The Gate of Glory: Music from the Eton Choirbook, Vol. 5

Chronique

The Eton Choirbook, compiled over 50 years of the 15th century and jealously preserved during the years of Protestant rule, is a monument of English polyphonic practice. Yet it has, until now, been known more to musicologists than to performers. The vast walls of music characteristic of the 15th century style, largely devoid of points of imitation, give the listener little to hold onto or keep track of. The series of recordings by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, under director Stephen Darlington, entitled The Gate of Glory and traversing the entire contents of the choirbook, has made the music come alive, and this release, the fifth volume in the series, may be a good place to start for those wanting a sample of or a way into this repertory. The names of the composers, possibly excluding Robert Fayrfax, remain all but unknown, at least outside British choral circles. The program contains five motets, giant in the characteristic way of the period, and in Darlington's hands they're glorious. The most important thing he and his choristers do is to shape a distinctive timbre for each of the vocal lines. There are up to seven in the opening Gaude flore virginali of Hugh Kellyk, but the listener has no trouble picking them out of the texture. You might sample this mighty work, nearly 20 minutes long, to hear especially the cutting, coruscating sound of Darlington's boy trebles, who appear in each piece except for the other Gaude flore virginali, by Walter Lambe. What makes the album a good sampling is that the music covers much of the period encompassed by the choirbook; the later composers simplified the texture a bit and, under the influence of Continental composers, began to experiment with imitation; in the earlier pieces, the structure is delineated mostly by reductions to solos and duets. Avie's sound engineers capture both the scope of the music and the admirable clarity of the singing here. English polyphony of this period is not for everybody, but here it takes a big step forward in intelligibility.
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