Customer Reviews

Deep River

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Take this Hammer,' "Steal Away," and "My Lord What a Morning" are just three of the acappella treasures recorded in a warm, natural accoustic by these nine superb singers from Minnesota. The arrangements they've chosen are as complex and moving as their source lyrics and melodies, and the the 24-bit recording by John Atkinson is as good as you get.

It's not easy to make spirituals sound fresh, dynamic and viscerally affecting. But that's exactly what Cantus has done. This is choral singing of the highest order recorded by a master of recorded sound.

I do hope Cantus continues to record on this or another independent label. A big music conglomerate would just glitz it up.

These young men have accomplished so many splendid things on their own over the past nine years, and this release is their best by far.

Cantus is a little-known yet outstanding all-male vocal ensemble, and this is perhaps their best album yet. The acoustic detail of the music and the feel of the room in which it is recorded comes out brilliantly in this high quality recording. The artistic directors also deserve much praise, for the songs are arranged such that the entire album becomes a spiritually engaging and moving experience from start to finish. If you like vocal ensemble, you will not be disappointed by the lovely voices here.

Many years ago I had a vinyl record by the Robert Shaw Chorale the title of which was "Deep River." I've been waiting for it to be reissued on cd and have purchased many recordings of negro spirituals on cd hoping to find one where the performance could be compared favorably with the Robert Shaw recording. All of the tries were busts until I found this one. Wow!!! This is a super recoridng of those spirituals. The only thing it lacks is the female voices but thi group of males needs to make no apologies. I love this cd.

I bought "let Your Voice Be Heard" some time ago and really loved the interpretations, the virtuosity of the singing and the clarity of the recording. I'm a Stereophile subscriber and read the articles by Atkinson regarding the recording sessions - they take great care to do a good job and it shows.

This CD is compelling, if you like choral music you will love this disc. Listen to it a few times and you will go away singing.

There are a couple of spirituals on this disc that are also on "Let your voice..." but in different arrangements.

This album is fantastic. Spirituals are my favorite, and this selection, the unique arrangements, the fabulous voices, all combine to make one glorious album. It will have you singing, clapping, and dancing before you're done.

The deep River CD is absolutely fabulous! These guys can really sing. The beautiful blend, intonation and depth of feeling make this CD a joy to listen to over and over again! I'm so glad I found Cantus. Anyone who loves spirituals should add this CD to their collection.

Don't Get me wrong... Cantus is one of the finest male chamber choirs around right now. They do marvelous work and cover a wide variety. Unfortunately, spirituals are not exactly Cantus's strongest suit. The biggest hindrance to this recording is that Cantus does not effectively capture the "spirit" of a spiritual. The music almost sounds funny because the spirituals are sung with very traditional, very trained classical voices. I love hearing people sing who were trained very meticulously to sing well, but I don't want to hear someone sing "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" like Pavoratti. It sounds really funny and doen't capture the character of the music.
Another issue that I have with this recording (and most of Cantus's other recordings at that) is that it was recorded so softly. I don't like to have to feel like I am cranking my speakers to hear the music effectively. Being an active listener, I like to listen to music loud just because I can hear more layers when its loud. The low recording volume on the CD really hinders the active listening experience, leaving the CD to lend itself to the purpose of background music and passive listening.
Also, the first 5 arrangements on the disc are fairly bland. They are lack variety and musicality. Only until "Great God Almighty" comes around does the listener truly become exposed to really good choral writing. Other standing out arrangements are "Where You There?" which is absolutely moving, "There Is A Balm In Gilead" which is very well written, "Deep River" which is so tranquil and relaxing, and "Soon Ah Will Be Done" and "In His Care-O" are great bouncy arrangements.
Essentially, Cantus and Spirituals are just oil and water: they don't mix so well. Aside from a hand full of bland arrangements and a very low mixing job the CD only has one real hindrance of a problem: Cantus doesn't make the distinction between Spirituals and Brahms.

I am familiar with this group and their origins with the world famous St. Olaf Choir of Northfield, MN. While the singers are obviously talented, I felt like I was listening to 11 "solo" singers, rather than a tight ensemble. Way too much individual vibrato even considering the free-flowing genre of the music. I don't want them to be as "tight" as San Francisco's "Chanticleer", but holy smoke, there has got to be something in the middle. Maybe an association with Dale Warland would help, because they obviously have great potential.