Search - Samuel Barber, David [Conductor] Hill, Charles [Choral Composer] Wood :: Lux Aeterna

A CD that delivers...

06/14/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The magazine "Friends of Cathedral Music" recently described Winchester Cathedral Choir under David Hill as one of England's greatest musical treasures, and this CD confirms that statement nicely. Aside from one track, the music is all unaccompanied, and I'm pleased to report that it all stays perfectly in tune. There is a broad variety of music here arranged into a very fulfilling programme. Samuel Barber's "Agnus Dei" is his own transcription of the famous "Adagio for Strings" made famous in the soundtracks of such films as 'Platoon', and this recording really will haunt you for a long time... David Hill follows this with his own recent piece, "Dominus Illuminatio" which is very effective and brilliantly sung, before travelling back in time a short while to perform Charles Wood's celebrated anthem "Hail, gladdening light". The programme goes on like this, jumping across centuries and styles to include works by Mozart, Arvo Part, John Tavener, Gustav Holst, Thomas Tallis, Maurice Durufle, Francis Poulenc and Victoria. All of it is beautifully sung, and is good for listening to continuously or in separate tracks. There are some bits that do annoy me, however- Tavener's "Song for Athene" is pitifully and ineffectively rendered (compared to Martin Neary's outstanding readings at Westminster Abbey), the final Poulenc piece is good but ends on a discord (which thus lets down the end of the whole CD- where it comes), the Latin is badly pronounced by several people (particularly by the soloists in Holst's "Nunc Dimittis") and the trebles ruin Mozart's "Ave verum" by trilling with the first violin on their penultimate note- this is absolutely cringe-worthy! However, other works such as Part's "Magnificat" and Durufle's Four Gregorian Chant-based motets are in my opinion the best recordings of these works around. This is certainly a disc to revel in, that will not become boring or obvious with repeated listenings. Mostly excellent."