STANFORD Partsongs
Spicer’s student secular choral series alights on Stanford
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Paul Spicer, Charles Villiers Stanford
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Somm Recordings
Magazine Review Date: 12/2013
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 76
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: SOMM0128
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 |
Author: Alexandra Coghlan
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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