The fundamental influence of England's great choral institutions on English music is obvious, but this may be the only album of its kind. Proud Songsters (the title comes from the Gerald Finzi cycle Earth and Air and Rain, setting poems by Thomas Hardy) gathers together nine alumni of the King's College, Cambridge, Choral Scholars, singers who perform choral music at daily services in exchange for scholarship support; as promised, they sing English art songs. The accompanist, Simon Lepper, gets top billing and is present ...
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The fundamental influence of England's great choral institutions on English music is obvious, but this may be the only album of its kind. Proud Songsters (the title comes from the Gerald Finzi cycle Earth and Air and Rain, setting poems by Thomas Hardy) gathers together nine alumni of the King's College, Cambridge, Choral Scholars, singers who perform choral music at daily services in exchange for scholarship support; as promised, they sing English art songs. The accompanist, Simon Lepper, gets top billing and is present for all the songs except for Celia Harper's unaccompanied My love gave me an apple, which is atypical in several ways. It's a fine idea and one that ought to be emulated by singers from other ensembles. The best thing is that the concept has been realized in a way that plays to its strengths. The album is not just an anthology of songs performed by the nine singers. Rather, it gets to some things they have in common. The sound of a countertenor is familiar to them, for one thing, and...
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