Choir of St. Luke's, Chelsea
director
Jeremy Summerly
writes his own notes for this 2024
Naxos
release, and he makes the instructive point that composer
Philip W.J. Stopford
, though a pure product of the English choral tradition, aims some of his recent music at the U.S., where he spent several years as a choral conductor. The pieces here are unashamedly tonal, sunny, and definitely friendly toward British crossover radio, but they also have an energy, directness, and variety that perhaps draws on
Stopford
's American experiences. They are not meditative in the English cathedral way but bold, colorful, and strongly reactive to the text. Some of the pieces are in Latin, and others are in English.
is at his best in the
Missa Deus nobisum
, which has an oversized Gloria but, interestingly, no Credo (a word in the notes about this might not have been amiss). Each movement has a different structural and instrumental concept, and these have an interesting tension with the requirements of the Catholic mass. The shorter pieces, no two alike, are hardly less appealing.
has been gaining performances, but he is especially well served here by the
, composed mostly of bright-voiced young singers just out of university who want to continue to enjoy the pleasures of choral singing. With the veteran
Summerly
at the helm, they deliver an ideal sound for this music. A wonderful choral release from
, right out of the box in 2024 and rightfully an inhabitant on classical best-seller charts in early 2024. ~ James Manheim