DCD34074-CD

Vaughan Williams: A Cappella Choral Works

Award-winning chamber choir Laudibus have unearthed some rare and precious gems in this recording of a cappella choral music by one of England’s best-loved composers. Little-known works both early and late nestle alongside repertory staples such as the glorious Mass in G minor, in a programme which displays Vaughan Williams’ indebtedness to both the sacred and secular instincts of his Elizabethan precursors.

"Vaughan Williams…musical personality shines out all through this selection of sacred and secular a cappella music…Mike Brewer's excellent chamber choir Laudibus sings with beautifully blended tone, and good stand-out solo work… the disc offers must to discover and must to enjoy, and its altogether a treasurable contribution to the Vaughan Williams anniversary celebrations."

"Fascinating and splendidly executed …enlightens and reveals as much as it impresses and delights"

"Magnificently sung…superlative recording"

"The finely blended voices of Mike Brewer’s Laudibus, an offshoot of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, provide much pleasure in this inventive selection of a cappella Vaughan Williams. Little-heard late motets mix with early strivings and that radiant response to Tudor polyphony, the Mass in G minor. But as the disc advances, a doubt arises. Mass or folk song, everything is sung with the same rapt reverence. Let’s also have a little iron in the fire."

"Laudibus seems to be not one chamber choir but several on this CD"

"These truly superlative performances and recordings provide a fine and representative blending of the ascetic and mellifluous aspects of an essential composer's legacy to the English choral tradition. Another winner from Delphian!"

"Their sound is so fresh and sparky it almost seems too lively for VW in numinous mode, but the vast church acoustic in this recording helps it to work."

Producer: Paul Baxter
Release Date: 28 July 2008
Catalogue No: DCD34074
Total playing time: 1:04:00

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