American choirs sound quite different from British ones in the main, and one may wonder about the feasibility of performing American works in a British collegiate choral style, as is done here. However, this collection works nicely, and there are several reasons for this. The biggest is the web of interconnections between the choral traditions explored on this release by the
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
, and director
Graham Ross
. The program kicks off with
Leonard Bernstein
's
Chichester Psalms
, composed for Britain's Southern Choirs Festival in 1965. Those wondering what
Herbert Howells
is doing on a program of this kind will learn that his
Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing
was written as a memorial to
John F. Kennedy
.
Eric Whitacre
has worked extensively in Britain, and it is delightful to have his
Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine
as the finale here rather than the ubiquitous
Lux aurumque
. Another point in the collection's favor is that the choir is composed of adult male and female voices, not boys.
Bernstein
preferred boys in the
Psalms
but agreed to the possibility of adult female singers, and they work better in this context. The folk song
Shenandoah
sounds a bit exotic here, but no more so than any number of American performances of British choral music. The bottom line is that this is a pleasing performance of a variety of American pieces, a bit on the restrained side perhaps, but fully idiomatic and enjoyable. ~ James Manheim