When I opened the package
containing this two-disc set, my first reactions were “How
on earth am I expected to review this? What can I possibly
say about thirty-eight excerpts or short pieces of music,
most of which have not the slightest connection to weddings? Surely
this is no more than a cynical marketing ploy intended to
resell back-catalogue material.”
Nevertheless, it was my duty
to approach the review in an unprejudiced manner. So I listened
to the music while I did other things. It was not as though
the review was really about the musical qualities in the
performance, more about the selections and their appropriateness
for use in a wedding ceremony. A significant proportion
of the selections are for organ or for flute and harp duo,
suitable choices for most weddings.
Among the generally serviceable
performances (and yes, they are all from other Naxos CDs),
a few stand out: Pie Jesu from Fauré’s Requiem, Let The Bright
Seraphim and the Hallelujah Chorus from the very well regarded
Scholars Baroque Ensemble recording of The Messiah, Britten’s
Jubilate Deo among them.
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But what struck me was that
there seemed to be a pattern in what I was hearing: periods
of pleasant background music (if you’ll pardon the expression,
but that’s what it was), then a burst of grandeur, followed
by quiet, reverential works and finishing up in joyous celebratory
fashion.
So I made my way to the booklet. My
first surprise was that it wasn’t the normal Naxos three-fold
cover sleeve, but a proper booklet of more than thirty pages!
A quick perusal of the contents page provided an explanation
of my observation of the brackets of different styles of
music. The thirty-eight tracks were grouped together for
different stages in the wedding ceremony. So the pleasant
background music was the Introductory or Prelude Music while
the congregation arrived and waited for the bride. The other
groups were titled Entry of the Bride, Hymns and Anthems,
Signing of the Register and Exit of the Bride and Groom. My
opinion of the motives behind the recording began to waver. Someone
had clearly put some thought into this.
This feeling was strengthened
as I read more through the booklet. There was an introduction,
talking about different styles of weddings and the music
suited to them, the type of musicians to be employed – I
was pleased to see that the author suggested that “it is
often not practical or cost-effective to hire a whole orchestra” – and
the choice between recorded and live music. Each piece was
then described, with a reference to the composer and the
style of work, as well as, and most impressively, a performance
guide: the type of instrument(s) and the level of difficulty. The
booklet finished with some guidance about where to obtain
sheet music (though in southern England only), the legal
side of playing CDs and performing in public and finally
a glossary of musical terms.
So, rather uniquely, the
value of a CD was proven to me by its booklet, not by its
music. Would this help a bride (and her mother) who felt
they wanted music more significant than that of the pop diva
of the moment? I suspect it would.
David J Barker
BUY NOW
AmazonUK
Detailed track listing
CD 1
Johann
Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Herz und Mund und Tat
und Leben, BWV 147: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (arr.
for organ)
Sheep may safely graze,
BWV 208
Bertalan Hock (organ)
Overture (Suite) No. 3 in
D major, BWV 1068: II. Air
Takako Nishizaki, Alexander
Jablokov (violins)/Capella Istropolitana/Oliver Dohnanyi
Luigi
BOCCHERINI (1768-1805)
String Quintet in E major,
Op. 11, No. 5: III. Minuet (arr. D. Sosin)
