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Track(s) taken from SIGCD325

Four American Carols

composer
2010

NYCoS National Girls Choir, Philip Moore (piano), Andrew West (piano), Christopher Bell (conductor)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
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Studio Master:
Recording details: April 2012
Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
Produced by Alexander Van Ingen
Engineered by Mike Hatch & Richard Bland
Release date: March 2013
Total duration: 8 minutes 45 seconds
 

Reviews

'Like his one-time mentor Benjamin Britten, Bennett showed a genuine aptitude for writing music for children, particularly vocal works. Christopher Bell and the NYCoS National Girls Choir offer a delightful and varied programme of this corner of Bennett's output. In addition to the amusing Letters to Lindbergh, the album includes The Ballad of Sweet William, The Aviary, Dream-Songs, A Song at Evening and Four American Carols. All receive idiomatic readings from the clean, incisive voices of this superb Scottish choir, and throughout one marvels at Bennett's gift for distinctive yet always memorable melody. [This album] can be warmly recommended' (Choir & Organ)

'Produced before Bennett's death, this forms a moving tribute to a masterly composer. The immediately attractive opener, Letters to Lindbergh, quirkily imagines correspondence the aviator might have received from, among others, Pluto (the cartoon dog!) and the Titanic. His gift for soaring, exciting and grateful vocal lines is shown time and time again, and this young Scottish group repay him in spades. Warmly recommended' (Classical Music Magazine)

The set of Four American Carols for chorus and piano or strings was composed in 2010. In exploring these American texts Bennett has produced tenderly melodious, rhythmically interesting and harmonically subtle settings that refer to the traditions of both Spiritual and Blues.

from notes by Malcolm MacDonald © 2012

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