Ronald Corp
Reviews
DhammapadaSTONE RECORDS 5060192780055
Ronald Corp is Britain’s most prolific choral conductor-composer, and with this work he breaks fascinating new ground. The Dhammapada is a collection of sayings of the Buddha transmitted orally before being written down 2,000 years ago. Set for small choir, it becomes a beguiling work, full of scrunchy dissonances but graceful to the ear. Michael Church, Independent, January 29th, 2011 – ‘Album of the Week’ The Music Dhammapada, sayings attributed to the Buddha, presents ideals of the good life. Its simple words elicit calm contemplation, directing the path followed by Ronald Corp in his exquisitely fashioned chamber choir composition. The composer catches echoes of Howells and traces of Whitacre yet his personal voice unfolds throughout with honesty and grace. The Performance The eight voices of Apsara invest their considerable collective experience in establishing a rich and clear sound. Their tonal palette spans the gamut from ethereal purity to romantic warmth, applied with discrimination and admirable good taste. Corp’s sonorous response to Francis Booth’s English Dhammapada translation calls for excellent vocal blend and line, admirably achieved under the composer’s direction. Field recordings of temple bells, cymbals and sounds of nature, which Corp deploys to link his score’s eight choral movements, emerge here as integral both to the work’s musical structure and spiritual atmosphere. The Verdict Everything in life will decay, the Dhammapada reminds us. There is, however, something of the timeless about the present treatment of this key Buddhist text, an artless quality informed but not stifled by western choral tradition. Andrew Stewart, Classic FM magazine, April, 2011 – Five Stars |
Stone Records now follow up their CD of The Songs of Ronald Corp with this Buddhist sequence to words by Francis Booth (b. 1949). I learn from the very basic notes that the Dhammapada is ‘The Buddha’s path to truth’ – a manual for living, and a hand held up against materiality. The singing is alternated with tracks featuring a rich range of bells recorded by Booth at locations sacred to Buddhists. The sung texts are in English apart from the ‘Buddham saranam gacchami’ (track 2). All the words are printed in the booklet. I had half expected the singing to be spare and even skeletal; nothing of the sort. The writing mixes white, open, aureate tones familiar from the English cathedral-pastoral tradition of Holst and Howells with Oriental shadings and profound bass notes. There is about it perhaps a touch of John Tavener – certainly it is from the same broad shelf. Ambiguous tonalities arise from deeper notes sliding and slipping like tectonic plates as they hum around the white lambent upper line. In ‘Dhammapada 1’ and ‘Dhammapada 2’ there’s a striking slow-motion ululating chant which evokes joy. The bell tracks are in large part ‘stopped’ and have hardly any of the luxury that surrounds resonance. The opposite applies to ‘Sarnath’, to the ringing ‘Ting-Sha’ and to the deeper gong tones of ‘Sravasti 3’. In ‘Dhammapada 4’ the reverential tone is broken by the ecstatic playfulness of ‘The world is like a bubble on a pond’ – very fast and smiling. This is a reverential, life-enhancing yet unassertive sequence that will please followers of Corp and the world’s many choirs and their audiences. It makes a fitting companion to Dutton Epoch’s Forever Child CD and a contrast to the same company’s disc of Corp’s orchestral music. Let us hope that we will not have to wait long for recordings of Corp’s major choral-orchestral works. Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International, January, 2011 |
Sixty in January, Ronald Corp made a name as a conductor, especially of choral music, before his true ambitions as a composer came to the fore. A modest clutch of recordings of his music has marked his birthday, including his latest choral work, which was first performed in public last month. An hour long, and unaccompanied except for recordings of temple bells and chanting that provide interludes between the movements, Dhammapada (‘the path to the truth’) sets one of the central texts of Buddhist thought – sayings by Buddha himself that were passed down orally for 500 years before being collected together and written down – in an English version by Francis Booth. The result is curious: Corp’s musical style is firmly anchored in Anglican choral tradition. It is significantly indebted to Britten especially, and creates a dissonance with a text that explores such a profoundly non-western philosophy of life. Much of the writing for the eight voices of Corp’s own choir, Apsara, is poised and beautiful, and some may well find it far more rewarding than I do.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, March, 2011
