When David Heard
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Thomas Weelkes, Thomas Tomkins
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 12/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDCF216
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Hosanna to the Son of David |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O happy he |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O Jonathan, woe is me |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O Lord, arise |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Laboravi in gemitu meo |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O how amiable are thy dwellings |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Gloria in excelsis Deo (Sing my soul to God) |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O Lord, grant the king a long life |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| When David heard |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| All people clap your hands |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Be strong and of a good courage |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Funeral Sentences I am the resurrection/I heard a |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O sing unto the Lord a new song |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O praise the Lord all ye heathen |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Domine tu eruisti animam |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Woe is me that I am constrained |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O God, the proud are risen against me |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Then David mourned |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
Composer or Director: Thomas Weelkes, Thomas Tomkins
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 12/1993
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: MCFC216
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Hosanna to the Son of David |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O happy he |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O Jonathan, woe is me |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O Lord, arise |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Laboravi in gemitu meo |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O how amiable are thy dwellings |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Gloria in excelsis Deo (Sing my soul to God) |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O Lord, grant the king a long life |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| When David heard |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| All people clap your hands |
Thomas Weelkes, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Weelkes, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Be strong and of a good courage |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Funeral Sentences I am the resurrection/I heard a |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O sing unto the Lord a new song |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O praise the Lord all ye heathen |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Domine tu eruisti animam |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Woe is me that I am constrained |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| O God, the proud are risen against me |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
| Then David mourned |
Thomas Tomkins, Composer
Richard Marlow, Conductor Thomas Tomkins, Composer Trinity College Choir, Cambridge |
Author:
It is disappointing to find that the choir which has so many excellent recordings to its credit should not have added another one here. The failure begins with the very first note. ''Hosanna to the Son of David'' is the proposition; but the mood of its utterance, from that first note onwards is devoid of colour, exuberance, conviction. 'Hosanna' (for heaven's sake!): what does it mean? To tell the truth, as to its literal and exact meaning, I don't know. But if the chorus in Boris Godunov sang ''Slava!'' or in Aida ''Gloria'' or in Die Meistersinger ''Heil!'' as the Trinity choir sing ''Hosanna'', they would be in trouble. The difference in musical form (opera vs anthem) has nothing to do with it. If words are sung, whether in opera, Lieder, anthem or psalm, they should be sung with conviction. O praise the Lord, O happy he, All people clap your hands: the titles speak for themselves; not so the performances.
Looking back over Trinity's recordings, I can see that their special and most distinctive quality as a choir has always carried its complement of risk and limitation. They sing with unfailing beauty and homogeneity of tone: never, on this record or in others, do you hear a harsh or unruly voice, never is the blend or balance anything other than admirable. But there's a cautiousness, a reluctance to come out with strong, vibrant affirmation (I remember noting it in the Bach motets, ''Quarterly Retrospect'', 1/89), and here it is highlighted by the accompanying essay which, quite rightly, speaks of ''an exuberant setting of the Latin text'', ''a vivacious seven-part piece'', an ''arresting'' opening, and so forth.
Comparisons do not always show other choirs providing a revelation. In some degree the failure here is a common one: they are expert at singing the notes and singing them musically, but the emotions of text and music escape them or are assumed to be not part of their business. In Tomkins's setting of When David heard, The Tallis Scholars hardly convince that they are feeling it much more, only that they are more professionally intense. Feeling, I would say, lies more with the Cambridge Singers, who have some warmth and humanity in their style. In their Tomkins recital, Winchester Cathedral under David Hill certainly achieve a better range of expressiveness though they are more remotely recorded. Their Laboravi in gemitu meo has a more sympathetic realization of the rise and fall of the music, and in O how amiable, when it comes to ''my heart and my flesh rejoice'', they sound as though they mean it, whereas Trinity simply do not.
The programme itself is delightful and the two composers are well matched: well differentiated too in David Barlow's notes, which tell of Tomkins as ''the epitome of respectability'' in his life, whereas Weelkes would ''dyvers times'' come to church straight from the pub, and ''in these humours he will both curse and sweare most dreadfully''. He died at the house of one Henry Drinkwater, an irony explained in the French translation (''Boit de l'eau''), while the Germans are left to work it out for themselves.'
Looking back over Trinity's recordings, I can see that their special and most distinctive quality as a choir has always carried its complement of risk and limitation. They sing with unfailing beauty and homogeneity of tone: never, on this record or in others, do you hear a harsh or unruly voice, never is the blend or balance anything other than admirable. But there's a cautiousness, a reluctance to come out with strong, vibrant affirmation (I remember noting it in the Bach motets, ''Quarterly Retrospect'', 1/89), and here it is highlighted by the accompanying essay which, quite rightly, speaks of ''an exuberant setting of the Latin text'', ''a vivacious seven-part piece'', an ''arresting'' opening, and so forth.
Comparisons do not always show other choirs providing a revelation. In some degree the failure here is a common one: they are expert at singing the notes and singing them musically, but the emotions of text and music escape them or are assumed to be not part of their business. In Tomkins's setting of When David heard, The Tallis Scholars hardly convince that they are feeling it much more, only that they are more professionally intense. Feeling, I would say, lies more with the Cambridge Singers, who have some warmth and humanity in their style. In their Tomkins recital, Winchester Cathedral under David Hill certainly achieve a better range of expressiveness though they are more remotely recorded. Their Laboravi in gemitu meo has a more sympathetic realization of the rise and fall of the music, and in O how amiable, when it comes to ''my heart and my flesh rejoice'', they sound as though they mean it, whereas Trinity simply do not.
The programme itself is delightful and the two composers are well matched: well differentiated too in David Barlow's notes, which tell of Tomkins as ''the epitome of respectability'' in his life, whereas Weelkes would ''dyvers times'' come to church straight from the pub, and ''in these humours he will both curse and sweare most dreadfully''. He died at the house of one Henry Drinkwater, an irony explained in the French translation (''Boit de l'eau''), while the Germans are left to work it out for themselves.'
When David Heard
When David Heard
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