Rune of Hospitality
Rubbra / Vaughan Williams

Mark Chambers - counter tenor
David Mason - piano
The Caractacus String Quartet

Playing time 77 mins.

£11.99 * / $18.50
Free Delivery Worldwide
All major currencies
* subject to current exchange rates

BBC Music Magazine

The centenary of Edward [sic] Rubbra's birth has led to a new and welcome focus on his songs; this disc makes strong advocacy for them. The Celtic Rune of Hospitality, which gives the disc its name (and which now features more prominently on tea towels up and down the country than Rubbra would have dared to imagine) was set by him in 1925; the easy, conversational shape of its vocal line, and its spare, modal accompaniement were to become fingerprints of Rubbra's meditative style - a style to which Mark Chamber's chaste, plain-speaking coutertenor is so well suited.

In 1955 Rubbra turned to two sonnets by the metaphysical poet William Alabaster. The close-focus and perfect match of voice, piano (David Mason) and viola (David Le Page) recreate in sound the soul's ivy-like clinging to the crucifix on which it meditates. For his Ave Maria gratia plena, published in 1953, Rubbra recast his 'O my deir hert' (also set by Britten in his Ceremony of Caros) for string quartet: the Caractacus Quartet undergirds the intense fervour of Chambers's performance.

Chambers's voice is at its most eloquent in its upper reaches, and in this other-worldly poetry; it is a little weaker in its lower range and in the more intimately human address of Ursula Vaughan William's poetry, set by her husband in his Four Last Songs. The composer is also represented here by the Four Poems by Fredgond Shove, his niece; here his searching sensitivity to their every inflection redeems and reinvigorates the sometimes languid sentiments of the Gerogian poetry.

Performance; 4-Stars * * * * , Sound: 5-Stars * * * * *
Hilary Finch.

Classical Music on the Web, June 2001, British Music Society

It is very apt that these two composers should be paired. They were friends and colleagues and had a great respect for each other. Rubbra, whose centenary falls this May, looked to VW for advice in his early days. Indeed Rubbra might have destroyed his 1st Quartet had not VW, to whom it is dedicated, taken a liking to it and suggested to him that the material was worth pursuing. This CD also shows how different they are. VW is a pastoral composer here, even in the darker last songs; Rubbra is the mystic, and the contrapuntist and in the psalms he is even the austere penitent, -many moods and phases as one would expect from such a wide range of texts. William Alabaster is a little known member of the so-called 'Metaphysical poets' the 'Duan of Barra' is an Irish Christmas poem by Murdoch Maclean an obscure Scottish writer. 'O My deir hert' in contrast takes a medieval text.

I found myself asking the question 'where has this counter-tenor been all this time' because, and I will say at the outset, he is very impressive indeed. Now I speak as one who knows the Rubbra songs and some of the VW ones very well. Also I trained as a counter-tenor and was a pupil of Rubbra's. In fact, when it was still in manuscript, I gave the first London performance of 'The Mystery' [Rubbra thought that it might have been the first ever] at the composers farewell concert at the Guildhall school of music in May 1974. I have coached others singers in these songs and I can say that these performances are very special. Not only that but Chambers' top notes are unflustered, strong and perfectly judged. For example the second note in the voice part of 'Most excellent Virgin Princess', is a top F, and in the 'Duan of Barra' the vocal part has a leap of a major 6th up to top G, on an awkward vowel sound in the word 'leave'. Again Chambers manages this wonderfully. There is a further top G at the climax on GOD.

The Three Psalms are severe pieces that come off well, just occasionally when the voice goes below the treble clef are we aware of the piano's dominance. No-one will really beat Kathleen Ferrier, to whom they are dedicated, on the recording from the 1949 Edinburgh Festival, a disc worth tracking down, [although at present deleted], Mark Chambers runs her a very close second. On thus new recording we hear Rosa Mundi accompanied by two violins, which was Rubbra's first and original choice. It is a truly unforgettable
song which Holst [Rubbra's teacher at the time] was very fond of. The settings of William Alabaster were last recorded by the late Alfreda Hodgson on LP [Pearl SHE 559] that performance was wonderful, but then so is this.

Everything seems just right, tempo, dynamics and most importantly the emotional impact is subtle and beautiful. A good singer can often only be as good and his/her accompanist, here it is the sensitive David Mason. He also contributes to the CD by recording the Eight Preludes Op 131, Rubbra's biggest piano work. These preludes are scattered around between the songs in pairs. This works very well in many ways but having played the CD right through I went back and tracked the preludes to hear them as a group. They are in quite a mixture of styles with a fugue for No 3 and an impressionist water mood for No 2. Number 5 is very demanding in pedalling and hand crossings, and Number 8 is a powerful piece demanding accuracy of double octaves.

To sum up, this new company based in Reading has produced an excellent recording of very fine English art songs wonderfully performed by a singer who is specialising in this repertoire, who could well go places and be snapped up by a producer before long for Oberon I have no doubt. He is wonderfully supported by the sweet toned Caractacus Quartet and by the experienced and thoughtful David Mason. All texts are given, and the excellent booklet notes are by Keri Dexter. A worthwhile investment.
Gary Higginson.