SITE RATING: 4/10
SITE
REVIEW: This 2007
Canadian release by CBC Records doesn't have
much out of the ordinary to recommend it - one
of the few English-language Mozart
arrangements to make to it disc, (and even
rarer, a highlights disc) it features
competent performances that never rise above
the ordinary. Pedestrian direction (dual
credited to Bruce Pullan for the Vancouver
Symphony Orchestra and Jon Washburn for the
Vancouver Bach Choir); competent, but plain
singing by the choir, and soloists who don't
rise above the regional talents they're given.
The soloists are not named in the liner
notes, but it's probably all for the best -
none of them have special qualities, and
feature mostly brittle, shrill tones
(especially the tenor who sings consistently
sharp), and since this is the Mozart
arrangement, the soloists are featured more
prominently, and their prominence drags the
recording down a couple of notches. The
soprano and alto soloists have a bubbly bounce
to their melismas which had the unpleasant
effect of sounding jittery - rather than a
rising ebb and flow of the line, it gave the
effect of "dotting all their 'i's"
Overall, an indifferent performance that
most should be able to live without.
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