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The Lark in the Clear Air
Traditional Songs from England, Ireland and Scotland
Love and courtship
· I know where I'm going
· She moved through the fair
· The lark in the clear air
· Down by the sally gardens
· Dashing away with the smoothing iron
· The spring time of the year
· The sprig of thyme
Soldiers and Sailors
· The bold grenadier
· The British Grenadiers
· The dark eyed sailor
· The keel row
· The girl I left behind me
· Just as the tide was flowing
Songs of lost love
· The cuckoo
· O waly, waly
· She's like the swallow
· The lover's ghost
· Willow song
· The willow tree
Convivial songs
· Wassail song
· The miller of Dee
Lullabies
· O can ye sew cushions
· Afton water
· Golden slumbersThe Cambridge Singers · Members of the City of London Sinfonia
conducted by John Rutter
Libretto in English only.COLLEGIUM RECORDS COLCD 120
[66:18] full-priceby Chia Han-Leon
The premise here is simple and appealing: traditional (folk-)songs arranged for choir and in many cases, a small orchestra. The essence of the music is from the British Isles, spanning a range of themes from love to soldiering, the sea, nature and of course, the lullaby.
This music is highly attractive in the distinct way of British/Celtic/Scottish (you get the idea) folksong - beautifully melancholic, with that Enya-esque far-and-away atmosphere, tinged with the winds of nostalgia and the nocturnal serenity of human warmth.
These songs brought me delight and pleasure [in the 60s], and they still do now, though pleasure has become tinged with nostalgia because, for the most part, they are forgotten and gone from our lives, perhaps forever. This album is an affectionate tribute to their composers and poets; a few were renowned, most were obscure or unknown, but the songs they created were famous, and I remember them fondly.
JOHN RUTTERThe folk origins aside, perhaps the credit to be raised here is towards the arrangers - John Rutter himself of course, master of this sweet genre. His additions for oboe, flute, violin and such like are tiny wonders, perhaps nothing original, yet undeniably pleasant. For example, the calls of the flute in the title work, The lark in the clear air, obviously aluding to the bird; or the sweet yet pensive contributions of the clarinet in Down by the sally gardens.
At the same time there are famous tunes in Rutter's totally fun arrangements, like The British Grenadiers, light-heartedly; The keel row with its pixie-ish woodwind accompaniment; or the gaiety and sunniness of The girl I left behind me - every one here is a complete triumph on this album - I can't imagine any choral person hearing this without developing a desperate desire to acquire the score!
There is a luscious She moved through the fair arranged by Daryl Runswick, whose slow wordless "la-la" for the female choir floats with perfumed grace, almost teasingly, behind and around the male chorus singing of his love's comings and goings - "It will not be long, love, till our wedding day", they final chime lovingly together.
Another arranger from a recent past is also a master of this art: Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose Five English Folk Songs are cast in this CD, though tracked separately because the album is sequenced thematically - The dark eyed sailor, The spring time of the year, Just as the tide was flowing, The lover's ghost and the Wassail song.
The poetry of the words is simple but evocatively honest. W.B.Yeats gives us the words to the famous Down by the sally gardens. Solo strings adorn the poetic ironies of The sprig of thyme, whose lady protagonist muses on her loss of her sprig of thyme/time to love. Opening the section entitled "Songs of lost love" is the irresistible The cuckoo, mainly for harp and women's voices - utterly utterly beautiful this is. Listen too for the scoring of the word "cuc-KOO".
All these qualities can be summed up in a few choice songs - one such is the absolute gem that is Rutter's arrangement of The bold grenadier. The orchestration includes harp and flute, especially evocative when combined with a choir.
The words depict the female poet encountering a couple "a-making of hay", a grenadier and a fair maid. In a strange poetic ellipse, the couple are the ones who speak first, asking the poet where she is going. "I am going a-walking by the clear crystal stream, /To see cool waters glide and hear nightingales sing." - the reaction to this answer is elliped; the couple suddenly turn towards each other. The fair maid asks the soldier to marry her, but he politely and sweetly declines, saying, "I've got a wife at home in my own country; /Two wives and the army's too many for me."
The genius is everywhere in this innocent song. The music is neither irreverent nor bright, but rather luscious and sad. The lingua-musical rhythm Rutter sets seems simple, but it often captures the words with Purcellian grace. Try the soft breezes of the two willow songs as well; The willow tree, for choir with harp and string quartet, is particularly poignant.
Back to The bold grenadier: little dissonances mark the soldier's words as he turns down his lady. The words not only reflect on the sweetness of love, but at the same time, the sad effect war has on it - of a soldier who loves his wife at home, but misses the comfort of love too much to not find an alternative away from home. The gorgeous music Rutter provides turns this awkward (but true) situation into something hushed and beautiful, a kind of sad truth whose humanity, both dark and light, we cannot deny. "Two wives and the army's too much for me" - painful yet humorous, sad yet understandable.
The Cambridge Singers are the superb jewellers of these aural gems - beautifully atmospheric collusion of chords marry with an appropriately pastoral air to produce luscious music. Technical skill is showcased in pieces such as Dashing away with the smoothing iron, but above all the grand tradition of English folksong is showcased in the most delicate kind of splendour. The recording in the Great Hall of University College School, London, engineered by Campbell Hughes and Simon Weir - is superb. Collegium must be congratulated for this fine production, made in 1992, but as far as I'm concerned, immortal for its music.
The album ends with three members of Music's most soothing genre, the lullaby. O can ye sew cushions, for women's voices, flute, harp and strings; Afton Water, similar in scoring and even more sweetly tranquil. Lastly, Golden slumbers, enough to make one start the CD again.
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes;
Smiles awake you when you rise;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry
And I will sing you a lullaby.
Chia Han-Leon recently heard Alanis Morissette 'live', and she is freaking AWESOME!
Back to the Classical Index!... or read previous choral features from the Inkvault Archives!Other classical music reviews by this or any other writer can be obtained from the InkVault by doing a key word search with the writer's name.
583: 17.10.1999 ©Chia Han-Leon
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