From the Celestial Hills - The University of Glasgow Chapel Choir perform a fascinating range of sacred Scottish choral repertoire from across five centuries

The University of Glasgow Chapel Choir was reestablished in the 1950s, but choral singing at the university goes back centuries. The choir have recorded a fascinating collection of sacred Scottish choral works, much of it little known, including a number of first commercial recordings of recent works. The title of the album, From the Celestial Hills, comes from their opening track, Abbeville. Composed by Elisha James King (1821-1844), it had an alto line added later, and has been arranged here by the Director of Chapel Music and conductor of the choir, Dr Katy Lavinia Cooper. The choir immediately demonstrate their secure and full sound, with bright sopranos on the long lines of this strong opener. This is immediately followed by a bouncing seventeenth-century carol, Ecce Novum Gaudium, arranged by Kenneth Elliot (1929-2011) a former lecturer at the university. The choir show themselves to be adept in the smooth plainchant of Arora Rutilat, which also features a fine solo from soprano Eve Harling, and in Sheena Phillips’ (b.1958) arrangement, the harmonies grow more complex, without detracting from the purity of the original line. What, Heard Ye Not? was composed by Frederick Rimmer (1914-1998), who was responsible for reestablishing the choir, and sets an old English carol. Angular sopranos are set against the organ (played here as on other tracks by Dr Kevin Bowyer (b.1961)), with other voices joining, all delivering the text with precise diction. There are only moments of imitative ends of line, the upper and lower voices remaining mostly in unison with striking interjections from the organ. Other highlights here include Katy Lavinia Cooper’s (b.1979) own Like a Lost God, beginning with lower voices over a kind of drone from upper voices, then roles are switched. Two solo sopranos (Eve Harling again, with Sophie Boyd) intertwine beautifully as the choral textures build up. James MacMillan (b.1959) of course had to be represented here, and his strikingly effective For a Thousand Years, with its murmuring repetition and constant movement from unison through clashing seconds to complex crunchy chords and back again, building to a glorious climax, then a dying ending. The singers confidently manage the challenges here, and Cooper shapes the dynamic trajectory well. Jumping back more than five centuries, The Sang of the Thrie Childrein by John Angus (fl.1543-1595) is a spirited hymn, setting verses from the Benedicite. It has great energy, and Cooper and the choir inject effective dynamic variety across the verses. Here and elsewhere it would be nice to have seen the texts – the singers’ diction is exemplary throughout, but the text here is a little trickier! Martin Dalby’s (1942-2018) Et Resurrexit is the most substantial work here, some six and a half minutes long, and begins and ends with quiet organ. The choir, particularly the sopranos manage their sudden entries and edgy, short rhythmic phrases well, as well as smoothly blended sound on the longer lines. In contrast, Rory Boyle’s (b.1951) O Sacrum Convivium is a mostly close syllabic setting, with crunchy harmonies and a mood of mystery, which the singers convey successfully here. There are lots of other gems to be discovered here, but the disc ends with a sweet and gently lilting setting of Ave Regina Caelorum by Kenneth Tay (b.1992), also a bass in the choir. It builds pleasingly to allow the choir to produce a full sound, and the tenors deserve particular mention for their poise at the end. This is a fascinating collection, demonstrating the choir’s clear command across a variety of repertoire, and there are many works here that other choirs may wish to investigate. 

Various. 2024. From the Celestial Hills, Sacred Scottish Choral Works. University of Glasgow Chapel Choir, Dr Kevin Bowyer, Dr Katy Lavinia Cooper. Compact Disc. Convivium Records CR088.

The University of Glasgow Chapel Choir