COMPOSERS: Maunder LABELS: Classics for Pleasure WORKS: Olivet To Calvary PERFORMER: John Mitchinson (tenor), Frederick Harvey (baritone); Guildford Cathedral Choir/Barry Rose CATALOGUE NO: CDCFP 4619 ADD (1965) Few composers have been so unpromisingly named as JH Maunder. His Passiontide cantata Olivet to Calvary vies with Stainer’s Crucifixion as a masterpiece of self-pitying, sentimental, Victorian kitsch. Those of us depraved souls who cherish it will rejoice at the belated CD transfer (marred as it is by hiss and distortion) of this classic performance that milks it for all it’s worth. John Mitchinson is superbly operatic, and the choristers of Guildford Cathedral were then under the direction of Barry Rose, one of the best choir trainers in the business. Barry Millington
Maunder
Few composers have been so unpromisingly named as JH Maunder. His Passiontide cantata Olivet to Calvary vies with Stainer’s Crucifixion as a masterpiece of self-pitying, sentimental, Victorian kitsch. Those of us depraved souls who cherish it will rejoice at the belated CD transfer (marred as it is by hiss and distortion) of this classic performance that milks it for all it’s worth. John Mitchinson is superbly operatic, and the choristers of Guildford Cathedral were then under the direction of Barry Rose, one of the best choir trainers in the business. Barry Millington
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:36 pm
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