REVIEW:

So, the debate over how many singers and players to a part in Bach's cantatas lives on. This time, it's another vote for the Joshua Rifkin theory, a one-voice-per-part configuration primarily based on circumstantial evidence and informed deduction from surviving part books. It's an intriguing if porous theory that nevertheless satisfies curiosities and fancies of legitimate and well-intentioned musicologists and performers. Whenever this subject comes up, I only have to wonder what an investigator, with little other direct evidence, would determine to be my own performing forces if, 300 years from now he or she were to discover the contents of one of my church choir libraries! I prefer to look at the single voice to a part idea as just another way to perform music that by its nature stands up to almost any configuration of voices and/or instruments you want to throw at it. Of course you can perform Bach badly, but whether you use four voices or 40, if you sing it well, it still works.

There's no getting around the fact that many of the cantatas--as is true for the three on this disc--are dominated by solos, with only perhaps an opening chorus and closing chorale. So for these works, we're not so aware of the size of the vocal forces, and the key to performance becomes finding sensitive and competent instrumentalists and some very good solo singers. Luckily for us, we get rather formidable doses of both on this recording from the Toronto-based Aradia ensemble, a relatively new group with some personnel ties to Tafelmusik and who specialize in period instrument performance of Baroque works. In fact, the main reason to hear this recording is for the exceptional solo singing--and I do mean exceptional, especially from tenor John Tessier, countertenor Matthew White (listen to the recitative in BWV 132), and, after a slightly shaky start, soprano Teri Dunn. Dunn's aria in BWV 36, with one of those sublime violin obbligatos that only Bach could have conceived, and a melody with one of the best "hooks" ever to work its irresistible, unforgettable way into a listener's heart, is a shining example of what happens when performer and music perfectly match. It would be easy to go on about all the felicities of the singing and how much really wonderful music is packed into these three relatively short works. But you should also know that where the ensemble joins in the choruses, the balances are not exactly clean and detailed--we hear too much soprano and lots of reverberation from the spacious church of St. Mary Magdalene--one of Toronto's most famous choral venues.

The instrumental playing is first rate and is well recorded, but balances tend to work against the soloists in the full-group sections. There's also some confusion concerning the version of BWV 36 that's performed here. The liner notes say it's the Advent cantata written for performance in 1731, but that one was an expanded version of the five-movement work that appears here--and was performed a year earlier. For the performance of BWV 61, the familiar Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, conductor/violinist Kevin Mallon augments his solo forces with eight additional singers, essentially forming a ripieno chorus that is joined by the soloists in the tutti passages.

--David Vernier , ClassicsToday.com

When planning your wedding, one of the most exciting and enjoyable experiences is selecting the music that will be as colorful as the autumn season and complement your special autumn ceremony. Music will be an integral part of this unforgettable time, reflecting your style and personality through the events of the day. Perfect Autumn Wedding, provides a variety of styles to choose from to make your ceremony complete.

BBC Music Magazine: Recording of the Year and Choral Winner of the year: 2013.

Performed beautifully. Everyone is on quite spectacular form.

The 2011/12 season was a memorable one for the Hallé and its Music Director Sir Mark Elder who was celebrating his twelfth season with the Manchester based orchestra. What was for me a rather uninspiring Beethoven cycle was overshadowed by three unforgettable performances that will serve to increase the Hallé Orchestra’s burgeoning international reputation. In November 2011 the Bridgewater audience were treated to John Adams’s Harmonium for chorus and orchestra (1980/81) a setting of poems by John Donne and Emily Dickinson. Next, in collaboration with the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in April 2012 Sir Mark took the Hallé into the pit at the Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays for a spellbinding production of Bernstein’s feel-good musical Wonderful Town starring actress/singer Connie Fisher. Back home at the Bridgwater Hall on 5 May 2012 we were treated to this inspirational performance of Elgar’s The Apostles. Dedicated ‘ To the Greater Glory of God’ The Apostles is a large-scale two part oratorio for soloists, choir and orchestra written in the English choral tradition. Elgar selected his own texts from the Bible and the Apocrypha. Elgar himself introduced the oratorio at the Birmingham Triennial Festival in 1903.
 
