Customer Reviews

Vaughan Williams: Hymns and Choral Music

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What a pity! This is a lovely collection of Vaughan Williams' choral works and hymns. Unfortunately, Chandos strikes again. The sound quality is very poor. One must have the volume up to a high level to hear this CD pleasantly. The fault with this CD is not its subject or the artistry of the performers. It lies soley with Chandos. I believe this is a common problem with their recordings.

Yes, this is a lovely collection of hymns - but I must disagree with the previous reviewer who states that Chandos' sound is poor.

Chandos, like many other high quality recording labels, goes for a more natural balance in their recording technique. This means that their recordings, when listened to on a good audio system, will place you about 1/3 to 1/2way back in the hall rather than inside of the orchestra. The latter is best represented by the multi-microphone Decca recordings made during the same period of time.

While the Decca recordings are exciting, it is unnatural to suddenly hear, say, a clarinet pop up front and center. The recordings can get tiring on the ears!

Chandos, Hyperion, BIS and other niche labels capture a more natural acoustic. I'd hate to see lover's of VW's music dissuaded from this lovely recording simply because a handful of amazon folks voted the other review as "Helpful" without having heard the actual recording.

VY wrote some beautiful hymns (despite his wavering faith). Please don't deprive yourself of hearing this wonderful music, in a very fine recording. At the price it's currently selling for from third party sellers, it's a steal!