Excelent music, ruined by lackluster performance
Matthew Rick | Michigan, USA | 04/15/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"As much as I love the music on this album, I simply could not get over the lackluster vocal technique. There were many times when it was ALMOST very, very good, but the voices simply did not have enough resonance, and many of the soloists were off-pitch. One of the best features of all-male vocal ensembles (precise close harmony producing harmonic overtones) simply was not present to a degree that I would have liked. Excellent arrangements, okay singing, but not a great album."
Robert Shaw and Alice Parker, with emphasis on the Parker
trileynyc | Appleton, WI USA | 09/18/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If there is a living legend of American Choral music, it might well be Alice Parker. In the 1950s and 1960s, Parker collaborated with Robert Shaw to compose and arrange what can only be described as "classics" in the canon of American choral literature. If you've ever been in a high school or college choir, you've encountered one or more of these timeless Parker/Shaw arrangements. This recording, a gem, features the men (along with a wondeful alto, Jacqueline Pierce) from Parker's own professional chamber chorus, "The Musicians of Melodious Accord." The recording is a must for anyone who loves American choral music. If you have the old RCA LP's with the Robert Shaw Chorale (under Shaw's direction) you are probably fond of these melodies for men's chorus. This album, with Parker conducting, offers a new, exciting, and refreshing interpretation of well-loved classics."