Vox Clara: Music By Gabriel Jackson - Christopher Gray, Luke, Bond, Truro, Cathedral CD

One of Britains foremost and most celebrated composers, Gabriel Jackson, joins with the critically-acclaimed Choir of Truro Cathedral, under its inspiring director, Christopher Gray, and saxophonist, Joel Garthwaite, to present a collection recent works for choir, saxophone, and organ. Fourteen pieces are receiving first recordings, including the opening work Vox clara ecce intonat, commissioned by St Johns College, Cambridge, in 2013, and other works written for the choirs of Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. Seven new works were specifically written for Christopher Gray and the Truro Cathedral Choir, including That wind blowing and that tide for treble voices, saxophone, and organ, the result of a days workshop with Gabriel Jackson and the Cathedral choristers, and incorporating their musical ideas. The Advent Antiphon setting O Clavis David was commissioned by Merton College, Oxford, in 2012. Christopher Gray subsequently asked Gabriel Jackson to compose settings of the remaining six Great O antiphons of Advent for the Truro Cathedral Choir. The complete cycle of seven unaccompanied Antiphons were first performed at The Advent Service in Truro Cathedral in December 2014. Other new works include a beautiful work for saxophone and organ, dedicated to saxophonist, Joel Garthwaite and his wife Vicky on the occasion of their marriage, and a Chorale Prelude for solo organ, composed for William Whiteheads Orgelbchlein Project. The disc also includes several earlier works written for Truro Cathedral Choir: the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis of 2001, and the Missa Triueriensus (Truro Mass) of 2005, and Cantate Domino written for the Truro 125 celebrations in 2013. Gabriel Jackson was born in Bermuda in 1962. After three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, he went on to study composition with Richard Blackford and with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music. Particularly acclaimed for his choral works, his liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of most of Britains cathedral and collegiate choirs and he is a frequent collaborator with the leading professional groups of the world. His music is regularly performed, recorded and broadcast throughout Europe and the USA. In 2003 Jackson won the liturgical prize at the inaugural British Composer Awards with O Doctor optime, and won two further prizes in the choral category with The Spacious Firmament in 2009 and Airplane Cantata in 2012. From 2010 to 2013 he was Associate Composer to the BBC Singers, producing a series of substantial pieces for the group.Additional Info: Second Storey's second full-length is a complex, highly inventive, and very exciting set of mutant electro and advanced club constructions. The tracks are highly kinetic, with pinprick tones darting across the speakers like tiny particles and beat patterns stretching out into irregular shapes, but coming together with propulsive low-end thumping at just the right moments. Even though the music feels nocturnal and spacy, there's still a brightness and sense of excitement to these energetic tracks. "Manhattan to Moscow" is a fast, racing electro cut that seems to be facing in multiple directions at once, yet it still manages to sound clear-headed and focused. "Ajunlei 8" has a nice crunchy thump to it, and manages to do a lot with a small palette of sounds and effects. "Acute Angles" lives up to its title, but its complicated beat structure goes down smoothly thanks to the ambient synth washes. Best of all is "Barrel Roll," which has a simmering build and a sweeping bass drop, framing some slightly discordant noises into an unconventional but still easily mixable club track. ~ Paul Simpson

Specifics

• Album: Vox Clara: Music By Gabriel Jackson
• Artist: Christopher Gray, Luke, Bond, Truro, Cathedral
• Label: Regent Records

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