I was present that Saturday May evening reporting on The Apostles for Seen and Heard International and this review is essentially based on that report. Together with a number of friends we had travelled down to witness a performance that will live long in the memory. Thankfully the Hallé’s performance under Sir Mark was recorded together with a rehearsal for patching purposes. As expected the performance was taken extremely seriously and far more hours than normally allocated for rehearsal were clocked up.
 
Prior to the start there was an uplifting feeling of keen anticipation in the packed hall. It’s a shame that the listener not present on the night cannot also share that sense of expectancy. Eschewing histrionics, one hardly noticed Sir Mark on the podium, just getting on with the job of directing this substantial work. This was a highly assured account all the more impressive given the task of bringing the massed forces together in a coherent way. I particularly admired the unerring control of the massive dynamic extremes with tempi that felt judicious. Potency and beautifully incisive playing demonstrated the orchestra’s ascendant prowess.
 
In radiant voice the choirs made a significant contribution to the evening’s success. This was matched in passionate commitment by the sextet of well chosen soloists. Standing out magnificently was Jacques Imbrailo as Jesus. He solidly projected his richly mellow and expressive timbre with immense purpose. A fine choice as the First Narrator/John was Paul Groves who was notable for his steady bright and clear diction. Brindley Sherratt’s Judas was well powered, polished and authoritative. Although acceptable bass-baritone David Kempster in the role of Peter at times became rather swamped by the choir and orchestra and would have benefited from a greater amplitude and clearer diction. Rebecca Evans as the Angel Gabriel/Virgin Mary was bright with a moderately warm sound and sang with affecting piety. Evans’ vibrato was noticeable but never intruded. Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote as Mary Magdalene/Second Narrator has a substantial amount of text to sing. She was in glorious, reverential voice, well projected throughout.
 
Right from the orchestral Prelude to the scene The Calling of the Apostles the choir intoning the words from St. Luke’s Gospel To preach the acceptable year of the Lord sent a shiver down the spine. We were left in no doubt but that we had embarked on a visionary journey. The programme notes for the concert asserted that a genuine shofar player had been found. This caused much discussion amongst many audience members and subsequently on internet message boards. If people expected a traditional Hebrew Ram’s horn instrument that wasn’t what soloist Bob Farley played. From my seat it looked like a crossbreed of some sort of long straight brass trumpet that I would guess was around 6ft long becoming slightly angled just before the start of the bell. Nevertheless the playing, by the soloist positioned at the side of the hall, made a splendid impact both sonically and theatrically. The shofar can be heard to memorable effect at the start of CD 1 track 3.
 
At the beginning of Part 2 the solemn orchestral Introduction to the scene of The Betrayal of Christ was remarkable, with the doom-laden brass being lightened by the strings and winds then darkening again with all the drama of a Puccini opera. Depicting the crucifixion, the disturbing Golgotha section featured weighty orchestral textures especially the shadowy-toned brass and percussion. The electrifying final section The Ascension of Christ to heaven in his resurrected body required all the forces uniting in a colossal Alleluia. This was one of the most moving things I’ve experienced in classical music.
 
Released on the Hallé’s own label I found the sound quality of the Hallé/Elder disc highly satisfying. To the infuriation of many audience members an errant clapper virtually instantaneously at the end of both halves ruined the special moments of contemplation. Thankfully I can report that the patching session has successfully removed the unwanted racket. Michael Kennedy’s booklet notes are as authoritative as I would expect from this Elgar scholar. It’s good to see that a full libretto is included in the booklet. Some incorrect numbering against the part two text is the only glitch I found with this issue.
 
The rival recordings of The Apostles include the digitally re-mastered analogue 1973/74 account from the Kingsway Hall, London under the baton of Sir Adrian Boult with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir on EMI. Then there’s the 1990 digital recording from St. Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Richard Hickox on Chandos. Both are very fine performances. Of the two I favour the Boult/EMI for its splendid singing and sense of reverential awe. On the down-side Boult’s singers may sound dated to some listeners and the LPO’s distinctive bottom-heavy sound can be off-putting. On balance the recording of The Apostles that I will reach out for the most will be this new Hallé release. It’s performed beautifully throughout and achieves an otherwise elusive spirituality. Everyone is on quite spectacular form. If proof were needed of the importance of The Apostles then this release is the evidence.
 
