STANFORD Partsongs

Spicer’s student secular choral series alights on Stanford

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Paul Spicer, Charles Villiers Stanford

Genre:

Vocal

Label: Somm Recordings

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 76

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: SOMM0128

SOMM0128. STANFORD Partsongs

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
On Time Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
(4) Partsongs, Movement: No. 4, Heraclitus (wds. Cory) Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
To Chloris Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Corydon, arise! Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
The Swallow Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Praised be Diana Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Like Desert Woods Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
To his Flocks Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
On a hill there grows a flower Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
(8) Partsongs, Movement: No. 3, The bluebird Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Shall we go dance? Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
When Mary thro' the garden went Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Diaphenia Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
The Haven Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
A Lover’s Ditty Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
God and the Universe Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Peace; Come Away Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
A Dirge Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Out in the windy west Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
The Witch Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Farewell, my joy! Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
The Train Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
The Inkbottle Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
Chillingham Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
My heart in thine Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Paul Spicer, Composer
It’s a mark of musical fashion that this disc from Paul Spicer and the Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir is the first to be devoted solely to Stanford’s part-songs, many of which make their recorded debut here. I blame the texts. While Victorian sentimentality is braced and – to some extent – contained by liturgy, here among the Corydons and Diaphenias, fa-la-la-ing through meadows of ‘daffadowndillys’, it takes pastel-coloured flight.

Spicer addresses this issue head-on, refusing to offer precious performances of precious verse. The energy and abandon he gets from his young singers is impressive, stretching the emotional canvas of these miniatures with an unexpectedly mature sound. This works well for ‘God and the universe’ and ‘To his Flocks’, finding a muscularity buried in the vocal writing itself, but in ‘On Time’ and ‘The Witch’ things get a little strident and tuning can become wayward, particularly the men’s voices in the latter. ‘The Blue Bird’ – the only work here still in the repertoire – suffers too from a solo too womanly and wild to be satisfactorily contained in Stanford’s dainty landscape.

The real discoveries are settings of Mary Coleridge. ‘My heart in thine’ is a poised delight that sits just the right side of saccharine, and ‘The Haven’ too deserves to find a new audience in the concert hall. William Cory’s ‘A Dirge’ is anything but in Stanford’s treatment and Spicer’s nuanced phrasing, which animates the whole disc with intelligent musicality. Alas, not even this however can deliver ‘Corydon, arise!’ or ‘On a hill there grows a flower’ from their fey affectedness and a mood that feels altogether too much like high camp for a contemporary listener.

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