Psalms, Stars and Light – Review by Fanfare
“Lots of people sing hymns in church; few, probably, have heard those hymns performed as musical pieces with the utmost care given to their delivery. This disc offers an opportunity for just that.”
30th May 2025
Psalms, Stars and Light – Review by Fanfare
“Lots of people sing hymns in church; few, probably, have heard those hymns performed as musical pieces with the utmost care given to their delivery. This disc offers an opportunity for just that.”
30th May 2025
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Lots of people sing hymns in church; few, probably, have heard those hymns performed as musical pieces with the utmost care given to their delivery. This disc offers an opportunity for just that. Take the very first hymn, God is our Love and Strength, for choir and organ. The Homerton College Choir sculpts the music beautifully, ensuring just the right amount of contrast between first and second stanzas.
It is the Psalms that this disc concentrates on: God is our Love and Strength is No. 46. The setting is remarkable when one realizes the tune by Coates is that of the “Dambuster’s March,” transferred to a whole different context. Carol Jones’s setting of Psalm 148 (verses 1–6 and 13, to be accurate) is decidedly more swimmy, with the organ almost creating an underwater scene.
The 23rd Psalm is of course The Lord is my Shepherd via Bobby McFerrin’s music. It is different from (“after”) the original text, in that God is referred to throughout as “she” and “her,” with the final stanza is “Glory be to the Mother, and Daughter, and to the Holy of Holies.” The setting takes the form of notated chant, gentle and beautiful, the Divine Feminine in sound. Interestingly, “she” takes a capital while “her” does not in the reproduced text. Setting the verses to the same chanted music with different stresses is a masterstroke.
I have no doubt there are some that will heave a sigh of relief to hear Purcell’s setting of Psalm 63, dating from 1680–82. Simon Preston’s recording of this on DG Archiv with the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, is a classic, perfectly balanced (and available on a DG twofer of Purcell’s sacred works). Homerton College offers a faster performance, which does not quite honor the more advanced harmonic stretches: Preston positively relishes them. More definition when it comes to imitation from the Homerton singers, particularly the basses, would be good, too. They miss the robustness of some passages and feel markedly less confident than their Oxford counterparts.
The name of Herbert Sumsion will no doubt be familiar. His They that go down to the sea in ships from Psalm 107 is performed with organ, with some aplomb at the work’s climax. It is followed by a Bach chorale prelude, An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653 from 1747–48. The text concerns the desperate situation of the Israelites in exile. This, then, comes after Psalm 137 and forms part of the so-called “Leipzig Chorales.” Perhaps the timing of this release is unfortunate, as it coincides with the recording of the first volume of the “Leipziger Choräle” on the BIS label, with the great Masaaki Suzuki performing on the Arp Schnitger organ in the Martinkerk, Groningen. The new recording on Convivium by Shanna Hart is more ponderous that Suzuki’s, although the stop for the chorale melody is nicely distinctive.
The Palestrina Super flumina babylonis (1604), a motet for four voices, is from the second book of Motecta festorum. The text is Psalm 137. The Homerton College Choir offers a soft-grained performance which is on the homogenous side; a greater definition of voices would have helped.
The performance of Douglas Coombes’s Psalm 148 (“Praise ye the Lord”) is weaker, despite a valiant solo from the choir; it sounds somewhat lacking in confidence. The version in plainsong of Psalm 8 (with a harmonization by Hart) works better, although cantor Adam Wolowczyk could be more forthright. The 1545 melody for Tes jugements, dieu véritable (“Your judgments, true God,” from Strasbourg in 1545) is truly lovely, and given in octaves. The setting by Louis Bourgeois that follows is quite lovely as well.
The conductor of the choir offers Psalm 62 (My soul waiteth still upon God) with “additional harmonizations” by Hart. There is a nice warmth to the choral sound here, and the hamonizations are skillful. Howells’s Psalm Prelude, op. 32/1 is beautifully played by Lorenzo Bennett, rising to a lovely, well-approached climax. Finally, we have some Parry: his setting of a text by Henry William Baker after Psalm 150, O praise ye the Lord. Certainly in England, this is one of the most famous hymns.
