Bantock... A Comparison

 

I just listened to another Bantock choral music recording recently,

thus, a comparison is inevitable.

Luckily, there are only three or four songs (of 22 tracks here) which are shared across both recordings. That makes this more of a celebration of riches than a throwdown or battle royale.

Sir Granville Bantock writes beautiful choral music, and tough too, by any measure. All of the songs here are a cappella, as well as quite epically scaled, some coming in at 10-12 minutes in length, among some standard 3-5 minute offerings. It seems to be the composer's multi-divisi parts among highly chromatic writing which offers the greatest challenges for errant singing ensembles.

It is The Golden Journey to Samarkand, A Pageant of Human Life, and the Three Choruses for Male Voices which sound the most taxing. I am reminded of Frederick Delius when listening to Bantock, but in works such as Pageant and Darest Thou, I sense a presaging of Britten as well, with some light polytonal veerings.

Compared to the Elysian Singers of London in their recording (BLOG), I feel the St. Louis Chamber Chorus strikes out at Bantock's dynamic and singing ranges with wider contrast. I am more taken with the US-based choral traditions in general, so if I have a preference to these St. Louis singers, it is probably only due to an ingrained cultural preference; both are beautiful performances. I do prefer the soloists here as well, which I assume come from within the ensemble; a personal taste, I am sure.

Director Philip Barnes offers more music too, including some gender specific choruses. The 8-movement suite Pageant of Human Life shows the composer at his most experimental and witty, where the Gateway to the West chorus handles any challenges in stride, with only the rarest moments of ensemble and tuning difficulties at Bantock's most chromatic and expansive portions of the program. Otherwise, this is a truly wonderful sounding ensemble across the board.

So which one to listen to? Both! Apparently there are many such partsongs out there from Bantock, so to have two recordings dedicated to his songs with very little repetition of repertoire between them is a treasure. As is the ability of the St. Louis Chamber Chorus, captured strongly by Regent. Wonderful!

 

Listen on YouTube

 

 

 

Performers
St. Louis Chamber Chorus
Philip Barnes, conductor

Label: Regent
Year: 2010
Total Timing: 77.26

 

 

 

 

A nearly 80-minute program of Granville Bantock's choral music to savor.

The St. Louis Chamber Chorus tackles his music, in what I imagine is terribly challenging, with beauty and intelligence.

Philip Barnes' liner notes are thorough and Regent's engineering is lovely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Bantock recordings HERE!