The booklet notes to the CD release of this album by the
Armonico Consort
not only state the project's aims concisely, but are also entertaining enough to merit quoting at length: "I first began my fascination with folk melody whilst a music scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where the choir would often sing arrangements to entertain the hordes of inebriated dons after feasts," writes director
Christopher Monks
. "These arrangements -- often brilliant, eye opening, and sometimes little gems of genius -- were written by my director of studies, Dr.
Geoffrey Webber
. Quite simply, he took on the work of
Vaughan Williams
and gave it a new harmonic language inspired by music from the late 20th century."
Webber
is the author of the largest number of folk song arrangements here (all are a cappella); others come from various composers including
Monks
himself. The title track is elegant, but a better place to start sampling to get a feel for the tonality of the music is perhaps
Sweet Kitty
(track 6,), another
arrangement. Several pieces, by
Stanford
,
Thomas Morley
, and
Robert Pearsall
, are not folk songs, but are familiar enough to be such, and they function nicely as little touchstones in a program that is far from the set of folk favorites you might imagine.
and his ten-voice
achieve a precise sound that brings out the small details that make these arrangements interesting. A rather specialized release, perhaps one for enthusiasts who love the tradition of British choral singing, but one that may also be recommended to all. ~ James Manheim