Search - Malcolm Hicks, london philharmonic choir, London's National Philharmonic Orchestra :: Hymns Triumphant 1 & 2

Great music, disappointed by incomplete tracks

gigimat99 | Georgia, USA | 11/02/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The music is great. The Hymns are classic in wording and melody which is commendable since the traditional words are becoming harder to find. My regret is that I did not realize the first CD is only short (40 seconds to 2 minutes) excepts of the hymns consisting of a verse or sometimes only the refrain. They are not complete hymns or even the first and last verses. The second CD does contain complete (at least a complete verse or two) pieces, although in my opinion the hymns of the first CD are the ones I most want to hear."

A Waste of $11

Irish Critic | Cherrywood, Republic of Ireland | 10/24/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Don't be fooled by the samples. They've taken some of the greatest hymns ever composed, sung them beautifully but abridged them almost beyond recognition. It may benefit an organ-student or a recent convert who'd like a varied `sampler' of traditional church music. But to the mature hymn-loving believer it's a disaster of a CD. They've managed to outdo the Football Association by making "Abide with Me" even shorter than the F.A. Cup version. The medleys sound a little contrived for me, but may suit some tastes. Heaven knows why they decided to record the 1st and 3rd verses of a personal favourite of mine "Once to Every Man and Nation". This hymn is what I would term `climactic' in that the final two lines are a sort of theological `punch-line' for the entire hymn. The reckless omission of verses 2 and 4 would have James Russell Lowell turning in his grave!!!



The quality of the singing is the only redeeming feature of this CD. Indeed the appalling abridgements are all the more painful for the excellent voices. They ought to have recorded full-length hymns on 4 CDs and doubled the price. I'd have happily paid $22 for that. But this product, in its current state, would be poor value for money at 11 cents - never mind 11 dollars!!!

"

So good, left me wanting more

Daniel M. Hixon | mostly Louisiana | 02/07/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album contains many well-selected, beautifully arranged, and wonderfully presented hymns of the church. It is a pleasure to listen to, and I recommend it to all. My one complaint is that, in many cases, only one or two verses of the hymns are sung so that I am left wanting more. But I guess they are keeping the tracks short to so that they can fit more different hymns on the CD. So the advantage is that there are a LOT of different hymns, but the drawback is that most of them are pretty short."