Charles Hubert Parry's choral-orchestral works may not be for everyone -- those who disdain joyful noises need not apply -- but for those for whom Mendelssohn's choral-orchestral music is wonderful but too old-fashioned and Elgar's choral-orchestral music is marvelous but too new-fangled, they'll be just the thing. Sounding at their best like an English Brahms with just the faintest touch of early Wagner in the harmonies, Parry's choral-orchestral works combine warm colors, appealing melodies, impressive effects, and ...
Read More
Charles Hubert Parry's choral-orchestral works may not be for everyone -- those who disdain joyful noises need not apply -- but for those for whom Mendelssohn's choral-orchestral music is wonderful but too old-fashioned and Elgar's choral-orchestral music is marvelous but too new-fangled, they'll be just the thing. Sounding at their best like an English Brahms with just the faintest touch of early Wagner in the harmonies, Parry's choral-orchestral works combine warm colors, appealing melodies, impressive effects, and immediately apprehensible forms with not-too-overwrought rhetoric and not-too-overheated drama in an attractive if not particularly inspired personal style. In this two-disc set containing three large-scale works -- The Soul's Ransome, The Lotus-Eaters, and Invocation to Music -- along with two shorter but no less massive works -- Blest pair of Sirens and I was glad -- Parry's choral music is given entirely sympathetic and nearly wholly persuasive performances. Swiss conductor Matthias...
Read Less
