Customer Reviews

The Doctrine of Wisdom: Sacred Choral Music of William Mathias

5 star:		(2)
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This collection of some of the sacred choral music written by William Mathias is beautifully sung and extremely well-recorded.

The programme is well-balanced and includes some of Mathias's more virtuosic works for choir, which demand and receive articulate, well-tuned and dynamic performances from the Gloriae Dei Cantores and their director Elizabeth Patterson. Most of the works have received few performances, to my knowledge, and even fewer recordings.

The performers are well-known as exponents of Gregorian chant, but their commitment to and belief in all styles of choral music clearly shines through in these rivetting performances.

The works cover a broad span of Mathias's all-too-quickly-ended life from 1973 to 1992 (the year of his death) and demonstrate both the eclecticism, humour and consistency of his voice as a composer. For those unfamiliar with his works, this is an ideal introduction. For those who already know his work well, like myself, this is a wonderful addition of rareties and a fitting memorial to a composer who is under-represented in the catalogues.

I would give it 10 stars if I could **********

This disc is a superb find, with rare gems by one of the most brilliant 20th century composers. Taken from life at a far too early age, Mathias' choral works are as fascinating, if not quite as accessible as Vaughan Williams' or Benjamin Britten's. I only wish three additional choral masterpieces were included: "Wassail", "Let All the People Rejoice" and "A Babe is Born", but that is a very small gripe. The pieces included here are all superb and are more rare, and besides this, the pieces I listed are included on other very fine recordings. If you like beautifully constructed choral harmonies, with dramatic scores for organ and/or orchestra, and especially if you've ever enjoyed choral works by British composers like Benjamin Britten, William Walton or Ralph Vaughan Williams, this disc is a must. Buy this, and you'll definitely want to search out the other pieces I mentioned later.