Cozy though the next in our sequence of Christmas discs might all seem, the disc begins in timeless, profound fashion with three and a half minutes of plainchant, beautifully executed and in an appropriate church acoustic:
… and it’s a stroke of genius to have the plainchant flower out into the glorious polyphony of Jacon Heindl’s Rorate cæli (Drop down, ye Heavens)
Everyone at least in the UK, must know In the bleak midwinter. I know not whether the soprano solo is Mary or Sophie, but it is beautiful. This is a new arrangement, by male alto Francis Bevan
The various movements of Palestrina’s Missa sine nomine (1599) are strewn across the pogramme, beginning with the Kyrie which unfolds with magisterial inevitability:
It is the Gloria that is so perfectly judged, its formal structure perfectly delivered, its melodic tapestry seemingly leading to the word ‘suscipe’:
A nicely restrained solo statement of the ”Credo“ announces Palestrina’s miraculous flowering of counterpoint in that movement of the Missa.
The Sanctus is restrained, beautiful, and what a stroke of genius to follow it with Thomas Weelkes’ Gloria in excelsis Deo, is as magnificent but with a whole different harmonic and textural vocabulary. Listen to the two, juxtaposed:
Finally. the emotive weight of the Palestrina “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God):
The canonic nature of this mass gives it a sort of timeless nature (although the process is beautifully concealed to the casual listener).; this is a dream of a performance.
Nice to have The Holly and the Ivy – but the phrases are all a little too pear-shaped here. It’s intrinsic in the phrase itself, but perhaps a touch over-emphasised here. One appreciates its simplicity all the more after the Palestrina counterpoint of the mass’ “Kyrie,” though:
Th real discovery though is Stanley Vann’s There is a flower, restrained and perfect (and previously unrecorded, unbelievably). An absolute joy from first to last (particularly when the voices go off in pairs), this piece is henceforth mandatory Chrimbo listening:
John Ireland’s The Holy Boy is is another gem, and the Bevan Family Consort relish every harmonic twist:
One of the most interior, touching pieces is John Joubert’s There is no rose, short but powerful:
Interesting to insert substantial plainchant between that and David Bevan’s Lute-Book Lullaby. Another Bevan, David Bevan (Senior) is the founder of the Bevan Family Choir. It reflects the canonic basis of the mass nicely, who utilising a distinctly 20th-century bitonality:
Peter Warlock is always an interesting choice for Christmas given his inters in the Occult and Paganism (his name was actually Peter Heseltine, and this article gives a nice little round-up of his activities which makes him should like something of an Aleister Crowley wannabe). Still, his Benedicamus Domino is lovely:
Perhaps the true treasure here is a first recording that of Imogen Holst’s The Vurgin Unspotted. It is written for three upper voices and was discovered at Aldeburgh’s Red House by Sophie Bevan:
It contrasts nicely to the fuller chordal textures of Howells’ Here is the Door. But it is Thomás Luis de Victoria who takes us to the deepest, most profound spaces of the album via his O magnum mysterium. The final item is fascinating, a piece by Duruflé pupil Pierre Villette, Jesu, dulcis Memoria, hauling, fragile:
A tremendous Christmas album, warm and welcoming yet full of beauty and depth, its programme clearly the result of much thought.
The disc can be purchased from Amazon here. Streaming below:
