& All the Trumpets Sounded

The two works for baritone, chorus and orchestra on this recording deserve to be much better known. Ronald Corp's "And All the Trumpets Sounded" (1989) is a cantata on the theme of war which the composer intended to serve as a companion piece to Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, and is actually worthy to sit in such exalted company. Indeed, it is a piece very much in the English choral tradition. Like Britten's War Requiem, it takes movements from the traditional requiem mass and intersperses them with settings of war poetry - in this case by Owen, Brooke, Sorley, Edward Thomas and Whitman, all of whom, apart from the last-named, lost their lives in war. There are, however, other influences, too - for example, a clear echo of Orff's Carmina Burana in the opening Dies Irae which (as in Orff) returns to close the piece. There are some deeply-felt and heart-rending movements lamenting the futility and waste of war, not least the setting of Whitman's "Vigil Strange" which forms the centrepiece of the work, and was actually the first movement to be composed. Elsewhere dramatic use is made of trumpets and drums to emphasise the martial and mechanistic side of war, its cruelty and inevitability. At one point, just before the close, there is an aleatoric (or free-rhythm) passage for the chorus (a technique familiar to adherents of Alan Hovhaness, perhaps) which rises to a terrifying crescendo before ushering in the opening Dies Irae music to end the piece. Corp's beloved New London Children's Choir is given a role in the Pie Jesu. I heard this work live at Corp's sixtieth birthday concert at the Royal Festival Hall, and can verify that it comes across very well on this Dutton disc.

The companion work on this CD, Michael Hurd's "The Shepherd's Calendar" (1975), described as a choral symphony, is scored for similar forces to the Corp (minus the children's choir), and is a four-movement setting of lines by the Northamptonshire poet John Clare from the poem of the title, although actually the third movement, "O love is so deceiving", is a separate poem unrelated to the Shepherd's Calendar. The other movements focus on the seasons - winter, spring and autumn respectively, and the texts generally reflect the poet's regret at the loss of the rural idyll of his childhood, a mood which is fully reflected in Hurd's settings. Hurd is not really a one-style composer since he wrote music to commission which had to fit the occasion, but here he is somewhat akin to the Gerald Finzi of the Requiem da Camera or the Intimations of Immortality - not necessarily stylistically (although he does move in the traditional "English" sound-world), but certainly in feeling.

On this CD we have two real discoveries which no lover of the English choral tradition can afford to ignore. All the forces are splendid throughout - Mark Stone (baritone in the Corp), Roderick Williams (Baritone in the Hurd), the London Chorus and New London Children's Choir, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ronald Corp. The texts, unfortunately, are not included with the liner notes (which are otherwise ample), but can be downloaded from the Dutton Vocalion website.

I bought this disc based in part on the first review here and also a review in International Record Review which makes plain that I am not the only one who rates Ronald Corp's 'And all the Trumpets sounded'. Corp's work strikes me as being a remarkable and haunting piece that deserves a place in the choral repertory alongside Vaughan Williams' 'Dona nobis pacem' and Britten's 'War Requiem' which the composer acknowledges were influences upon him. But Corp is his own man and has his own unique musical style which is at one moment striking and dramatic (the opening 'Dies irae' for example) and then effectively poignant in the 'Pie Jesu' and in many sections of the solo writing (baritone Mark Stone on excellent form) particularly in the Whitman poem which forms the centre of the work. I urge collectors to buy this disc. The Hurd work is an ideal complement - a work in a more traditional idiom, less demanding in many ways but enjoyable none the less.

This a very Curate's Eggish release- good in parts.
I have long been a fan of Ronald Corp as a conductor: his willingness to tackle lesser-known repertoire and neglected light music scores very much chimes with my interests: but how does he measure up as a composer? On the basis of this release, not so well.
In Corp's own 'And all the Trumpets Sounded'- a mixture of Latin Requiem texts, interspersed (in much the same way as Britten's War Requiem) with settings of English Poets- the orchestral playing is excellent, and the soloist Mark Stone is clear and incisive, whilst the London Chorus unfortunately lack the clarity of diction required (though it doesn't help that texts are not included with the booklet notes).
With the exception of the opening Dies Irae and the Rex Tremendae, where the piece takes off, much of the musical setting is banal and uninspired- though Stone makes the most of what he's given. For me, the piece promised much but did not deliver- surprising, given that Corp is such an accomplished choral conductor.
The companion work on the disc, Michael Hurd's Shepherd's Calendar, setting the works of John Clare was much more to my liking. Roderick Williams characterful solo contributions are a touch of class( he's very much the rising star, one of the most distinctive contemporary voices in a wide repertoire), and this lyrical Vaughan Williams-like choral setting is easy on the ear whilst being by no means anodyne. One could call this both modest and pleasing without either word having a pejorative connotation: grateful choral writing which is completely in keeping with Clare's celebration of rural life.
I cannot fault the recording or- apart from the caveats already mentioned- the overall performances on this CD and I'm glad that they have been given such carefully crafted interpretations.