PERCY GRAINGER (1882-1961)by Adrian Tan
The Grainger Edition Vol.3 - Works for Chorus and OrchestraMark Padmore (tenor) · Stephen Varcoe (baritone) · Penelope Thwaites (piano)
Shallow Brown · Marching Tune · I'm Seventeen Come Sunday · Two Sea Chanties (Shenandoah and Stormy) · Molly on the Shore · Brigg Fair · Early One Morning · After-word · There Was a Pig Went Out to Dig · The Lonely Desert-Man Sees the Tents of the Happy Tribes · County Derry Air · Handel in the Strand · Six Dukes Went Afishin' · Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon
Thou Gracious Power (Oliver Wendell Holmes)
Anchor Song (Rudyard Kipling)
Joyful Company of Singers (Peter Broadbent, chorus master) · City of London Sinfonia · conducted by Richard HickoxTexts in English with French and German translations. This review is generously sponsored by HMV Singapore.
CHANDOS CHAN 9499 (Grainger Edition Vol.3)
[60'44"] full-price
Chandos' third offering (it has reached eight) in their Grainger Edition highlights the composer's work for chorus and orchestra. Beyond a measure of doubt, this admirable series serves to create a definitive collection of Percy Grainger's music with the best ensembles. The success of this endeavour is evident in this volume which will easily convert any musician to the Grainger's growing cult of admirers.
English folksongs had been Grainger's passion all his life with one song sometimes set repeatedly using numerous instrumentations. The word is "set" instead of "arranged" because each setting is different, conveying a different feeling through an alternative harmonization. The best example I would forward in this collection is County Derry Air (also known as the Irish Tune from County Derry or the Irish Air). This 1920 version is highly chromatic, choosing to voice the chorus and orchestra very much as separate entities, shifting in unpredictable harmonic progressions. What I feel this does is that it takes away the very sentimental quality of the tune that is often overused in other arrangements.
The result is a musical gem expounding the beauty of harmonic invention. No words, just music: a concept he deals with again in After-Word, composed 10 years earlier and The Lonely Desert-Man Sees the Tents of Happy Tribes which uses nonsense syllables. In Grainger's own words: "Music carries its own special message to the soul - a message that is weakened if words are set to music."
Right: Detail from "Little Dog Mine" (1948) by Sir Sidney NolanThe Joyful Company of Singers here deserve a pat on their backs for their immense musicality in the songs. They go beyond the competence that other ensembles seldom reach in the performance of Grainger's music. Clear articulation and a strong rhythmic sense are amongst of virtues of their performance that I'm sure accounts for their success in festivals and competitions. On the other hand, the intonation of the Chorus is not as firm as I had hope it would be in pieces such as County Derry Air. Other than that, one can hardly complain about the quality of the ensemble.
However, Grainger's main output is dominated by songs with lyrics from a large array of sources, ranging from Sea Chanties to Nursery Rhymes, Rudyard Kipling to contemporary poets. Still, one would have to admit that the emphasis is less on the semantic meaning of the words for the song to work. Shallow Brown is a sorrowful parting song "supposed to be sung by a woman standing on the quay to Shallow Brown as his ship was weighing anchor". The sounds of the wind and the sea are evoked by the tremolo of the strings and the constant dynamic swells.
Stephen Varcoe delivers an excellent performance, truly capturing the essence and intensity of the piece. The singing is refined and this I felt was perhaps the one element that could have been less perfect for the song to be more effective.
We are often told that these songs were collected from folk-singers who would have not had any formal training whatsoever and thus, would have been free from the 'restraints' of meter and even what would be considered a "good tone". But the irony is the sheer complexity of the harmony that Grainger (left) writes, challenging the musiciality of the most well-trained musician.
TWO other Sea Chanties featured are Shenandoah and Stormy; the first being a song serenading that beautiful river in America and the latter a "pumping chanty sung as the sailors pumped bilge water off the ship", also sung to placate storms at sea. Though not as powerful as Shallow Brown, they still manage to conjure images of sailor's longing for their homes whilst at sea.
The traditional Early One Morning, once again featuring Varcoe, is perhaps where he delivers a far more outstanding performance. Yet another text which inspired many to put to music, this short work, I think, is amongst the most beautiful. The tune is passed on to violin and trumpet, modulating from a minor to a major key, with much relief of tension and very magical. One wonders what Grainger is trying to say in the context of the words which again speaks of unconstant love!
There Was a Pig Went Out to Dig is a traditional English playing song, an entertaining and cheerful piece that serves as a strong contrast to the lyricism in After-word. Set for female voices, the ladies in the Joyful Company sing very well.
I'm Seventeen Come Sunday is also heard in the first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams English Folk Song Suite. This is the first time I have heard the lyrics of this jaunty song. Both Vaughan Williams' and Grainger's arrangements are equally effective, capturing the liveliness of this tuneful song. Molly on the Shore and Handel in the Strand share this liveliness, both being some of Grainger's most popular and memorable melodies that have found their way into our musical subconscious.
Penelope Thwaites (left), a leading Grainger exponent, excels in the prominent piano part in Handel in the Strand. I do not quite see the "Handel" element in the music but the creative scoring speaks of Grainger (as well as the undeterminable metre and the frequent use of the piano glissando). Six Dukes has a somewhat morbid text set into with a hymn-like atmosphere, to me rather satirical in context. The use of the flute to parallel the melody is interesting though I think in this recording the balance is a little off, but the flute gains in prominence towards the end of the piece more than in the beginning. At times, the chorus breathes while the flute holds a lingering note, a strikingly effective change in tone colour.
The vocal talents of Mark Padmore are featured in the hauntingly sad Brigg Fair, about an unconstant lover (yet again). The effect of the solo tenor voice accompanied by the humming chorus seems perfect for this. Padmore comes across strongly without being too emotional (which is probably right in Grainger) while the chorus is extremely sensitive and delicate. This one of the best tracks on this CD rivaling the performance of Early One Morning.
RUDYARD KIPLING’S Anchor Song is set for male voices and solo tenor. Grainger's association with Kipling resulted in a wonderful setting of the Jungle Book to music as well as much of the poet's verses. The words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, a contemporary of Grainger's, is also used in Thou Gracious Power, a peaceful psalm-like piece. Grainger's great sensitivity to the words is most worthy of note; he uses this marriage of language and music to such great effect, not always to complement but sometimes to comment on each other. Therein lies some of the genius of his settings.
This collection ends with Ye Banks, a Scottish folk tune which is whistled in this setting as well as sung, giving it a carefree touch as well as an apt ending to this wonderful album.
In sum, this CD, as well as most of the others in the Grainger Edition, are certainly worth investing in. The quality of the production is outstanding, with very good notes by Barry Ould (the secretary of the Percy Grainger Society) as well as the lyrics with French and German translations.
Grainger's music grows on you. This one will for sure.
Chandos records are available in Singapore at HMV (The Heeren) and Borders (Wheelock Place).
Adrian Tan thinks that the Inkpot classical reviews grow on you too! (like moss)
Back to the Classical Index!... or read previous Grainger reviews and features at the InkpotOther classical music reviews by this or any other writer can be obtained from the InkVault by doing a key word search with the writer's name.
261 (g3): 15.8.98. up.31.3.1999 ©Adrian Tan
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