Search - Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford, Ralph Vaughan Williams :: Hear My Prayer: Choral Music of the English Romantics

Hear this Prayer

Ryan Pagenkopf | Irving, TX United States | 06/27/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD entralled me. I was skeptical of a twenty-four member ensemble being able to effectively hold together the intricacies of Vaughan William's Mass in G minor, assuming that the work was more fit for 40 or 50 member groups. However, His Majesty's Clerkes do an excellent job of conveying the reverence and solemnity of the mass through their depth and tone and produce a volume greater than the sum of their parts. Even their tonality, which is a difficult function that most choirs have trouble meeting, is very well done. The same can be said of the rest of the works on this CD. Most musicians are familiar with the splendor of the Stanford works and His Majesty's Clerkes are certainly up to the task of confronting a set of works so well known and scrutinized. The Songs of Farewell are works I was previously unacquainted with but now find tremendous pleasure in listening to. Being that Vaughan Williams is my favorite composer, however, I always revert to the mass, for it is there that I believe the true essence of the title of this CD comes forward and makes itself known and prominent. A wonderful buy."