for Choirs. The first volume, issued in 1961, was intended to codify the best traditional carols and settings by modern composers as well. It succeeded so well it became the OUP's top selling title, and led to five additional volumes.

The first Carols for Choirs

The editors of the original book were Willcocks and his older colleague Reginald Jacques (1894-1969), who was the conductor of the Bach Choir in London. Willcocks succeeded him in that role in 1960, while remaining the director of the King's College Choir, Cambridge, a post he held from 1957 to 1974.

Following Jacques' death, Willocks and OUP sought a new collaborator for the carols series, selecting Cambridge undergraduate John Rutter (1945- ). Splendid choice - Rutter has become one of the most popular choral composers and conductors of our time.

John Rutter and David Willcocks

In 1976, OUP sponsored a recording of 14 carols as led by Willcocks, 13 of which had been published in one of the Carols for Choirs compilations. The program mirrored one led by Willcocks with the Bach Choir in the Royal Albert Hall that year. Participating were the choir, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and organist Richard Popplewell.

The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble

On the LP, the traditional carols are "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "Away in a Manger," the Sussex Carol, and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," all arranged by Willcocks (the first and last with his descants), and "Silent Night," arranged by Donald Cashmore. Willcocks' "Birthday Carol" also is on the program, together with five compositions by Rutter: "Jesus Child," "Shepherd's Pipe Carol," "Star Carol," "Donkey Carol" and "Nativity Carol." The program also includes three other works by then-living composers, William Mathias' "Sir Christèmas," Alun Hoddinott's "Puer Natus" and Peter Hurford's "Sunny Bank."

Here is an excerpt from Rutter's tribute to Willcocks:

I learned many lessons from him by example: perfectionism, attention to detail (he was a crackshot proof-reader), leadership, willingness to work exhaustingly long hours without weakening, the psychology and technique of training and conducting choirs, and above all the value of life itself and the crime of wasting any of it.

Everything he wrote (including the iconic descant to O come, all ye faithful, scribbled on a train journey) met an exacting standard of craftsmanship, and his Christmas music still lights up the sky.

I am immensely the richer for having been his student, assistant, and friend.

The recording was made in St. George's Church, Hanover Square. The sound is very good.

LINK

The present-day Bach Choir at Cadogan Hall

Vaughan Williams' Lively Settings of John Skelton

Ralph Vaughan Williams' best known homage to the Tudor period is probably the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, a soaring, spiritual work that is a cathedral in sound. Much more earthy is the set of Five Tudor Portraits, settings of verses by the 16th century poet John Skelton.

Make no mistake, the music of the Portraits is entirely a pleasure to hear, a superb achievement by a huge, idiosyncratic talent in the prime of his career. (The work was written in 1936.) As for the verse, Skelton was a writer of prodigious talent and little discretion, both apparent in the works that Vaughan Williams set.

While Skelton was a most important poet, he also was a most intemperate one. A man of the upper class, he studied at Oxford and Cambridge, became a tutor to Henry VIII and eventually a cleric. He possessed a remarkable facility with words, which he used for purposes that encompassed burlesque and invective. We encounter both in the Five Tudor Portraits.

Perhaps the best known of the Portraits is "The Tunning [i.e., Brewing] of Elinor Rumming," a wild, misogynistic take-down of a possibly real alewife (that is, brewer) who was fined for shorting her clientele. Skelton goes to great lengths to express his disgust with Rumming, with overly vivid descriptions of her grotesque appearance to accusing her of plunking bird droppings in her libations to intimations of witchcraft.

The other major Portrait is that of that of "Jane Scroop (Her Lament for Philip Sparrow)," a 21-minute disquisition in verse about the death of a pet bird. Both it and Vaughan Williams' music are ingenious - and the words are touching - but did this small sorrow require an orchestra and chorus?

A third is "Epitaph on John Jayberd of Diss," in which Skelton makes known his distaste for the late Jayberd, "suspected by all, loved by none," in a sort of quasi-Latin verse that I could not understand, my last Latin lesson having occurred some 60 years ago. There is a free translation in the text booklet.

More to my taste is the simple song, "My Pretty Bess" and the concluding "Jolly Rutterkin."

