Search - John Shirley-Quirk, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach :: The Best Choral Album in the World...Ever!

Diverse range but the songs are butchered...

Angie Richardson | Texas, USA | 07/24/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, this CD isn't horrible by any stretch, but it is irritating to someone who's more than a casual listener of choral music. I'm by no means as musically "literate" as many reviewers out there, but I have a collection of probably twenty-five or thirty choral CD's and this is one that will probably be gathering dust in the back of the CD book.



The peices are well-performed for the most part, but they are hopelessly edited. Beethoven's Ode to Joy is somewhere around twenty four minutes, but this CD only includes an arrangement of about five minutes. The beautiful Miserere is, uncut, almost eleven minutes but is cut down to five and a half minutes here.



Looking back, I should have realized the major editing that would be involved, just by the sheer number of peices on it. I'm familiar with a great many of them and I know they're too long to fit onto a seventy minute disc without some major cutting going on. I just didn't reason that out before I shelled out the money for it.



Bottom line. This CD has decent singing, but is nothing special. If you're a newcomer to this genre, you might get this as a quick overview of the different types of choral music out there, but if you're any kind of an avid listener, this CD will drive you insane with the severity of the cuts. Beginners, if you're looking for a great collection CD, you'd do better to look at "Choral Moods". It doesn't have the diversity in styles of this one, but it will introduce you to incredibly talented composers. To the old hats out there, steer clear of this one and look to CD's by your preferred individual composers themselves. It's more money, but much less frustration in the long run. The old sayings are sometimes the best: You get what you pay for."

MarMSED

Mary L. Ledford | 08/27/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The music selections are extraordinary. The only problem has to do with the balance of sound. There are some parts that are very loud, and some that are so very soft. You have to continually adjust the volume."

Choral Album

Richard A. Patton | Ormond Beach, FL United States | 10/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album is filled with collection excellent choral music. Many are old favorites of mine and many were new to me. The performances were outstanding. In some cases I have selections in my collection that I consider better than those on this album; however, I suggest that you buy it. It is beautiful!!



On a negative note, the first copy I received was new media and had a scratch which rendered the last two tracks unreadable.



Amazon was quick to credit my account, pay return shipping and the second copy was free from defects. Bravo!!

"