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, March, 2011
Adonai Echad 2000And All the Trumpets Sounded
‘And all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side’ is a sentence from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, giving Ronald Corp his title for a work which ties itself to Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, directed towards Peace, as well as Benjamin Britten’s great War Requiem. While both the latter provide some degree of dramatic inspiration, the present music is wholly individual, being directed towards war, the dead, and the trumpets associated with the Last Judgement. Corp has found the realism of man’s unremitting need for conflict which is both the essence of the ‘Dies Irae’ and the poignant truth of the Great War poets. And All the Trumpets Sounded is a major work which should find a place in our great choral repertory. The Hampstead and Highgate Express Even after a single hearing there is no doubt that And All the Trumpets Sounded deserves to find a place in the programme of our choral societies, and I recommend it to The Three Choirs Festival. Musical Opinion CD Reviews – Dutton Epoch CDLX7280 Since it freely mingles texts by poets of the First World War with extracts from the Latin mass for the dead, a comparison of the first of two substantial works on this disc with Britten’s War Requiem looks like a statement of the very obvious. Yet the composer has seen that coming and forestalls it in his own disarming booklet note, freely admitting the parallel. One of the five poems he has selected for setting is even by Wilfred Owen, though Ronald Corp specifically avoids any words used by his great predecessor. Instead, And All the Trumpets Sounded ends with Owen’s ‘Asleep’: ‘Under his helmet, up against his pack…..Sleep took him by the brow and had him back….’, Or rather, this 40 minute cantata for baritone, choirs and orchestra which Corp, who celebrated his 60th birthday last year, completed in 1989, does not quite end there. Instead, the mood changes sharply: the chorus intones over and over again ‘Salva’ (‘Save us’) as the opening ‘Dies irae’ makes a thunderous return, dispelling any glimmer of consolation that one might be tempted to draw from the Owen poem. The work thus makes a moving journey from darkness to momentary hope, and briefly back again. The shadow of Britten may inevitably loom, and with the textures dominated, as you would expect from the title (drawn from john Bunyan, not otherwise set here) by trumpets and bass drum, there is no avoiding the fact. All the same, Corp is his own man, for the most part steering clear, or so it seems to me, of Britten’s sometimes biting astringency. Apart from Owen, the other poets heard are Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, Charles Hamilton Sorley and Whitman, whose long narrative poem Vigil Strange occupies a full nine minutes at the centre of the work, so that the other movements seem to revolve around it. It is a blow-by-blow account of the death of a comrade in battle: thankfully not as gory as some of Whitman’s similar texts, instead written this time more out of sad affection and heartfelt grief. Mark Stone, here as elsewhere, is admirably dignified in the solo part, and the setting has many touching moments: to single out just one, the combination of flute and voice at ‘Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet’, halfway through, is most tenderly done. The children’s singing of the ‘Pie Jesu’ is another such episode. The setting of Sorley’s Such, such is death surprised me at first by an apparent jauntiness, until one realizes that this is an anticipation of the poem’s hopeful turn at the end. If it is the nobility of death in battle which seems to appeal to all five poets (and of course the four Britons all died in the First World war), then the predominantly pessimistic note struck by the Latin is surely a necessary corrective. Corp conducts a sure-footed account of his own work, with secure contributions from the choirs of which he is chorus master, and likewise from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, with which, and with Dutton, he seems to be developing a firm partnership. The recording is spacious and clear throughout. Piers Burton-Page, International Record Review – April 2012 From the first bar to the last this is a moving, powerful piece in an impassioned performance. Corp is in complete command of his performers; the choral forces could not be better, and his children’s choir in particular truly outdoes itself. Baritone Mark Stone has a voice that is not always ideally supported and his vibrato is sometimes a bit unsteady when pressed, but he is a vivid interpreter of his texts. James A. Altena, Fanfare – July/August 2012 |
