Album

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, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 2
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry Composer The Soul's Ransom, sinfonia sacra for soloists, chorus & orchestra Work Recorded 1991 47:01 Della Jones Mezzo-Soprano, London Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra, London Philharmonic Chorus Chorus/Choir, David Wilson-Johnson Baritone, Matthias Bamert Conductor, Richard Cooke Chorus/Choir Director
1	Introduction. Lento	4:17			$0.99
2	"Who can number the sands of the sea". Lento	8:17			$1.49
3	"Hear ye this, O ye people". Allegro agitato	4:21			$0.99
4	"We look for light, but behold darkness". Moderato maestoso	3:21			$0.99
5	"Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith?". Lento	7:10			$1.49
6	"The hand of the Lord was upon me". Maestoso	9:29			$1.49
7	"The people that walkèd in darkness". Moderato, energico	5:00			$0.99
8	"See now, ye that love the light". Moderato, tranquillo	5:06			$0.99
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry Composer Choric Song from Tennyson's "The Lotus Eaters" for soloists, chorus & orchestra Work Recorded 1991 32:38 Della Jones Mezzo-Soprano, London Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra, London Philharmonic Chorus Chorus/Choir, Matthias Bamert Conductor, Richard Cooke Chorus/Choir Director
9	1. "There is sweet music here that softer falls". Andante tranquillo	3:36			$0.99
10	2. "Why are we weigh'd upon with heaviness." Allegro	1:39			$0.99
11	3. "Lo! in the middle of the wood"	2:40			$0.99
12	4. "Hateful is the dark-blue sky". Allegro moderato	2:23			$0.99
13	5. "How sweet it were, hearing the downward stream". Andante tranquillo	4:25			$0.99
14	6. "Dear is the memory of our wedded lives". Moderato - lento	4:28			$0.99
15	7. "But, propt on beds of amaranth and moly". Andantino	2:20			$0.99
16	8. "The Lotos blooms below the barren peak". Allegro tranquillo	11:07			$1.99
CD 2 of 2
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry Composer Blest Pair Of Sirens, for chorus and orchestra Work Recorded 1998 London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra, Roderick Elms Organ, Richard Hickox Conductor, London Symphony Chorus Chorus/Choir
1	Blest Pair Of Sirens, for chorus and orchestra	11:53			$1.99
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry Composer Invocation to Music for soloists, chorus & orchestra Work Recorded 1991 54:39 Anne Dawson Soprano, Arthur Davies Tenor, London Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra, London Philharmonic Chorus Chorus/Choir, Brian Rayner Cook Baritone, Matthias Bamert Conductor, Richard Hickox Conductor, Richard Cooke Chorus/Choir Director
2	1.Introduction. "Myriad voicèd Queen!". Moderato	5:10			$0.99
3	2. "Turn, O return!". Allegretto tranquillo	4:05			$0.99
4	3. "Thee, fair Poetry oft hath sought". Allegretto tranquillo	4:33			$0.99
5	4. "The monstrous sea". Maestoso energico	5:34			$0.99
6	5. "Love to Love calleth". Andante appassionato	5:17			$0.99
7	6.Dirge. "To me, to me, fair-hearted Goddess, come!". Maestoso	8:05			$1.49
8	7. "Man, born of desire". Moderato	4:55			$0.99
9	8. "Rejoice, ye dead, where'er your spirits dwell". Più lento	6:10			$0.99
10	9. "O enter with me the gates of delight". Allegro vivace	5:41			$0.99
11	10. "Thou, O Queen of sinless grace". Allegro vivo	5:09			$0.99
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry Composer I Was Glad ('Psalm 122', anthem) Work Recorded 1998 London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra, Roderick Elms Organ, Richard Hickox Conductor, London Symphony Chorus Chorus/Choir
12	I Was Glad ('Psalm 122', anthem)	7:10			$1.49