Fiona & Ben - In Paradisum

Published Tuesday 9th December 2008
Fiona & Ben - In Paradisum
Fiona & Ben - In Paradisum

STYLE: Classical
RATING 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 52696-14894
LABEL: Independent
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Listeners to Classic FM may have heard Fiona Jessica Wilson before as in 2007 her boyfriend Ben Robbins won the Classic FM Composing Competition with a piece, "In Paradisum", which he had written for her voice. Your reviewer would not like to be the one to decide whether listeners prefer the singer or the song but it has to be said that Miss Wilson has a beautiful voice, as befits a choral scholar and former member of the Trinity College Choir at Cambridge. The music is of a religious/spiritual/ambient nature that makes little demands on the listener and is none the worse for that. I confess to finding my attention wandering in places but at no point was I tempted to press the skip button. The title track is certainly worthy of note and I also enjoyed the new setting of the old favourite "Bright And Beautiful". To be frank, this new version will never be sung in school assemblies but if it makes some listeners pay attention to the words once again Ben Robbins will have done us a favour. The closing piece is a setting of "Titania's Lullaby" from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. This has already been used in a London production and I can see it being used again elsewhere as it works very well. My only gripe is that the CD comes in at not much over half an hour and while I agree that the world really does not need yet another classical crossover album full of multi-tracked versions of "Nessun Dorma" or the "Flower Duet" this album needs something more. Yes, it is good to leave the audience wanting more and this reviewer earnestly hopes that we will get another one soon but in these hard times value for money is a consideration.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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