The Choir Of Ripon Cathedral - Dear Lord And Father

Published Saturday 13th June 2009
The Choir Of Ripon Cathedral - Dear Lord And Father
The Choir Of Ripon Cathedral - Dear Lord And Father

STYLE: Hymnody
RATING 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 81870-
LABEL: Regent REGCD298
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The helpful liner notes from Choir Director Andrew Bryden explain that a hymn is a song of praise and that a hymn anthem takes this basic melody and develops it with different choral parts and instrumental embellishments. The Choir of Ripon Cathedral then demonstrate what can happen when gifted composers approach well-loved hymns and arrange them as choral anthems. The earliest mention of a choir at Ripon Cathedral dates from 1545. Today there are two sets of trebles (boys and girls) who sing with the adult Lay Clerks in various combinations. This recording features the girl trebles with the males providing two each of alto, tenor and bass and very nice they all sound, aided by the usual high standard of recording from Regent Records' Gary Cole and the glorious acoustic of Ripon Cathedral. The content is wide ranging and includes such joys as the complete Opus 113 of Six Hymns arranged by Charles Villiers Stanford, Maurice Beavan's sublime setting of "There's A Wideness In God's Mercy" and Ralph Vaughan Williams' rousing arrangement of "The Old Hundreth (All people that on earth do dwell)". One cannot fault the singing and Thomas Leech on the organ adds greatly to our enjoyment. All who appreciate traditional Anglican cathedral music will want to hear this release and those who are involved at parish level may like to hear what can be done with hymns that are sometimes dismissed as being past their sell by date.

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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