-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

Tying in with the centenary of Britten’s birth this year, this three-disc compilation set brings together a large selection of early and late unaccompanied choral works, performed by the Finzi Singers and Paul Spicer. This disc includes A Boy was Born, Rejoice in the Lamb, and Choral Dances from Gloriana.

The Sea Chanters, the 17-voice chorus of the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C., was organized in 1956, as an all male chorus specializing in songs of the sea. Female voices were added in 1980 and their repertoire was expanded. They perform throughout the United States, and often perform at the White House, Vice President's house and for Washington dignitaries. In 1994, the chorus provided music at the funerals of former President Nixon in Yorba Linda, California, and former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis at Arlington National Cemetery.

Finnish composer Jaakko Mantyjarvi (b. 1963) has written some of the finest choral music of the past 50 years. To date, this semi-professional musician, whose output consists mostly of choral works, has had over one hundred of them published. Founded in 2009, the chamber choir Cor Cantiamo’s mission objective is to perform and promote contemporary choral music and foster new composers for the art form. Eric A. Johnson D.M.A. is Cor Cantiamo’s Founding Artistic Director.

The world-premiere recording of Richard Danielpour's Toward a Season of Peace offers a dynamic performance that impresses with its immense forces and energetic playing and compels an emotional response with its pacifist sentiments and beautiful lyricism. Danielpour's style is instantly accessible by virtue of its rich tonality and poignant melodies, and the flow of the music gives his oratorio a traditional appeal, with the right balance of dramatic tension and comforting release. The setting of excerpts from the Masoretic text of the Bible, the Persian verses of Rumi (in an English translation), and an Arabic poem by Al Mutanabbi brings languages into a convergence somewhat reminiscent of Leonard Bernstein's mixing of Latin, English, and Hebrew in his Mass (1971), and the ecumenical nature of Toward a Season of Peace also brings that theater piece to mind. Unlike Bernstein, and to Danielpour's credit, he doesn't mingle elements of popular music with his neo-Romantic choruses, and he avoids the trendiness that dates Mass, aiming instead for a more universal and timeless prayer for peace. At many points, the mystical choruses of Vaughan Williams and Holst spring to mind, and feel stronger than any modern influence. Perhaps this oratorio is more inspirational than motivational, and it may join other works earnestly dedicated to world peace that have fallen by the wayside, but the performers aren't to blame if that happens. Soprano Hila Plitmann, the Pacific Chorale, and the Pacific Symphony, conducted by Carl St. Clair, give a lovely and reverent performance that is gorgeous in its harmonies and textures, and ultimately moving because of its simplicity and directness.

-- All Music Guide

Classical Music

...Rutter distils even more drama from dynamic contrasts than Dutoit, the balance between voices and instruments in his performance sounds natural, not carefully achieved, his boyish-sounding sopranos (above all the touchingly ethereal Caroline Ashton in the Pie Jesu) seem as incontrovertibly right for the colour of this work as the solitary, silvery violin that the Rutter edition employs in the Sanctus... [F]or truth to Faure's luminous conception Rutter's version is still unapproached, and it still heads my list.

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone [1/1989]

The Grands Motets on this disc (Exaudiat, Notus in Judaea Deus and Benedictus) are scored for five soloists, five-part choir and orchestra. Although averaging only a quarter of an hour in length, they are nevertheless broad in conception. Le Concert Spirituel certainly does not tiptoe around these works but rather throw themselves into their performances with élan.

The three Grands Motets are interspersed with Lully's settings of O dulcissime Domine and Laudate pueri Dominum. The two women's voices in O dulcissime Domine interweave magically over a continuo accompaniment. The highlight, however, is the first motet, Exaudiat te Dominus. The opening is lively and joyous, contrasting with the sad, heart-felt setting of Domine salvum fac. Le Concert Spirituel bring out the contrasts in the Dormierunt section of Notus in Judaea Deus well, and respond to the grandiose passages in the Benedictus. It is only in this latter piece that the generally crisp and rhythmic articulation flags.