The following reviews are of the Hampstead and Highgate Festival’s 2001 concert given by Highgate Choral Society, who commissioned the work, and the New London Orchestra under Ronald Corp. The New London Children’s Chorus also had a signifcant role, and the soloists were Mark Wilde (tenor) and John Fletcher (baritone). The cantata on Hebrew texts, Adonai Echad (‘The Lord is One’) is penned in a less than progressive musical language, but its affability reveals a wonderfully communicative work aimed at soldiering two faiths with texts sung in English and Hebrew. Stridently punctuated by percussion, the warm and very English orchestration was attractively played by the New London Orchestra, while the bold yet sensitive singing of the Choir pointed to the efficacy of the choral writing… ‘The wolf shall live with the lamb’ was a real moment of joy and was sung with raw beauty and accuracy by the New London Children’s Choir in this worthy addition to modern pragmatic repertoire. Musical Opinion (Festival Reviews) [some members of the audience] felt the hairs on the backs of their necks rise…the singers of the HCS and NLCC were transformed by the music and transfixed their audience. Philip Howard, The Times The first thing that struck me about this work was the craftsmanship. This is a highly unified work, with some texts and music recurring from time to time. It has a certain ‘flavour’ to it that Corp hopes is suggestive of native Jewish music without parodying it. To this extent the piece is most successful. The orchestration sounds opulent in this work, and the moods vary from the exuberant cheerfulness of Psalms 95 and 96 to the heartfelt pleading of Psalm 130. There are wonderful set pieces for the tenor and baritone soloists, and some with chorus. The writing for children’s choir is exquisite, especially in the magical conclusion. London Harmony Jewish liturgy is a closed book to most, which is a pity considering what is common to Judaism and Christianity. Whilst music scholars have crossed what has been described as the ‘sacred bridge’, little is known about it in a popular sense beyond Kol Nidrei by Bruch, who was not Jewish, or the Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service) by Bloch, who was. There are of course many examples by other composers but they remain thin on the ground. Thus, the world première of Ronald Corp’s Adonai Echad (One God) was welcome for its exploration of common ground and a good many other reasons besides. Corp’s interesting textual sources and treatment of them were drawn from the English musical tradition with just a hint of the Old Biblical provided by the sounds of the beaten tam-tam and the clash of cymbals to give a thunderous opening. There is an abundance of melody and carefully-worked harmonies that comfortably fitted the texts and verses sung in Hebrew. The emotional and musical high point came with the senior chorus’s singing of the strongly confessional and pleading Psalm 130 (‘Out of the Depths’). Neither they nor the children nor tenor, Mark Wilde, found any difficulty with the Hebrew pronunciation, doubtless a result of the composer’s care in setting the Hebrew texts with its soft glottal sounds, which so often confound many singers unversed in Hebrew or cantilation. This was an enthusiastic and worthily performed première of a work that for many reasons, let alone its artistic merits, should be heard again. David Sonin, The Hampstead and Highgate Express |
A Christmas MassOn the Album Hark! Chantage At Christmas
EMI Gold 5 099923 579620 …But if just one Christmas record is to be bought, and that to help along seasonable cheer among the family, it may well be that something with a wider appeal may be required. Radio 3’s Choir of the Year, Chantage, may be the one to oblige, with a friendly mixture of old and new, and most engagingly new is Ronald Corp’s Christmas Mass, which incorporates (at a guess) references to about 30 carols in its course from ‘Kyrie Eleison’ to ‘Agnus Dei’. John Steane, Gramophone (Christmas discs round-up), December 2008 Readers who know and love Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s wonderful Messe de minuit pour Noë̈l may have regretted the apparent absence of any other choral work which is similarly suitable for both liturgical and concert performance during the Christmas season, and which lends itself to performance by competent, non-virtuosic choirs. Well, such a work has recently appeared: this very attractive Mass setting by Ronald Corp, who is himself well-known as a conductor (of, among others, the Highgate Choral Society and the New London