Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, Philip Barnes - Saint Louis Firsts

Published Tuesday 8th March 2016
Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, Philip Barnes - Saint Louis Firsts
Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, Philip Barnes  - Saint Louis Firsts

STYLE: Choral
RATING 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 160577-26852
LABEL: Regent REGCD472
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

St Louis, Missouri boasts one of the world's first skyscrapers - as pictured on this CD's cover. More importantly for us, the city is home to an outstanding choir, the Saint Louis Chamber Choir (SLCC) currently directed by Philip Barnes. For six decades SLCC has dedicated itself to presenting the very best of choral music and in recent years has emphasised the work of living composers, including a successful 'composer in residency program'. Thus 10 of the 11 tracks on this CD are (or were) new commissions for the choir and nine of them are first recordings. Everything is what I would describe as performance pieces, way beyond the ability of most amateur choirs and with nothing that could be used in worship. Indeed on first hearing the opening track, Trevor Jones's take on "Psalm 23", I could not work out what was happening so on my second listen I read the CD booklet notes and all became clear: it is sung in Latin and was written as a film score to accompany the demise of Cathar "heretics" at the hands of Albigensian crusaders. The crusaders sing a threatening hymn of "Veni Creator" while herding their victims to their death while they sang the Psalm. It is still not an easy listen but clearly was not intended to be. Clare Maclean also uses Psalm 23 in her "Slow Gold" but this time in the English of the King James Bible and interlaced with extracts from The Pilgrim's Progress and a poem by Emily Dickinson that gives the piece its title. Bob Chilcott also uses a juxtaposition of Emily Dickinson and a sacred text with his magnificent "Before The Ice" that is worth the price of the CD on its own, although this is one of the two pieces that have already been recorded elsewhere, the other being Richard Rodney Bennett's "A Contemplation Upon Flowers". The only composer to get two songs recorded is Judith Bingham with her retelling of the fall of King Solomon, "Solomon And Love", which uses Biblical texts and a translation of "Salamo" by Heinrich Heine. Again, not an easy listen but well worth hearing and an idea that could be expanded into an opera. Bingham's second offering, "Aquileia", tells how the relics of Saint Mark were brought to their final resting place at Venice. As a reviewer it is not often that I can say I have never heard anything like this and urge any who have an interest in contemporary choral music to hear it at the earliest opportunity. Other highlights are the Latvian composer Ugis Praulins' setting of a Latin poem by Catullus in praise of spring, "Iam Ver Egelidos" and the Haitian composer Sydney Guillaume's setting of his father Gabriel's long poem "Le Dernier Voyage", which is a 21st century take on sensual French-influenced Impressionism. While some of the compositions are challenging all repay a careful listen and the singing throughout the 75 minutes of this disc is outstanding.

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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