Customer Reviews

Gloryland [Hybrid SACD]

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is another gorgeous set of music from Anonymous 4. However, these ladies do come from the classical rather than the vernacular tradition. If you're very committed to either performing style this album may not appeal to you.

As is often the case when classically trained singers sing gospel or popular songs or broadway, pitch and clarity of tone is more important to these singers than emotional commitment (though that's not absent). If you're from the folk side, you may find the performances too formal, even to the point where "all the tunes sound alike."

From the other side, people from a classical background may find the singer's adoption of some traditional phrasing and pronunciations off-putting (though it many cases it's necessary in order for the lyrics to scan). The same problem exists when singing songs from "Guys and Dolls": Do you correct the grammar or sing the words as written?. The two instrumentalists use a rougher tone than people used to classical music may find acceptable (though early-music enthusiasts will probably feel right at home).

In addition, the four singers don't sound close-miked. Instead, the miking creates a sense of space (as if the group was singing in a church or meeting hall). If you're used to the sound created by placing the microphones close to the singer's lips (more typical in recording modern singers) as opposed to a "cathedral-like" effect (more typical of recording classical choral music) the result can be distancing.

However, when traditions collide something new happens. It's hard to predict if the result will appeal to you (or whether you even feel the combination is worth doing). I thought the result was beautiful: not a folk or gospel/bluegrass album nor an album of medieval chant but it still caught at my heart.

Just to offset the reviewer who suggested that Anonymous 4 don't like this kind of music: On this site, Marsha Genensky commented about Emmylou Harris's Angel Band CD, "This album came out not too very long after I first heard hymn singing in a tiny Primitive Baptist church in rural Arkansas. I was hooked. I'm still hooked." People's initial reaction doesn't fully describe how they grow into new things--something that might be remembered when listening to an album the first few times.

I purchased this CD after hearing the music contained within performed live in concert at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. The evening was magical and the performance was enlightening.

By enlightening I refer to the fact that Anonymous 4 has some thing to say on this album about American music; and that is, that there is a thread that connects Medieval European music to early American music. Moreover the thread is religious in origin specifically relating to church choirs plying religious tunes to the faithful through the centuries.

In short this recording is best thought of as a church choir version of local old Appalachian Hymns. Albeit, with the most heavenly voices on the planet. No screechy overweight church sopranos here.

The blend and pitch is exquisite, the choice of tunes thoughtful and the accompaniment perfectly balanced to the voices (in concert it was mentioned that this recording was supposed to be "a cappella music with instruments").

I agree with the reviewer who stated that the use of far-miking is distracting to the recording. This was not the case when the group played in concert nevertheless the women all stood about three to four feet from the microphones.

This music is definitely not African-American spiritual music. A rendering by these musicians of that music would be awful indeed.

I've been a fan of Anonymous 4 for years, and have seen them in concert. I also sing many of the songs included on the CD on a regular basis, for they come from a nineteenth century American, a cappella shaped-note songbook titled The Sacred Harp. Anonymous 4's haunting renditions turn these gritty, sometimes harsh harmonies into ethereal beauties, while taking away none of the intense essence that is Sacred Harp. A southern singer once said to me that Sacred Harp is "heavy metal music for country folk." Well, Anonymous 4 have taken that "heavy metal" and refined it into purest silver tones--silver tones that coat the common-metal core so important to this music, for it was and is music of the common people. If you enjoy shape-note music, early American music, Anonymous 4, or simply crave something different, I highly recommend this CD to you.

I'm completely in love with this album, both the performances and the music itself. I know there is a diversity of opinion about a group like Anonymous 4 performing music like this, and I can understand why. They don't do a typical "period" performance of the works, which usually comes out as dry as a stick and about as interesting (and yet still inaccurate somehow). But they also aren't ignoring what scholars have learned about performance practice either. They have managed to strike a balance between the two, and the performances come off as fresh, tasteful and engaging in a genre that has all but fallen off the map.

