Corvus Consort
Freddie Crowley conductor
Louise Thomson harp
CHAN 5350
As I know from personal experience, composing for female voices and harp is a joy. This CD consists of 10 works by eight female composers, and there are three works by Gustav Holst (who I am sure would agree). The Corvus ensemble consist of 12 young and fresh-voiced sopranos and altos.
The CD title is taken from Imogen Holst’s enchanting settings of Keats entitled Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow. She chose six poems written in Devon where she lived until moving to work with Britten in Suffolk. He commissioned the pieces and described them as ‘six little treasures’.
Gustav taught himself Sanskrit, and translated the texts for the quite well-known Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda (this is a particularly attractive performance) and the very lovely but little known Two Eastern Pictures, describing both Spring and Summer. He taught at St. Paul’s Girls’ school, and thus female education was as important to him as it was to Imogen. It seems likely that he composed the little-known, Dirge and Hymeneal for his choir there. The harp ostinato will surely remind you of Saturn.
The longest work is Elizabeth Poston’s eleven-part cycle An English Day-Book written for the Farnham Festival in 1966. It is meant to complement Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, and, to my ears, is in many ways more satisfying and appealing. It even includes a harp interlude. The poems are largely 16th and 17th Century. And at this point I should immediately add that although all of the texts of each work are supplied the choir’s diction is focused and clear. Freddie Crowley cultivates an ideal vocal balance even in the more complex polyphonic passages, and they are always immaculately accompanied by Louise Thomson.
This enterprising recording also includes mostly short pieces by young female composers making their recording debut, for example Olivia Sparkhall with her atmospheric Lux Aeterna for double choir. The other anthems included are beautiful, each with a text chosen from Julian of Norwich. They are by Hilary Campbell – Our Endless Day , Gemma McGregor – Love was his meaning, and one of our senior composers, Judith Weir – We sekyn here rest. Therewere each commissioned for the choral anthology entitled ‘A Multitude of Voyces’.
There are two works by Shruthi Rajasekar, the first, Ushas- Goddess of Dawn, which evocatively sets a text in Sanskrit. This compliments Holst’s Sanskrit settings in English, which he translated, and Priestess, using a text in Latin by Livy.
The documentation is extensive, and the recording is excellent, but you will need to turn up the volume a little.
Review by Gary Higginson