S.S. Wesley Anthems and Organ Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Label: CRD
Magazine Review Date: 10/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CRD3463
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Ascribe unto the Lord |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Blessed be the God and Father |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Wash me throughly from my wickedness |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Cast me not away from Thy presence |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| (The) Wilderness and the solitary place |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Andante |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| (3) Pieces for a Chamber Organ Set 1, Movement: Choral Song and Fugue |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Larghetto |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
Composer or Director: Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 10/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 62
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA66469
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| O Lord, thou art my God |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| Wash me throughly from my wickedness |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| Burial Service, 'Man that is born of a woman' |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| O give thanks unto the Lord |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| (The) face of the Lord |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| Solomon's Prayer, 'O Lord, my God' |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| Praise the Lord, O my soul |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
Composer or Director: Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Label: CRD
Magazine Review Date: 10/1991
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CRDC4163
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Ascribe unto the Lord |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Blessed be the God and Father |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Wash me throughly from my wickedness |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Cast me not away from Thy presence |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| (The) Wilderness and the solitary place |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ New College Choir, Oxford Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Andante |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| (3) Pieces for a Chamber Organ Set 1, Movement: Choral Song and Fugue |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
| Larghetto |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Edward Higginbottom, Organ Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer |
Composer or Director: Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 10/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 62
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA66446
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Blessed be the God and Father |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| Let us lift up our heart |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| Ascribe unto the Lord |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| Cast me not away from Thy presence |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
| (The) Wilderness and the solitary place |
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer
Adrian Partington, Organ Donald Hunt, Conductor Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Composer Worcester Cathedral Choir |
Author:
Donald Hunt has made a special study of Wesley, and it is fitting that his should be the choir to present the most comprehensive programme of Wesley's choral work on disc to date. The job is well worth doing, even though it has left me with just a slight feeling of disappointment. Dr Hunt refers to ''the mystique which surrounds the name of Wesley'', and mystiques are nothing if not mysterious: they thrive in the half-light of incompleteness and suggestion. Bring the object out into the open, as here, and an anthem such as Let us lift up our hearts seems long, certainly, but not quite 'monumental', which is the mystique-word for it. It gives rise to a feeling which sometimes occurs even in The wilderness where the material is so much stronger but is perhaps allowed to spread itself too easily (Goss's setting, less 'monumental', has a more robust, purposeful stride to it). Of the other large-scale anthems, Ascribe unto the Lord survives best; Praise the Lord, o my soul gains most from its famous endpiece, ''Lead me, Lord''; and the doctoral-thesis anthem, O Lord, thou art my God, just slightly makes one wonder what it was that William Crotch advised him to do with it and whether the headstrong Wesley might not have done better to think about it. The really lovely things here, to my mind, are some of the shorter ones, the penitential Wash me thoroughly, Cast me not away (in an astonishingly direct line from Purcell) and, unfailingly moving, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace.
And, of course, Blessed be the God and Father, which is perhaps a good point to start making comparisons between the performances. From the timing (Worcester 7'42'', New College 7'40'') it might be supposed that they are very similar, in that respect at least: not so, however, for Worcester takes a relaxed tempo for ''Love one another'' and New College a broad, stately tempo for ''But the Word of the Lord''. In both of these instances I prefer Worcester (especially in the finale, where with New College stately becomes stodgy). New College opens the anthem unaccompanied, Worcester with quiet organ support: the first should perhaps be more effective, but the flavour of that first chord (common enough, but I fancy any ex-choirboy would identify it at once, even 40 years on) is more fully itself, I think, with the organ there. And one incidental irritation in the New College style is its over-insistent punctuation (as in the comma before the last ''a pure heart fervently''): the habit is cultivated by several modern choirs, and registers as not so much an intelligent refinement as a fussy mannerism.
On the other hand, the Oxford choir has more colour in its singing, and several of the voices in it sound extremely beautiful: Wash me thoroughly and Thou wilt keep him provide examples. I would imagine, too, that for most listeners the CRD disc will satisfy, especially as it has a couple of organ solos, including the splendid Choral song. As to recorded sound, neither acoustic suffers from over-reverberance, so one hears pretty clearly. The Worcester sound wants more colour (it benefits from having the volume turned up), and New College are generally the more resourceful and polished. The choice depends most on how much of Wesley will suffice. Personally, I found the mystique of the name gradually transferring from son (illegitimate) to father, for did S. S. ever compose anything half so vigorous as his remarkable dad's In exitu Israel?'
And, of course, Blessed be the God and Father, which is perhaps a good point to start making comparisons between the performances. From the timing (Worcester 7'42'', New College 7'40'') it might be supposed that they are very similar, in that respect at least: not so, however, for Worcester takes a relaxed tempo for ''Love one another'' and New College a broad, stately tempo for ''But the Word of the Lord''. In both of these instances I prefer Worcester (especially in the finale, where with New College stately becomes stodgy). New College opens the anthem unaccompanied, Worcester with quiet organ support: the first should perhaps be more effective, but the flavour of that first chord (common enough, but I fancy any ex-choirboy would identify it at once, even 40 years on) is more fully itself, I think, with the organ there. And one incidental irritation in the New College style is its over-insistent punctuation (as in the comma before the last ''a pure heart fervently''): the habit is cultivated by several modern choirs, and registers as not so much an intelligent refinement as a fussy mannerism.
On the other hand, the Oxford choir has more colour in its singing, and several of the voices in it sound extremely beautiful: Wash me thoroughly and Thou wilt keep him provide examples. I would imagine, too, that for most listeners the CRD disc will satisfy, especially as it has a couple of organ solos, including the splendid Choral song. As to recorded sound, neither acoustic suffers from over-reverberance, so one hears pretty clearly. The Worcester sound wants more colour (it benefits from having the volume turned up), and New College are generally the more resourceful and polished. The choice depends most on how much of Wesley will suffice. Personally, I found the mystique of the name gradually transferring from son (illegitimate) to father, for did S. S. ever compose anything half so vigorous as his remarkable dad's In exitu Israel?'
S.S. Wesley Anthems and Organ Works
S.S.Wesley Cathedral Anthems, Vol.2
S.S. Wesley Anthems and Organ Works
S.S.Wesley Cathedral Anthems, Vol.1
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