Notes and Editorial Reviews
Another vocal compendium from John Rutter to delight fans of close-harmony singing
This choral feast (subtitled 'Songs and Spirituals') comes from John Rutter's own Collegium label. Its Anglo-American thread pays homage to three of his favourite musical traditions - the spiritual, the madrigal and American song. The most substantial work here is the new half-hour-long cycle of spirituals Feel the Spirit, which received its premiere in Carnegie Hall in June this year. These luscious arrangements bear repeated listening: orchestrally colourful and playfully witty (is there a hint of Harpo Marx in 'I got a robe'?). In their exuberant moments they lie somewhere between Porgy and Bess and George Mitchell's brand of
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close-harmony minstrelsy. Melanie Marshall's voice is engagingly honeyed, especially in the Vaughan Williams-flavoured 'Sometimes I feel like a motherless child'. The Cambridge Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra are on top form throughout.
Rutter's Birthday Madrigals were completed in 1995 to celebrate George Shearing's 75th birthclay. Drawing on texts from the Elizabethan era, they feature the superb bass-playing of Malcoln Creese and some sympathetic pianistic embellishments from Wayne Marshall, and are juxtaposed by Shearing's own beautiful Songs and Sonnets (1999), a follow-up Shakespearean cycle to Music to Hear (1985). Interestingly both composers set the Bard's It was a lover and his lass, though neither can surpass the television variety show setting by Shearing's wartime colleague, Arthur Young. 'Fie on sinful fantasy' and the Delian 'Spring' work best here.
The 'fillers' offer a triple bonus and include a full French impressionist treatment of Hoagy Carmichael's exquisite Skylark. A delightful disc. Strongly recommended.
-- Malcolm Riley, Gramophone [10/2001]
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Works on This Recording
1.
Feel the Spirit by John Rutter
Performer:
Victoria Walpole (English Horn),
Melanie Marshall (Soprano),
Andrew Knight (Harp)
Conductor:
John Rutter
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cambridge Singers,
BBC Concert Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: by 2001
Date of Recording: 2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 29 Minutes 25 Secs.
Language: English
2.
Birthday Madrigals by John Rutter
Performer:
Malcolm Creese (Double Bass),
Wayne Marshall (Piano)
Conductor:
John Rutter
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cambridge Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1994; England
Date of Recording: 2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 17 Minutes 22 Secs.
Language: English
3.
Songs and Sonnets by George Shearing
Performer:
Malcolm Creese (Double Bass),
Wayne Marshall (Piano)
Conductor:
John Rutter
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cambridge Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: by 1999; USA
Date of Recording: 2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 18 Minutes 5 Secs.
Language: English
4.
Skylark by Hoagy Carmichael
Performer:
Melanie Marshall (Mezzo Soprano),
Wayne Marshall (Piano),
Malcolm Creese (Double Bass),
Daniel Pailthorpe (Flute)
Conductor:
John Rutter
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cambridge Singers
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1942; USA
Date of Recording: 2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 4 Minutes 30 Secs.
Language: English
Notes: Arranged: John Rutter
5.
The Heavenly Aeroplane by John Rutter
Conductor:
John Rutter
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cambridge Singers,
BBC Concert Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Date of Recording: 2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 1 Minutes 45 Secs.
Language: English
6.
Lord of the Dance by Traditional
Conductor:
John Rutter
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cambridge Singers,
BBC Concert Orchestra
Date of Recording: 2001
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 3 Minutes 15 Secs.
Language: English
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