Leighton Choral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Kenneth Leighton
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 13/1997
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 71
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN9485
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| God's Grandeur |
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Finzi Singers Kenneth Leighton, Composer Paul Spicer, Conductor |
| What love is this of thine? |
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Finzi Singers Kenneth Leighton, Composer Paul Spicer, Conductor |
| Give me wings of faith |
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Andrew Lumsden, Organ Finzi Singers Kenneth Leighton, Composer Paul Spicer, Conductor |
| Crucifixus pro nobis |
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Andrew Lumsden, Organ Finzi Singers Kenneth Leighton, Composer Paul Spicer, Conductor |
| Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child |
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Finzi Singers Kenneth Leighton, Composer Paul Spicer, Conductor |
| Mass |
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Andrew Lumsden, Organ Finzi Singers Kenneth Leighton, Composer Paul Spicer, Conductor |
| Laudate pueri |
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Finzi Singers Kenneth Leighton, Composer Paul Spicer, Conductor |
Author:
There is a fine unease in Kenneth Leighton, a sense that fulfilment, musical and spiritual, must be striven for, that nothing worthwhile is gained without what Hardy called “a full look at the worst”. Every new phrase in these choral settings sounds like the outcome of innumerable rejections: nothing is facile. In several of them, comfort is found – in God’s Grandeur “There lives the dearest freshness”, in What love is this “Oh, that thy love might overflow my heart” – and with it a sweetness that means so much more when hard won out of bleakness. He is a composer for the pilgrimage – not joyless by any means, but serious.
In this excellent programme never does anything (not even of a bar’s length) compromise this integrity. In date the works range from a student composition, his fine, independent setting of the Coventry Carol, to the previously mentioned anthem, What love is this, written not very long before his death. In length they vary from the closely packed three minutes of the carol to the 25-minute Mass. In style, too, rhythm, melody, harmony, counterpoint and the expert management of choral sound, all contribute, taking turn as a principal source of life and interest.
The performances have all that could be desired in textual responsiveness and technical control. Somewhere among the sopranos is a voice (or it may be two voices) which at a forte has a worn or otherwise obtrusive edge (the recording was made in 1993); but clearly all members are valuable singers, as is shown by the ample supply of soloists from the ranks. Of these, outstanding are Olive Simpson, whose lovely voice graces the carol, and James Oxley, soloist in Crucifixus pro nobis, a tenor of fine quality with apparently unflawed evenness of production. Most of the works here are sung a cappella, those that are not being accompanied with clarity and discretion by Andrew Lumsden. The acoustic of All Saints’, Tooting, is resonant but not excessively so for such a programme as this. The recital is a most welcome addition to the Finzi Singers’ catalogue of highly valued recordings.'
In this excellent programme never does anything (not even of a bar’s length) compromise this integrity. In date the works range from a student composition, his fine, independent setting of the Coventry Carol, to the previously mentioned anthem, What love is this, written not very long before his death. In length they vary from the closely packed three minutes of the carol to the 25-minute Mass. In style, too, rhythm, melody, harmony, counterpoint and the expert management of choral sound, all contribute, taking turn as a principal source of life and interest.
The performances have all that could be desired in textual responsiveness and technical control. Somewhere among the sopranos is a voice (or it may be two voices) which at a forte has a worn or otherwise obtrusive edge (the recording was made in 1993); but clearly all members are valuable singers, as is shown by the ample supply of soloists from the ranks. Of these, outstanding are Olive Simpson, whose lovely voice graces the carol, and James Oxley, soloist in Crucifixus pro nobis, a tenor of fine quality with apparently unflawed evenness of production. Most of the works here are sung a cappella, those that are not being accompanied with clarity and discretion by Andrew Lumsden. The acoustic of All Saints’, Tooting, is resonant but not excessively so for such a programme as this. The recital is a most welcome addition to the Finzi Singers’ catalogue of highly valued recordings.'
Leighton Choral Works
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