London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

On this essential new release, sacred and secular choral works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – many of them never recorded before – are performed by the London Choral Sinfonia directed by Michael Waldron, with James Orford at the organ. The music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor has for too long been neglected despite being of exceptional quality. When Michael Waldron began to explore Coleridge-Taylor’s choral music, he was struck by the sheer variety and depth of skill he found – and that this music is not more widely known. This release brings together a representative selection of both sacred and secular works by this great British composer, from the simple, understated tones of Whispers of Summer, to the quasi-cantata grandeur of Now late on the Sabbath Day.

Most of the music on this double album of music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor has been rediscovered by conductor Michael Waldron, who writes that he was “shocked that all the sacred works were unfamiliar to me, particularly given how much of my early musical training was in church/cathedral music.” The secular pieces (in the second of the two parts) are hardly better known. It is indeed shocking, given the high quality of the music here, and given that Coleridge-Taylor, in his own time, was best known for a choral work, the big cantata The Song of Hiawatha, Op. 30. That piece is not present here, but much of this music is stirring and altogether distinctive. The problem may be that in his choral music, Coleridge-Taylor seems rarely to have explored the African and African American influences that appear in his instrumental works, although listeners will have to decide for themselves about Sea Drift, Op. 69. This high-powered piece sets not Walt Whitman but a poem by another American, Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Another richly evocative sea piece is The Lee Shore, to a text by Thomas Hood. The sacred pieces are vigorous, and it does seem regrettable that they are in the repertories of so few choirs; perhaps Waldron’s work will change the situation. The Magnificat from the Morning & Evening Service that is interspersed among the works in the first part is especially joyous. The London Choral Society is an amateur group, and another draw of this album is how many of the pieces are within the reach of amateur choirs; this one articulates the texts cleanly and with spirit. A marvelous release, strongly commended to those looking to incorporate more music by Black composers into their repertories or those in search of neglected choral repertories of any kind. This release landed on classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023. – James Manheim

Tracklist:
01. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Te Deum Laudamus (05:49)
02. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: The Lord is my strength (03:41)
03. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: In thee, O Lord (04:44)
04. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Jubilate Deo (03:00)
05. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: O ye that love the Lord (03:54)
06. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Benedictus (05:48)
07. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: By the waters of Babylon (06:00)
08. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Arietta (3 Short Pieces for Organ) (03:43)
09. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Lift up your heads (02:24)
10. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Magnificat (04:32)
11. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Nunc Dimittis (02:56)
12. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Now late on the Sabbath Day (07:10)
13. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Sea Drift (06:02)
14. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: By the lone Sea Shore (03:16)
15. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Whispers of Summer (05:27)
16. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: The Evening Star (03:30)
17. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Elegy (3 Short Pieces for Organ) (02:29)
18. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: The Lee Shore (03:22)
19. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Song of Proserpine (02:51)
20. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Summer is gone (03:34)
21. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Melody (3 Short Pieces for Organ) (03:51)
22. London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron – Coleridge-Taylor: Viking Song (02:42)