The Music of St. Paul's Cathedral

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Music reviews of The Music of St. Paul's Cathedral

Music Review: The musical offerings of St. Paul's Cathedral
Rating: 5 Stars

Having sung there myself (as part of a visiting choir this summer when the cathedral choir itself was on holiday) I am well aware of the vast resonance and sheer splendour of the building. Such a building needs a robust group of singers to lead the worship therein- to that end, the St. Paul's Choir is endowed with thirty-six boy choristers and eighteen men, considerably more than at any other English cathedral. This, coupled with the splendid direction they have had over the last decade or so from John Scott, makes them a choir capable of tackling nearly all types of choral music, from Renaissance motets to contemporary anthems commissioned specially for them. Their two on-going series with Hyperion, "Psalms from St. Paul's" and "The English Anthem," are by far the best examples of what they can do, and this disc includes excerpts from those two large series. In addition, there are hymns, canticles and organ works, all drawn from a large number of discs recorded by Hyperion over the past decade, with organists including Christopher Dearnley and John Scott himself. The programme is thus rich and satisfying; the ever-popular Allegri "Miserere" is here (with treble soloist Jeremy Budd) as is Stanford's celebrated Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C and Henry Balfour-Gardiner's "Evening Hymn," all sounding spectacular and powerful in the cathedral's acoustics. Quieter moments reveal the choir's sensitivity, however: a beautiful moment comes near the end of the programme with John Rutter's exquisite setting of "God be in my head."

It's worth pointing out that whilst most reviewers have nothing but praise for St. Paul's, some have mixed opinions, and I happen to be one of them. Sometimes, I have listened to a St. Paul's recording and come away with the impression that there was too much vibrato in the male voices, or that the trebles were too reedy, or for that matter that the choice of music could have been a little better. Still, on the whole I rather like the sound of St. Paul's Cathedral Choir - when they are at their best, which is more often than not, they have the power to exhilarate the mind and soul. For me, this is a very spiritual experience to have, and I'm sure other listeners will agree with me.

Whichever reviewer (in Gramophone, I believe) stated that St. Paul's is the King of Cathedral Choirs certainly had a good point...

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