Classical Music: I Was Glad Parry Choral Music

I Was Glad Parry Choral Music

I was glad when they said unto me; Hear my words, ye people; Blest pair of Sirens; Music, when soft voices die; Songs of farewell; Jerusalem – arr. Edward Elgar, transcribed for organ by Joseph Wicks

The Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge
Director: David Rowland
Organ: Julian Collings

Regent REGCD580
https://www.regent-records.co.uk/

This disc of Parry's pot boilers offers plenty to enjoy, but the familiarity of the repertoire inevitably leads to comparisons.

This recording is released as a celebration of the work of the Chapel Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and Professor David Rowland, who marks forty years as Director of Music.

For over two decades, Rowland has regularly programmed the Songs of Farewell and for this recording he invited former choir members from that period to join the current (2023) choir. The well-sung songs serve as a charming centrepiece of this disc. The singers obviously know them inside and out and perform them with passion, ensuring good intonation, balance, and diction. Another beautiful a cappella gem is Music, when soft voices die, words by Shelley. Three minutes of the sublime with well-controlled singing.

The following day, all Chapel Choir alumni were invited to join in for the remainder of the recording. Gary Cole's notes remind us that the logistics of finding a suitable venue for making the recording—easily accessible for alumni from across the country, large enough to accommodate the number of singers, with a suitably rich acoustic and a large English Romantic organ that could do justice to the accompanied anthems—led to the Church of St Michael, Cornhill, in the City of London.

A strong performance of Parry’s I was glad including the Vivat revisions made when King Charles was crowned. One day, I hope to hear an introduction as captivating as Ian Shaw's; while a sub-organist at Durham Cathedral, he accompanied the cathedral choir on a Radio 3 Choral Evensong broadcast. When he reached bars 7 and 8 of the introduction, it was electrifying; he soloed out the left hand with the fine Harrison & Harrison tubas! To this day, I have not heard anyone replicate his performance, which is a tremendous shame. Parry's coronation anthem and the double choir, Blest Pair of Sirens, perfectly complement the large choral forces that bolstered the recording. Balanced and controlled singing with a brilliant piece of sung word painting at ‘Jarr’d against nature’s chime’.

Where the full forces do not work is in one of Parry’s finest anthems, Hear my words, ye people. This is where comparisons don’t help. I wish it had been left, swapping it perhaps for an organ work. The lyrical flow of the soprano solo section was lost with an operatic vibrato, which completely took away the spiritual nature. The dynamics of the quartet sections lost intimacy, and the beauty of Parry's harmonies, particularly the tenors, were obscured in the final 'amen'. In a way, Julian Collings' wonderful registrations saved the disappointing performance. Throughout, his dexterity and virtuosic skill in tackling the Cornhill instrument was tremendous, especially in Joseph Wick's arrangement of Jerusalem, which, as Gary Cole writes: 'incorporates as many of the felicities of Elgar’s orchestration that it’s feasible to play with just two hands and two feet!'