COMPOSERS: Bliss,Britten,Holst
LABELS: Hyperion Helios
WORKS: Choral Dances from Gloriana
PERFORMER: Shirley Minty (mezzo-soprano), Martyn Hill (tenor), Judith Pearce (flute), Thelma Owen (harp); Holst Singers & Orchestra/Hilary Davan Wetton
CATALOGUE NO: CDH 55050 Reissue (1985)
From 1985, when the Holst Singers seem to have been blessed with particularly excellent female voices, comes this reissue of three less than obvious English choral works. Notable throughout are the gentleness and delicacy of Wetton’s interpretations. Never tentative or imprecise, the voices blend beautifully, sitting lightly above the harp accompaniment in the Britten and Holst. The upper voices in particular shine with a luminous quality, and are wonderfully fast and flexible for the Country Girls’ song from Gloriana and Holst’s Hymn to the Waters. Judith Pearce’s effortless-sounding flute solos link the movements of Bliss’s lush, but again very lightly voiced, classical pastoral. Janet Banks
Britten, Holst, Bliss
From 1985, when the Holst Singers seem to have been blessed with particularly excellent female voices, comes this reissue of three less than obvious English choral works. Notable throughout are the gentleness and delicacy of Wetton’s interpretations. Never tentative or imprecise, the voices blend beautifully, sitting lightly above the harp accompaniment in the Britten and Holst. The upper voices in particular shine with a luminous quality, and are wonderfully fast and flexible for the Country Girls’ song from Gloriana and Holst’s Hymn to the Waters.
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:17 pm