August 28, 2017

  • Polychoral Music by Jonathan David Little

     Woefully Arrayed

    Vox Futura/Andrew Shenton
    Thomas Tallis Society Choir/Philip Simms
    Stanberry Singers/Paul John Stanberry
    Navona Records 6113
    Total Time:  69:50
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    From the late Renaissance and into the Baroque, one can see the gradual complexity of choral music blossom.  Composers began to experiment not just with the musical materials at hand, but with the physical placement of singers and instruments.  The Gabrielli’s are perhaps the more famous works to explore this new idea of polychoral writing.  One need look no further than the excellent essay by Hugh Keyte which appears in this new Navona release to further discover some historical perspective on this unique sound.  The release though does not bring us early examples of this music, but rather contemporary polychoral works by Jonathan David Little.  The Australian-born composer has received numerous accolades for his work, especially in the UK where he was the first Australian composer to receive the John Clementi Collard Fellowship from London’s Worshipful Company of Musicians—a most coveted award.

    In this release, he has put together a collection demonstrating his use of polychoral techniques.  His harmonic language is an extension of those early modal qualities often recalling approaches by composers such as Lauridsen.  The title for the album is taken from a 2016 work that was composed for the National Boys’ Choir of Australia upon their 50th anniversary.  Three different verses are split by the recurring refrain which often moves into some rather rich harmonic territory.  Each of these moments sort of bursts forth from the slowly-built verses in rather beautiful colors.  Little echoes between voices add to the stunning quality of the work that has this sense of coming into one central space only to go the far reaches of the space.  Carefully-managed dissonance also adds to the emotional depth of the piece.  The composer also has a suggested abridged version that starts at the third refrain and creates a piece that is roughly half of the overall 25-minute length.  This serves to bookend the album rather nicely.

    Two selections from an as yet uncompleted mass setting (Missa Temperis Perditi) follow.  There is a “Kyrie” and “Gloria” setting recorded here.  In the former, a singular motif is transfigured across eight different vocal lines.  The treble line does go quite high in spots.  The sound here does share some kinship with the likes of say Thomas Tallis—no surprise that the chorus performing it here bears his name.  The “Gloria” opens with a rather archaic feel that certainly takes its cues from early Renaissance choral music with an incipit followed by gradually denser choral harmonies.  The piece here does sound like some long-lost work of the past.  The final harmonies are rather striking as the piece comes to a close.

    The sacred pieces then give way to two secular works.  While the texts have changed, the style of the music continues in the slow, unfolding of lines that create their own harmonic connections along the way.  However, in Wasted and Worn, Op. 6, the music can divert into some more intense sections of rapid motion with dissonant clusters being the result.  A Shakespearean sonnet is the basis for That Time of Year which was performed last year by the BBC Singers at a workshop performance.  Here, Little creates some interesting slides in the lines that add a sense of regret in the music.  In this respect, the word painting and intriguing chromaticism bear some resemblance to the work of Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613).

    The album is filled with this rather engaging music that uses unique modal approaches in music that sounds as if it is from the distant past.  The polychoral approaches are managed well in the recording and in fact, the well-thought-out booklet even describes placement of singers for each piece.  The overall production is rather stellar with excellent art work and overview of the style of music.  It is a most fascinating release.