Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne

Advantages: Good background listening
Disadvantages: Odd mixture of music on the Uplifting disc

...complex harmonies. It would have been at home on either CD really. It wasn't a piece I remembered hearing before I bought Voices 2008, but now I enjoy listening to it. 3 Brunning - 'Pie Jesu'. John Brunning is one of Classic FM's own presenters. He composed this short piece, which is sung on the CD by All Angels. I would describe it as a sweet piece, but it doesn't really stick in my mind after I've heard it. It's pleasant enough to hear in the background though. 4 Canteloube - 'Bailero'. Canteloube took his inspiration from the traditional folk songs of the Auvergne region of France where he was born. He arranged these songs for orchestra and really made them his own. On the CD this piece is sung by the American Renee Fleming. I think the warmth of her voice captures the spirit of this song perfectly. I find this a beautiful... Read review

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Advantages: Everything
Disadvantages: I want more!

...What do you get, right, if you get a load of Gregorian monks, give them a hi-fi, a load of Nine Inch Nails CD’s, lock them in a room for, ooh say two months and then tell them to go away and make some good music. Well, while I’m not a betting man I’d bet that this album would not be far off. Much like Nine Inch Nails, VAST (Or Visual Audio Sensory Theatre if you’re feeling on the verbose side) is the brainchild (Some might say dictatorship) of one man. Namely Jon Crosby. Mixing industrial, goth, rock and Gregorian style chants VAST really does not sound like anything else out there. This is one of the most stunning debut albums you will ever hear! * Here * The album gets off to a brooding start with the slow dark strings that begin Here when after a round of kettle drums harsh NINish synths come in rapidly... Read review

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Advantages: Fantastic Gregorian Chants
Disadvantages: None

...The Gregorian Chant is probably one of the finest types of choral singing ever. In the entire history of the whole world. That's just so as you know where I am coming from on this one! The history of the Gregorian Chant is an old one. It dates back to at least to the time of Pope Gregory I or Gregory the Great as he was otherwise known. Gregory abandoned his life as an up -and-coming young Roman patrician, of whom great things were expected. But he became a monk, instead. After being ordained by the pope, he eventually became pope himself. He served as pope between 590 to 604. Pope Gregory worked hard to formalise and bring togther the varied types of church singing as part of the Mass. And the result of his work was the Gregorian Chant. The Gregorian Chant is far from a dead form of choral music. Far from it. There is a Gregorian... Read review

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