The music itself presents an interesting sound that will be largely unfamiliar to contemporary listeners. Many reviewers have remarked about the "raw" sound of some of the traditional shape note music, and they're not responding to the quality of the voices or lack thereof per se. Rather, this rawness comes from the compositional technique, namely, a preponderance of open intervals such as the fifth, fourth and octave, coupled with a modal-sounding avoidance of the 3rd and 7th degrees of the scale in the melodic lines. The first track is a typical example, and the sound here is open and raw because it's chock full of fourths, fifths, octaves and little else; the ringing effect is magnified by the group's consistently perfect intonation. These procedures are not modal in the strict sense, yet they do make one think of the Ars Nova of the 11th century and for the same reason. Compare that sound with track 9, "Return Again". This piece spends a lot of time emphasizing the interval of the third and the sixth, so it consequently sounds amazingly sweet and full in contrast.

Then there are the performances. The vocal sound is ravishing, polished with an almost lapidary care. Intonation is spot on, the ensemble is perfect even to the ornaments, breathing, and terminal consonants, and the presentation is highly energetic. The blend of the vocal colors is almost perfectly and very pleasingly matched. The group uses vibrato sparingly if at all, yet the vocal tone quality is unforced and open. They also make an effort to emulate the idiomatic ornaments and quarter-tone slides very convincingly. The only other group I know that comes up to this high level of accomplishment is Chanticleer, an all-boy group with a very different artistic focus.

I'm thrilled that Anonymous 4 has chosen to present a unique and almost unknown genre of music. The American musical heritage is much richer than is supposed, and this disc makes a case for its appreciation.

I am a great fan of the Anonymous 4 and we have much of their earlier recordings, as well as their first American gospel CD "American Angels." Despite the fact that I am an agnostic when it comes to religion, it is hard to not be moved deeply by this wonderful music, sung by four great voices.

In "Gloryland" the Anonymous 4 have departed somewhat from their usual a cappella presentations and have added two instrumentalists for at least some songs. This mostly works, sometimes spectacularly, although in a few spots it seemed to not quite make it. However the music is generally fantastically well done and the women's voices are a wonderful blend when they sing together and quite beautiful in solos as well.

Even if you don't believe in the literal truth expressed in these mostly early shape note and camp meeting songs, you cannot help but be emotionally touched by the very human needs expressed in them. To me these are the heart of the best in religion, which I think can speak to everyone who hears it, no matter what their beliefs.

I recommend this and the earlier works of the Anonymous 4 without reservation. These are simply great.

I am responding to Peter Vogel's review that could well discourage potential buyers of this beautiful music. I realize that Peter went on to point out many compelling nuances. However, I have had albums that "all sounded the same"--and this is definitely NOT one of them. For anyone who thinks so, I would invite him/her to examine the perturbations of his/her own soul, asking whether they really require that music should swing wildly from one extreme to another just to feel that they are truly "alive." These songs only "sound the same" if you think that the colors of a rainbow all "look the same" because they shimmer & meld into one another even as you look and try to fix them in your memory. Do not hesitate to buy this beautiful album. I'm glad I did.

awesome vocals, songs really touch your soul and put you out of the hectic pace of life and give you a sense of calm and purpose.

This is an amazing recording. I love it. Gotta say that it trransports me....without ever being cloying.

The beautiful voices and outstanding harmonies really work in this traditional music.

I purchased this CD the day after experiencing a performance by Anonymous 4. Friends had invited my husband and I to attend the concert, and I went blindly, having no idea what type of music I was about to hear. My mother had died earlier in the week, and I am convinced that the angels on stage that night sang just for my grieving heart. "Gloryland" continues to speak to my soul. The harmonies are beyond belief. The instrumental work is so closely aligned with the singers' voices that one cannot discern where either begins or ends. I commend this collection to anyone who is fascinated with the wonders of music and its ability to soothe and heal the human heart.