The curious should not hesitate. The recording is in general good, although the harpsichord sounds dull. Full texts and translations are included.

-- Colin Clarke, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Sir John Tavener describes the Lament for Jerusalem as a mystical love song. The Lament brings together Christian, Judaic, and Islamic texts and is sung in Greek and English. The musical structure is that of a lattice whose proportions are carefully designed so that the listener is invited to focus on key points of the text which are themselves supported by transcendental melodic, harmonic, and textural devices. The simplicity of the work's form and it's logical progression through a series of seven linked, self-referential tableaux allow the Lament to grow in power and beauty during it's course. The American composer Steve Reich has described some of his own music as purveying 'a kind of dynamic stasis' and that aptly sums up the effect of Tavener's Lament for Jerusalem. The Lament is rooted in grim tradition, yet it looks longingly into the future to a time when beatific vision is restored, and, as in much of the very greatest art, form and content are inseparable.

Favourite carols in varied and attractive arrangements, well sung and recorded.

There are a few surprises right from the start of this disc. First, an introduction to the carol "Hark the herald angels sing" by an unnamed brass group, second the use of a new (to me) arrangement, and finally the sound of a well trained and well recorded choir but singing with polished Southern vowels. Whilst I regret the loss of some of the individuality which a more characteristically Yorkshire sound used to give this splendid choir, it is by no means a serious defect, and the other surprises I have mentioned are positive gains. The brass group are used sparingly in a small number of carols, but there they do add a distinctive colour of a kind familiar to devotees of Songs of Praise. The new arrangements (again, to me) of many of the carols are generally welcome, especially most of those by the excellent organist, Darius Battiwalla. The contrasting "Little Jesus, sweetly sleep" and "I saw three ships" show him able to grasp the essence of a tune and embellish it without swamping or contradicting that essence. Unfortunately this does not apply in the final item – "Christians awake" – which loses its wonderful rough dignity in gaining a regrettable Broadway Musicals sound.

Many of the other arrangements are by the conductor, Joseph Cullen, who shows a similarly approach and skill to Darius Battiwalla. Older arrangements are by no means completely neglected, and "Gabriel’s message" in Edgar Pettman’s lovely arrangement and Harold Darke’s "In the bleak midwinter" are highlights for me. Less so are John Rutter’s perversion of Adophe Adam’s delightful song or the pleasant but by now hackneyed arrangements by David Willcocks. One surprise is the inclusion of Reginald Spofforth’s Glee, "Hail! smiling morn". Even if it does sound better with single voices to a part, it makes a delightful effect here, and I hope that other choirs may be tempted to include it in carol concerts, even if the words have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.

The problem of the order in which to perform carols to ensure a good variety of character is solved very well, so that the disc can be enjoyed when listened through as a whole. All in all, if you want a recording of most of your favourite carols (but no "Good King Wenceslas" or "While shepherds") in varied and mainly attractive arrangements, well sung and recorded, this may well be exactly what you are after.

--John Sheppard, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

To mark what would’ve been the late choral as conductor, pedagogue and organizer Uwe Gronostay’s 75th birthday, audite is releasing the present Christmas carols CD recorded for the RIAS Berlin during the 14 years (1972-86) of his period as RIAS Chamber Choir artistic director. + The Christmas carols form a dramaturgical cycle, beginning with the mysterious night into which falls the light of God; narrative and devotional songs as well as hymns of praise follow, leading to the birth of Christ, then back into the night that also symbolically bears within itself the dawning of the new day.

