British readings of Puccini and Janáček

 

Plus, some organ solos!

This is not a bad recording, but it is hardly flush with the sun of Italy, nor the earthiness of Czechia.

While the cover has Puccini's Requiem as the headliner, it is simply a five minute work for viola solo, organ, and unison choir, so it hardly ends up being the musical attention-grabber one would expect.

The 14 minutes or so of music from Puccini is pretty chaste sounding here, where I could imagine a ruddier, sun-dappled sound.

The motets from Leoš Janáček are pretty conservative too, surprising coming from such a daring composer, although the bigger works, Mass in E-flat and Otče náš, make more of an impression, at least substantively. The former contains an early version of the fantastic Glagolitic Mass, here with organ accompaniment. Still, these have since been recorded by Czech ensembles, whereas these British singers keep the work austerely cathedral bound.

As a bit of filler, two Adagio organ meditations are included, odd for a recording dedicated to choral music. Still this was an early offering from the adult mixed Choir of Gonville & Caius College under Geoffrey Webber, who have gone on to record many rare composers.


A review from 2000

This ASV recording featuring the choral music of Puccini and Janacek was the first album set out by The Choir of Gonville & Caius College (heretofore referred as G&C) under the direction of Geoffrey Webber in the mid 90’s. It must have been a success because they have consistently released recordings annually with choral literature that is both innovative and challenging. Check them out on the ASV, Delphinium, and most recently Signum Classics labels!

The three Puccini selections are the 5-minute choral Requiem with viola solo, a standalone soprano solo, and a tenor/bass duet, all accompanied by organ. The 15 minutes of Puccini music are very slight numbers and frankly don’t do much for me personally. The Requiem is mostly unison, with most of the colour coming from the organ, although the moments the choir find harmony is most welcome and the viola solo adds quite a bit of variety. The soprano is a bit matronly sounding in her solo, although the tenor and bass sing dramatically in their duet. While the English G&C (women and men) sing well in a very British cathedral style, this music yearns for more Italianate singing. The only competition on record comes from Riccardo Chailly’s Puccini Discoveries disc on Decca, although, while Chailly’s Milanese choir sounds thrilling with orchestra, their singing with organ exhibits some issues.

The Janacek selections include two organ solos, an incomplete edited Mass setting, a short choral cantata, a handful of motets, and a tenor solo with violin, again everything accompanied by organ. As with the Puccini, the singing quality of the English choir, while quite fine, needs a Slavic injection. This is most evident in Otce Nas, Zdravas, and the Mass, which lacks the typical Slavic thrust and a throatier singing quality than what these fine English singers were culturally trained to do. The Mass is also a bit interventionist with the inclusion of the Sanctus from Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass, which in the end was probably best left out, and again misses the full-throated vigor of Mackerras on Chandos. The four motets, though, fare much better in their hands; Janacek composes clean lines in the quartet that suit the English cathedral style much better, and G&C make them quite lovely.

The solo singers are fine, but the work of English tenor William Kendall shines most of all, a feather in the cap for this recording. I am not sure of the veracity of the playing of the organ solos by Webber, but you can find Janacek’s organ works played more idiomatically on Supraphon and on Amabile. The choral works can be found more authentically with the Prague Choir on ECM and on Supraphon for the Otce Nas, and also on Supraphon for the Mass and motets. If on the other hand you enjoy the straight-toned women in an English cathedral manner, this recording will suffice quite nicely, although Wood on Hyperion, Reuss on Harmonia Mundi, and O’Donnell on Hyperion with boys are nice alternatives with different Janacek pairings.

That said, the G&C sing very nicely on this ASV recording that captures them without undue reverb, but satisfyingly full against the organ. I am not completely sold on the essentialness of this music, with only Janacek’s motets and cantata Otce Nas standing out, but the incomplete mass is OK, the solo organ and vocal selections are just not for me, and the slight Puccini music doesn’t really grab my attention. All of this alongside pithier alternative recordings, I give this recording my lightest of recommendations.

Listen on YouTube

Works
Giacomo Puccini:
Requiem (5.35)
Salve Regina (4.21)
Vexilla Regis (4.14)

Leos Janacek:
Lord's Prayer (14.46)
Mass in E-flat (19.17)
Zdravas Maria (4.11)
Exaudi Deus (1.11)
Regnum Mundi (1.14)
Suscepimus Deus (1.57)
In Nomine Jesu (2.36)
Adagio I (4.01)
Adagio II (4.14)

Soloists
Shelley Everall, soprano
Lynette Alcantara, contralto
William Kendall, tenor
Peter Harvey, baritone

Douglas Peterson, violin & viola
Helen Cole, harp
Michael Phillips, organ
Christopher Monks, organ

Performers
Choir of Gonville & Caius College
Geoffrey Webber, conductor

Label: ASV
Year: 1995
Total Timing: 69.01

This recording just needs a good dose of personality.

Plus, all of this music has since been recorded by their composer's home teams, and those are now the place to listen to this music.

For lovers of beginnings however, this is an early recording from G&C  under Geoffrey Webber, and they have continued an excellent recording series of lesser known composers, beyond their collaboration on ASV.

Plus, many might enjoy the chaste British cathedral style. For me, not so much in this music.

 

 

 

 

Find more Puccini & Janacek recordings HERE!