Boyce Pindar's Ode; New Year Ode

A fine end to Lea­Cox’s Boyce survey with strong performances from all concerned

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: William Boyce

Genre:

Vocal

Label: Gaudeamus

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 74

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: CDGAU232

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Pindar's Ode William Boyce, Composer
Andrew Johnson, Treble/boy soprano
Charles Daniels, Tenor
Christopher Josey, Alto
Graham Lea-Cox, Conductor
Hanover Band
Michael George, Baritone
New College Choir, Oxford
Patrick Burrowes, Treble/boy soprano
William Boyce, Composer
Pass but a few, New Year's Day William Boyce, Composer
Andrew Johnson, Treble/boy soprano
Charles Daniels, Tenor
Christopher Josey, Alto
Graham Lea-Cox, Conductor
Hanover Band
Michael George, Baritone
New College Choir, Oxford
Patrick Burrowes, Treble/boy soprano
William Boyce, Composer
Here is another disc – the last‚ alas! – in the Boyce series from Graham Lea­Cox. Those who like Boyce’s music will enjoy it no less than the three already available. This time we have a Pindaric Ode of about 1740‚ including the composer’s own improvements for a Dublin performance in 1744‚ and a much later work‚ a New Year Ode for 1774. Boyce’s style in these pieces is quite individual and certainly no mere echo of Handel; the freshness and charm of his melodic manner and his fluent but very pragmatic contrapuntal writing make for pleasant listening. There is a typically melancholy song for one of the boys and obbligato violin in the Pindaric Ode‚ a stormy one for tenor‚ a graceful minuet for the alto and a particularly fine‚ sombre one for the bass‚ ‘The pious mariner’. There is also a tenor­bass duet‚ ‘Gentle wishes‚ chaste desires’‚ extolling the married state with a decorous elegance. A more searching note is touched in the opening items of the 1774 work‚ a deeply felt recitative and arioso for bass on the fading of earthly glory. Here the singer is Michael George whose warm tone and sensitive handling of words serve Boyce’s music well. Charles Daniels is the very musicianly tenor and Christopher Josey the ‘high tenor’ – he sings the alto music in a clear and firm‚ unambiguously masculine voice that projects well right up towards the top of the treble clef with bright and gleaming tone‚ not‚ it would seem‚ in the familiar countertenor mode. There is good singing too from the boy soloists‚ perhaps in the 1774 work especially. The New College Choir sing capably but sound just a shade distant‚ while Lea­Cox draws unfailingly stylish playing from the Hanover Band.

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