Customer Reviews

Thompson: Frostiana; Testament of Freedom

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

 

 

I really wanted to like this CD, as I'm very fond of Randall Thompson's choral music. And in many ways I thoroughly enjoyed the performances here.

Let's start with what's right:
1. The balance in the chorus in quite good.
2. The orchestra is excellent.
3. Diction is excellent -- entrances and cut-offs likewise. Vowel-matching has obviously been stressed, and it really helps with the blend.
4. The Testament of Freedom is sung with passion and fire -- precisely what this glorious piece needs. Very well done, indeed.
5. "A Girl's Garden" is utterly delightful! Wonderful clarity, you get a sense of a group of friends telling you a charming story about a village "legend," which is exactly how it should be done, in my opinion.

Now, for some of what I believe are deficiencies:
1. The balance between the orchestra and the chorus in the Testament is off in places. The orchestra overpowers the chorus in some of the quieter parts.
2. As someone else pointed out, the chorus is very noticably FLAT in "The Road Not Taken" -- especially at the end. We're not talking just a minor drift -- it's more like 1/4 tone or more. Surely someone during recording would have noticed?

The problems are enough to keep me from giving this five stars. It's a good recording, and certainly one to have if for no other reason than it's probably the only commercially-available recording of the SATB version of Testament of Freedom. Thompson's setting of Thomas Jefferson's words is extraordinary, and deserves more popularity than it has received. Maybe now that patriotism seems to be back in fashion, this music will receive more play.

I listen on a high quality system and find the recording quiteclean and open. It could, perhaps, challenge systems that lackdefinition and dynamic range.

As far as the performance itself, it is, as far as I know, one of the few performances of "Testament" and the only one of Frostiana available on CD. Testament is big and bold --- appropriate to the music and setting, I think. Frostiana is delightfully nuanced, although it does sound as though it was recorded in more than one setting. For me, this recording is one of the treasures of my collection. I was particularly glad to find it because only a very old release of "Testament" with "grim" acoustics has been available previously. END

It is evident that the reason for purchasing and listening to this recording is not to hear the Manhattan Chamber Chorus or the skilled work of Richard Clark, but to have a record of, and an emotional experience with, what may be two of the most important American compositions written in the 20th century. Randall Thompson wrote both of these pieces under commission. "Testament of Freedom" was written in 1939 for the University of Virginia Men's Glee Club and "Frostiana" was written in 1959 for the bicentenial of the Township of Amherst, Massachusetts. Thompson wrote in Gstaad, Switzerland and it was there where he immersed himself in the text of each work. He is, without doubt, one of the most skilled crafters of setting text to music throughout all time. "Testament of Freedom" and "Frostiana" are two very different compositions and the reason for their commission is evident in their overall sound. Firstly, "Testament" was written to inspire nationalism during a time when our country was on the brink of war. Thompson had a strong emotional connection with various areas of Central Europe and his compositions often reflected this. (His now famous "Alleluia" was composed in five days only and a day after Hitler invaded Paris.)"Frostiana" was set to the texts of Robert Frost and though the two of them were in communication a great deal, it is not known to what degree Frost had input in this work. The selection of the poetry and the setting of the music to the text was completed in Switzerland and delivered to Amherst at the end of August in 1959. In looking upon the original scores, it can be seen that meticulous thought was placed into capturing the essence of each poem. Thompson managed this beautifully and at the premier of the piece the following October, Robert Frost stood at the end, after the choir had stopped but before the audience could reasct and said, "May we hear that again please?" Both of these compositions are brilliant and deserve five stars when even nothing more than existing on paper.
Clark's rendition of these works is admirable. There is great detail to the choral work, each and every entrandce begining with the same vowel; all releases occuring preciesly where Thompson put them. Despite the feeling that the choir was out of tune, I have not heard this ever. I have listened to this recording dozens of times and felt that any tiny blips within the recording and performance were nothing more than that. I am not one who favors a flawless digital recording, particularly with such rich material. Clark, his choir and orchestra, did a remarkable job at preserving and presenting both of these pieces. Given the fact that Thompson is, arguably, the finest American choral composer to have lived, it is a must to own this recording simply for archival purposes. the fact that the recording is a joy is a plus.

