Simple Gifts

Joseph Brackett (Composer), Shaker Traditional (Composer), Susannie M. Brady (Composer), William Billings (Composer), American Traditional (Composer), Elizabeth Poston (Composer), Virgil Thomson (Composer), Aaron Copland (Composer), John [British Composer] Ireland (Composer), Kevin Siegfried (Composer), Ralph Vaughan Williams (Composer), John Rutter (Composer), Doug Fullington (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Joseph Brackett, Shaker Traditional, Susannie M. Brady, William Billings, American Traditional, et al.
• Audio CD (April 14, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Gothic Records
• ASIN: B001TD1XLC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,673 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 14-APR-2009

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly modern choral music with only a few Shaker melodies, June 28, 2010

By 

A.T.R. (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simple Gifts (Audio CD)

"Simple Gifts" is a follow-up to the Tudor Choir's "Gentle Words," a recording of achingly beautiful Shaker songs. Alas, this collection doesn't live up to the promise of its predecessor, largely because much of the content of this album is not Shaker music per se. Though it is pretty choral music, much of it is rather modern, including pieces by 20th century composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Ireland, John Rutter and choir director Doug Fullington. One long work by contemporary composer Kevin Siegfried (a Shaker poem set to his music) takes up almost one fourth of the playing time on the CD! These songs lack the passion and raw power of the original Shaker songs. Lastly, there are no fewer than four versions of the song 'Tis a Gift to be Simple on this CD, which is a bit repetitive even for an admittedly pleasant song.