The subtitle of this album is "New Works for Remembrance," and its four selections by British composers are united by their use of texts that deal, either explicitly or implicitly, with the personal ravages of war. They were performed by the Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir at the school's annual Remembrance Day concerts. Cecilia McDowall's Ave Maris Stella would be lovely except that it is difficult to take seriously because its opening and closing sections are a brazenly transparent rip-off of Morten Lauridsen's O ...
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The subtitle of this album is "New Works for Remembrance," and its four selections by British composers are united by their use of texts that deal, either explicitly or implicitly, with the personal ravages of war. They were performed by the Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir at the school's annual Remembrance Day concerts. Cecilia McDowall's Ave Maris Stella would be lovely except that it is difficult to take seriously because its opening and closing sections are a brazenly transparent rip-off of Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium. Lynne Plowman's Cries Like Silence, for four soloists, choir, orchestra, organ, children's choir, brass band, electric guitars, and bass drums, sets a grim anti-war poem by Ted Hughes. Her musical language is reminiscent of Britten, and she brings a strong sense of drama to the text. Tarik O'Regan's And There Was a Great Calm uses texts by a variety of writers, including Rumi, Milton, Wordsworth, and Hardy. Its prevailing tone of resigned acceptance and serenity is...
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