Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Robert Sund, Folke Alin :: Schubert: Male Choruses

A five star recording by any measure!

04/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Its plain and simple - this CD contains some of the most beautiful music ever written for male chorus and is performed by one of the finest male choruses ever assembled. Blend and intonation are exquisite. The performances are so clean and polished that nothing stands between the listener and the pure beauty of Schubert's music. I have listened to every available CD recording of these works and I like this one best - hands down! In the USA we have a some great men's choruses - such as Chanticleer, the Harvard Glee Club (under Prof. Jim Marvin) and the Washington Men's Camerata (under former Chanticleer Assoc. Director Frank Albinder). If you like those groups - you'll love Orphei Drangar. They prove Robert Shaw's maxim that a chorus of dedicated and talented amatuers is truly the ultimate vehicle for the performance of choral music."

A Gentle Disagreement with Tertius

astrologue | Coram, NY United States | 03/28/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Male chorus singing seems to be in the final stages of its afterglow. Therefore, when one hears a superb example of this genre, it is astounding. I am purchasing this album based upon one hearing of one selection on Public Radio.Unlike Tertius writing earlier--and despite hearing the work on my car radio--I found the performance exacting: In terms of diction, in the selection I heard, phonemes were performed precisely (almost as perfectly as Fischer-Dieskau). I did not hear individual deviations among the singers. I found the performance of the German to be impeccable, albeit with a miniscule Swedish accent. Intonation was superb; the basses did their job of supporting the entire chorus and illustrated Schubert's countrapuntal bass line against his more obvious melodic lines.Of course, I reserve the right to revise the review once I hear the album in its entirety. Still, I would buy the album for just the outstanding performance I heard on the radio."

Neutral

tertius3 | MI United States | 01/10/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Joel Kasow gave this disc a neutral review in Fanfare 24(2):340, finding small faults in style, soloists, and notes. For more complete selections of male choruses he suggests a 4-CD soloist collection by Sawallisch on EMI or a 7-CD medium-sized-group collection by Ortner on Teldec. For a single dic sample I love Knothe's 1987 rendition for small groups (including 4 songs with or by women's chorus) on Capriccio 10 152: this is one of my all-time favorite CDs, for its very Germanic early Romantic singing of a varied and dynamic Schubert program. Absolutely luscious. However, I can't seem to find it on Amazon...."