Gothic Record’s original recording, The Spirit of Freedom, features the outstanding Washington Men’s Camerata in a spectacular collection of patriotic classics. The 23 selections include the complete “National Anthem” (all 4 verses!), “God Bless America,” “National Hymn (“God of Our Fathers”), “Chester,” “Anchors Aweigh,” “Yankee Doodle,” “Hail to the Chief,” and many more beautifully-sung favorites! (Gothic)

Classical Music

This disc was recorded live at the 1995 Spoleto Festival U.S.A. in Charleston, South Carolina.el 11/01 koch del list
lib
bklt, tc omit rec dates
Resolicited 05/07/02 Allegro cat
In Tune 5/96 P.138
arg 9/96 p.262
fan 9/96 p.385

The Wanamaker Organ: Centennial Concert program consists of works by composers with deep connections to the Wanamaker Organ. Alexadre Guilmant played 40 recitals on this instrument before it became the nucleus of the present Wanamaker Organ. Of the three works Joseph Jongen wrote for organ and orchestra, one was written for the Wanamaker (“A Grand Celebration”) —the other two works are included here. Charles-Marie Widor’s Sixth Symphony, in this version for organ and orchestra, received its American premiere in 1919 on the Wanamaker with Leopold Stokowski helming the Philadelphia Orchestra. Celebrating his 25th year as Wanamaker Grand Court Organist, Peter Richard Conte is only the fourth person to hold that title since 1911. He performs concerts twice daily, six days each week, on this, the largest fully-functioning musical instrument in the world. Rossen Milanov is the Music Director of Symphony in C.

"Don't wait. Get it now. Fabulous!" - The American Organist

The music on this disc is all closely associated with The Wanamaker Organ, arguably the greatest symphonic organ ever built. John and Rodman Wanamaker left us, as their legacy, the very pinnacle of symphonic organ design; over the past century, many of the world's leading organists have made pilgrimages to perform on this great instrument. Several have composed works especially for the Wanamaker organ, inspired by its truly unique and wonderfully rich, warm character, and by the splendor of its unparalleled palette of orchestral color. Features only the second recording on this instrument by current Grand Court organist Peter Richard Conte.

Full color booklet explaining the history of the organ and all the famous organists who played there. Full specifications of the organ, and detailed articles on its history. - Gothic Records

Louis Vierne: Toccata from Pièces de fantaisie, opus 53
Vierne: Dédicase, from Pièces de fantaisie, opus 54
Félix-Alexandre Guilmant: Marche Religieuse
Bach, arr. Virgil Fox: Komm, süsser Tod (Come, sweet death).
Marcel Dupré, arr. Peter Richard Conte: Cortège et Litanie, opus 19
Symphonie-Passion, opus 23 (recorded in live performance, 4th July 2002 for the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists).

Includes fantasia(s) by Dietrich Buxtehude. Soloist: David Goode.

Includes christmas carol(s) by various composers. Ensembles: Washington Men's Camerata, Washington Symphonic Brass.

SIMPLE GIFTS • Doug Fullington, cond; Tudor Ch • GOTHIC 49265 (59:35 &)


Choruses and arrangements by BRACKETT, HAMMOND, jr., BRADY, SIEGFRIED, BILLINGS, NEAUM, POSTON, THOMSON, COPLAND, fine, Ireland, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, PERCIVAL, RUTTER, FULLINGTON, CHILCOTT, TRAD


The Tudor Choir is a Seattle-based chamber chorus of 12 voices, whose recording on Loft of Shaker music, in arrangements by Kevin Siegfried, Craig Zeichner “implored” us to buy (25:1). This recording is intended as a complement to that earlier one, and offers slightly more varied fare, all of it from the same musical and emotional neighborhood, however. The choir uses little vibrato and its fairly bright sound lets the sopranos stick out at the cost of the altos, though this is in part because there are only two altos but four sopranos. The choir sings cleanly and articulates clearly, and that is always a plus, even if one wishes there were a bit more heft now and then.


The core of this program is Shaker music, though only one Shaker piece is done in the unison we take to be the Shaker style, and that is the title piece (which, however, uses a variant of the melody we best know in Aaron Copland’s use of it in Appalachian Spring ). These words, and three different arrangements of it, by Kevin Siegfried, Copland (as further arranged by Irving Fine), and Bob Chilcott (for the King’s Singers), recur throughout the program. These are certainly more polished versions of Shaker tunes than those exhibited on Joel Cohen’s more scholarly recording with the same title (on Erato), done in the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community.


The major piece on the program is At the water’s edge , a setting by Kevin Siegfried of four poems by Sarah Orne Jewett. Commissioned in 2005 by the community chorus of South Berwick, Maine, where Jewett lived, these are gentle, largely consonant, nature settings, though the third, in five parts, ventures some discreet dissonance. They are similar in style with the rest of the program.


