Search - John Corigliano, Cecil Effinger, Mel Powell :: John Corigliano: Fern Hill / L'Invitation au Voyage / Cecil Effinger: Four Pastorales / Four Songs about Birds / Mel Powell: Sweet Lovers Love the Spring / Six Love Songs - Oregon Repertory Singers

The question is, how badly do you want a disc of very well-sung but not so great music? Here is a selective survey of relatively recent American choral music--and heaven knows we could use more first-rate recordings that cover such repertoire. The disc features two substantial works by John Corigliano and some relatively minor and unremarkable choral pieces by jazz pianist Mel Powell and band composer Cecil Effinger. The Corigliano selections were first recorded by the Kansas City Chorale (on Nimbus), and even this outstanding choir couldn't elevate the often meandering, clumsy, and ineffective writing beyond the level of merely interesting. Here, the Oregon Repertory Singers show a fine polish and well-rehearsed enthusiasm that would be far better applied to more substantive scores. Dylan Thomas's "Fern Hill" and Baudelaire's "L'invitation au voyage" quite simply embody such music in their texts that it's merely spoiled in settings that miss the poems' inherent sounds and rhythms. --David Vernier