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Vaughan Williams' settings are, as always, glorious sounding, as are the performances by some of the best that Britain had to offer in 1969, the time of the recording. This is one of a series of HMV choral recordings made in the 1960s and conducted by David Willcocks, as here, or Sir Adrian Boult. All posts were taken from original pressings and possess exceptional sound.

John Carol Case, Elizabeth Bainbridge, David Willcocks

The primary soloist is contralto Elizabeth Bainbridge, who some reviewers found much too ladylike for Elinor Rumming. (Probably true, but perhaps just as well.) Baritone John Carol Case is excellent in "My Pretty Bess." Willcocks brought in his Bach Choir for this outing, and they do fine, although again, some would have liked them to be more earthy. The New Philharmonia Orchestra sounds splendid in the comfy acoustic of Kingsway Hall.

While this is not my favorite of the Vaughan Williams choral works, I will say that the music and performance are hard not to enjoy, even for someone out of sympathy with one of the most famous poets of the English language.

November 1969 Gramophone ad 

William Mathias' 'This World's Joie'

This is another in a series of choral-orchestral recordings from vintage EMI pressings that so far has been mainly devoted to Vaughan Williams. I will return to VW, but first here is a transfer of a favorite work of mine. It is This World's Joie, by the Welsh composer William Mathias (1932-92), in a particularly good performance and recording.

The piece is a setting of seasonal texts  from early medieval times to the 16th century. Mathias works his way through the cycle of seasons, ending with a celebration of rebirth.

William Mathias

As Mathias writes in his notably clear sleeve note, the work's four sections "are designed to reflect both the seasons of the year and the span of human life." He adds that, "This World's Joie is ultimately meant to be enjoyed by both listeners and performers... It is throughout an Act of Celebration."

The work is highly successful in meeting its aims, aided by Mathias' careful choice of texts and his brilliant orchestration. This all is underlined by a superb late analog recording from Abbey Road Studio No. 1 - and of course the excellent performers.

David Willcocks

Leading the work is David Willcocks, who has figured in most of the Vaughan Williams recordings I have posted. Here he conducts his Bach Choir, the Choristers of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and the New Philharmonia Orchestra.

Kenneth Bowen, Janet Price, Michael Rippon

The soloists are among the finest then active in the UK - soprano Janet Price, tenor Kenneth Bowen and baritone Michael Rippon.

The download includes the usual scans, plus the text booklet and a Gramophone review.

I believe Mathias' work to an extent was inspired by Britten's Spring Symphony (and perhaps certain of Vaughan Williams' compositions). I have the excellent 1979 Previn recording of the Britten work in the queue for posting.

Gramophone ad, December 1976

Vaughan Williams: An Oxford Elegy, Dives and Lazarus, Flos Campi

Here is more of Ralph Vaughan Williams' music in the classic 1960s recordings led by David Willcocks, transferred from early HMV pressings.

This disc contains three of the composer's most interesting works. The longest piece is "An Oxford Elegy" from 1947-49. Sharing the other side of the disc are the "Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'" from 1939 and "Flos Campi" from 1925. Cecil Aronowitz is the viola soloist in the latter work.

As before, my transfer comes from a vintage UK pressing, which is much more full-bodied and atmospheric than the later CD release - and superior to the US vinyl pressing as well.

An Oxford Elegy

"A Oxford Elegy" is among the most unusual works in Vaughan Williams' catalogue. It is a setting for speaker and orchestra of passages from two related poems by Matthew Arnold (1822-88), "The Scholar-Gypsy" and "Thyrsis."

Matthew Arnold

As is the case in many of the composer's works, the theme has to do with the loss of innocence and a spiritual quest. As were many of his contemporaries, Arnold was concerned with the Industrial Revolution's impact on society. The disillusioned "scholar-gypsy" of his poem left Oxford University behind to wander with a troupe of gypsies in search of meaning in life. In his excellent dissertation on this work, Robert Joseph Taylor explains that the poet imagines that the scholar has achieved immortality by pursuing the secret of human existence, and that his spirit can still to be found in the countryside near Oxford.

John Westbrook

It is a contemplative work, but also a most beautiful one that will be of interest both to those who love Arnold's poetry and Vaughan Williams' music. Even so, some critics believe that the juxtaposition of spoken word and music serves neither well. And clearly it does take concentration on the poetry to make the music come alive.

