Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys, Fifth Avenue, New York et al
Signum Classics SIGCD776 144:01 mins (2 discs)
Located in mid-town Manhattan, St Thomas’s is the premier Anglican church in New York City and boasts a fine tradition of sung services. This recording actually contains two separate performances – one from 2023 and the other from back in 1981 – so its fine choral tradition is exemplified here alongside a commemoration of the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death. Most of the motets are taken from Byrd’s Gradualia collections of 1605 and 1607, and they are embedded within a service for the feast of Corpus Christi. Byrd’s four-part mass setting (1590s?) provides the central polyphonic focus.
When recording performances in ecclesiastical buildings, there is often a tussle between wanting to capture the echoing, atmospheric magic of a communal church service and striving to reproduce the detail of the music close up. Here the general magic can be enjoyed for its own sake in the opening introit Cibavit Eos, and in the very professional intonations of the bible readings and prayers by the Rev. Carl Turner.
When it comes to the organ pieces (played by Jeremy Filsell and Nicolas Haigh), the excellent performance technique is discernible but not always the intricate textures. Filsell, Haigh and Turner were all educated in England so they understand the choral tradition well, though with more than 30 singers, the impressive effects tend to come in the more monumental pieces, such as the Gloria and Credo movements, and the Alleluia Cognoverunt, with its nicely handled rhythms and antiphonal singing. With some entries, the voices are not always exactly coordinated (Agnus Dei) and more might have been made of the delicious harmonic false relations in O salutaris hostia. The 1981 recording of Byrd’s Great Service is exultant but somewhat relentless.