Herald AV Publications

HAVPCD349 – Salve Puerule

	Disk Title	Salve Puerule
	Soloists	Andrew Swait – Treble
		Alexander Ffinch – Organ
	Choir	Trinity College of Music Chamber Choir
	Conductor	Stephen Jackson
	Location	St Paul’s,Deptford & St. Paul’s, Knightbridge
	Date Recorded	2008
	Audio Tracks	13

The treble voice is one of the glories of English music. While scholars and musicians devote careers to seeking the authentic sound of ancient music, the English treble, unreconstructed and unapologetic, gets on with his job of conjuring up the world of Dunstable, Tallis, Purcell, Wesley and Stanford simply by opening his mouth. In the process, he submits to a rigorous training regime of learning on the job that is the best preparation for the music profession — or any profession, some claim — yet devised. Trebles are (more or less) normal boys and resist the gooey sentimentality that follows them around, but there is a real poignancy in the fact that the treble’s pomp is so brief; and at the very moment when he is maturing as a musician, the seeds of the destruction of his voice are sown. We have tried to capture this precious moment in the life of a remarkable treble, Andrew Swait.

Andrew Swait was just ten years old when he recorded ‘Light of the World’ in October 2005 as an Abbey School Chorister. His prodigious talent was spotted at the age of only five, and steeped in the musical whirlwind of a chorister’s life, his remarkable musicianship has flourished. In addition to the demands of full choristership in The Abbey School Choir where daily Evensong, numerous concerts and international tours were all a way of life, Andrew was also a member of Tewkesbury Abbey Parish Choir.

Stephen Jackson is one of the UK’s foremost choral directors. He is best known as Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus, a post he has held since 1989. In that time he has assisted a host of distinguished conductors, among them Haitink, Rattle, Norrington, Boulez, Berio and John Adams. He also regularly conducts the Symphony Chorus himself, both with BBC orchestras and a cappella, concentrating particularly on unusual and specially commissioned repertoire.

Of all the ensembles based at London’s music colleges, TCM Chamber Choir is one of the busiest. Membership is open to students in all years and disciplines, though first-study singers form the core. The group has sung at all London’s major concert venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, where they have appeared in three Proms, and they make regular appearances on BBC Radio and TV. In 2008 alone, besides completing this CD, they provided the gallery semi-chorus for a performance at London’s Barbican Concert Hall of Holst’s Hymn of Jesus conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, recorded two editions of the Radio 2 programme Sunday Half Hour and took part in a studio concert of contemporary music with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.