Fortunately, the performance at hand has an excellent speaker - the actor John Westbrook (1922-89) could hardly be bettered in the role. The performance of Vaughan Williams' music by the choir and orchestra also is very fine.

The download includes Taylor's dissertation, which contains a detailed explanation of how the composer combined and edited the two related Arnold poems into his text, as well as the final text itself.

Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'

The "Five Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'" is a gorgeous work, one that deserves some of the popularity of "A Lark Ascending" and the "Serenade to Music." Vaughan Williams first encountered the folk song "Dives and Lazarus" as far back as 1893. Through the years, he collected several variants of the tune, and it is these that constitute the raw material of his work.

Vaughan Williams and Willcocks

The "Five Variants" were written for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Adrian Boult led the premiere in Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic. (That was quite an occasion - the program also included the first performances of Bliss' Piano Concerto and Bax's Seventh Symphony.)

Flos Campi

Cecil Aronowitz

Vaughan Williams' work for viola, wordless choir and orchestra, "Flos Campi," was inspired by passages from the Biblical "Song of Songs." Over time, this text has become seen as a metaphor of God's love for Israel, the church or his people, but the original meaning was frankly erotic. The composer himself wrote, "The title 'Flos Campi' [which translates as 'flower of the field'] was taken by some to connote an atmosphere of 'buttercups and daisies...' In reality, the piece is unabashedly sensual and lushly orchestrated, which is quite appropriate considering its subject matter."

The suite has six movements, played without pause, each headed by an unspoken passage from the "Song of Songs." The lover is represented by a solo viola, played at the work's premiere by Lionel Tertis and here by Cecil Aronowitz (1916-78), one of the founders of the Melos Ensemble.

Reginald Jacques

In this work and the "Oxford Elegy," the choral parts are taken by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which Willcocks then headed. The Jacques Orchestra appears in all three works. Conductor Reginald Jacques (1894-1969) founded the orchestra in 1936; its twin specialties were baroque and contemporary music. He also was the longtime conductor of the Bach Choir. (On this site, you can hear Jacques conducing that choir in their 1950 recording of Christmas carols.)

Jacques himself retired from conducting in 1960; succeeding him at the Bach Choir was Willcocks. The two had a close relationship, collaborating on the first volume of "Carols for Choirs" in 1961. The Jacques Orchestra continued recording after the founder's retirement; it produced a disc of carols and an LP of the music of Robert Still and Edmund Rubbra. This Vaughan Williams LP, which dates from 1968, may have been its last.  

HMV Ad in the February 1970 Gramophone 

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.

A Service of Thanksgiving

With the coming of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., I thought I would post a Thanksgiving celebration of a different type. It is a service of Thanksgiving to mark the centenary of the Royal College of Music in February 1982.

Westminster Abbey

The service took place in Westminster Abbey, and the musical selections were all written by former students and faculty of the college. All are liturgical, reflecting the strong historic emphasis on church music at the RCM. Four of the composers were alive at the time - Sir Michael Tippett, Herbert Howells, Gordon Jacob and Douglas Guest. The latter had just retired as organist and Master of the Choristers at the Abbey.

Sir David Willcocks

For this occasion, the choir and instrumentalists were conducted by Sir David Willcocks, the RCM Director at the time. The organist was Simon Preston. Both were RCM alumni.

The RCM was founded by the royal family, and one of its members has served since then as its President. At the time of the service, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother held that position. She later was succeeded by the Prince of Wales, who remains in the post. Both attended the service.

The program is well performed (except for one exposed brass mishap) and exceptionally well recorded by the BBC for broadcast live on Radio 3. The RCM later issued this LP of the music.

The service as presented by the BBC actually included several spoken passages that are not included on the LP. One musical selection appears to have been left out - Parry's Fantasia and Fugue in G, performed by organist Jane Watts, then an RCM student.

Herbert Howells

For me, the most affecting passages are those by Herbert Howells and Douglas Guest. Howells contributed two selections: the Te Deum from his Collegium Regale and the hymn "All my hope on God is founded." He wrote the latter in memory of his son Michael, who died young. (The cover ascribes the piece to Michael.) 

Guest's selection is a setting of Lawrence Binyon's "They Shall Grow Not Old," from Binyon's 1914 war poem, "For the Fallen."

But all the music is well worth hearing; I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful holiday!

The Royal College of Music