BBC Music Magazine, March 2006 Building a Library
Extremely accomplished singing moulded into a coherent and eloquent whole
Vasari Singers give a persuasive interpretation of the Mass
with conductor Jeremy Backhouse
...The two best performances on CD both date from the
more recent past and both come from London-based, mixed-voice choirs - so much
for the spiritual home of this piece being within the liturgy. Actually, that is
a little unfair since the individual members of the Corydon Singers and the
Vasari Singers have all had experience of working within Christian liturgies at
some stage during their lives...
... However, the performance by the Vasari Singers is
distinguished by its exciting climaxes and its careful shaping throughout. With
this recording conductor Jeremy Backhouse has arrived at a persuasive
interpretation of the Mass - a piece whose technical difficulty so often
overshadows any chance to mould the piece into a convincing whole. The Vasari
Singers bring Vaughan Williams's Mass to life while also leaving its delicately
archaic style intact. That, it seems to me, is the secret of this masterpiece.
Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor Top choice - Vasari Singers
Jeremy Summerly
CD Review, Building a Library, BBC
Radio Three, Saturday 21st January 2006
"The Vasari Singers under Jeremy Backhouse from Guild Music, my top
recommendation for Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G minor. What’s most
impressive about this version is the extraordinarily careful pacing with which
Jeremy Backhouse infuses the piece. Backhouse manages to bring the Mass to life
while also leaving its deliberately archaic style intact. The work’s clear
structure is treated with consideration and respect, but within those logical
parameters there’s a subtly flexible approach to each and every bar. Not every
chord is in tune, that’s undeniable. But there isn’t a single recording of
this piece where that is the case. What you do get from the Vasari Singers is a
performance that has passion and integrity in equal measure. And for that
reason, and for its controlled joie do
vivre, it’s a recording that bears repeated listening."
Jeremy Summerly, BBC Radio Three
Choir & Organ
The Mass in G minor is arguably one of
Vaughan Williams's most important works and a milestone in liturgical settings
of the mass in the 20th century. Frequently dismissed as rather sullen, dark and
dour, its strengths lie in its enormous depth of feeling. By some alchemy we are
spiritually transported back a few hundred years and yet we still feel the terra
firma of a wind-swept English countryside. Comparing two recordings of this
piece is no simple task, especially as more than a quarter of a century lies
between their respective recording dates. We must also consider that this is no
simple a cappella setting of the mass. I confess to having witnessed some fairly
excruciating performances and having sung in a few that were, perhaps, less than
creditable. Vaughan Williams takes delight in throwing the voices around in an
orchestral way and seemingly revels in moving the trebles higher and yet higher
and the basses lower and yet more profundo. A piece then, full of colour and
extremes.
Both recordings have their good and not-so-good bits, but it is interesting to note that, although many years separate them, the style and technical quality of the recordings are excellent.
So to the musical differences.
King's, not unexpectedly, has a clarity and 'ring' throughout, whereas the Vasari recording has a mellowness at its heart. On balance I much prefer the tenor and bass sound of King's, for it has a depth and sonority reminiscent of divisi cellos and basses in a fine string ensemble. The quality of the Vasari sopranos is close to that of boys' voices (though not those of King's), but with more control and less shriek in the upper registers. The quality of the King's solely male altos is preferable to the Vasari alto line-up. (A purely personal opinion and perhaps reserved for this piece alone.) The warmth of the Vasari Singers is the more enhanced by the subtle dynamics and the natural rise and fall, which is less evident in the King's recording. Having praised the Vasari Singers, 1 must say that occasionally I felt the lower voices did suffer from pitch and tone problems which King's didn't.
As to the interpretation, it is clear that two closely allied concepts can reach fruition with obvious differences. The Willcocks (1969) recording is rock-like and darkly granitised, whereas the Backhouse interpretation is more gentle: wind and rain beating down on heathland. One is perhaps more subtle than the other. In their own way, both are very fine performances of this great, if elusive work. It is simply a matter of how you like your meat cooked!
I congratulate the producers of both CDs
for the companion pieces to the Vaughan Williams Mass. Bax and Finzi appear on
the King's disc, albeit performances under Stephen Cleobury and, of course, with
a completely different choir some 20 years on, this being a compilation disc.
Parry's Songs of Farewell and Frank Bridge's A Prayer are offered by the Vasari
Singers. The latter piece, being previously unknown to me, is a real discovery
and I am won over to it through this recording. If you don't know it, take a tip
and get a copy. It's a great piece. Given all this you may not be surprised that
I'd plump for the Vasari / Backhouse disc as my first choice, though I'd prefer
to have both, which, thanks to the Editor, I have!
PETER BEAVEN
Essex
Chronicle 22. January 1999
1998 was a year in which Parry (Composer of Jerusalem)
was remembered on the 150th anniversary of his birth. The Vasari singers sing his neglected SONGS OF FAREWELL as part of an
all-English programme on the Guild label. A well-filled CD provides an
object-lesson for choirs.
Classic CD - Christmas 1998 Issue
For a feature of Hubert Parry (The Gentle Art of Parry) Classic CD has chosen
Track 15 - "There is an old belief" - (3:46) for their Cover Disc.
This, the fourth of songs of Farewell, starts with gentle counterpoint. A cadence is
reached (0:37) and the music continues with broader curves of melody, reaching another
cadence (1:41) and silence. In unison ff, the chorus affirms belief (1:44) and, more
quietly, hope (1:53). Emotion deepens (2:04) at the thought that endless sleep would be
better than not to awaken in heaven. Two inconclusive cadences are reached (2:34, 2:50);
"eternal" is repeated in awe (3:03);finally a remarkable sense of space is
achieved by taking the upper voices very high, with the basses divided far below (3:17).
