The world of compact discs

Contemporary Review, Dec, 1998 by Anthony Paterson

Evensong in a mediaeval Cathedral or an Oxbridge college is a memorable experience both spiritually and musically. One of the best is to be heard in the exquisite fifteenth century chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford. Appropriately it has been splendidly recorded by the excellent Oxford company, ISIS (the name Oxonians give to the Thames as it flows past the city). Praise Him All Ye Angels (CD 034) consists of a traditional Evensong service, complete with scriptural readings, following the incomparable liturgy of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Also included on this CD is 'Evening Prayer' which is another service conducted at Magdalen on weekdays and based on older, mediaeval usages. The various settings used for the two services on this recording come from nineteenth and twentieth century composers including William Walton and, somewhat exotically, Arvo Part. This is a most welcome production which well captures the subtle nuances of Evensong in the intimacy of a college chapel.

Nothing could be further in spirit from the calm of Magdalen Chapel than Liberty Tree, a collection of popular American songs from 1776 till 1861 from ERATO (3984- 21668-2), well performed by the Boston Camerata and the Harvard University Choir under Joel Cohen. Most of the pieces have been long forgotten although others have a very contemporary resonance such as 'Rights of Women'. Joel Cohen has performed a real service to the cause of popular music by discovering authentic texts rather than the sanitised versions of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir type. The words of the best known song, 'Yankee Doodle', are decidedly vulgar and not at all those sung at American patriotic bean-feasts:

Two and two may go to Bed, Two and two together, And if there is no room enough Lie on top of t'other.

The conductor, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, has been much admired for his authentic interpretation of classical masters such as Haydn and Mozart. He is now expanding into new territory by starting a series for TELDEC of recordings of Dvorak Symphonies, beginning somewhat surprisingly with Symphony No 7 - certainly not the most popular of the Czech composer's works (3984-21278-2). Fully alive to the Czech folk traditions and melodies that Dvorak drew on, the Austrian Harnoncourt in an interview that accompanies this CD - as is his normal practice - sees that 'the music of Bohemia and Czechoslovakia is quite simply Austrian music'. As well as the Symphony, this impressive disc includes the symphonic poem, The Wild Dove. If the later discs fulfil the promise of this first one, the much admired Kubelik or Jarvi sets will have a powerful rival, made all the more so by Teldec's usual unsurpassed aural qualities even with this live performance. Harnoncourt is not working with his own creation, the Concentus Musicus Wien, but with the Royal Concertgebouw but as always he brings careful study and reflection to his work and discovers nuances that have escaped others. In this splendid recording he concentrates on Dvorak's rhythms, particularly in the well known scherzo.