Stanford: For lo, I raise up, Op. 145

“How does one bring freshness to 'Praise to the Lord' or 'For lo I raise up'? The answer would seem to be group experience, for Benjamin Nicholas's soloists all come from the ranks of the choir and they are on home ground with Carleton Etherington...colourfully accompanying...[In 'For lo...'] Schola's basses, always virile, excel in their attack...Buy this disc.” International Record Review, July/August 2011

“The mean old saying, 'Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach', would have withered in the presence of Stanford; and no doubt one of the reasons why he was such a great teacher is that he could and did, and so set an example. His C major services (Morning, Evening and Communion, all included in this programme) are so eminently the works of a master who knows how to get from here to there in one move, to keep always something in reserve for later use but never to write without a good clear melodic idea in the first place. Everything in this programme has freshness and well-founded assurance. It's music with clarity of purpose: it knows where it's going and doesn't put a foot wrong.
Under Christopher Robinson, the choir has enjoyed a period in which the distinguishing mark has been a renewed vitality of style. It's well caught in this CD. The start of the first track, the C major Te Deum, has it straightaway – the praise carries spirit and conviction. The final track opens still more strikingly. This is For lo, I will raise up, for which Stanford, writing in 1914, set his imagination free to bestir the choir-stalls into an almost fiercely dramatic life. The St John's choir bite into the words with relish, while the acoustic and their well-judged tempo reinforce the rhythmic energy of the passage.
Even in the best-stocked collection this would prove a welcome addition, and for those who have as yet nothing of the master, it should provide a lively introduction.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The Durham girl choristers produce a raw, brittle sound...Nevertheless, this is the kind of sound which ideally suits MacMillan's 2010 Missa Dunelmi...Some of the upper passagework lacks precision and the balance is distinctly top heavy, but overall this is a committed and effective account of a highly original piece of church music. Francesca Massey proves to be a hugely gifted accompanist, using the Durham organ's vast resources with intelligence and fervour.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2013

“A first recording of MacMillan's Durham Mass is the centrepiece. With liberal use of cluster chords and chant-like ornamentations, it's a gripping composition.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 ****