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Awake Ye Mortals All West Gallery Christmas Music The Gladly Solemn Sound
The CD can be obtained by sending a cheque payable to "Gladly Solemn Sound" for £11 (inc.p&p) to Paul Guppy, 2 Charnley Street, LANCASTER, LA1 5RE. Review by Tony Singleton, February 2006 Gladlly Solemn Sound's first CD has long been a favourite of mine and so as soon as I knew that the choir were recording a second, I asked Paul Guppy to let me know when it was available. Consequently a copy dropped through my door within a couple of days of Paul receiving the first pressings. I immediately put it into my hifi and couldn't leave the room until I had heard it all. I have played their first CD, 'Repeat their Sounding Joy', over and over and this is as good or even surpasses it. After hearing just a few tracks you know that a lot of hard work has gone into the production exemplified by the quality of performance, the excellent sleeve design and insert notes and the variety of music included. It ranges from early unaccompanied fuging tunes through late West Gallery florid arrangements with instrumental symphonies to modern settings of poems by Thomas Hardy, Kenneth Grahame and Ernest Casson, a northern dialect poet. The title track comes first and sets the tone for the whole CD, a brisk performance, excellent diction and a recording that just tells you that the singers love this music. The choir mostly performs unaccompanied, recruiting instrumentalists to help out in concerts and on recordings. Here, three string players ably assist, supporting the singers on 7 tracks and playing two instrumental pieces. They accompany on track 2, "South Petherton", a setting by Thomas Shoel of the words 'High let us swell' but then follows an instrumental track, rather unexpectedly (for a West Gallery CD) a Scandinavian Twelfth Night march, but a splendidly authentic sound they make. By complete contrast, this leads into the unaccompanied "Glad Tidings" from a Dorset ms book, an early fuging tune sung in declamatory style. There are two of Paul's own compositions on the CD - a beautifully pensive setting of Hardy's poem, "The Oxen", and his setting of Grahame's "The Fieldmice's Carol" which I first heard and sang at a WGMA weekend at Ironbridge some 6-7 years ago. The piping trebles make wonderful mice and perfectly compliment the full-bodied chorus of 'Joy shall be yours in the morning'. I found Chris Gardner's composition - a setting of the dialect poem "The Carol of the Skiddaw Yowes" by Ernest Casson - beautifully moving; the choir sing it with great sensitivity. By contrast "Arise and Hail the Glorious Star" and "Great was the joy" (with delightfulful symphonies) are taken at a cracking pace and obviously sung with great enthusiasm. I must also mention the wonderful setting by the Lancashire composer, John Ray, of "While Shepherds Watched", where the treble line is just pure joy. And so I could go on - the pleasure of listening is, I am sure enhanced, by the time which has been clearly spent planning the order of tracks on this CD; it is full of contrasts and variety and Paul uses dynamics within several pieces to great effect. My only regret (and Paul's, too, I think) is that the CD wasn't ready a little earlier in the year but this was through his determination to get each track as good as it could be, which necessitated extra recording sessions. The effort has more than paid off! With nineteen tracks, the CD is excellent value for money; buy it - it's great to listen to at any time of the year and half the profits go to support their favourite charity. Listen to some extracts from the CD: See details of the CD 'Repeat their Sounding Joy' |
