Evensong for Ascension Day from King's

This is a follow-up to a recent post containing music for Holy Week from King's College, Cambridge. That LP was from 1977; today we have a 1978 recording of Choral Evensong for Ascension Day. Again, the King's Choir is conducted by Philip Ledger, who directed the ensemble from 1974-82.

Philip Ledger

As its name implies, "evensong" is a sung service taking place near evening. It is an Anglican tradition; one of its most famous exponents is the King's Choir.

The service is centered on peace and personal reflection. Having attended a King's Choral Evensong, I can attest that it is a moving experience.

In his notes to this LP, the then Dean of King's, the Rev. Michael Till, writes that "The service is essentially different from a missionary service, which is designed to create belief. Instead, it represents the response of the believer to a God who has already made Himself known." This is particularly meaningful on Ascension Day, which signifies Christ's ascension into heaven, forty days after his Easter resurrection. Ascension Day this year is Thursday, May 15 (the following Sunday in some parishes).

Rev. Till: "The festivals of the Christian year follow the pattern of the life of Christ, and make up a year-long reflection on the different aspects of that interchange between the human and the divine which ... forms the centre of the service itself."

The King's Choir with director Stephen Cleobury, who succeeded Ledger

As with the music for Holy Week, the selections range from the Renaissance and Baroque (William Byrd, William Smith of Durham, J.S. Bach, Jeremiah Clarke) to the 19th century (Eugène Gigout, Henry George Ley, Joseph Barnby) to the 20th century (Edmund Rubbra).

Gordon Reynolds wrote in The Gramophone, "Philip Ledger's approach to the famous acoustic is not to beguile it with soft-centred tone, melting at the edges, but to calculate the duration of notes so that the building has its part to play in rounding them off. This produces thrilling sound, wonderfully clear, in the unaccompanied counterpoint. In the Rubbra Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, with the added challenge of the organ, the effect is rich and noble.

"Musically a joy, and historically important as a sample of the current modus operandi at King's."

Reynolds did complain - rightfully so - that the spoken portions of the service were nearly inaudible. I have raised the level somewhat while keeping it relatively subdued, which would be the case if you were present in the huge "chapel" of King's.

Thomas Trotter

As with the Holy Week program, the excellent organist is Thomas Trotter.

LINK

Music for Holy Week from King's College

I'm happy to welcome back the Choir of King's College, Cambridge in this selection of music for Holy Week, which begins Sunday.

The choir has often appeared here, although more frequently under an earlier director, David Willcocks, than under Philip Ledger  (1937-2012), the choir's leader from 1974-82.

Philip Ledger

The King's/Ledger combination was previously featured here in music by Henry Purcell, a recording I strongly recommend.

Today's program is composed of music from the Renaissance and Baroque, leavened with four English hymns, and capped by a setting of George Herbert's Let all the world in every corner sing by the 20th century composer Kenneth Leighton.

The documentation on the LP is not overly user-friendly, so let me list the contents of the program, along with the composers (or sources), their dates and nationalities as relevant:

• Antonio Lotti (1667–1740) [Italian] - Crucifixus (Crucified)

• William Horsley (1774-1858) [English] - There is a green hill far away

• Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548–1611) [Spanish] - O vos omnes qui transitis per viam (All of you who pass by)

• Thomas Morley (1557-1602) [English] - Nolo mortem peccatoris (I desire not the death of a sinner)

Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Morley, Orlando di Lasso

• Orlando di Lasso (c. 1532-94) [Netherlands-Germany] - Tristis est anima mea (My soul is sorrowful)

• King John (João) IV (1604–56) [Portuguese] - Crux fidelis (Faithful cross)

• Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548–1611) [Spanish] - Videte omnes populi (Let all peoples see)

• Orlando Gibbons (c. 1583–1625) [English] - Drop, drop slow tears

• Edward Miller (1731 or 1735–1807), Samuel Webbe (1740-1816) [English] - When I survey the wondrous cross

• John Taverner (c. 1490–1545) [English] - Dum transisset Sabbatum (When the Sabbath was over)

• Traditional - Jesus Christ is risen today

• Traditional [arr. George R. Woodward (1848-1934)] - This joyful Eastertide

• John Sheppard (c. 1515–58) [English] - Haec dies (This day)

• Kenneth Leighton (1929-88) [English] - Let all the world in every corner sing

The performances were hailed by reviewer Stanley Webb in The Gramophone - at least the early music component: "All lovely things to sing and to hear and nowhere is such music better sung than by the choir of King's College Chapel, under Philip Ledger."

He, however, was not taken with the 19th century music: "After such august company the listener comes down to earth with a bump to Victorian sentimentality with the texts of Mrs Alexander's hymn There is a green hill and my namesake's (S. Webbe, 1820) When I survey. The Anglican tradition produced better things than this, however, in Orlando Gibbons's Drop, drop slow tears and Jesus Christ is risen today. Easter Day is indeed reached at last with a vigorous performance of Kenneth Leighton's Let all the world, with its taxing accompaniment brilliantly played by the new [King's] organ scholar, Thomas Trotter."

Thomas Trotter

The cover note by Cambridge musicologist Iain Fenlon similarly is dismissive of the hymn tunes, which undoubtedly were included to provide some variety in texture: "Three of the hymns are taken from The English Hymnal, that erratic though panoramic account of English hymn tunes produced under the musical editorship of Vaughan Williams."

Kenneth Leighton

The mention of Vaughan Williams reminds me that he too produced a setting of Let all the world in every corner sing which is far more jubilant than the angular music by Kenneth Leighton (a composer I admire). You can hear Vaughan Williams' setting here, as part of his Five Mystical Songs.

The sound on this 1977 analogue recording is quite good; the choir's voices and the resonant King's College Chapel are captured perfectly.

LINK