The Organ Vol 76 No
302
It is not often that music by Parry, Bridge and Vaughan Williams is heard on one
CD but that is what this Jeremy Backhouse's recording has done, with Bridge's rarely heard
A Prayer framed by Parry's Songs of Farewell and Vaughan Williams' Mass in G minor
It is a rare treat to hear all six of the Parry songs in one siting, disclosing the
composer's scheme of using a four part choir for numbers one and two and then adding an
additional voice for each of the subsequent motets. His sumptuous vocal writing is
sensitively handled by the Vassari Singers who obviously have a great understanding of
English a cappella music.
JR
American Record Guide, November 1997
This disc contains some of the finest British choral works
of their time by composers whose work is rarely programmed together. Sir Hubert
Parry's Songs of Farewell were composed around 1915-16 near the end of his life
(he died in 1918 at the age of 70). Frank Bridge's Prayer, also from 1916,
remains his only major choral work. Ralph Vaughan William's Mass in G minor was
first performed in 1922. Naturally, works composed within five years of each
other share some similarities. Parry clearly belongs to an earlier generation
but was for a time Vaughan William's teacher at the Royal College of Music in
London. The Vasari Singers are very fine. I hear little difficulty with
intonation, and they listen to each other very well. Jeremy Backhouse deserves
credit for leading the ensemble with such sensitivity and conviction. Jeremy
Filsell offers dramatic and eloquent support on the organ. The sound is very
beautiful if a little diffuse: I sometimes had trouble catching the words. Texts
are supplied.
David Reynolds
The Singer
August/September 1997
A made-in-heaven pairing of two 20th century masterpieces - the Mass in G Minor
and the Songs of Farewell - separated by an intriguing, rarely heard Bridge work
which seams like a dream into the following Parry - all represent substantial
challenges - many an amateur choir must have tackled the Vaughan Williams and
the Parry unwarily, and come unstuck.
The Vasari Singers offer good performances, well into the mood of each work,
with warm legato sound. The slightly too distant recording tends to show up a
lack of vowel clarity and the solo quartet in the Mass is a little unsteady at
times. Both of the main works make severe demands in terms of tuning, especially
the Parry and, perhaps inevitably, there are a few shortcomings. It remains a
more than welcome release.
The Songs of
farewell, containing some of Parry's greatest music, provide an extraordinary
spiritual and emotional journey, drawing the listener ever closer, gently
asserting their mood of leavetaking. I am not sure there is yet an ideal
recording, such is the mountain to be climbed. Richard Marlow and his Trinity
College, Cambridge choir are immaculate and beautifully paced, but lacking the
last few ounces of emotional depth. Buy their version and the Vasari's, then mix
in the head.
Andrew Green
Cathedral Music (Friends of Cathedral Music magazine) Issue 2, 1997
The Guild label has an ever-growing reputation for excellent recordings of
imaginative programmes, and these recent releases present both a high standard of
performance and production.
The Songs of Farewell disc comprises Parry's exquisite settings of the same name, together
with Vaughan Williams' haunting Mass in G minor and the, for some, unfamiliar A Prayer, by
Bridge. The Vasari Singers under the direction of their conductor, Jeremy Backhouse, were
winners of the 1988 Sainsbury's Choir of the Year competition and judging from the very
first sounds that emerge from this disc, the reasons for their success are immediately
apparent.
This choir sings with enviable blend and balance, handling all the complexities
of the music with great ease. The Vasari Singers are admirably joined by Jeremy Filsell, whose accompaniment in the
Bridge piece is a delight. This disc should be a best seller and has rarely been out of my
CD player!
BBC Music Magazine August 1997
A splendid collection of fine English choral music superbly sung by Jeremy
Backhouse's Vasari Singers - Their RVW Mass is glorious and the two more well-known motets
from Songs of Farewell 'My soul there is a country' and 'Lord, let me know mine end' sound
fresh-minted and very moving.
'A Prayer' is a deeply felt work, a setting of a German text composed during the Great War
to underline Bridge's pacifist beliefs. The organ plays an important integral part in this
beautiful work of gentle supplications leading to a climax of passionate fervour.
The sympathetic acoustic of Rosslyn Hill Chapel is a perfect setting for these intricate,
multi-part works
Ian Lace
PERFORMANCE Five Star
SOUND Five Star
Classic CD August
1997
An excellent performance of the Vaughan Williams Mass alongside some slightly less
enticing fare
The Vasari Singers already have an excellent recording of Herbert Howells's
Requiem in the catalogue, and the performance of Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor which
opens this new disc will undoubtedly enhance their reputation as one of Britain's finest
chamber choirs.
Jeremy Backhouse's interpretation of the Mass is notably restrained and rarified in style,
with much concentration on the devotional aspects of the work, and not a whiff of cheap
concert hall theatrics in the air. That is not to say that it is dull. Far from it: there
is much quietly beautiful and very musicianly singing here, and I was particularly
impressed by the choir's ability to sustain both warmth and focus in their tone when
singing at the lowest dynamic levels, always so much more difficult than when volume
output is high.
The Bridge and Parry items are less distinguished musically, but are just as well
performed, although in the Bridge the organ struck me as a little dominantly balanced in
relation to the choir. The VW performance, however, is definitely a "must hear".
Terry Blain
Performance: 4 - 5 Star
Sound: 4 Earphones