Cambridge choir director who hates ‘polite English singing’ (and prefers rival college)
IT IS arguably one of the most famous and acclaimed of English choirs, lauded for the purity of the young choristers’ voices and the soaring majesty of its performances.
So it came as something of a surprise when the choir of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, appointed as its director of music a man who has criticised the “nicely packaged” sound of “the very polite English cathedral choir” and dismissed some as “hooty”. What is more, Daniel Hyde has admitted he preferred the choir of King’s great rival, St John’s College to that of his own alma mater.
The appointment of Mr Hyde suggests King’s College is ready to risk changing a sound that has captivated millions with its annual Christmas Eve broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.
Before his appointment Mr Hyde, musical director of St Thomas Church in Manhattan, told The New York Times there were aspects he wanted to challenge, including what he described as “the traditional very polite English cathedral choir sound, where one is never louder than lovely, and it’s all very nicely packaged, and the ‘i’s are dotted and the ‘t’s are crossed”. He said he wanted to hear a greater variety of tone in the voices.
Mr Hyde also revealed that when he was an undergraduate at King’s College he thought its choir of was labouring under its reputation, leading to its performances being stifled, in contrast to the choir of nearby St John’s College.
“It wasn’t just the buildings,” he told the paper. “There was a freedom of expression at St. John’s because there wasn’t the pressure of expectation. I tried to soak both those things up, and wherever I’ve gone I’ve tried to mix that detail and accuracy of King’s with that more open-throated, expressive, musically phrased singing of John’s.”
Mr Hyde, who graduated with a First in music, directed choirs at Jesus College, Cambridge, and Magdalen College, Oxford, before moving to New York. He said the King’s College sound had developed as a result of best-selling albums of its performances, and that earlier recordings suggested it had once been “freer”. However, he told The Daily Telegraph he did not plan to rip up the rule book and start again. “The building will tell me when I get there how the choir is meant to sound,” he said.
While Mr Hyde’s appointment has been widely welcomed, some were critical. One fan of English choral music said: “Very odd choice. Good pedigree as instrumentalist, but as a trainer of choirs?”