Customer Reviews

Wake Ev'ry Breath - Music of William Billings

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

 

 

I have performed many of these works with professional and amateur groups, and this is simply the best Billings I have ever heard. It strikes the perfect balance between the raw energy and directness of this wonderful early American music and the skill and refinement of great choral singing. There are real adventures here as well, with several pieces, I believe, being given their premiere recording, like the unusual New Boston/Hingham and the simply beautiful Mourn, Mourn in Billings's final version. Appling is a tremendous conductor, and what is really remarkable is that this is a live performance. Most groups need many studio takes to do what this group did in one.

William Billings has always been so underrated, but this recording should help rectify that. Though it was released a few years ago I just discovered it and am thoroughly impressed by the repertoire, the recording and especially the beautiful performances. I can only imagine how gratified Billings himself would have been to hear this. And it was recorded on his 250th birthday!

I have not enjoyed a choral recording this much is a long time. Billings is such a fine composer and the performances here are wonderful. Unlike most recordings of this kind, it was not done in either a huge church or a studio but in a smaller, chapel-like setting, the kind of place I imagine people would have been singing Billing when he was writing. This gives it a wonderful quality. It's nice to know there is now another excellent Billings CD along with Paul Hillier's. I also read that this is a concert recording; this may give it a certain lack of "perfection" in terms of the singing always being "just so" and some extraneous sounds, but being live also gives the performances a real immediacy and presence.

This recording received a rave review in the Sept/Oct American Record Guide, and it was well deserved. Billings's music is still vastly underrated, but this excellent CD should help increase his reputatation as a truly important composer. William Appling (an amazing conductor!) leads beautiful performances of some familiar and lesser known works, and, as it is a live recording from a concert, there is a vitality and urgency that is all too lacking in many studio recordings. This is music that should be heard by anyone interested in the beginnings of American music, and should especially be listened to (and studied) by composers. Billings was a true original.

I feel compelled to comment on the negative reviews posted here of this excellent recording. While there may be some lacking in the quality of the actual recording itself (the cover says it was a "live" recording from a concert), the performances are simply wonderful. One should note that the CD was released by New World Records, one of the most discriminating and important labels around. Also, I would refer potential listeners to the "Editorial Reviews" given to the recording, all of them from leading publications including Gramophone Magazine, the American Record Guide, Musical Times, etc. Each points to the high quality of the singing, conducting AND the recording. Not only is the music very well done, there are a number of pieces here that (I'm pretty sure) have never been recorded before, so it's really an invaluable CD. I purchased this when it was first released and it has never failed to move and inspire me, even after many listenings. William Billings was, I truly feel, a great composer, and this recording, along with those by Paul Hillier and some others, is absolutely worthy of his greatness.

This recording is completely amateur in ev'ry way. Choral entrances tend to be sloppy, the choral blend is mediocre, and the singing is completely uninspired. The recording itself sounds like somebody happened to show up at the performance with a couple of microphones and a tape deck, so they thought: What the heck, let's stash the microphones, oh, how about over here, and make a recording.

For real excellence, try the one by Paul Hillier and company.

This is a lifeless interpretation of Billing's fiery work. The recordings of both the Boston Camerata and Paul Hillier are vastly superior. This recording is not worth the price.

A bad, amateur recording. Although it is a live concert recording, it has bad sound quality. The chorus is also not very clean in its performance--tuning, it seems, is a problem as a rule rather than exception, not to mention extremely messy entrances and cutoffs. Billings has a lot of fun music, but this is one recording that should be avoided.