Children’s Choir) and composer, especially of choral works. In an accompanying note the composer, frustrated at not recognising the French carols used by Charpentier, explains that he had long wished to write a Mass which might use Christmas music which present-day singers would recognise; and, in this instance, he has undoubtedly succeeded. Seventy or so carols and hymns are used, some of which ‘provided important thematic material’ while others ‘make only a brief appearance’. Thus, for instance, ‘Veni, veni, Emmanuel’ – aptly placed within the Mass’s opening movement, the Kyrie eleison – is prevalent in the framing ‘Kyrie’ sections (‘In dulci jubilo’ provides the main material in the central ‘Christe’). Four other familiar carols which make fleeting appearances in this movement, notably in the accompaniment, are the Sussex Carol, ‘Shepherds in the fields abiding’, ‘Here we come a-wassailing’, and Resonet in laudibus. And so it is with succeeding movements in this Latin-texted setting, where some carols pass by so quickly that one scarcely notices them, while others assume a far more persistent, organic role. |
The placement of some particular carols, at strategic points within the Mass, seems especially appropriate when the texts of the original works are taken into consideration. Thus – besides ‘Veni, veni, Emmanuel’, already mentioned – the Coventry Carol seems especially poignant in its association here with the words ‘Crucifixus…passus, et sepultus est’ from the Credo, while, just before it, the gentle, soothing melody of ‘Rocking’ provides a perfect accompaniment to words describing Our Lord’s incarnation.
Notwithstanding such solemn or reflective moments, this Mass is predominantly jubilant in character, as its composer intended it to be. The whole work is extremely tuneful and attractive to sing – and not simply because of the familiarity or melodiousness of its thematic material. Competent church choirs and chamber choirs who have a proficient accompanist should find this delightful work well within their grasp. While suitable for seasonal carol services, and even more so for concerts, liturgical use of A Christmas Mass is certainly a possibility in those churches where a Latin setting is acceptable, and where the potential distractions of tune-spotting by congregations are not perceived as a threat to their spiritual well-being! Roger Wilkes, The Bell, Winter 2010 The perfect accompaniment to Christmas, this is the second CD from award-winning choir Chantage. It includes a sublime selection of modern carols, alongside reworkings of classic favourites, as well as a world première recording [i.e. A Christmas Mass]. Chantage was formed in 1999 by its Musical Director James Davey, and quickly established itself in London as a stylish and energetic young chamber choir. It draws singers from all over the country and from all walks of life. Strong commitment from its members has helped forge a growing reputation as an outstanding amateur choir with a national reputation. Chantage performs a wide range of repertoire, programming works traditionally performed by English chamber choirs alongside lesser known works sourced from foreign choral cultures. More recently Chantage has been experimenting with group vocal percussion and other unusual contemporary styles. There is something for everyone at each Chantage performance, and the choir will take on any vocal challenge. The choir supports young composers, regularly premiering new compositions and arrangements, many being written by its members. Chantage also encourages self-improvement through regular workshops, enabling members to learn vocal techniques, and new styles of music. The choir regularly performs across the United Kingdom and collaborates with choirs of all types, particularly school and youth choirs. As well as being invited to sing at a number of choral conventions, Chantage has also performed for a number of television and radio broadcasts. from Amazon |
Forever Child
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Ronald Corp has already established a very strong reputation as a conductor of both choral and orchestral music. Now along comes a CD – which is welcome as it is fine – that shows us what an excellent composer he is. This is one of the most enjoyable discs to have come my way for a long time. Read the full review. John Quinn, MusicWeb International (Recording of the Month) Ronald Corp, as well as being an ordained priest of the Church of England, is a musician whose talents and accomplishments are manifold… Conductor, composer, teacher and a choral music authority, Ronald is armed with a compassionate voice when he confronts the human condition… His most recent work reveals the depth of his talents