My name is Martin Scholes. I like writing reviews on Ciao. I am married, we have a cockatiel and a c...
My name is Martin Scholes. I like writing reviews on Ciao. I am married, we have a cockatiel and a cat. And a growing African Grey. Who orders the cat around!
Member since:06.12.2003
Reviews:334
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When I say that my grandmother's maiden name was Davies, and that she was the last person in the family who had any understanding of the Welsh language, you will probably understand why I love Welsh choral music so much. Well, apart from the fact that Wales is truly the land of song, with the best history of choral music in the entire world., that is!
This CD (produced by EMI and Music for Pleasure) has a wide range of Welsh Male voice Choirs from all over Wales. The competition between the different choirs and indeed the different parts of Wales are fiercely competitive. But the strong, intense rivalry is always friendly. Well, MOST of the time, that is!
The songs on this CD (I am ,of course, listening to it as I write this review!) are all perfectly sung and perfectly accompanied, as the producers have chosen the cream of Welsh male choral singing and arranged for them to be accompanied by the best organists and pianists that were available.
The choirs on this CD include the Treorchy Male Choir, which sings the hymn from Finlandia, Unwraith Eto'n Nghymru Annwyl, and Lest we Forget.
Next is the Canoldir Male Choir, who perform Shepherd, Shepherd, The Lord's Prayer and the Finnish Forest.
The Morriston Orpheus Choir sing Cadwyn O Emyn-Donau Cymreig, a medley of Welsh hymn tunes, Joanna, Crugybar, Ebenezer. Then Cymru Fach, Dies Irae.
The Pontarddulais Male Choir performs Bryn Myrddin and then Memory from Cats, followed by Diolch I'r Ior.
The Dunvant Male Choir perform the Soldier's Chorus from Faust, The Lily of the Valley, the Bandits' Chorus from Ernani and Deus Salutis.
The last (but my no means least) choir on the CD is the Gwalia Male Choir who give their renditions of The Silver Birch, Nant Mynydd and Hava Nagila.
You can see from the above playlist that the Male Voice Choirs of Wales are far from insular. As well as hymns that are firmly rooted in the chapel culture of Wales, there are some great pieces from some of the great classical operas and even in the case of the Gwalia Male Choir in Hava Nagila, a lively Israeli folk song that is a song of celebration. There is also the song Memory, from the musical Cats, further proof, if proof were needed, of the superb versatility of Welsh Male Voice Choirs.
I do not propose to describe each song on the CD, as some of them are in Welsh and my understanding of the language of my ancestors is shamefully virtually non-existent.
But when I listen to the music on this CD (and on others like it!) it does stir my heart and my soul and I like to think back on my Welsh ancestors who could have understood every word of the beautiful, ancient tongue of my ancestors. What would have been even nicer would have been a nice glass or two of Welsh Whisky to accompany this CD!
It is a great CD which reflects very well on everyone who was involved in its production.
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