Huddersfield Choral Society, Aidan Oliver - Anthem: Great British Hymns & Choral Works

Published Friday 10th February 2017
Huddersfield Choral Society, Aidan Oliver - Anthem: Great British Hymns & Choral Works
Huddersfield Choral Society, Aidan Oliver - Anthem: Great British Hymns & Choral Works

STYLE: Choral
RATING 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 164396-
LABEL: Signum Classics SIGCD465
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This enjoyable CD starts with one of the most famous openings in choral music. Thomas Trotter is at the organ keyboard and for 22 bars he builds up to the great acclamation of "Zadok The Priest" written by George Frideric Handel for the coronation of King George II. Here the massed voices of the choir with brass ensemble and timpani under conductor Aidan Oliver are totally on song and if you like your choral music loud and proud this is for you. The concluding "I Was Glad" by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry also features brass and drums and is equally dramatic. But the Huddersfield Choral Society offers much more than the big numbers on old favourites. "A New Song" by James MacMillan and "Seek Him That Maketh The Seven Stars" by Jonathan Dove represent work by living composers and both pieces are well worth hearing. Indeed all 14 pieces on this disc are of interest both as compositions and performances. Ralph Vaughan Williams takes us back with "The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune" and also featured is his "O How Amiable". Edward Elgar gives us "Ave, Verum Corpus" and "Give Unto The Lord" and two of my personal favourites are given excellent performances: Gerald Finzi's rousing "God Is Gone Up" and John Stainer's beloved "God So Loved The World". If you appreciate traditional British choral music there will almost certainly be something on this disc that you know and love but even if some or indeed much of the content is already in your collection the performance and audio quality (courtesy of Producer Tim Oldham) are strong enough to warrant a purchase. The Huddersfield Choral Society has been in existence since 1836 and has built an enviable reputation. This latest release confirms the Society's position as one of the very best.

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