The scholarly conductor has injected new life ... by using his own editions. There is an air of celebration about Robert King's new CD of Stanford and Parry's choral music, recorded with his King's Consort as the first release on the group's new Vivat label. The glories of the late
Album reviews: I Was Glad, Couperin
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The Finale, Elgar's arrangement of Parry's Jerusalem, will be the undoubted crowd-pleaser but the high point comes a little earlier - a beseechingly beautiful take on Parry's setting of Milton's Blest Pair of Sirens.
Vivat's second release, Francois Couperin's Trois Lecons de Tenebres, finds the musicians on more familiar ground.
The desolate loveliness of these settings from The Lamentations of Jeremiah is far from the French composer's popular harpsichord pieces that inevitably draw parallels with the rococo frolics of Watteau paintings.
Recorded with almost reverential intimacy an instrumental trio, led by King on chamber organ, underscores soprano Carolyn Sampson and mezzo Marianne Beate Kielland. Individually, they are superb; duetting on the third lecon, they are quite simply superlative.
Stars: 5/5
I Was Glad: Sacred Music of Stanford and Parry (Vivat)
Stars: 5/5
Couperin: Trois Lecons de Tenebres (Vivat, both on Southbound Records)
Verdict: "Impeccable scholarship and musicianship combine on King's Consort's impressive new label."