and his ability to set a vocal line that is eminently accessible and easy on the ear. But if he is able to bring a canvas of life and nature into clear perspective, he also has the supreme gift of alleviating the sorrow of loss and life’s finality with a priestly gift of understanding. His Forever Child was written to celebrate the life of a Highgate Choral Society member’s grandchild. Ronald met six-year-old Ben while a guest at a celebration of the Passover meal. A few months later, after learning that Ben had died from a brain tumour, Corp wanted to write something to mark the boy’s brief life… Ben Jonson’s poem marks the death of his own infant son. Ronald is also an artist of considerable humility and he underplays his own capabilities. No, he is neither a Britten nor a Tippett, but he has a very distinctive voice that brings vitality… David Sonin (from Review of Wigmore Hall concert), Hampstead and Highgate Gazette, October, 2007 |
Guernsey PostcardsCD Reviews
2004 DUTTON EPOCH CDLX 7233 The three movement sinfonietta Guernsey Postcards was written in 2004 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the BWCI Group – the largest firm of actuaries and consultants in the Channel Islands… The movements are topographical: ‘The Viaer Marchi’ – an annual celebration of Guernsey trades and traditions – the music bustlingly festive but with a solemn introduction that perhaps evokes, as Corp states, ‘the spirit of Guernsey’; ‘Pembroke Bay’ – an evocation of the serenity of that beach (a ‘song without words’ featuring a solo bassoon); and ‘St. Peter Port’ – a kind of pointilliste portrait of the capital’s multifarious activities, enhanced by minimalist treatment – including the use of orchestral piano (unique to this movement). Garry Humphreys, MusicWeb International The first movement of Guernsey Postcards is ‘The Viaer Marchi’ which has the suggestion of a bustling minimalist ostinato (Glass out of Nyman), bell carillons and thronged promenades by the sea. It’s a feel-good piece. I cannot imagine it not raising a smile. The central ‘Pembroke Bay’ is a pleasing reflection – quiet and ruminative. The incessant pulse returns for the finale, ‘St. Peter Port’. Here the minimalist patterning continues with lilting accompaniment from the massed violins and then from triumphant brass. Both outer movements have a surging euphoric power. Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International Ronald Corp has established a formidable reputation as a conductor. Yet increasingly, Corp has devoted himself to composition, and this is the second disc of his music to be issued on the Dutton Epoch label. The most immediately appealing of the three items here is the relatively lightweight Guernsey Postcards, written in 2004. As Corp explains in the booklet-note, these colourful pieces were inspired by his visits to Guernsey. Each movement is under five minutes long, together forming a miniature sinfonietta. The ‘Vlaer Marchi’ movement celebrates a lively Guernsey event, the second, ‘Pembroke Bay’, is reflective, starting with a bassoon solo, while the third pictures the bustling St. Peter Port in an overtly minimalist style with ostinato repetitions. Altogether a charming work. Edward Greenfield, Gramophone, May 2010 This disc is simply thrilling! I know Ronald Corp as a conductor but had no idea he had written such wonderful orchestral pieces. And there is such variety here [to include] the lighter Guernsey Postcards, which ought to be regularly played on the radio [… ] Highly recommended. Amazon review by Leslie Grieves, December 2009 Ronald Corp is already well known as a choral composer and as the conductor of the British Light Music Classics series. If you know and like the latter, you’ll like the Guernsey Postcards, which are enjoyable and tuneful in the English tradition, though by no means frivolous. Amazon review by ‘Code 17’, December 2009 Guernsey Postcards is very enjoyable – it reminded me a little of the orchestral suites of music by Mike Oldfield. It is partly minimalist and contains memorable tunes. Quite light in a way, but not superficial – and I find myself returning to this inspiriting music often. Amazon review by Jeffrey Davis, December 2009 |