Classical Music

MAYR Gioas • Franz Hauk, cond; Andrea Lauren Brown (sop); Robert Sellier (ten); Cornel Frey (ten); Andreas Burkhart (bs); Bavarian St Op Ch; Simon Mayr Ch & Ens • NAXOS 8.572710-11 (2 CDs: 111:22)


Only two issues ago (36:2), I had my first taste of music by Simon Mayr, on a Naxos CD featuring three of the composer’s concertos led, as here, by Franz Hauk, who seems to be somewhat of a Mayr specialist. In that review, I was forced to admit that I was not previously familiar with Mayr, most likely because his main area of endeavor was opera, a field in which I claim no particular expertise. The review concluded by wondering if, as mainly a composer of opera, Mayr was best represented by a disc of his concertos, and with a promise to get back to the reader with an answer once I gained more familiarity with his work.


The wait wasn’t a long one. Here we have Mayr’s Gioas (Joash, King of Judea), designated a “parody oratorio,” so-called because it draws upon Mayr’s opera, I misteri eleusini for its material. I gather that the work bears certain similarities to the composer’s David in the Cave of Engedi , reviewed by Patrick Rucker in 32:4, and Samuele , both previously recorded for Naxos by Hauk. A parody oratorio, as I understand it, involves the practice of adapting popular operatic works to religious texts so they could be performed during Holy Week while his Holiness looked the other way.


Gioas dates from 1823 and is set to a libretto by an unknown author (or one who preferred to remain anonymous) that tells a story of internecine blood-letting over rights to the throne, treachery, and retribution, all of which through self-sacrifice and appeasement of various gods, goddesses, and priests—that’s the religious aspect—culminates in a happy ending. The work is appropriately referred to in the program note as “pseudo-sacred,” or, to call it what it is, a barely disguised excuse to present an unstaged opera in the guise of an oratorio. Mayr was not alone in fashioning such Church-sanctioned entertainments. The tradition persisted, mainly in Italy, through much of the 19th century, with Emilio Cianchi’s Giudetta , composed in 1854, being performed as late as 1912. Knowing this, it’s a bit difficult to follow the intrigues of the plot and to listen to the impassioned arias, the pattering recitatives, and the solemn and celebratory choruses without a smile and a smirk. No matter how much holy water you sprinkle on it, the opera that’s inside this oratorio won’t be exorcised. Considering that Gioas was written in the same year as Rossini’s Semiramide , Mayr’s work sounds rather dated for its time. But having been born in 1763, Mayr was almost 30 years Rossini’s senior. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that Mayr’s style should more closely resemble Mozart’s than it does Rossini’s.


The music is delightful, often touching, and artfully crafted for the voice. It’s no wonder that Mayr was so celebrated for his operas. The four soloists are all very convincing in their roles and well matched vocally. Add to that enlivened playing from Hauk’s instrumental forces, and you have a winning performance. Unfortunately, Naxos has not provided a text or translation, but the album note gives a pretty good synopsis of the mishmash that calls itself a plot. If you can pretend while listening to Mayr’s Gioas that it’s not just an opera masquerading as a sacred oratorio, you will find much in the work and in this recording of it to enjoy.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

To witness a performance of Delius’s A Mass of Life, arguably his supreme creative achievement, is to look into the heart of the composer and his Nietzsche-inspired world. Moreover, this ravishing music, written between 1898 and 1905, represents Delius at the height of his powers, when musical ideas seemed to pour out of him at a time when he had finally learned to assimilate, in an entirely individual, not to say maverick manner, a confluence of modernist styles embracing Grieg, Wagner, Strauss, Charpentier and Debussy.

There is no doubt from the vivid opening choruses of Parts 1 and 2 of this recording (and what openings!) that the message of the work is a life-affirming one. There is a dynamic momentum to the tempi which perfectly evokes Zarathustra’s ruling passion, the Will of Man, and there is a richness to the orchestral sound which adds to the sense of muscularity. The chorus negotiate Delius’s often awkward vocal intervals with great skill and the intonation is virtually flawless. Just occasionally the sheer weight of the orchestral sound, which is quite forward on this recording (more so than Hickox), is apt to overwhelm the voices but this is a minor distraction.

Hill brings energy and élan to the third section, ‘In deine Auge’ (for me perhaps the most exhilarating section of Part 1), where the parallel with the end of Act 2 of Die Meistersinger is almost palpable and where the most unusual example of a Delius fugue (!) is given life, vigour and meaning.

