Search - Indianapolis Festival Orchestra, Frederick Burgomaster, Indianapolis Christ Church Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys :: Howells: Requiem; Faure: Requiem

Very solid performance of two great choral works

Gracejoy | New York, NY United States | 06/16/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Faure Requiem is everywhere (I have performed it myself more than once) and the Howells has also been recorded by at least one other choir (St. John's, Cambridge has a Naxos recording of this work) so there is nothing on here musically that would make this CD an absolute "must-have." However, I still recommend it as a good recording of very lovely music an an excellent example of the fine work that can come out of America's traditional all-male choirs. The two works contrast in tone, the Howells being quite sad and sombre (written shortly after the death of the composer's nine-year-old son in 1935) and the Faure much "lighter" in spirit and sound. Christ Church Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys gives a very solid performance of both works under Frederick Burgomaster, their director of many years. Lacking is the sheer refinement of some of the more prolific choirs, but the overall quality of singing is good throughout and at times beautiful, although the recording quality is not always ideal. The gentleman soloists are uniformly good, and I particularly enjoyed Stanley Irwin's singing in the Faure ("Libera me") - he is apparently a guest performer and not a regular member of the choir. The men's voices overall seem stronger to me on this recording than on the choir's "My Spirit Rejoices" recording, which I have also reviewed, in which I described them as "slightly dull." Here there is a lot more personality and energy to the singing. There are also solos by head chorister William Ferguson-Wagstaffe (Faure "Pie Jesu") and assistant head chorister Joshua Barton (Howells "Psalm 23") and these are well done - both boys have clear and very flute-like voices, so if you like that sound you will enjoy these performances. The treble sound overall is focused, well-blended and very straight-toned, with not a trace of vibrato in sight (the long treble passages in the ubiquitous "In paradisum" are, in my opinion, particularly well-suited to this kind of voice and the boys do an admirable job of it here). I really enjoyed this recording and think it would be a worthy purchase for any cathedral music or choral music enthusiast, although I concede that there are better recordings of both works available elsewhere. Nevertheless, the performance here is very assured and enjoyable and I am proud that it comes from one of our home-grown choirs over on this side of the "big pond." The accompanying CD booklet contains notes on the music and complete lyrics, as well as biographies of the principal soloists (Stanley Irwin and William Ferguson-Wagstaffe), the director Frederick Burgomaster, and the choir itself."