Ronald Corp’s Guernsey Postcards have not been appreciated within the musical press as much as they ought to be. I guess that one of the reasons may have been the expectation of a work in the form of a ‘light music’ suite from the pen of Eric Coates or Haydn Wood – something a little bit ‘retro’, perhaps. The composer conducted the first performance in the St. James Concert Hall on Guernsey and reveals his intentions in the disc’s sleeve notes: he writes that this ‘three-movement work is a bright and breezy Sinfonietta (my italics) celebrating the sights and sounds of Guernsey’. There are three contrasting movements, all musically portraying aspects of life on Guernsey. The opening ‘Postcard’ is entitled ‘The Viaer Marchi’ (or The Old Market), which is an annual festival running for more than thirty years. It is held on the first Monday of July, the aim of the celebration being to promote local craftsmanship throughout the history of the island with displays depicting how folk ‘used to live.’ Island recipes are usually available for sampling, including local breads and ciders, while various entertainments are laid on – traditional dancing, brass bands, Punch and Judy shows and such like. Corp has stated that he wanted to write something ‘sparkling and lively’: certainly this opening movement evokes the hustle and bustle of the crowds with a relaxed and cheerful mood reflecting happy days and the varied delights of the festival. The second movement is altogether more serious in intent and realisation. Pembroke Bay is one of the largest beaches on the island, offering an unbroken expanse of sand where the gentle slope of the bay makes it an ideal spot for bathing and paddling. More than a typical day at the seaside, however, the music evokes tranquillity as if the beach were deserted and nature is captured at its most beautiful and timeless. The composer has described this movement as an ‘aria’. Certainly this is introspective music whose mood is set by the opening bassoon solo and ravishing string chords. On another level, the piece suggests the contemplation of a man reflecting on past holidays and feeling the passing of time with some poignancy… The final Postcard is quite definitely minimalist in concept. I guess that it would have been easy to musically portray the pizzazz of St. Peter’s Port with a complex Malcolm Arnold-ian scherzo or perhaps a Rawsthorne-ian Street-Corner-Overture-soundscape. However, Ronald Corp has stated that this music is ‘deliberately minimalist’ as he had in mind ‘the sun glistening on the water and the kaleidoscope of colours’ that make up the atmosphere of the island capital. The piece builds up to a moderate climax with counter-melodies, and finally an important reference to the opening movement brings the work to a close. It is an impressive movement that is, sadly, too short: there is much here that is interesting and musically exciting. Ultimately this is a short work that straddles the definitions of ‘light’ and ‘serious’ music. There is a sense of purpose and construction that builds this work into more than just three disconnected cameos the shared musical material across the entire span brings it more into the realm of a ‘small symphony’ – truly a Sinfonietta! Two other pieces of music that describe the Channel Islands spring to mind – John Ireland’s Sarnia – An Island Sequence, and Malcolm Arnold’s delightful score for the British Transport Film, Channel Islands (1952). The Guernsey Postcards of Ronald Corp is a worthy successor and should not be underrated simply because of the title or the association with the composer’s sterling work in promoting ‘light music’ on Hyperion. |
Laudamus
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Laudamus is a brilliant composition and proved an immense success with the enthusiastic audience.
Robert Matthew-Walker, Choir and Organ, June 1994
His flair and style carried a difficult choice of texts off [Gerard Manley Hopkins and Wordsworth] with aplomb, creating a splendid modern composition which deserves a place in the repertoires of those choirs keen to tackle new scores that create an immediate rapport with today’s audiences.
Musical Opinion, May 1994
I was bowled over. This is a work which sits firmly within the English tradition of choral music but constantly astounds with its invention and life.
The Organ, Brian Hick, April 1994
Laudamus is a thoroughly rewarding composition inhabiting the sound world of Britten, with its dreamy landscapes and bleak isolation. Particularly effective was the composer’s use of instrumental colour and strange vocal effects, a kind of choral whisper which beautifully depicted Wordsworth’s pastoral vision.
The Hampstead and Highgate Express
Corp draws the diverse elements together with a sense of religious conviction as well as a fine sensitivity to the meaning behind the words.
The Hampstead and Highgate Express (Second performance)
Robert Matthew-Walker, Choir and Organ, June 1994
His flair and style carried a difficult choice of texts off [Gerard Manley Hopkins and Wordsworth] with aplomb, creating a splendid modern composition which deserves a place in the repertoires of those choirs keen to tackle new scores that create an immediate rapport with today’s audiences.
