Parry: Songs of Farewell

“admirable performances and recording. Louis Halsey's choir, with its almost boy-like sopranos, is just right for these motets, while the recording sets them resonantly, as if in a cathedral. The choir sings its magnificently singable lines with evident appreciation of their moving beauty, obviously inspired by Halsey, whose heart is in the music” Gramophone Magazine (Parry, Stanford)

“Louis Halsey is obviously much in sympathy with both composers and gets most responsive singing from his choir, with excellent diction” Gramophone Magazine (Elgar, Delius)

“Halsey has helped to set a new standard in such choral singing, one of the splendid bonuses of the King's tradition, from which Halsey stems. Recording first-rate as one would expect from Argo” Gramophone Magazine (Folk songs)

“all performed with Tenebrae’s customary poise.” Financial Times, 15th October 2011 ****

“[Tenebrae's] account of Parry's Songs of Farewell abounds in subtleties of phrasing and telling distinctions of dynamic, yet flows beautifully, the textual narrative unfolding with a rare continuity and coherence. Technically the singing is impeccable without being at all effortful or studied...Huge credit to Nigel Short. Of this programme's type, I can't envisage hearing anything better.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 *****

“Short gives wonderful shape to the well-known 'My soul, there is a country' and extracts that essential longing from 'I know my soul hath power'...Most impressive, however, is the fluidity of the double-choir motet, 'Lord, let me know mine end', the textual clarity and emotional intensity of that fairly summarises the complexity of the composer's heterodoxy.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011

“The tone quality achieved by Tenebrae is incredibly smooth and consistent. There isn't a hint of unevenness or unwanted peaks and troughs within individual voice parts. It's an extremely easy choir to listen to...there is a very quiet, still quality to the disc that, over the course of the whole programme, is quite soporific, relaxing and altogether ideal for a winter evening's listening.” International Record Review, February 2012

“The opening 'My soul, there is a country' immediately draws the listener in by its self-communing quality, and conductor Christopher Stokes intelligently punctuates Parry's response to Henry Vaughan's poetic adumbration of the afterlife.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2009 ****

“The performances of the "Great" Service and the two grand pièces d'occasion, I was glad and Hear my words, are sung with conviction, rhythmical vitality and control, and sensitively accompanied by Jeffrey Makinson…” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

... immaculate discipline, radiant purity and expressive fervour. Impeccable production values add to the very real attractions of this Cedille release.
Gramophone

'A fine recital' (Gramophone)

“The more of Parry's music one comes to know, the more apparent it becomes that the received opinion of him is askew. Take the 1882 settings of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, for instance.
These, amazingly, were not published until 1982. This recording – another example of Hyperion's courageous policy – shows how un- Victorian in the accepted sense they're. In other words, they're bold, unconventional and unsanctimonious – like quite a lot of Victorian church music, one may add. Perhaps the big anthem, Hear my words (1894) shows more signs of conventionality, but it has an attractive part for solo soprano (treble here) and ends with the hymn 'O praise ye the Lord'. The St George's Chapel Choir, conducted by Christopher Robinson, sings these works with more ease than it can muster for the famous and magnificent Coronation anthem I was glad, ceremonial music that not even Elgar surpassed. A sense of strain among the trebles is always evident. Although a wholly adult choir in the Songs of Farewell might be preferable, these are assured and often beautiful performances – excellent diction – of these extraordinarily affecting motets. English music doesn't possess much that's more perfect in the matching of words and music than the settings of 'There is an old belief' and 'Lord, let me know mine end', invidious as it is to select only two for mention. A stirring Jerusalem completes this enterprising recording, which brings the sound of a great building into our homes with absolute fidelity.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Extremely accomplished singing moulded into a coherent and eloquent whole.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2006