The Choir of Canterbury Cathedral
David Newsholme conductor
Jamie Rogers organ
Resonus RES10360
This disc of Gabriel Jackson’s choral music seems to be something of a homecoming for the composer. He was a chorister at the Canterbury Cathedral under Allan Wicks. In his very illuminating notes on the music, Jackson makes clear where and how he first encountered, as he puts it, ‘the uniquely charged potency of great music sung in a glorious building’.
He goes on to explain that this was where he first sang and heard Tudor music, specifically that of Thomas Tallis, and 20th century music, particularly Stravinsky. For Gabriel Jackson, composing liturgical music is a series of attempts to recapture the thrill of that first meeting.
As well as Jackson’s choral works, there significant works for solo organ, Canterbury Concertos and Southwark Symphonies, a companion piece, or as the composer says, a prequel. Both use ciphers; in the case of the Southwark piece, it is the letters of the second name of the player who commissioned it, Michael Bonaventure. Canterbury Concertos was written for this recording and it is the name ‘Canterbury’ that is encoded into the structure of the work.
The Mass of St Mary was written to celebrate the rebuilding of the organ in St Mary’s, Maldon and for that reason, it is designed as a work where the choir is secondary to the organ; as Jackson says, ‘the choral material is frequently punctuated by organ sidesteps, often in unexpected places.’
There is a great deal to explore here, and space does not really permit more than an outline of what the listener will find. It is by turns challenging, surprising – such as the intrusion of a saxophone in the setting of Ave maris stella. The composer explains that this work is, unlike the others, non-liturgical and not intended for musicians of the Anglican tradition. It also contains a contemporary poem by a Roman Catholic Latvian poet.
While the technical skill of the choir is amply demonstrated, the organ, in its present enlarged form, is very much a protagonist in its own right. The balance achieved in this most singular of buildings is remarkable. The diction, tuning and intonation are beyond reproach, and Jamie Rogers, whether accompanying or dealing with Jackson’s virtuosic solo organ writing, make a distinguished contribution to what is an extremely fine disc.
Review by Martyn Strachan