Musical Opinion, May 1994
I was bowled over. This is a work which sits firmly within the English tradition of choral music but constantly astounds with its invention and life.
The Organ, Brian Hick, April 1994
Laudamus is a thoroughly rewarding composition inhabiting the sound world of Britten, with its dreamy landscapes and bleak isolation. Particularly effective was the composer’s use of instrumental colour and strange vocal effects, a kind of choral whisper which beautifully depicted Wordsworth’s pastoral vision.
The Hampstead and Highgate Express
Corp draws the diverse elements together with a sense of religious conviction as well as a fine sensitivity to the meaning behind the words.
The Hampstead and Highgate Express (Second performance)
The Quarterly Review
ENDNOTES
11th March 2016 In this edition: concert to celebrate Ronald Corp’s 65th birthday* New symphony by Belgium’s leading modernist * The music of Ginastera – from Chandos.Ronald Corp has been a motivating, inspirational force in London and indeed British music-making for at least the last 20 to 30 years. A passionate conductor of choral music, of community and young people’s choirs in particular, and founder of the New London Orchestra, the maestro has always been a great advocate of British and contemporary music. A composer as well as a conductor, he has also sought inspiration from Eastern religions and mysticism, as well as from the Anglican and Christian tradition in which he is steeped. The composer Vaughan Williams (his A Sea Symphony was the main piece in the concert to celebrate Ronald Corp’s 65th birthday) was closely associated with English church music, and there is a sense of his works being haunted by Elizabethan sacred works and hymns. Yet Vaughan Williams was an agnostic, believing generally in a spiritual dimension to life, and embracing a “Christian culture” in music, rather than an actual statement of belief. A Sea Symphony was first performed in 1910, and although sounding completely at home in a cathedral, the piece nevertheless embraced the pantheistic, ecstatic vision of the self and the soul, as stated by the poet Walt Whitman – whose words form the “libretto” to this immense hour-long drama for soloists and chorus. From the opening brass fanfare, with the chorus uttering the famous – “Behold the sea”, it was clear that the music of the English musical renaissance is very close to Ronald Corp’s heart. With the forces of the Highgate Choral Society and the London Chorus occupying the whole of the choir stalls, and spilling into the side annexe, the conductor drew a clear, purposeful and full-voiced response that filled the famously dry-ish acoustic of the Royal Festival Hall (the sound, though, is richer the closer you are to the platform). A vision unfurled of Walt Whitman’s seascape – “the limitless, heaving breast” of the ocean, shimmering light and fluttering flags of the ships of all nations. Baritone Roderick Williams added his strong, far-projecting voice and excellent diction – acting as a sort of musical steersman – and soprano, Rebecca Evans (a famous voice from Welsh National Opera) brought further strength and clarity to a part which can sometimes be slightly overwhelmed. Her great line, close to the opening of the work, and heralded by a dramatic orchestral flourish: “Flaunt out O sea, your separate flags of nations…” elicited the all-important tingle-factor, which all great performances of the work manage to achieve: Sir Adrian Boult with the 1950s’ LPO on Decca, and more recently, Leonard Slatkin with the Philharmonia on RCA, and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra “live” at the Proms on a BBC Music Magazine CD. However, it is the final movement of the work which – for me – achieves true greatness: a long, visionary “procession” from Walt Whitman and Vaughan Williams, of the skies above the endless horizon; of a strange “hidden prophetic intention” – and of the restless explorations of the “feverish children” – mankind – who have descended from the “gardens of Asia”, on a quest for knowledge, truth, something more – always “steering for the deep waters”. Despite what seemed a brisker-than-usual opening to the movement (I feel that it should sound more stately, more reverential), Ronald Corp (correctly) slowed down the tempo and the pace considerably from then on, achieving that extraordinary sense of journeying beyond the seascape and into the world of the imagination and the spirit – the work becoming, in the end, a symphony about us, our endless curiosity and our grappling with the idea of an infinite universe and mortality. |