Pardon the pun, but this disc is a bit of a curate’s egg. The repertoire is well chosen and finely planned, and there is a real spirit of intent throughout. Execution does not always match enthusiasm, though.
This article originally appeared in Issue 48:5 (May/June 2025) of Fanfare Magazine.
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Lots of people sing hymns in church; few, probably, have heard those hymns performed as musical pieces with the utmost care given to their delivery. This disc offers an opportunity for just that. Take the very first hymn, God is our Love and Strength, for choir and organ. The Homerton College Choir sculpts the music beautifully, ensuring just the right amount of contrast between first and second stanzas.
It is the Psalms that this disc concentrates on: God is our Love and Strength is No. 46. The setting is remarkable when one realizes the tune by Coates is that of the “Dambuster’s March,” transferred to a whole different context. Carol Jones’s setting of Psalm 148 (verses 1–6 and 13, to be accurate) is decidedly more swimmy, with the organ almost creating an underwater scene.
The 23rd Psalm is of course The Lord is my Shepherd via Bobby McFerrin’s music. It is different from (“after”) the original text, in that God is referred to throughout as “she” and “her,” with the final stanza is “Glory be to the Mother, and Daughter, and to the Holy of Holies.” The setting takes the form of notated chant, gentle and beautiful, the Divine Feminine in sound. Interestingly, “she” takes a capital while “her” does not in the reproduced text. Setting the verses to the same chanted music with different stresses is a masterstroke.
I have no doubt there are some that will heave a sigh of relief to hear Purcell’s setting of Psalm 63, dating from 1680–82. Simon Preston’s recording of this on DG Archiv with the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, is a classic, perfectly balanced (and available on a DG twofer of Purcell’s sacred works). Homerton College offers a faster performance, which does not quite honor the more advanced harmonic stretches: Preston positively relishes them. More definition when it comes to imitation from the Homerton singers, particularly the basses, would be good, too. They miss the robustness of some passages and feel markedly less confident than their Oxford counterparts.
The name of Herbert Sumsion will no doubt be familiar. His They that go down to the sea in ships from Psalm 107 is performed with organ, with some aplomb at the work’s climax. It is followed by a Bach chorale prelude, An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653 from 1747–48. The text concerns the desperate situation of the Israelites in exile. This, then, comes after Psalm 137 and forms part of the so-called “Leipzig Chorales.” Perhaps the timing of this release is unfortunate, as it coincides with the recording of the first volume of the “Leipziger Choräle” on the BIS label, with the great Masaaki Suzuki performing on the Arp Schnitger organ in the Martinkerk, Groningen. The new recording on Convivium by Shanna Hart is more ponderous that Suzuki’s, although the stop for the chorale melody is nicely distinctive.
The Palestrina Super flumina babylonis (1604), a motet for four voices, is from the second book of Motecta festorum. The text is Psalm 137. The Homerton College Choir offers a soft-grained performance which is on the homogenous side; a greater definition of voices would have helped.
The performance of Douglas Coombes’s Psalm 148 (“Praise ye the Lord”) is weaker, despite a valiant solo from the choir; it sounds somewhat lacking in confidence. The version in plainsong of Psalm 8 (with a harmonization by Hart) works better, although cantor Adam Wolowczyk could be more forthright. The 1545 melody for Tes jugements, dieu véritable (“Your judgments, true God,” from Strasbourg in 1545) is truly lovely, and given in octaves. The setting by Louis Bourgeois that follows is quite lovely as well.
The conductor of the choir offers Psalm 62 (My soul waiteth still upon God) with “additional harmonizations” by Hart. There is a nice warmth to the choral sound here, and the hamonizations are skillful. Howells’s Psalm Prelude, op. 32/1 is beautifully played by Lorenzo Bennett, rising to a lovely, well-approached climax. Finally, we have some Parry: his setting of a text by Henry William Baker after Psalm 150, O praise ye the Lord. Certainly in England, this is one of the most famous hymns.
Pardon the pun, but this disc is a bit of a curate’s egg. The repertoire is well chosen and finely planned, and there is a real spirit of intent throughout. Execution does not always match enthusiasm, though.
This article originally appeared in Issue 48:5 (May/June 2025) of Fanfare Magazine.
