Recordare
Harry Bradford co-founder and conductor
Resonus RES10392
This is a debut album by the group Recordare and it takes the form of a concept album, using the seasons as the unifying theme. Interestingly the choices made stress the secular repertoire which, compared to the many recordings of sacred music made by the vocal groups whose contributions are readily found in the catalogues, is decidedly underrepresented.
This has allowed the inclusion of a number of items which might accurately be described as rarities. The sequence starts with spring and includes one of Heinrich Schütz’s Italian Madrigals, Op.1, Ride la primavera. In the section devoted to summer we have Howells’ The summer is coming and John Ireland’s The Hills and in autumn, Coleridge-Taylor’s Summer is gone.
The idea is that each track illustrates the different emotional reactions that each season evokes, as their notes states, ‘reflecting both their inevitability and unpredictability.’ With examples from so many different traditions, English, French, German, Scandinavian and Baltic, sung in six different languages, there is no lack of variety.
In addition, the group commissioned four composers each to provide a new work for one season. This has a disadvantage in inviting comparison with the rest of the programme, but all the new items are very worthwhile and do not suffer by being juxtaposed with items by so many established figures.
The wide variety of styles and periods sets this release apart from many choral discs where the style is often predominantly slow and homophonic. Those who enjoy listening to choral music need more recordings like this one. The use of the seasons works very well as a means of drawing what appears to be a disparate collection of items into a unified whole.
The recording was made in St John’s Church, Upper Norwood, London in February of this year and the result is sonically superb, with enough warmth to give some bloom to the sound without any sacrifice of clarity, indeed every word is clearly audible. Nor are the voices too close to the listener and nothing sounds overbearing. Adam Binks is credited as producer, engineer and editor and his contribution to the success of this recording is outstanding.
A most distinguished and successful debut by a group who deserve to become much better known.
Review by Martyn Strachan