Nora Shulman (flute)/Judy
Loman, harp
Antonio VIVALDI
The Four Seasons: Violin
Concerto in F minor, Op. 8, No. 4, RV 297, "Winter":
II. Largo
Takako Nishizaki, violin/Capella
Istropolitana/Stephen Gunzenhauser
Erik SATIE
Gymnopedie No. 1 (arr. for
flute and harp)
Nora Shulman (flute)/Judy
Loman, harp
Christoph Willibald GLUCK
Orfeo ed Euridice: Dance
of the Blessed Spirits (arr. for flute and harp)
Nora Shulman (flute)/Judy
Loman, harp
Johann PACHELBEL
Canon in D major
Capella Istropolitana/Richard
Edlinger
Richard WAGNER
Lohengrin, Act III: Wedding
March (arr. for organ)
Bertalan Hock (organ)
Jeremiah CLARKE
Trumpet Voluntary
Gyorgy Geiger (trumpet)/Bertalan
Hock (organ)
George Frideric HANDEL
Music for the Royal Fireworks,
HWV 351: Overture
Capella Istropolitana/Bohdan
Warchal
Modest Petrovich MUSSORGSKY
Pictures at an Exhibition:
Promenade
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra/Daniel
Nazareth
Marc-Antoine CHARPENTIER
Te Deum, H. 146: Prelude
(arr. for organ)
Simon Lindley (organ)
George Frideric HANDEL
Zadok the Priest, HWV 258
Tallis Chamber Choir/Royal
Academy Consort/Jeremy Summerly
Solomon,
HWV 67, Act III: Sinfonia, "Arrival of the Queen of
Sheba"
Budapest Strings
Henry PURCELL
Trumpet Tune
Gyorgy Geiger (trumpet)/Bertalan
Hock (organ)
John GOSS
Praise, my soul, the King
of Heaven
Darius Battiwalla (organ)/Halifax
Choral Society/John Pryce-Jones
Traditional
Immortal, Invisible
Darius Battiwalla (organ)/Halifax
Choral Society/John Pryce-Jones
Hubert PARRY
Dear Lord and Father of
Mankind
Darius Battiwalla (organ)/Halifax
Choral Society/John Pryce-Jones
Elizabeth POSTON
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
Michael Bloss (organ)/Elora
Festival Singers/Noel Edison
George Frideric HANDEL
Messiah,
HWV 56: Hallelujah Chorus
Scholars Baroque Ensemble
CD2
Gabriel FAURÉ
Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11
Colm Carey (organ)/Oxford
Schola Cantorum/Jeremy Summerly
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
Vesperae solennes de confessore,
K. 339: Laudate Dominum
Priti Coles (soprano)/Kosice
Teachers' Choir/Camerata CassoviaJohannes Wildner
Ave verum corpus, K. 618
Kosice Teachers' Choir/Camerata
CassoviaJohannes Wildner
César FRANCK
Panis angelicus
Jozsef Mukk (tenor)/Hungarian
State Opera Chorus/Camerata Budapest/Laszlo Kovacs
Charles Villiers STANFORD
The blue bird
Oxford Camerata/Jeremy Summerly
Franz SCHUBERT
Ellen's Gesang III (Ave Maria), Op. 56, No.
6, D. 839, "Hymne an die Jungfrau"
Ingrid Kertesi (soprano)/Camerata
Budapest/Laszlo Kovacs
Gabriel FAURÉ
Requiem, Op. 48: Pie Jesu
Lisa Beckley (soprano), Colm
Carey (organ)/Oxford Camerata/Jeremy Summerly
Sicilienne, Op. 78 (arr.
for flute and harp)
Nora Shulman (flute)/Judy
Loman, harp
Jules MASSENET
Thais,
Act II: Meditation (trans. by M.P. Marsick)
Takako Nishizaki (violin)/Jeno
Jando (piano)
Antonio VIVALDI
The Four Seasons: Violin
Concerto in E major, Op. 8, No. 1, RV 269, "Spring":
I. Allegro
Takako Nishizaki (violin)/Capella
Istropolitana/Stephen Gunzenhauser
George Frideric HANDEL
Samson,
HWV 57, Act III: Let the Bright Seraphim
Susanne Ryden (soprano), Niklas
Eklund (trumpet)/London Baroque/Charles Medlam
Water Music: Suite No. 1
in F major, HWV 348 - VI. Air, IX. Hornpipe
Capella Istropolitana/Bohdan
Warchal
Charles-Marie WIDOR
Organ Symphony No. 5 in F
minor, Op. 42: Toccata
Bertalan Hock (organ)
William WALTON
Crown Imperial - Coronation
March/English Northern Philharmonia/Paul Daniel
Benjamin
BRITTEN
Jubilate Deo
Iain Farrington (organ)/St.
John's College Choir, Cambridge/Christopher Robinson
Felix MENDELSSOHN
A Midsummer Night's Dream,
Op. 61: Wedding March (arr. for organ)
Bertalan Hock (organ)
NAXOS 8.557246-47 [72:28
+ 72:26] 
