Hubert Parry - Invocation To Music Etc. (1992)

Disc: 1

The Soul's Ransom, sinfonia sacra for soloists, chorus & orchestra
1. Introduction. Lento
2. 'Who can number the sands of the sea'. Lento
3. 'Hear ye this, O ye people'. Allegro agitato
4. 'We look for light, but behold darkness'. Moderato maestoso
5. 'Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith?'. Lento
6. 'The hand of the Lord was upon me'. Maestoso
7. 'The people that walkèd in darkness'. Moderato, energico
8. 'See now, ye that love the light'. Moderato, tranquillo

Choric Song from Tennyson's 'The Lotus Eaters' for soloists, chorus & orchestra
9. 1. 'There is sweet music here that softer falls'. An
10. 2. 'Why are we weigh'd upon with heaviness.' Allegro
11. 3. 'Lo! in the middle of the wood'
12. 4. 'Hateful is the dark-blue sky'. Allegro moderato
13. 5. 'How sweet it were, hearing the downward stream'.
14. 6. 'Dear is the memory of our wedded lives'. Moderat
15. 7. 'But, propt on beds of amaranth and moly'. Andant
16. 8. 'The Lotos blooms below the barren peak'. Allegro

Disc: 2

1. Blest Pair of Sirens for chorus & orchestra

Invocation to Music for soloists, chorus & orchestra
2. 2. 'Turn, O return!'. Allegretto tranquillo
3. 3. 'Thee, fair Poetry oft hath sought'. Allegretto tranquillo
4. 4. 'The monstrous sea'. Maestoso energico
5. 5. 'Love to Love calleth'. Andante appassionato
6. 6. Dirge. 'To me, to me, fair-hearted Goddess, come!'. Maestoso
7. 7. 'Man, born of desire'. Moderato
8. 8. 'Rejoice, ye dead, where'er your spirits dwell'. Più lento
9. 9. 'O enter with me the gates of delight'. Allegro vivace
10. 10. 'Thou, O Queen of sinless grace'. Allegro vivo

11. I Was Glad (Psalm 122), anthem for chorus & organ (or orchestra)

Anne Dawson - soprano
Arthur Davies - tenor
Brian Rayner Cook - baritone
The London Philharmonic Choir
The London Philharmonic
Matthias Bamert – conductor

Charles Hubert Parry's choral-orchestral works may not be for everyone -- those who disdain joyful noises need not apply -- but for those for whom Mendelssohn's choral-orchestral music is wonderful but too old-fashioned and Elgar's choral-orchestral music is marvelous but too new-fangled, they'll be just the thing. Sounding at their best like an English Brahms with just the faintest touch of early Wagner in the harmonies, Parry's choral-orchestral works combine warm colors, appealing melodies, impressive effects, and immediately apprehensible forms with not-too-overwrought rhetoric and not-too-overheated drama in an attractive if not particularly inspired personal style. In this two-disc set containing three large-scale works -- The Soul's Ransome, The Lotus-Eaters, and Invocation to Music -- along with two shorter but no less massive works -- Blest pair of Sirens and I was glad -- Parry's choral music is given entirely sympathetic and nearly wholly persuasive performances. Swiss conductor Matthias Bamert leads the London Philharmonic in the three large-scale works, while English conductor Richard Hickox leads the London Symphony in the two shorter works, and while Hickox seems more relaxed with the music's language and confident in its value, Bamert seems more attentive to the music's felicities and more passionate about its worth. Chandos' early digital sound is clear in the quiet parts and huge in the loud parts, but a bit fuzzy in the thick parts -- and, given that the works are scored for vast chorus accompanied by a huge orchestra, most of the music is thick parts, and thus most of the sound is a bit fuzzy. --- James Leonard, Rovi

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