Seascape, Credit Wikimedia Commons Earlier in the concert, Ronald Corp conducted his own new composition, Behold, the sea: a choral potpourri of several movements, interweaving salty sea-shanties, with more reflective ideas – such as Masefield’s famous: “I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky…” – which, interestingly, given its valedictory, memories-of-an-old-mariner overtones – was sung by the bright voices of the New London Children’s Choir. Behold, the sea would be an ideal piece for local choral societies, who would relish the swaying, hearty rhythms of “Way, Haul Away, We’ll Haul Away, Joe!”. Immediately accessible and tuneful, the work was almost like something from the era of the English Musical Renaissance, from Coleridge-Taylor – possibly – or Percy Grainger; when it was no disgrace for a composer to draw upon folk-tunes, and music from the quayside or the seashore. So did this work look back, too far? Is there a place in the brave new world for (what critics might term) “pastiche”? For me: the answer is yes, as it is refreshing and surprising to find a composer unafraid to fly in the face of what we are made to think is the only possible music for our own era. Having nailed my colours to the romantic mast, I must now change my navigational direction completely – running up new signals, as I approach (with, I hope, an open mind) a completely different recording – another first performance, but this time by the Belgian modernist, Antwerp-based Wim Henderickx (born 1962). Here is a composer who, at first sight, is very different from Ronald Corp… or perhaps, on closer inspection, there might not be such a wide gulf between them – especially given Corp’s own interests in Eastern music. This column has enthusiastically reviewed some of the Flemish composer’s previous recordings, finding enormous stimulation in the sound-world he has created – not least in the mysterious, occasionally disturbing composition, Atlantic Wall; a piece that spotted a possible link between the remnant stone-circles of Europe’s ancient peoples, and how future generations may view the crumbling, defensive concrete bunkers and sea-facing gun-emplacements from the Second World War. Henderickx’s latest work – his new Symphony No.1 – shows no sign that the composer has lost any of his artistic vision and vigour, with a double CD recording of total commitment and orchestral brilliance given by the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra (the conducting shared across the two discs, with several other compositions, by Edo de Waart and our own, Martyn Brabbins). Subtitled ‘At the Edge of the World’, the symphony comprises five exciting, thought-provoking and well-sculpted movements, the finale entitled, Leviathan – the second movement, a dwelling upon Melancholia. Conceived as a work which would embrace the world, and inspired by the works of the Anglo-Indian sculptor, Sir Anish Kapoor – we are met by music that comes from an Eastern as well as Western tradition, and yet – surprisingly – this seems to be Henderickx’s most “traditional” composition to date. I sensed something of Stravinsky in the symphony, and it is clear that the composer had as his aim the restatement of the idea of that “old” form: the symphony for large, conventional orchestra that, broadly, keeps to a story, or at least conveys a clear thematic development and projection of visual ideas – or common emotional feelings. (There is an amusing reminiscence in the programme notes – the composer’s children telling their father that “a real composer” must write a symphony!) A firm recommendation for one of Europe’s leading musicians – and a possible successor (albeit, with a less austere, uncompromising style) to Pierre Boulez. |
Finally, the Chandos label has recently released a CD of orchestral music by the Argentinian composer, Alberto Ginastera (1916-83) – a South American version, it could be said, of Aaron Copland in the United States. Estancia – a South American ranch – is a work of great and vivid colour, an evocation of the vast grasslands and distances, ridden by the native Gaucho; the tapestry of local colour – and a sense of the energy of the country’s rural people – finely portrayed by the BBC Philharmonic under Juanjo Mena, and recorded with the usual high-definition clarity and richness by Chandos. For listeners who are familiar with Copland’s ballet, Rodeo (which combines the shades and sounds of night with more raucous dances and jollifications), Estancia provides a similar sort of window, but into the world of Latin America. The Pampeana No. 3 also appears in this collection, a rare work from the mid-1950s, and one that – again – demonstrates Ginastera’s credentials as a modern composer, but one devoted to the spirit, natural voice and atmosphere of his country.
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