Philip Barnes Saint Louis Chamber Choir - Saint Louis Classics
STYLE: Choral RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 171840-27272 LABEL: Regent REGCD505 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Steven Whitehead
While it is a pleasure to once again hear the excellent Saint Louis Chamber Choir I found the programme a little too eclectic for my taste. We open with a spirited take on Ralph Vaughan Williams' "O Praise The Lord Of Heaven", written in 1913 for Saint Paul's Cathedral and surprisingly not previously released on CD. It is scored for double choir and semi-chorus, giving up to 14 voice parts at some points. It must have sounded glorious in the acoustic of St Paul's and sounds pretty good at Second Presbyterian Church in St Louis, Missouri. Also for collectors of Christian choral music there's Arnold Schoenberg's "Friede auf Erden" which is a Christian text and is undoubtedly an acappella choral masterpiece, while Kodaly's "Jesus and the Traders" directly quotes scripture in its libretto. The disc features works inspired by classical mythology, such as Granville Bantock's "Invocation To Pan". This recording also features one of the Chorus' recent commissions, Bob Chilcott's "Silver Swan". This setting for acappella double choir of Orlando Gibbons and Catullus is a free re-working of Gibbons' famous 17th century madrigal. It retains the lilting depiction of the swan and the original composer's love of antiphonal effects and rich texture. The Saint Louis Chamber Chorus has a proud tradition of commissioning new works, many of which have featured on their previous releases but much of its repertoire is drawn from the canon of unaccompanied choral music covering five centuries and more. This recording demonstrates how adept the singers are at performing a variety of musical styles and languages in a programme spanning many centuries, and cultures. Those that enjoy acappella singing are sure to find something to delight them but if you want traditional church choral music this may leave you less than satisfied.
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