Search - Francis Poulenc, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sven-David Sandstrom :: In the New Moon

A new representative of the Lutheran choral tradition

03/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I purchased this album upon my return from the American Choral Directors Association convention in San Antonio, where this choir was one of the featured ensembles. Move over, St. Olaf Choir. This is the choir that best represents this tradition. This album is simply divine. Purity of sound, blend, diction, and overall ensemble is constant through this album. The Tavener piece has a small "clicking" sound (riser creak?), but this is only a minor detail. The musicality and meaning of the music is so sucessfully communicated. Bravo, Concordia! You are my favorite college choir!"

The perfect choir

Mathew Calewarts | VA | 06/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This choir really has something going for it. Their sound is out absolutely fenomenal. Each member has to do a great deal of listening to achieve such a uniform blend. Their are slight traces of vibrato where it should not be, but the vibrato, where added, is tasteful. It is very obvious that the choir has spent hours working on intonation. From my experience, I know that tuning a choir takes MANY hours of practice. It can be very frustrating, but the work pays off. This is obviously the case with this choir and their preparartion of these pieces. In short, every detail of every song on this CD is perfect. Their diction is great..especially the consonants.I enjoy the selection of pieces on this CD, although I have to say that a few sound a bit too modern for my ear, if that makes any sense. This is definitely true for the Hugo Distler piece, which sounds too jumpy..you have to hear it to understand, although I appreciate the song's level of difficulty. Taverner's "Song for Athene" is moving and Clausen's own "In Pace" is sublime. This CD showcases choral singing at its best, don't miss it."

Perfection

Virginia music lover | northern Virginia United States | 05/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best choral ensemble I've heard in a while. There is no strain in the voices, and the intonation seems perfect. Nor is there any hardness in the louder portions -- one sometimes hears this in some soprano sections. There are a few contemporary pieces but don't let that scare you off even if you like older choral works.



It is amazing to hear such perfect voices. And the recording is top notch too."