Sheet Music Reviews: Choral

George Arthur, One in Christ

SATB, Universal Edition UE21718, €2.95

George Arthur, Reconciliation

SATB, Universal Edition UE21719, €2.50

Sarah Quartel, Sanctum

SSSAA, OUP, £3.00

Rhiannon Randle, Like a Singing Bird

SSAA with solos, Choral Now CN23P, £2.25

Katie Melua and Bob Chilcott:

The Little Swallow, Cradle Song, Nunc Dimittis and O Holy Night

SATB and guitar with solos, OUP, £2.05–£2.35

One in Christ is an evocative setting which sheds light on what turns out to have been a particularly poetic part of the Church of England's Holy Communion Order One, from the second suggested prayer after communion.

Arthur has a subtle grasp of choral texture – for example with some ‘gently rocking’ p undulating quaver ahs in the inner parts, and occasional simple 8-part divisi – and dictates a clear dynamic plan, with effective silences, a ‘Still and shimmering’ ppp and ‘Resplendent’ climax. Only a churlish listener would begrudge the added 2nd in the G major final chord, though the first tenors might be encouraged not to make too big a deal of it.

Reconciliation is similarly effective, setting words by Mother Theresa and an anonymous proverb.

The frequent time changes belie a very singable piece, for unaccompanied SATB with occasional divisi and an ethereal soprano solo part. Cluster chords and rising homophonic lower-part textures abound, with lyrical melodies flowing throughout. School-age singers will relish the lush, slow-moving harmonies and the lilting lines; and the soprano top B-flats towards the end – part as they are of another lyrical line – are more singable than they look. (No obstacle to a choir good enough not to have slipped a semitone or two by this stage anyway!)

Canadian composer Sarah Quartel's Sanctum is a four-movement work for upper voices, each inspired by Vancouver Island, with a ‘Requiem aeternam’, ‘Kyrie’, ‘Agnus Dei’ and ‘Lux aeterna’.

These are simple, imaginative and effective settings which explore the landscape ‘as a place of healing and sanctuary’. The opening movement, for example, puts homophonic upper voices over a small group singing an ad lib single-note ‘Requiem aeternam’ at their own pace, gradually fading to silence by the end; and the third movement requires a soprano solo or small group for an ethereal top part.

Overall there is some complex harmonic material here, particularly for unaccompanied upper voices – key changes, enharmonic shifts, double-flats and double-sharps – but Quartel's expressive music is very singable. A challenging, effective choice for upper voices.

Rhiannon Randle's Like a Singing Bird was commissioned by Radio 3 for International Women's Day, and is as difficult as you would expect: but for a good girls' chamber choir this could represent an excellent challenge, with opportunities for solos. A strong choral base with a good soloist could give an extremely effective performance, with the added bonus of it being written by a woman, for women, to words by Christina Rossetti that were subsequently quoted by Virginia Woolf: as the composer says, the final lines represent ‘the hope [that] I and other young female composers can have as we try to make our mark in what has traditionally been a male domain’.

Rather more accessible – and possibly something to bear in mind as Christmas concerts hove back into view after summer (sorry) – are Katie Melua and Bob Chilcott's arrangements of four traditional works, following their collaboration on Melua's 2016 album ‘In Winter’.

The Little Swallow, a traditional Ukranian song, is printed with the Ukranian and an English translation by Chilcott, and appears in a clearly-laid out, accessible arrangement which, once the challenge of the language has been dealt with, will only sound better with lighter, hushed tones from an SATB choir.

The three verses of the simple, bright Cradle Song are presented in two versions with the original Romanian and in translation. The arrangement of the Rachmaninov Nunc Dimittis for guitar, alto solo and SATB (with frequent divisi in the alto part) is utterly gorgeous – if admittedly a challenge for the choir, accompanying in hushed, moaning oos and ahs. This could be a magical show stopper.

Also pretty lovely, and equally sure to please Christmas crowds if performed well, is the arrangement for tenor and alto solo, SATB and guitar of Adam's O Holy Night: again, simple wordless backing from the accompanying voices – with divisi and the odd sotto voce vocal line coming out of the texture – creates a magical atmosphere over which two strong soloists could really shine. The combination of choir and guitar is a lovely one: certainly worth considering for those Christmas concerts…