Reviewed by Steven Whitehead The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge have an extensive discography and this new collection, their first album dedicated solely to the Evening Canticles (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) will only enhance their reputation. Of course, the membership of any college choir has a regular turnover but the sound remains the same so long as the Director of Music, currently Andrew Nethsingha, knows what he is doing. And he does. Within the Anglican tradition the Evening Canticles are sung on a very regular basis, hence the need for new settings and there are not many professional composers who have not turned their hand to producing some over the years. This album contains six contrasting settings of the Evening Canticles, with each of them, chosen by Andrew Nethsingha, having personal significance to his musical life - his time at the Royal College of Music, Truro Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral, and now, St John's College. Of the Canticles relating to the College itself, Kenneth Leighton's "Second Service" was composed in 1972 in memory of Brian Runnett, a former St John's Organ Scholar, who was tragically killed in a car crash driving home from a recital. Nethsingha himself commissioned Gabriel Jackson's "Truro Service", in memory of a former chorister at Truro Cathedral. Former Director of Music at St John's, George Guest, commissioned Michael Tippett's "St John's Service" to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the College in 1961. Other well-known settings included in the collection are Charles Villiers Stanford's "Magnificat And Nunc Dimittis In A", inspired by the Germanic symphonic tradition, Herbert Sumsion's setting, also in A - to suit, so the story goes, the acoustic of his home cathedral at Gloucester - and Herbert Howell's "Gloucester Service". Some of these may be familiar - over familiar even - to regular listeners and worshippers but the quality of the performances, ably assisted by Glen Dempsey on the organ with its unique Spanish trumpet stop that inspired Tippett, is good enough to overlook any duplication in your own collection. In his informative booklet notes Andrew Nethsingha promises at least one more volume and possibly others in what could become a most useful and enjoyable series.
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