Alan Opie, who has the lion’s share of the solo music in the work, is almost Wotan-like in his performances. From his first Nietzschean dance he is majestic and brings out of the score that vibrant, heady, Teutonic contemporaneity with which Delius had clearly become enthralled at this point in his career. Opie’s singing of what is effectively the role of Zarathustra has immense authority and his impressive range (up to high G) is ideal for Delius’s onerous vocal demands.

Andrew Kennedy, Catherine Wyn-Rogers and Janice Watson also offer fine lyrical interpretations of their solo parts and the choral accompaniments are allowed to intermingle subtly as an extension of the orchestra. The BSO are on fine form too, and special mention needs to be made of the haunting horn-playing in the introduction to Part 2 (‘On the Mountains’), a sound which sums up so much of Delius’s nature music.

This is a must for any Delius Liebhaber and, with the added bonus of the late Prelude and Idyll, a marvellous starting point for anyone new to Delius’s unique but compelling art.

-- Jeremy Dibble, Gramophone


DELIUS A Mass of Life. Prelude and Idyll1 • David Hill, Cond; 1Janice Watson (sop); Catherine Wyn-Rogers (mez); Andrew Kennedy (ten); 1Alan Opie (bar); Bach Ch; 1Bournemouth SO • NAXOS 8.572861-62 (2 CDs: 118:19 Text and Translation)

A Mass of Life is quintessential Delius, musically and existentially, composed over 1904–05 in the first great rush of his maturity. From the bounding affirmative choruses to the breathtakingly sustained nature contemplations, from the melancholy to the ecstatic, the Mass of Life traces and forecasts the gamut of Delian affect with a concision, fullness, and abundance he might rival but never achieve so comprehensively again. Unless I’ve missed something, this is but the fourth recording of the work since Beecham’s nonpareil 1952 account. Though its musical demands are daunting—if nowhere near as challenging as those of Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand,” with which it invites comparison—the primary bar to frequent performance is its text, drawn by Delius’s friend Ernst Cassirier largely from the Dance Songs of Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra. For those coming in late, one recalls the oft-quoted passage in Eric Fenby’s Delius as I Knew Him: “When, one wet day … he was looking for something to read in the library of a Norwegian friend … and had taken down a book, Thus Spake Zarathustra—a book for all and none—by one Friedrich Nietzsche, he was ripe for it. The book, he told me, never left his hands until he had devoured it from cover to cover. It was the very book he had been seeking all along, and finding that book he declared to be one of the most important events of his life. Nor did he rest content until he had read every work of Nietzsche that he could lay his hands on”—to which Fenby, a devout Catholic, adds—“and the poison entered his soul.” For listeners and performers today it may still be something of a jolt to find, in place of the supplicating Kyrie that the unfortunate term “Mass” leads one to expect, a glowingly charged hymn to the Will, “dispeller of need, my own necessity,” followed by Zarathustra’s brief praise of laughter (“My own laughter I pronounced holy”), succeeded by Zarathustra’s love duet with Life in a meadow filled with dancing girls, an archetypal encounter transpiring in a mythical dimension “beyond good and evil,” beyond place and time, crowned by the first, murmured, utterance of the Bell Song, the work’s central mystery. A Mass of Life may, of course, be enjoyed for its power and sensuous magic without reference to its text, but only to those nurtured on Nietzsche will it reveal its full import. Shrugging incomprehension of the text renders Benjamin Luxon’s Zarathustra, for Charles Groves (with the London Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra), merely mellifluous, while Peter Coleman-Wright’s deadpan delivery for the late Richard Hickox—with the Waynflete Singers directed by today’s conductor, David Hill, and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Orchestra—proves anesthetically workmanlike. When it appeared in 1997, I rated that reading, on Chandos, the best since Beecham’s (Fanfare 20:6). That honor goes now to the present offering. While Alan Opie does not efface memories of Bruce Boyce, for Beecham—whose delivery resonated from the nexus of Delius’s realization of Nietzsche—he teases the text gingerly, making a credible Zarathustra. In some numbers, Delius asks the soloists to share parts, with some of Zarathustra’s lines persuasively taken by Andrew Kennedy, and a portion of Life’s happily rendered by Janice Watson, though Catherine Wyn-Rogers’s beguiling, seductive Life recalls Monica Sinclair’s divinatory geste for Beecham. The choral work is beyond praise, though in Hill’s brisk approach the melting lyricism heard chez Beecham tautens and leaps.

