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V 1: Agnus Dei
 
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V 1: Agnus Dei

Barber; Faure; Palestrina; Moz (Composer), Higginbottom; Choir of New College; Oxford (Performer) | Format: Audio CD
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Product Details
1. Agnus Dei, op.11 - Barber
2. Cantique de Jean Racine, op.11 - Faure
3. Kyrie - Palestrina
4. Ave Verum Corpus K 618 - Mozart
5. Jesus bleibet meine Freude - Bach
6. Ave Maria, op.37 No.6 - Choir Of New College Oxford
7. Lux Aeterna - Choir Of New College Oxford
8. Totus Tuus - Choir Of New College Oxford
9. Hear my prayer - Mendelssohn
10. The Lamb - Tavener
11. In paradisum - Faure
12. Miserere mei, Deus - Choir Of New College Oxford

Product Description

From Amazon.co.uk

This album of choral classics, recorded in the beautiful acoustics of New College Chapel, Oxford, has been given the subtitle "World of Inner Harmony". If one were to be cynical, it suggests a stream of crystals'n'kaftans mood music. The surprise, however, is that though conductor Edward Higginbottom has created an unruffled surface of reflection and calm, he and his choir have also crafted a musically satisfying disc. Much of the variety is to be found in the significantly different styles on offer, from the slow build of Barber's Agnus Dei, through the restrained Gallic beauty of Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine, to the spare spirituality of Górecki's Totus Tuus. There is also a sophisticated approach to the different acoustics needed for each piece. Fauré's In Paradisum is handled with much more intimacy than, for example, the Kyrie of Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli, which is recorded at a far greater distance. The most risky item on the disc is John Cameron's arrangement of Elgar's "Nimrod" for eight-part choir, using the words of the Lux Aeterna: it teeters between kitsch and real power. In the end, as with most of the pieces here, the choir's extraordinary performance renders it hugely enjoyable. --Warwick Thompson

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
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 (15)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Music to Feed Your Soul, Jan 2 2001
By 
Roger Lakins (North Bergen, New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: V 1: Agnus Dei (Audio CD)
This is one of those albums that is conceived as a program carefully calculated to give the listener Goosebumps and evoke a tear from the eye. When lesser musicians try to pull such a stunt, the effect is maddening. You feel as though you are being emotionally manipulated, and you resent it. When the efforts of first class musicians such as Higginbottom and the Choir of New College, Oxford, attempt such a feat, it is an emotional, musical, and religious experience. The majority of the repertoire heard on this disc is quite familiar to most listeners in one form or another, but you will rarely hear a choir of such clean, precise and yet passionate sound take on these pieces.

The first selection on the disc is Samuel Barber's own transcription of his "Adagio for Strings" to the Mass text, "Agnus Dei." This composition is difficult for string players to keep in tune, so we can imagine how difficult it is for a choir to sustain the pitch a cappella! The New College performance is a "must hear." Words fail to adequately convey the beauty, balance, and intense music making captured on this disc. The effect is hypnotic. The conductor had the good sense and taste to offer a program with enough variety that you are given an emotional rest on occasion, but the basic meditative atmosphere is sustained throughout the program. The Elgar transcription of "Lux Aeterna" arranged by John Cameron is particularly worth treasuring. It shares much of the ethos of the Barber work and is rarely heard in this form.

The Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Faure which round out the work are very familiar favorites and given graceful, splendid performances. They are so good, in fact, that it would make the album a great gift idea for churches to give amateur choir members as a thank you and inspiration for improvement. The Rachmaninoff and Gorecki are music for the initiated and receive convincing, winning performances here. The Allegri, though rarely heard, is a hauntingly beautiful composition and was a particular favorite of Mozart.

This beautiful album makes a wonderful background for meditation. It is the perfect music to glory in when your soul is thirsty.

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5.0 out of 5 stars If anything, buy for the Mozart, July 7 2004
By 
A. Fondacaro "NiaTonyF" (Silverdale, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: V 1: Agnus Dei (Audio CD)
I usually don't like these sort of "Classical Mixes" that give you snippets of work that are particularily interesting to the non-initiated. For the sake of classical music, it's far better to listen to an entire piece and appreciate it on the whole.

However, this album contains one of the best recordings of "Ave Verum Corpus" I have ever heard. Even if you are only a casual listener of classical, this performance will turn your ears inside-out. The sheer beauty of this rendition is ethereal, the synthesis of voices and strings perfect, and the conducting flawless. It conveys a good portion of the full weight of Mozart's joyful genius. If the mood is constructed just right then and there, I get tearful.

Listening to Mozart; I hear the most effusive joy, even in his Requiem. It's as if he is rejoicing at the gift of his talent by exercising it fully in every piece. But if Mozart was ever arrogant or pompous in life, I cannot hear it in his music.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Transformed, Jun 12 2003
By 
Jane McPherson (Jacksonville, FL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: V 1: Agnus Dei (Audio CD)
This CD contains works so masterfully executed that you feel that you are in a church hearing the works performed live. I used this CD in my church for meditation at Eastertide. I listen to it every day and am transported to the place that the CD advertises, a place of inner harmony. I highly recommend it.
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