Call me old-fashioned,
but I like my sacred choral music that
was essentially written for boys' voices,
sung by boys! This collection of English
choral music offers an excellent selection
of wonderful works, but is sung unconvincingly
by the girls and men of Norwich Cathedral.
The disc opens promisingly, with the
rousing organ introduction to Blest
Pair of Sirens, which is then followed
by two treasures by Harris – Faire is
the Heaven and Come, my Way. It includes
four of Parry’s six Songs of Farewell,
and Stanford’s exultant and delightful
Coelos Ascendit Hodie and beautiful
Song of Peace. Yet, for me, the disc
is ruined by the presence of girls instead
of boys. Stanford’s glorious Magnificat
in G seems particularly marred by the
girls' voices ... the solo is fairly
dire - the girl's voice squeaky and
strained, rough and harsh, lacking in
lyricism and beauty. This solo cries
out for a boy treble. The solo in the
Nunc Dimittis is also not up to scratch.
A bass this time, his voice also sounds
strained (almost wobbly at times!) and
lacks confidence and strength. Bad articulation
rather ruins My Soul, there is a country
- the lack of an "l" on the end of the
rather important word "soul" is extremely
noticeable!
This is a brilliantly
programmed compilation, ranging from
the well-known Songs of Farewell to
some charming less well-known pieces.
The downside is the performance, with
ropy singing from the men, and the girls'
voices coming across as naive and unprofessional,
lacking the purity, clarity and sheer
radiance of boys' voices. Although they
manage to produce a fairly big sound,
refinement and finesse is desperately
needed. I found that my pleasure in
these works was severely reduced - for
me, the girls just sound wrong, and
given that the singing anyway is not
particularly competent, I would certainly
advise trying other recordings of these
works. Naxos has produced an excellent
disc of Stanford’s anthems and services
with the Choir of St John’s, Cambridge,
and Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis
are available on the Decca British Music
Collection (along with his superb Songs
of the Sea). Otherwise, EMI has produced
a good disc of Stanford’s sacred choral
works (including most of those here)
with Stephen Cleobury directing King’s
College, Cambridge, and Hyperion has
a three-disc set of his scared choral
music with David Hill and the Winchester
Cathedral Choir. The Blest pair of Sirens
and My Soul, there is a country can
be found on another Decca British Music
Collection disc – again, highly recommended
- while the Songs of Farewell are available
on a number of discs, most notably on
Hyperion with Christopher Robinson.
Em Marshall
The girls and men of Norwich Cathedral Choir/Julian
Thomas 