Healey Willan, Elora Festival Singers, Noel Edison - In The Heavenly Kingdom

Published Thursday 5th October 2006
Healey Willan, Elora Festival Singers, Noel Edison - In The Heavenly Kingdom
Healey Willan, Elora Festival Singers, Noel Edison - In The Heavenly Kingdom

STYLE: Choral
RATING 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 20768-
LABEL: Naxos 8557734
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Healey Willan was born and educated in England where he served as organist at several churches but in 1913 he moved to Canada and spent the rest of his life there as organist, choirmaster and teacher, dying in 1963. He was also a prolific composer with more than 800 compositions, usually featuring the human voice. On this budget-priced CD we have an excellent introduction, both in written form with the booklet notes from Giles Bryant and especially in the 67 minutes of music, sung with all the eloquence and care we have come to expect from the Elora Festival Singers. This collection includes a lovely Missa Brevis in honour of "Sancti Johannis Baptistae", a good selection of hymns and anthems and Willan's most popular choral work "Rise Up My Love". Willan is revered in Canada but is not as well known in the land of his birth. This CD should help to redress that situation and will bring pleasure to all who enjoy old fashioned choral music. I do not think that Willan's work is strong enough for him to force his way into the first rank of British 20th century choral composers but for any listeners who want to explore off the beaten track then this compilation is an interesting guide.

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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