Customer Reviews

Wondrous Love

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

 

 

Most of the choral music in this excellent anthology is new to me. The musicians, however are not. Paul Halley, for many years both the Director of Music at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and a member, composer and arranger of the Paul Winter Consort, is very much a known - and talented - musician. And his Gaudeamus adult choir have performed with great skill on "Sacred Feast" and with humor and moving vocalism on "Pete" (the quintessential Pete Seeger album), both reviewed elsewhere at Amazon.com by me. One of the songs in this album is, on the other hand, something I've come to treasure for sentimental reasons; I'll leave that one for the end of this commentary.

The opening suite of five songs ("Love Songs for Springtime") is alternately sweet and droll. Particularly humorous is "The Lover's Arithmetic"; you won't have any difficulty following the mathematics set out therein, given the crystal-clear enunciation of these singers.

The more liturgical pieces in the center of the album are all fine, and beautifully done. Of these, one stands out in particular relief: "Jesu, The Very Thought of Thee." It is simply drop-dead gorgeous, with Halley's pipe organ providing a stunning backdrop and underpinnings to the chorus.

The album ends with two selections in a more "heroic" mode: "What Stood Will Stand," set to words by Wendell Berry, the famous poet and social critic, and the title song, "Wondrous Love" (from The Southern Harmony hymn book).

This title song, with its dramatically open harmonies, had been a favorite of the late, great Robert Shaw. (In fact, at the memorial tribute given to Shaw in Atlanta shortly after his passing, this song had been prominently featured in the tribute.) Halley's arrangement, utterly dramatic in contradistinction to Shaw's a capella setting, is a tour de force and - if one is needed - the one single reason for acquiring this album. Stunningly set for chorus, brass quintet, timpani and percussion, and organ, Halley's arrangement brings forth the heroic dimension of this work. The Battell Brass are uniformly excellent in the work, Gordon Gottlieb (long a Paul Winter Consort "regular") is his usual astounding self in the vital percussion parts, and Halley of course underpins the whole work, once again, with his organ work.

I don't think there's a track on this album you won't like. But get it for its title work; it's more than worth it for that alone.

Bob Zeidler

This is a wonderfull cd of gorgeous voices and wonderful background music. I myself am in the chorus, and it is a lot of work that we have to do and do it right. I have been in it for about-this is my fith year and am loving it. I listen to the cd almost everyday and it helps me develope of what i need to work on a head of time. Eventhough I was not on any of the cds, I still enjoy listening to them. This one being the best. So I hope you will enjoy listening to this cd.

This is a wonderfull cd of gorgeous voices and wonderful background music. I myself am in the chorus, and it is a lot of work that we have to do and do it right. I have been in it for about-this is my fith year and am loving it. I listen to the cd almost everyday and it helps me develope of what i need to work on a head of time. Eventhough I was not on any of the cds, I still enjoy listening to them. This one being the best. So I hope you will enjoy listening to this cd.

This is a wonderfull cd of gorgeous voices and wonderful background music. I myself am in the chorus, and it is a lot of work that we have to do and do it right. I have been in it for about-this is my fith year and am loving it. I listen to the cd almost everyday and it helps me develope of what i need to work on a head of time. Eventhough I was not on any of the cds, I still enjoy listening to them. This one being the best. So I hope you will enjoy listening to this cd.