The other reviewers here have done well discussing the quality of the works represented on this CD. I will not endeavor to add more.

The recording, however, features VERY lackluster performances by choir and orchestra. The choir sings without giving to the text any sense of connection or textual phrasing. For example, the choir sounds like: "THE - GOD - WHO - GAVE - US - LIBERTY...," instead of: "The God who gave LIBERTY." Every quarter note should not sound the same; rather, the text should be sung musically with a sense of oratory. All quar-ter-notes-should-not-be-equal.

The orchestra sounds pretty, but doesn't have much spark or energy to give the performance an engaging sense.

If you can, find another recording for these great works. You'll be glad you did.

I purchased this cd for the seven-song "Frostiana" segment. That such beautiful music could be recorded with so little passion and audial clarity is very disappointing. "Choose Something Like a Star" lacks the song's earnestness. It drags like a dirge more applicable to the work of Emily Dickinson than to that of Robert Frost. I have heard these songs presented more professionally by high school choirs. For anyone who has an interest in hearing "Frostiana," it would be best not to listen to this recording.

I first heard "Testament of Freedom" sung by a high school glee club (St. Vincent's Seminary, Montebello CA) many years ago; the Notre Dame glee club also performed selections when I was a member in 1971; this is a favorite piece, but difficult to find recordings of. When I saw this CD on Amazon, I jumped at the opportunity to purchase it.

"Testament" sounds very good to me, both in performance and engineering. The dynamic range is awesome, almost to the point where I have to adjust the volume control to be able to hear the soft passages without blasting the speakers/headphones out on the loud. With that comment, this recording is pretty close to being perfect.

Regarding "Frostiana," I agree with many of the comments regarding what I perceive as "mudiness" in the recording. However, since I never heard the piece before listening to this recording, I don't really know what it should sound like. In any event, the piece itself is only slightly better than OK to me and the performance/recording is not really interesting. But it's not bad...

All in all, a good CD -- recommended.

The entire recording sounded as if it was done in a small space.... "Testament....": Mushy sound, words not articulated. Shouting the music does not necessarily mean passionately *feeling* and singing the music. "Frostiana": Choir went *flat* on "Road Not Taken." It was really evident at the very end; "Girl's Garden" somewhat wooden and rushed. It is supposed to be full of life! "The Pasture" and "Stopping By Woods..." were the better of the rest, but sound still mushy. "Choose Something Like a Star": rushed, mushy, no words articulated. The positive thing about this CD - the music is Randall Thompson's.

I am very fond of The Testament of Freedom and it was rendered well. I was suprised to find it was the SATB version rather than the original TTBB. I think the male chorus version is more powerfull. As for Frostiana I am delighted to have this work.

I'm not going to say that this is a perfect recording or performance, but I am hard pressed to find anything significantly negative about the CD, hence, five stars.

I sang "Choose Something like a Star" in a regional choir when I was in high school in Texas in 1967 and have longed for years to hear that song once again, having been so moved by the grandeur of being part of a 400 voice choir and being totally enveloped in the sound. I was very pleased to finally find this performance.

Testament took a little getting used to, but when I first played the CD, I was in random mode and it wasn't until I fixed that and read more closely the liner notes that I understood there were two works on the CD and why the songs seemed so incongruous.

As for the choir being flat on "The Road Less Traveled," I just have to say that it is undetectable to my ears, which are not what they used to be due to the din of war, but even though I am now missing much of the higher frequencies, I do believe that I can still detect when someone is singing off-key. Such is not the case here.

Maybe there is an archetypal performance out there against which this one does not fair well, however, this is the one that I have and it brings me great joy each time it is played.

This CD provides an excellent presentations of two of Randall Thompson's best works. There is an interesting contrast in putting both Frostiana and the Testament of Freedom on the same CD. Testament of Freedom is full blooded patriotic and is likely to produce a lump in the throat. Frostiana is much lighter and fun to both perform and hear. I liked both works very much.