David Hill, Winchester Cathedral Choir - Faure: Requiem (2009)

Artist: David Hill, Winchester Cathedral Choir
Title: Faure: Requiem
Year Of Release: 2009
Label: Virgin Classics
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 01:01:16
Total Size: 204 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:Title: Faure: Requiem
Year Of Release: 2009
Label: Virgin Classics
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 01:01:16
Total Size: 204 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
01. Nancy Argenta/Simon Keenlyside/Richard Studt/Stephen Farr/Winchester Cathedral Choir/Bournemouth Sinfonietta/David Hill Feat. Stephen Farr - Requiem, Op. 48: I. Introït et Kyrie (1893 Version) (6:40)
02. Nancy Argenta/Richard Studt/Stephen Farr/Winchester Cathedral Choir/Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Simon Keenlyside/David Hill Feat. Winchester Cathedral Choir, Stephen Farr & Simon Keenlyside - Requiem, Op. 48: II. Offertoire (1893 Version) (8:12)
03. Nancy Argenta/Simon Keenlyside/Stephen Farr/Winchester Cathedral Choir/Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Richard Studt/David Hill Feat. Winchester Cathedral Choir & Stephen Farr - Requiem, Op. 48: III. Sanctus (1893 Version) (3:21)
04. Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Richard Studt, David Hill, Winchester Cathedral Choir, Stephen Farr, Simon Keenlyside & Nancy Argenta - Requiem, Op. 48: IV. Pie Jesu (1893 Version) (3:26)
05. Nancy Argenta/Simon Keenlyside/Richard Studt/Stephen Farr/Winchester Cathedral Choir/Bournemouth Sinfonietta/David Hill Feat. Winchester Cathedral Choir & Stephen Farr - Requiem, Op. 48: V. Agnus Dei (1893 Version) (6:06)
06. Nancy Argenta/Richard Studt/Stephen Farr/Winchester Cathedral Choir/Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Simon Keenlyside/David Hill Feat. Winchester Cathedral Choir, Stephen Farr & Simon Keenlyside - Requiem, Op. 48: VI. Libera me (1893 Version) (4:35)
07. Nancy Argenta Feat. Winchester Cathedral Choir & Stephen Farr - Requiem, Op. 48: VII. In Paradisum (1893 Version) (3:32)
08. Winchester Cathedral Choir Feat. Stephen Farr - Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 (5:48)
09. David Hill & Winchester Cathedral Choir - O Salutaris: motet pour choeur mixte a cappella (2:43)
10. David Hill & Winchester Cathedral Choir - O magnum mysterium: motet pour 4 voix mixtes a cappella (4:19)
11. Kenan Burrows/Stephen Farr/Winchester Cathedral Choir/David Hill - 3 Motets pour soprano solo, cheour à 4 voix mixtes et orgue: Regina coeli laetare (3:21)
12. Kenan Burrows/Stephen Farr/Winchester Cathedral Choir/David Hill - 3 Motets pour soprano solo, cheour à 4 voix mixtes et orgue: Crux fidelis (3:54)
13. Kenan Burrows/Stephen Farr/Winchester Cathedral Choir/David Hill - 3 Motets pour soprano solo, cheour à 4 voix mixtes et orgue: Alma redemptoris (5:24)
The music of a requiem may be sad, but the quality of the performance should not be, as this 1996 Virgin Classics' recording of Fauré's Requiem is. Soloists Nancy Argenta and Simon Keenlyside are emotionally effective in their movements, but the overall tone of the Winchester Cathedral Choir is small and pitiable. Conductor David Hill touches neither the abysmal depths of the opening Introit and Kyrie nor the sublime heights of the closing In paradisum, but instead keeps the performance steadily on simmer. The performance is reserved to the point of being constrained, as if no show of emotion more than a dull and insipid melancholy was permissible. The remaining works on the disc -- Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine, and five motets by Pierre Villette and Jean Roger-Ducasse -- are more successful in that they ask only what the performers have to give: a round tone, a fair balance, and a rough and ready ensemble. The Bournemouth Sinfonietta does no more than is asked of it. Virgin's digital sound is cool and somewhat bland.