Wednesday 22 May 2019

Clive Osgood: Sacred Choral Music

Clive Osgood - Sacred Choral Music
Clive Osgood Sacred Choral Music; Excelsis, London Mozart Players, Rebecca Moon, Robert Lewis; Convivium Records Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 22 May 2019 Star rating: 3.5 (★★★½)
Attractively melodic music from a young contemporary composer, in engaging performances

Clive Osgood is perhaps not a name well known to everybody, but this disc of his sacred music on Convivium Records should help change that. Robert Lewis conducts the choir Excelsis and the London Mozart Players along with soprano Rebecca Moon in a programme which includes Osgood's setting of the Dixit Dominus, Beatus Vir and Miserere Mei alongside a series of smaller scale English anthems.

Osgood studied music at the University of Wales and the University of Surrey, as well as having an organ scholarship at Salisbury Cathedral. He is currently director of music at St Bartholomew's Church in Haslemere and teaches music at the Reed's School, Cobham. He is involved in amateur music making in the community, and many of the smaller pieces on the disc were written for such groups, so that Brightest and Best was first performed his choir at St Bartholomew's Church, and Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life was premiered by the Llandaff Cathedral parish choir. His carol Alleluia! A new work is come on hand was one of six works shortlisted in the 2016 BBC Radio 3 Carol Competition.

I could well imagine Osgood's music being popular with such groups, he writes attractively melodic music which always has an imaginative use of texture. He also writes well for voices, creating imaginative music which is accessible yet satisfyingly challenging for non-professionals is tricky and without having seen any of Osgood's music, it sounds as if he succeeds admirably.

He is fond of adding something to the mix whether it be a piano, oboe, solo violin or a solo soprano. Rhythms are often catchy too, and in the multi-movement Dixit Dominus, the longest work on the disc, we get a distinct sense of the choral part being contrasted with catchy and engaging rhythms in the orchestra.

Whilst the music is melodic, with tunes, he does not not write many ear worms as such and there is often an interesting complexity to Osgood's writing. I was rather fond of the eight-part unaccompanied setting of the Miserere Mei which seems more concentrated and intense and less intent on being ingratiating.

It is often tricky to assess a composer from a large selection of smaller pieces written to be useful, and it is good to have bigger pieces on the disc. Osgood's Dixit Dominus for choir and string orchestra certainly has a lot going for it. With six movements each exploring a different selection of melody, rhythm and texture, the results were highly engaging, and I think that choirs and audiences will respond to the slightly musical theatre nature of Osgood's writing here, without it every becoming too self-conscious. But I did worry at times about the match between musical emotion and the words, and felt that Osgood sometimes seemed to be aiming at a good musical event rather than heightening the meaning of these complex words.

Beatus Vir for choir, strings and soprano soloist, is a thoughtful piece which combines lushness of texture, with an attractive sense of propulsion and a melodic immediacy which pushes the piece a little towards the popular. This sense of the popular can be heard in items like The Peace of God  which was performed in 2014 by his school chapel choir as part of the school's bicentenary celebrations, The Brightest and Best and Lord, for thy tender mercy's sake. All three are a finely written pieces the cast of whose melodies and piano accompaniment suggests a comparison with popular worship songs.

Osgood is well served by his performers. Robert Lewis gets engaging performances from Excelsis, the choir of which he is leader, along with the ever admirable London Mozart Players. There are one or two moments when the singers of the choir sound a little taxed by the music, but overall the performances are wonderfully confident and sympathetic, with the members of the London Mozart Players responding to Osgood's lively rhythms. Soprano soloist Rebecca Moon sings with a vibrant lyric voices and copes admirably with the sometimes high tessitura of the soprano lines.

This is a disc full of engagingly melodic music, written in an intelligent yet approachable way. There is plenty to delight audiences here, but I suspect also that the pieces are just as enjoyable to perform and choirs should be on the lookout for Osgood's music.

Clive Osgood - Dixit Dominus
Clive Osgood - Come, my way, my truth, my life
Clive Osgood - Beatus vir
Clive Osgood - Alleluia! New work is come on hand
Clive Osgood - Hymn to the word
Clive Osgood - The peace of god
Clive Osgood - Ave Verum
Clive Osgood - Brightest and Best
Clive Osgood - Miserere mei
Clive Osgood - Lord, for they tender mercy's sake
Clive Osgood - Rejoice in the Lord alway
Clive Osgood - The Peace of God II
Rebecca Moon (soprano)
Excelsis
London Mozart Players
Robert Lewis
CONVIVIUM RECORDS LC30867 1CD [60.00]

Elsewhere on this blog
  • Delicatessen II - More Choice Morsels of Early English Song (★★★) - CD review
  • Dresden Music Festival 2019
    • Three continents, three composers, one concerto - festival debuts its 2019 commission (★★★) - concert review
    • Visitors in fine form: the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla (★★★) - concert review
    • Visions of the original sound: colour, texture & timbre to the fore in the opening concert of the 2019 Dresden Music Festival (★★★) - concert review 
  • Incredibly informative & inspiring: Charlotte Bray discusses her mentor Oliver Knussen in advance of her piece in his memory at the Aldeburgh Festival - interview
  • An English Vespers: Rachmaninov from the Tallis Scholars (★★★) - concert review 
  • Rough for Opera - Speak Red, A Father is Looking for his Daughter, Dreaming Clouds - opera review
  • A young man's passion: Julian Prégardien & Erik Le Sage in Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe (★★★★) - CD review
  • Far more than choral virtuosity: Handel's Israel in Egypt from the BBC Singers & Academy of Ancient Music (★★★★½) - Concert review
  • French inspiration, spectacular scenery & classical music: I chat to festival director Christoph Müller about this year's Gstaad Menuhin Festival  - interview
  • Brainwaves and modernism: the Ligeti Quartet explores consciousness at Kings Place (★★★) - concert review
  • Telemann from Toulouse: music for strings in stylish modern instrument performances (★★½) - CD review
  • A huge undertaking: Busoni's Piano Concerto recorded live in Boston - Kirill Gerstein, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo - CD review
  • Palpable enthusiasm & engagement: An English Coronation from Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli & Gabrieli Roar (★★★★) - CD review
  • The old ethos and a new professionalism: celebrating Garsington Opera at 30  - interview
  • Home
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts this month