This matter of stylistic coherence is one of the striking features of this recording. Most of the arrangements are by Siegfried, and those by others share similar traits. That is, they tend to adopt the scale-structure of the melody being arranged. This was a technique demonstrated to great effect by Robert Shaw and Alice Parker in their arrangements of spirituals, which, like a number of the tunes here, have “gapped scales,” that is, scales that are incomplete somewhere within them.


This is a fine recording and I think Siegfried’s unfussy Jewett settings are certainly worth getting to know. They are a solid, mainstream, contribution to the modern American choral repertoire.


FANFARE: Alan Swanson

William Hawley (b. 1950) is one of the central figures in today's American choral music renaissance. As a student at Ithaca College and the California Institute of the Arts, he composed avant-garde instrumental works, and even flirted with minimalism. The launch of his Two Motets in 1981 demonstrated a shift to vocal music and a more emotionally direct style. His continuing American choral music has helped establish compositional trends since adopted by Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, and the like. Winner: American Prize in Choral Performance and the Margaret Hillis Award.

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Randall Thompson. Ensemble: Choral Arts Northwest. Conductor: Richard Sparks.

When you listen to 200-300 new recordings of choral music every year, 90 percent of them sacred programs, you figure you’ve heard enough of these things to know what to expect from a given composer, choir, conductor, and record label. And then, something like this surprising new release by a choir you’ve never heard of comes along–The University Singers from the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas–and you are amazed anew, and for the next hour engulfed in an unexpectedly pleasing, moving experience.

Don’t be concerned about the tinkling bells that open the program–this kind of bell sound on recordings loses its charm after about 12 seconds–and that’s exactly how long it takes for the chorus to enter, then the organ, and from there you’re treated to a superbly programmed, expertly sung concert highlighted by many works that will not be well known but that deserve attention from church and concert choirs everywhere. Among these are two pieces centered on the same text: a prayer of St. Richard of Chichester, by Antony Baldwin (b. 1957) and Richard Allain (b. 1965); a Magnificat and Nunc dimittis by Philip Moore (b. 1943); David Ashley White’s Lord, for thy tender mercy’s sake; and the brief yet captivating Easter Carillon by W. Leonard Beck, with its infectious organ accompaniment and festive choral exclamations.

O sacrum convivium by Robert Parker (b. 1960) and Ave Maria by Colin Mawby (b. 1936) lend a decidedly “French” character to two familiar texts, while Mawby’s God be in my head is solidly, reverentially “English cathedral”-inspired; Donald Pearson’s A Song to the Lamb is Vaughan Williams-ish sparkling and joyous. Several organ pieces are interspersed throughout the program–and all are welcome and engaging, effectively highlighting the world-class Schoenstein & Co. instrument installed at the St. Basil Chapel (an extraordinary space designed by famed architect Philip Johnson)–played with impressive imagination and skill by Yuri McCoy (I was especially moved by Raymond H. Haan’s Voluntary on “Let us break bread together”). There are also some works by the more familiar names Palestrina, Saint-Saëns, and Dupré, and these are excellent–but I would strongly recommend this for all those other pieces by those lesser-known composers–and for the outstanding choral singing throughout. I would go out of my way to hear this choir, whatever they were singing. If you’re a fan of choral music and of superior singing, do not miss this.

– ClassicsToday (David Vernier)

This is the first in a series recorded at the Washington National Cathedral featuring new American choral music.

The lyrical, soulful sound of the flugelhorn is paired with the orchestral rich colors of the Wanamaker organ in this beautiful recording. Popular melodies abound, from the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" theme to Debussy's "Clair de Lune." Peter Richard Conte celebrated his 25th year as Wanamaker Grand Court Organist in 2014. He is only the fourth person to hold that title since the organ first played in 1911. He performs concerts twice daily, six days each week, on the largest fully-functioning musical instrument in the world. Andrew Ennis is a graduate of Rowan University where he received his undergraduate degree in music education, specializing in trumpet. In addition to his full-time duties as the Orchestral Music director at the Collingswood, New Jersey Middle and High Schools, Mr. Ennis also serves as the Director of Instrumental Music and Principal Organist and Pianist of St. Joachim in Bellmawr, NJ. He also studies organ with Peter Richard Conte.

Following the success of her first recording at Grace Cathedral, Susan Jane Matthews presents another recital program on Grace's vintage "American Classic" Aeolian-Skinner organ. Susan Jan eMatthews reveals the extraordinary tonal resources of this historic instrument, set in an acoustic room with powerful bass and long reverberation. "Opus 910 has a sound like no other and produces effects that are magical - hard to describe and impossible to imitate." (Jack M. Bethards, Schoenstein & Co. Curators) Former Principal Organist of Grace Cathedral, Susan Jane Matthews has also concertized widely and been featured on Pipedreams, The Organ Loft, and With Heart and Voice radio programs. As Director of Music at St. paul's Episcopal Church in Burlingame, CA., she is organist, Director of the Chancel Choir, and Founding Director of the St. Paul's Choir School for Boys and Girls. This is her second recording for Gothic Records.