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Judith Bingham – Choral Music
Salt in the Blood The Darkness is no Darkness First Light The Snows descend The Secret Garden
This CD brings together a representative collection of works by the contemporary composer Judith Bingham. Her specialities are writing for chorus, organ and brass, and all three are well displayed here.
It includes two major works; one for chorus and brass ensemble, the other scored for chorus and organ.
Salt in the Blood , dating from 1995 is described as a musical ghost story. It opens with a very eerie depiction of a tall ship slowly appearing out of the mist. As it gets nearer the voices of the sailors emerge singing a shanty like drinking song and arguing amongst themselves. Suddenly the wind and waves gather strength – gale force six (the descriptive words of the Beaufort Scale are melded into the text), and Daniel Stone slips and falls to his death. “Did Billy le Bec help him on his way?” The question is posed as the storm abates we are told that the ship's deck is found covered with dying seabirds, “the spirits of sailors lost at sea”. The sails can be re-rigged and the challenge rings out to Billy to climb to the very apex of the mast and rig the seldom used “moon-sail” – as the mist clears he is found hanged in the shrouds.
The Secret Garden was a commission for the 2004 Proms. It depicts a vision of the Garden of Eden after the expulsion of Adam and Eve. Darkness has fallen and the night scented flowers, named by their detailed botanical names, begin to open. They are joined by “hawk moths and sphinx moths, mysterious and sombre in their nocturnal plumage”. In an imaginative piece of writing, the organ melody cuts through the choral line mimicking the insects as they flutter and swoop, followed by an organ solo representing the synergy between plants and insects. Finally decay sets into the abandoned garden, and only seeds remain to give hope for the future.
A most original and intriguing collection. My one reservation would be that many of the words of the chorus are difficult to distinguish. However, the CD booklet contains full texts and the composer's own notes.
Serena Fenwick
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Thomas Trotter – organ;