Stanford:Choral and Organ Works

****
Flawed, but wonderful nonetheless
3rd November, 2008

Stanford in C. There are few phrases so evocative for any musician who has spent any period of time performing English church music. The words are redolent with faded Victorian pomp, a little like those glass cases full of stuffed birds, or a large, overstuffed armchair. The phrases move along in their steady four-four rhythm, with a gently plodding bass-line below, and occasional moments where the basses get a rest, and the top voices drift away on a melody that would rather like to be limpid, but had a little too much for lunch. But, despite all this, and it is so easy to mock Stanford, I love his music. His evening service in C maybe a little full of hubris, but his service in G is charming, and the three latin motets are genuinely well written. And for those reasons alone, you should buy this disc, and have a jolly good enjoyable listen to it, perhaps with a glass of sherry, and a leg of mutton to wash it all down.

But that's not quite the full picture. The choir of St John's College, Cambridge, are a very fine group indeed, and their series of English choral music for Naxos has been a very welcome addition to the catalogue. Much of their singing is excellent: Christopher Robinson trains the boys to sing with incision and great intonation, and out of the ranks of the young, male choral scholars have come some of the finest singers of this current generation (there are one or two present on this disc, for good measure.) They can be thrilling, and they can be blended, but I can't help feeling the performances are not very well balanced. For example, in the middle of "For Lo, I Raise Up", there is a beautiful passage of very sensitive writing, but Robinson forces the crescendo of the line almost beyond breaking point, and any sense of mood is gone for good. And what's more, there are some really quite unpleasant noises that come out of the speakers when one listens attentively: the trebles can be harsh (and dominated by Oliver LePage-Dean, who is - admittedly - excellent, but it makes for tiring listening), and the alto line in the early bars of the C major Magnificat seems to have been replaced by enthusiastic chickens. One can only hope they were free range. My suspicion is that the budget nature of the recording has something to do with this, and that takes which otherwise should not have been put onto the CD were included for the lack of any alternatives. In any case, I don't think this singing represents John's at their best.

But here's the thing: why are we consigning Stanford to the dusty recesses of Choral Evensong when he has so much more to offer? Performed with organ his music is, it is true, a bit flat-footed, but that's not the way he wanted it to be heard. His music was written for a large choir with an orchestra, and he wrote for orchestra with real skill, and there is some thrilling orchestration to be found (I recently experienced the Evening Service in A to the accompaniment of a full orchestra, and the effect was a revelation: suddenly Stanford's talent became clear to me.) So, should any passing record producers stumble across my review, here's my challenge to you: do a disc of Stanford using the chorus and orchestra of La Scala. I think it would sound bloody great.