Idyll is a late reworking of music from Margot la Rouge, composed in 1902 for the new opera competition offered by the music publisher Sanzogno. Though it failed to score and was not heard in Delius’s lifetime, it comes from the composer’s ripest years and contains gorgeous swaths of his richest utterance, which he salvaged in 1932, recomposing it to words by Whitman and making an extended love duet of it. Idyll has not lacked for vocally lustrous, persuasive performances submerging Whitman’s quaintness (“Behold me when I pass, hear my voice, approach, draw close, but speak not. Be not afraid of me”) in absolute conviction. Of major interest, the lovingly lingering 1981 account led by Eric Fenby—who took down the score from dictation by the blind, paralyzed Delius—features Felicity Lott and Thomas Allen (deleted Unicorn-Kanchana UKCD 2073). Meredith Davies’s still-available 1968 tilt at Idyll, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, is made memorable by the divinatory partnership of Heather Harper and John Shirley-Quirk. In keeping with his go at the Mass of Life, Hill pushes the work a bit, spurring the impassioned moments to escalate from the pervasive tone of wistful elegy. Opie, as the anonymous man, is authoritatively resonant, in response to Janice Watson’s brightly edged soprano (touched by a bit of vibrato), with its gloriously amber lower register, buxomly filling the part of the nameless woman.

One caveat: In the headnote the title of the work is given per the album, but you will search the catalog of Delius’s works in vain for an orchestral Prelude. The work so designated is simply the first three minutes—an orchestral prelude, to be sure—of Idyll and has never, until now, been listed separately. The fake title generates a phantom work to bedevil buyers, scholars, and connoisseurs, and detracts from—rather than adding to—the program’s generosity.

Sound packs an immediate wallop making for occasional congestion. In the opening chorus, for instance, the leaping underlining of trombones and tubas becomes indistinct, overwhelmed by choral mass, and while one can pick out the glockenspiel, its function of festive accentuation is lost. In quieter passages, and in the capture of the vocalists, on the other hand, this upfront take is gratifyingly welcome. In German, Zarathustra’s pronouncements recall and parody the Lutheran Bible, in light of which the ostensibly stilted thee-ing and thou-ing of William Wallace’s singing translation—made for Beecham and used by him for all of his public performances (according to notes by Delius aficionado Lyndon Jenkins)—fall into place, if not quite into King James English. Whitman’s text is included.

In sum, a superb production and the grandest addition to the Delius discography in many years. Highest recommendation.

FANFARE: Adrian Corleonis

Three composers from the group which styled itself ‘La Jeune France’ test vocal technique as never before, in music that can be rapturous and visceral, perfumed and mystical, fresh, sensuous, erotic; music that was wholly new and yet recognizably French, a subtle mix of primitive emotion and sophistication overlaid with the élan and self-confidence of a re-born Paris, striding into the second half of the twentieth century.

R E V I E W S:

“This disc is something not far from a revelation ... elaborately sonorous, radiantly glowing ... as usual from this fine group, the performances are immaculately detailed, and, especially in the Messiaen, they have a very un-English sense of the sumptuousness that binds it in to a compelling whole.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Fanfare:
"Formed as a counterpoise to the urbane neo-Classicism and iconoclastic tendencies of Les Six, La Jeune France was a group of French composers who, in the words of Harry Christophers, wished to “restore eternal spiritual values to music.” Its members were André Jolivet, Olivier Messiaen, Jean Yves Daniel-Lesur, and, not represented on this CD, Yves Baudrier. All four were born between 1905 and 1908. The three cycles on this CD were commissioned by Marcel Couraud for his eponymous Ensemble Vocale. Couraud specified that they should be in 12 parts, about 20 minutes in length, and set to texts dealing with love.

