Winter Nights: Works by Stephanie Martin. Pax Christi Chorale. 60 minutes.
When someone says “new music,” most people imagine something abstract or conceptual, probably dissonant and experimental. Thanks to the return of tonal music writing to the musical mainstream, it’s high time to toss that prejudice into the dumpster alongside other tired clichés, such as the tiara-wearing operagoer and Bugs Bunny’s white-wigged tyrant of a symphony conductor.
Nowhere is the new music prejudice most out of place than in the world of choral singing. Very, very rarely do its composers create at the expense of those people who go to concerts not to think and analyze, but to sit back and enjoy.
Toronto’s Pax Christi Chorale provides us with a case in point. It has just released a new CD to celebrate artistic director Stephanie Martin’s upcoming 20th anniversary at the head of this excellent community choir, in 2016. All of the music on the album is recent, written by Martin for a variety of groups and ensembles. Any fan of choral music should consider savouring its many facets – and then pass it along to the uninitiated to help spread the word.
There is absolutely nothing revolutionary here. Martin treads familiar musical ground in a selection of pieces that straddles the sacred and secular. She writes in a tonal style that harkens back to mid-20th century England (think William Henry Harris, Gerald Finzi and Canada’s own Healey Willan) but yet still sounds beguilingly original, thanks to her fine craft.
Martin is a great tone painter who serves her texts with great attention to detail while also drawing the us along in a broader musical narrative.
The first listen of this album produced a feeling of instant familiarity. Each subsequent spin would reveal details that make these pieces compelling long-term companions.
The heart of the CD is Winter Nights, a five-movement work that culminates with a setting of “Now Winter Nights Enlarge,” Thomas Campion’s lovely little ode to the coldest season. The setting deftly ranges from moody close harmonies to energetic dancing.
Martin, who was director of music at Toronto’s Church of St Mary Magdalene for several years, is particularly effective in setting texts with a devotional bent. My favourite piece on the album is “Legend of the Bird,” in which Martin has set her own poetry to touching effect. The words really take flight in a duet between a girl (the voice of the robin) and the choir.
The final work on the album is “Now the Queen of Seasons,” not an homage to winter but a grand setting of a 6th-century text by St John Damascene celebrating the Resurrection. This is Martin’s excuse to pull out all the musical stops with organ and the five members of True North Brass in grand Anglican style.
Much of the music on the disc is unaccompanied, or minimally accompanied, allowing the choir to show off its excellent blend, accurate intonation, and wide dynamic range. There are only a couple of times in these 60 minutes where the choir gives even a slight hint that they are not professional singers.
The various orchestral and solo accompanists are excellent, and the album’s program has been arranged nicely, for those who prefer their artists rather than iPhones to put together their playlists.
In short, your winter nights will be cozier for having this album within earshot.
The CD is available at Pax Christi concerts, or can be ordered online here.
You have an opportunity on Dec. 5 and 6 to catch Pax Christ Chorale live at Grace Church on the Hill, as they sing Hector Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ.
YouTube video of “Now the Queen of Seasons:
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