Impressive debut from the Phoenix Consort & Adam Whitmore in effective and evocative choral works by Alexander Campkin

I Saw Eternity is a new release on Convivium Records, in fact a debut release from choral ensemble Phoenix Consort, directed by Adam Whitmore. The group were founded during the pandemic, and comprises current or former students at Durham University. In their short time together, they have already won a couple of competition prizes and toured in northern Spain, and for their debut disc, they have recorded a collection of choral works by Alexander Campkin (b.1984). The music charts a personal journey from darkness to light for the composer, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, aged just 17. The diagnosis brought a possible career as a viola player to an end, and led Campkin to focus on composition. He has composed numerous choral, orchestral and chamber works, and has been the composer in residence with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra ensemble, BSO Resound. Some of the choral works here have been previously recorded, but a number are premiere recordings. 

 

As is somewhat inevitable with a whole album of similar scale choral works by one composer, there is a certain homogeneity of style that emerges throughout the collection. Settings of the various Christian or spiritually inspired texts are predominantly relatively homophonic, and tempi are on the slower side on the whole. There is frequent use of choral parts diverging from a single note, building up a cluster, before returning to the core single note. And ringing, often challengingly extended, soprano lines at the top of the texture are common. However, this might imply a complete lack of variety, and this would be unfair. Calm me, O Lord, for example, departs from the simple homophonic opening with independent voices repeating fragments of text over the lower voices moving at a slower pace. This piece contains some of the most intense of Campkin’s settings, along with Dazzling Darkness, a setting of Henry Vaughan’s (1621-1695) The Night. Here, there is a little more energy in the tempo, with quicker rising scales and even whistling creating more varied textures. But those clusters built up over scales do abound – in Bright Apollo they ring out clear and appropriately bright, and similarly in Bright Shadows (after another Vaughan text), appearing once again in I flying, although here combined with an effective twisting triplet figure. There are three pieces with I Saw Eternity in the title, all again setting texts by Vaughan. That technique of moving away from a single note to a cluster and back is used as a kind of motif here on the word eternity, although the harmonies in I saw Eternity like a shadow are more adventurous. There is one arrangement here too, Campkin's choral arrangement of Ivor Gurney's (1890-1937) Sleep, with Campkin highly effectively replicating the lilting piano accompaniment in choral textures, Gurney's darker harmonic language also shining through. The final works on the disc provide some elements of departure from the mould, with more energy and pace, and an impressive build to the final chord in Tommy’s Carol, and a lively rhythmic energy in Awake, Awake!, an effective setting of The Bellman’s song, a traditional hunting song, also known as The Moon shines bright. There are certainly some strong choral works here that would benefit exploration by choral groups capable of meeting their challenges, and I am also prompted to explore more of Campkin’s compositions in other genres. 

 

The Phoenix Consort demonstrate strong command throughout, embracing the soundworld and managing the tuning of those dense clusters well. The sopranos do ring out bright at the top, although very occasionally the extended nature of the high lines leads to a slightly brittle sound which would benefit from a little more bloom in the recording. The extended techniques of whistling and humming are confidently executed in Dazzling Darkness, as is the improvisatory individual repetition in Calm me, O Lord. 

Campkin, A. I Saw Eternity: Choral Works by Alexander Campkin. Phoenix Consort, Adam Whitmore. Compact Disc & Download. Convivium Records CR100.