Jolivet wrote his own text, compiling it from Egyptian, Hindu, Chinese, and Greek sources. This is a fantastically difficult work—not choral at all, but actually a setting for a “vocal orchestra” consisting of 12 solo voices. Similarly, Messiaen wrote his own texts for the Cinq rechants, basing it (as with the Turangalîla-symphonie and Harawi) in part on the story of Tristan and Isolde, and using Sanskrit and the Quecha language of Peru’s original native tribes. The music is absolutely typical of this composer, and the similarities between the Cinq rechants and the aforementioned Harawi are too numerous to mention here. Daniel-Lesur turned to the Bible and the Song of Songs for his text. At least in this recording, La cantique des cantiques uses a larger group of singers (24) than is used in the Jolivet and in the Messiaen (12). (One wonders why this ensemble is called “The Sixteen”!) At least in the United States, Daniel-Lesur is almost unknown today. (Norman Lebrecht, in his Companion to 20th-Century Music, drops the nugget that Daniel-Lesur “retreated” from the ideals of La Jeune France, and “wagnerized Pelléas” in his only opera Andrea del Sarto.) Of these three works, Messiaen’s is the most distinctive, Jolivet’s the most musically advanced, and Daniel-Lesur’s the most straightforward and conventionally erotic.

The members of The Sixteen sing with such accuracy and control that parts of the Cinq rechants are actually terrifying. (The climax of the middle song may have you worrying that your CD player is malfunctioning.) In terms of technique, there’s nothing lacking from these readings." - Raymond Tuttle, FANFARE

Includes work(s) by John Rutter.

This collection of music from the Eton Choirbook, the vast collection of English sacred music from the early Renaissance, is the third in an acclaimed series by Stephen Darlington and the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. A thrilling encounter with the remarkable world of the liturgy of Eton College Chapel in the late 15th century!

A double album of new works to confirm Chilcott’s status as one of the most popular choral composers of today. The Angry Planet ('An Environmental Cantata' commissioned for the BBC Proms in 2012) sees the precision and skill of the BBC Singers and The Bach Choir conflated with the exuberance of a veritable army of young singers.

The psalms of David have been a source of inspiration to composers for centuries, each text forming a poetic shape the equivalent of a gothic arch, and expressing a broad range of timeless emotions. Recorded here for the first time in its complete form, John Rutter’s Psalmfest is a collection of nine settings for full orchestra as rich and varied as the original texts. The remaining psalm settings were written for special occasions, including the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011.

One of Boston's premier choirs, The Copley Singers draw from British and American traditions with both unusual and familiar arrangements of holiday favorites.

I Wander as I Wander' was recorded at Harvard Memorial Church with the Copley Singers, a professional choir under the direction of Brian Jones (who for many years was the Music Director at Trinity Church, Copley Square in Boston). It includes a number of first recordings and unusual arrangements which utilizes the newly installed but vintage 1932 Aeoline-Skinner organ. The version of 'We Three Kings' alone is worth listening to this biannual recording from Gothic.

A full-throated and robust celebration of Christmas from the 160-voice Pacific Chorale! “Christmas Time is Here” is a marvelous compilation of colorful arrangements for choir with instrumental accompaniment from brass, harp and percussion. You will find many traditional carols in inventive, original, arrangements culminating in a joyful listening experience!

Pacific Chorale has delighted national and international audiences with concerts of great choral music performed at the highest musical standards since 1968. Under the artistic leadership of John Alexender, Pacific Chorale produces a series of concerts each year at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, where it serves as the resident choir.

Pacific Chorale has received numerous awards, including Chorus America’s prestigious “Margaret Hills Achievement Award for Choral Excellence” and the first national “Education Outreach Award”. Arts Orange County honored the Choral with the 2002 “Outstanding Arts Organization (Music)” Award, and the Orange County Department of Education presented the Chorale with its 2002 “Outstanding Contributions to Education” Award. In 2005, Pacific Chorale received the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Alice Parker Award for adventurous programming.