Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann – The Reeds by Severn Side (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann – The Reeds by Severn Side (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:45 minutes | 1,31 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © SOMM Recordings

SOMM Recordings announces the release of The Reeds by Severn Side, a ravishing collection of choral works by Edward Elgar, sung by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, led by director William Vann, accompanied by organist Joshua Ryan.

Of the 18 featured works, six are first recordings. They traverse Elgar’s remarkable ascension from lowly lawyer’s clerk to self-taught composer to Master of the King’s Musick. And chart the impeccable fusing of his Roman Catholic heritage with the Anglican church tradition to which he contributed several masterpieces.

They also reveal what Vaughan Williams described as the “mystery and [the] miracle” of Elgar’s flowering into the music laureate of Edwardian England, as Andrew Neill, former Chairman of the Elgar Society, observes in his authoritative booklet notes.

Alongside juvenilia such as the 16-year-old Elgar’s Credo on Themes from Symphonies 5, 7 and 9 by Beethoven (in James Olsen’s completion) and Drake’s Broughton, to which the 73-year-old composer would return in his Nursery Suite, are diverse works that reveal growing confidence, including early settings of the Mass and first recordings (in English) of the Op.2 trilogy: Jesu, word of God Incarnate; Jesu, Lord of Life and Glory; Jesu, Meek and Lowly.

The masterpiece bitonal setting of Tennyson, There is Sweet Music, one of Elgar’s self-described “choral songs”, is a highlight, alongside twin peaks of his anthem writing: O Hearken Thou (heard as the Latin motet, Intende voci orationis meae) and substantial Give Unto the Lord.

William Vann and the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea’s previous SOMM releases include In Remembrance (SOMMCD 0187), described by Gramophone as “almost unbearably moving”, and as “an album that will have enduring value into the future” by MusicWeb International. Carols from Chelsea (SOMMCD 0161) was a Best Classical Christmas Release, praised for its “model singing”, in The Guardian.

Tracklist:

01. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Gloria in F Major (After Mozart’s K. 547) [Arr. for Soloists, Mixed Choir & Organ] (05:06)
02. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Credo on Themes from Beethoven (Arr. B. Pappenheim for Soloists, Mixed Chorus & Organ) [Completed by J. Olsen] (11:09)
03. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Drakes Broughton (Arr. for Mixed Choir & Organ) (01:53)
04. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: O Salutaris Hostia No. 3 in F major (03:20)
05. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: 3 Motets, Op. 2 (English Version): No. 1, Jesu, Word of God Incarnate (02:51)
06. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: 3 Motets, Op. 2 (English Version): No. 2, Jesu, Lord of Life and Glory (02:44)
07. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: 3 Motets, Op. 2 (English Version): No. 3, Jesu, Meek and Lowly (03:39)
08. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf, Op. 30: No. 18, As Torrents in Summer (02:23)
09. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: 4 Part Songs, Op. 53: No. 1, There Is Sweet Music (04:53)
10. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Psalm 68 (04:22)
11. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Angelus, Op. 56 (03:29)
12. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: They Are at Rest (03:27)
13. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: O Hearken Thou, Op. 64 (Arr. for Mixed Chorus & Organ) (02:44)
14. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Give unto the Lord, Op. 74 (Version for Mixed Chorus & Organ) (08:29)
15. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Fear Not, O Land (03:46)
16. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: I Sing the Birth (04:09)
17. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Good Morrow (Arr. for Mixed Chorus) (04:32)
18. Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – Elgar: Queen Alexandra’s Memorial Ode (Arr. for Mixed Chorus & Organ) (06:41)

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