 CRD3484 |
Maurice Greene Select Anthems The Choir of New College, Oxford Directed by Edward Higginbottom Lord, let me know mine end The King shall rejoice How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord God is our hope and strength Have mercy upon me, O God Let God arise O clap your hands together Thou, O God, art praised in Zion-Thou visitest the earth OrganVoluntaries |
Gramophone
"The
programme here very happily supplements the other recital of Croft's church
music presently available (Hyperion, 4/93) which includes the fine and famous
Burial Service. It is not unfitting that the simple decorum of those funeral
sentences should be so closely associated with his name, for in the present
collection we find him often at his best and most characteristic in the setting
of penitential or prayerful texts. His masterpiece is probably O Lord, rebuke
me not, described by Dr Burney as "one of the most masterly and grand
compositions", working out its fugues with heart as well as brain, and at the
end, allowing his "Amen" the breadth, beauty and dignity of a great river
flowing through meadows. He was very conscious of "the solemnity and gravity
which may properly be called the Church style", and even in a joyful context he
finds it natural to gravitate towards the minor tonality. An instinct for
reliable structure is also his; one never feels that material is either wasted
or over-extended. The longest work here is the verse-anthem O Lord, I will
praise Thee (14'12"), its varied sections finely balanced, its style neither
light nor ponderous. The performances match the music: unostentatious and
highly capable. The choir seem to have no problem in providing adequate
soloists, and some of them (notably the trebles Daniel Lochmann and Nicolas
Witcomb, with the alto Fergus McLusky) are more than adequate. Good tone and
balance go with a sure feeling for rhythm and the shape of phrases, so that
everything gives pleasure. In music of this period the dry acoustic of the New
College Chapel is no disadvantage, and the recording and its presentation
(excellent notes by Simon Heighes) are admirable. "
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