Cambridge Singers - A Cappella (Collegium) Digital Life Music

Cambridge Singers - A Cappella (Collegium)
from: Collegium

Used Price: $8.77
Third Party New Price: $21.97

Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0040888011927
Label: Collegium
Manufacturer: Collegium
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Collegium
Release Date: September 13, 1993
Sales Rank: 265201
Studio: Collegium

Disc 1:

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Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- A Fine Survey of Choral Music
John Rutter has long been established as a fine choral conductor as well as an intelligent programmer and this CD further substantiates his preeminent position. For this album Rutter has selected a wide ranging repertoire of songs written for unaccompanied chorus, a tradition that dates back to the plainsongs of the old churches.

Opening with Benjamin Britten's completely enchanting setting of WH Auden's long poem 'Hymn to St. Cecilia' is marked by fluid rhythmic changes, perfect enunciation, and glorious choral singing. This is followed by a set of Brahms songs for female voices alone, Schumann's four songs for full chorus, a lovely performance of 'Lay a garland' by the little known RL Pearsall (1795 - 1856), and the Delius 'The splendour falls on castle walls'.

Rutter and his chorus then survey the French literature with three songs by Ravel (including the perky and mocking 'Nicolette'), ... Read More

Rating:

- International a cappella
It may seem somewhat strange for the Cambridge Singers to entitle a piece 'A Capella', given that almost all of their music performance is a capella. However, in this collection, they are performing a repertoire from composers whose usual fare is not a capella composition. This was performed in one of their regular recording haunts, the Great Hall of University College School, London, in 1992.

--Music--
The music here comes from composers in Germany, France and England from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During the preceding Classical period, very little music was composed for choir/choral groups alone, and it wasn't until the Romantic period that revived interest in a capella music inspired compositions from composers such as those represented here. The twin influences of madrigal societies in Britain and the Cecilian movement on the continent helped fuel the drive for more a capella ... Read More

Rating:

- Wonderful collection
This CD is a wonderful collection of mainly French and German song cycles. While I have multiple recordings of the Debussy and Ravel (favorite - Robert Shaw's "Appear and Inspire") and the Britten, the Brahms, Schumann and Poulenc cycles were new to me. All are executed with the pristine clarity and precision we all expect from the Cambridge Singers. My only slight complaint is that the British, with their emphasis on straight-tone singing (which I adore on Renaissance and virtually all English choral music), don't give enough warmth and expansiveness to their tone and emotion on the German and French literature. "Trois Beaux Oiseaux" by Ravel especially suffers from this lack of emotional connection. The soprano soloist, while singing with a lovely tone, sounds like she has no idea that she's singing about the fact that the birds are telling her that her lover is not going to return from war. Very stilted, no sense of ... Read More

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