Search - Phoenix Bach Choir, Kansas City Chorale :: Eternal Rest - Phoenix Bach Choir, Kansas City Chorale

Exceptional...a Reference CD!!

Blue Hose Bone 311 | South Carolina | 05/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since the break up of the Dale Warland Singers, I have been looking for my next benchmark choir and I believe I have found it in Mr. Bruffy's combined Kansas City Chorale and Phoenix Bach Choir. Perhaps not quite up to the Dale Warland standard, but very close- blend, intonation, balance is absolutely spot on. Occasionally (and this is a nit pic), attacks are not exactly together; by this I mean that if you turn the volume up very high a section of the choir may come in a half second before the rest of the group, however, this does not detract from the music at all and I only mention it here because they are already close to perfection.

As for this disc, I was blown away. I sat, spellbound for an hour. Never once does the choir lose its balance or intensity -difficult to do when the music gets quiet, and rest assured with a title like eternal rest miles and miles of soft singing exists here. In essence this disc includes the best performance of Ticheli's piece I have ever heard and the Martin is a strong contender for best. On a side note, Chandos has some fantastic engineers working for them as every Cd I have heard recorded by them has been phenominally done and this one is no different. Do yourself a favor and buy this disc, I will be snapping up all their other material as well."

Brief correction

Nathan Saetveit | Ames, IA USA | 06/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just a brief correction to a previous review: Clausen's "In Pace" was written in 1996-97. Clausen says about the piece:



"I composed 'In Pace' initially in response to ... the Holocaust, following a visit to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, Poland, by the Concordia Choir in 1996. Rather than portray the horrible drama of those events, I chose a tone poem which is a supplication for peace and rest for those who lost their lives there."



However, the official dedication is "In Memory of Cantor Stuart Pittle of Temple Jedea of Coral Gables, Florida" (commissioned by the University of Miami Chorale, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Conductor.)



There is another wonderful recording with this piece called "In the New Moon" by the Concordia Choir (all around wonderful recording).



About this disk: Very fine choral singing, and wonderful literature!"