Featured Discs -
When new discs are released we highlight them here
HAVPCD340
Commotio - Night
(14 Tracks/0 MP3s)
HAVPCD339
Richard Pantcheff
(31 Tracks/0 MP3s)
HAVPCD338
Organ Works by Buxtehude & Jackson
(11 Tracks/0 MP3s)
HAVPCD337
EDWARDIAN SPLENDOUR
(12 Tracks/0 MP3s)
HAVPCD334
Alive to God • Poems by John Bradburne
(33 Tracks/0 MP3s)
HAVPCD206
Songs of Church & Childhood
(16 Tracks/0 MP3s)
HAVPCD172
Chants for St Benedict
(40 Tracks/0 MP3s)
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Alistair Warwick, Director of Music at Arundel Cathedral, reveals a few secrets
about a company which has specialised in music spanning the Christian Centuries, as
well as promoting new artists.
In recent years a number of small, specialist labels have been established catering
for a particular needing the record-buying market. Gimell Records, for example, is
effectively the marketing arm of the Tallis Scholars, whilst Priory Records specialises
in the recording of European organs.
Founded in 1984, Herald AV Publications was set up as a specialist Catholic recording
company. It serves both to promote established professional artists and to provide
an outlet for new artists. Beginning with recordings of monastic chant, it now has
over ninety titles in its catalogue, ranging from 10th century chant to 20th century
organ music; from spirituals to traditional anthems; from youth and school choirs to
music for centres of pilgrimage; from hymns with full brass accompaniment to Christmas
carols.
Artists -
Choirs appearing on the Herald labels include -
Cathedral choirs from -
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- Arundel
- Birmingham
- Cardiff
- Ely
- Guildford
- Manchester
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- Portsmouth
- Rochester
- Sheffield
- St Chad's
- Wellington Cathedral, New Zealand
- Winchester
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together with the Special Choirs -
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- Charterhouse Special Choir
- Eton College
- Farnham Youth Choir
- Opus Anglicanum
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- Ampleforth
- Buckfast
- Ealing Abbey
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- Farnborough
- Worth Abbey Choirs
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Organists featured include -
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- David Hill (Winchester Cathedral)
- Philippe Lefebvre (Notre-Dame, Paris)
- James O'Donnell (Westminster Cathedral)
- Graham Matthews
- Philip Kenyon
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- David Goode
- Sarah Baldock
- Michael Howard
- Jeremy Filsell
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Gregorian Chant from the following Monastries -
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- Ampleforth
- Buckfast
- Farnborough
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- Quarr
- St Cecilia's (Ryde)
- Worth
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Orchestras -
Instrumentalists -
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Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge -
Among the most successful artists on the Herald label are the
Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, founded in 1975 by Mary Berry, a pupil
of Nadia Boulanger, and a member of the Faculty of Music at Cambridge University.
A specialist in Gregorian Chant, her particular interest has always been
the evolution of styles in performance practice from the 10th century to
the present day.
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The Schola Gregoriana with
Director Dr Mary Berry at Notre
Dame for the Dupre recording.
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Philippe Lefebvre sat at the
Notre Dame Organ
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The 'Cantors' of the Schola Gregoriana, a group of young professional
singers, have participated in concerts and also at Gregorian Chant festivals
in France, Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom, and have just returned from
a very successful tour of Canada.
Vespers at Notre-Dame, Paris -
Marcel Dupré's Les Vêpres de la Vierge Opus 18, came into being as a set of
improvisations played during a celebration of Vespers on 15th August 1919.
Lying behind this event was a centuries-old living tradition of alternatim,
i.e. of alternating the choral liturgy with organ versets.
On that day Claude Johnson, the General Managing Director of Rolls-Royce
happened to be in the congregation, and, being a man of sensitivity and
vision, was struck by the beauty of Dupré's music. On trying to buy a copy
he was told that it had been improvised and therefore not written down.
He promptly commissioned Dupré to try to recapture his original inspiration.
The set subsequently appeared the following year and received performances
in Rouen, and a concert performance in the Royal Albert Hall in the presence
of the Prince of Wales.
Dupré's music, superbly performed on this disc by Philippe Lefebvre, ranges
from the majestic Dum esset rex to the highly evocative Nigra sum and Sicut
locutus est, ending with the thrilling toccata Sicut erat in principio.
A microphone's view of the interior of Notre-Dame in
a concert performance of the Vespers prior to the recording.
The matchless singing of the chanted psalms, the 9th century hymn Ave maris
stella, the Magnificat and the final prayers by the Schola, with discrete
accompaniment by David Hill leaves one with a feeling of spiritual enrichment.
Recording techniques -
Herald was founded by Brian Johnson but now consists of a number of engineers
and production staff, as well as a full time editor. For the Notre-Dame project
engineers Johnson and Ken Blair were joined by John Nuttall together with
an assistant.
Before the recording could begin, a not insignificant part of the work entailed
carrying the recording equipment hundreds of feet up to a small chamber behind
the organ. Blair commented later that Quasimodo must have been a recording
engineer.
The foundation of any Herald recording is the Calrec Soundfield microphone.
This is often supplemented by specialist spot mics (AKG414ULS and Calrec 2050)
when required.
Add a 12 channel mixer, double DAT (Digital Audio Tape) decks and Tannoy dual
coincentric cone monitor speakers and you can appreciate what was humped up
into the Gods!
The Soundfield microphone is a highly sophisticated recording system designed
by UK engineers. Unlike an ordinary mic this one contains four identical
electrostatic capsules set close together in a tetrahedral array enabling a two
dimensional stereo image to be derived from a truly three dimensional combination
of signals.
The microphone is controlled by the use of a remote control box
which sets the horizontal angle, elevation and dominance. The four signals
can be manipulated live during the performance or recorded separately onto
four channels of a multitrack recorder for re-mixing at the post-production
stage. In short, the Soundfield mic is a clever (and very expensive) box of
tricks giving a superb stereo image with a good 'feel' for the building's
natural acoustic - a factor which has greatly contributed to Herald's success
and reputation.
Other recordings -
A third tape of music for the Arundel & Brighton pilgrimage has just been
released as well as a disc of music by Bax and Villette. With the basic
philosophy of recording liturgical music in context wherever possible, a
reconstruction of Midnight Mass from 13th century Rouen has been recorded
in Arundel Castle chapel. It features the Schola Gregoriana together with
the Choristers of King's College, Cambridge under the direction of Stephen
Cleobury.
A second disc of Portugese polyphony by the award-winning Cambridge Taverner
Choir is eagerly awaited.
Recording awards -
HAVP145 - 'Jeremy Filsell at Ely Cathedral'
Gramophone Critics' Choice 1992
HAVP148 - 'Like the sun in his orb' by Schola Gregoriana
Classic CD Best Plainsong on Disc 1994
HAVP151 - 'Christmas in Royal Anglo-Saxon Winchester' by Schola Gregoriana
Mitchell Beazley Best Medieval Recording 1994
HAVP155 - 'Music from Renaissance Portugal' by Cambridge Taverner Choir
Gramophone Critics' and Editor's Choice 1994
Nomination for Gramophone Recording of the year
HAVP157 - 'Gregorian Chant Gaudete' by St Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde
Classic CD Best Plainsong on Disc 1994
HAVP170 - 'Marcel Dupré Vêpres de la Vierge' by Schola Gregoriana
Gramophone Editor's Choice 1995
This article is the copyright of Alistair Warwick and is reproduced here with his kind permission.
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