Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Timothy Brown, Director of Music at Clare College, Cambridge, starts his CD booklet notes with a lovely anecdote of one of his earliest memories being when he, as a "very junior chorister" sang at the interring of the ashes of Ralph Vaughan Williams at Westminster Abbey in September 1958. This raises some questions in my mind. Why was a professed atheist such as Vaughan Williams given the honour of internment in a Christian abbey? I suppose that Westminster Abbey is a national shrine and it is not inappropriate to honour national figures there and, as shown on this disc, whatever Vaughan Williams did or not believe did not stop him writing some lovely Christian music. Perhaps, had he truly believed, his sacred choral music would have been better but it is none the less very good as it stands. As noted above, Vaughan Williams died in 1958 and no collection of English music from the first part of the twentieth century should omit his work. His "Mass In G Minor" reveals his interest in the modal harmonic language and contrapuntal textures of the English late Renaissance to achieve an impressive emotional and dynamic range. The most technically demanding work on this disc is "A Vision Of Aeroplanes", a virtuosic motet for mixed chorus and organ. The organist for most of the disc is Clare College's Ashok Gupta but for "Aeroplanes" James McVinnie, the assistant organist at Westminster Abbey is flown in. Other pieces include "Three Choral Hymns", one for each of Easter, Christmas and Whitsunday and all of which would make welcome additions to any choir's repertoire. The other question I alluded to earlier concerns the make-up of the choir. When Timothy Brown sang at Westminster Abbey in 1958 the choir used boy trebles but the Choir Of Clare College uses mixed voices from male and female undergraduates. I am not saying that either one is better than the other, merely pointing out that they are different and listeners who want to hear VW's music as he intended it to sound may wish to try elsewhere. However, all the musicianship displayed on this super-budget release is first class and serves as a splendid introduction to one aspect of the work of a justifiably popular composer.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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