A sublime Vaughan Williams songbook
Anthony Pryer finds much to enjoy in Nicky Spence’s expressive performance
Vaughan Williams
On Wenlock Edge; The House of Life; Four Hymns*; Six English Folk Songs; 15 Folk Songs from the Eastern Counties
Nicky Spence (tenor), *Timothy Ridout (viola), Julius Drake (piano); Piatti Quartet Hyperion CDA68378 69:05 mins Nicky Spence was on the March issue’s cover, and his energetic sense of drama and adaptable characterisations have led to an impressive ‘rolling news’ of successes. These include opera performances at the ENO, New York Met and Frankfurt, and recordings of Schubert, Strauss and Janáček. This new recording marks a return to familiar territory since he has already participated in four volumes of the folk song settings of Vaughan Williams recorded on Albion.
In the 1914 cycle of Four Hymns, it is ‘Come Love’ that shows his technical accomplishments best as he expressively utilises the full range of dynamics and seamlessly melds with the sonorities of the duetting viola, beautifully played by Timothy Ridout. Just occasionally I did wonder whether Spence was actually a high baritone rather than a tenor, for example at the slightly tense top B flat in ‘Lord, Come Away’ as compared with the rich, relaxed low A in ‘Love’s Minstrels’ from The House of Life (1904). In the latter
cycle it is the last shows song (‘Love’s Last Gift’) that shows the remarkable musical sensitivity of his tuning as he glides effortlessly through the many enharmonic changes.
The famous cycle On Wenlock Edge (1909) has often been recorded, but this is a fine rendering with ‘Bredon Hill’ providing some particularly sublime moments. As always Julius Drake’s accompanying is evocative and nuanced, and in
‘Is my team ploughing?’ the Piatti Quartet swathe the song in a delicate veil of tensile sound.
PERFOMANCE ★★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★★
House of Life Nicky Spence’s musical sensitivity
of their liturgical purpose and extended to the very necessary job of glorifying the Sun King. Lalande was also, however, head of the Musique de la Chambre which meant that glorifying Louis became something of a 24-hour job – among Lalande’s courtly duties were to write symphonies to accompany the Grand Couvert: suppers that the king ate in front of a live audience.
Lalande’s Grands Motets possess an earthly, sensuous character dominated less by counterpoint than by rhythm and texture. The Dies Irae, composed in haste in May 1690 for the funeral of Dauphine Marie-anne-christine of Bavaria, is breathtakingly beautiful – it’s thought that Louis admired it to the extent that it was performed at his own funeral in 1715. The penultimate movement, Pie Jesu Domine, embodies the work’s emotional heft with an abundance of sighing phrases and aching harmonic suspensions. Conductor Sébastien Daucé allows his musicians to revel in these, with both orchestra and choir matching each other in the richness of their tone.
If anything, the Miserere from 1687, written for the final days of Holy Week, is even finer with an expressive power that sustains throughout its half-hour-or-so duration. With its remarkable harmonies, the Sacrificium Deo for low tenor solo and orchestra is surely the height of Grand Siècle sophistication. Barring one or two vocal moments, Ensemble Correspondances are perfect advocates for this music that at last receives the interpretation it deserves. Oliver Condy PERFORMANCE ★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★★