Album

Its tenure with the Teldec and Warner Classics & Jazz labels seemingly at an end, the American male vocal ensemble Chanticleer has returned to its own label, with which its rise began. Any loss of marketing muscle is more than compensated for by what seems to be a new sense of adventure in the group's programming. Nothing on By Request is new in the large scheme of Chanticleer's repertory; they began as a Renaissance ensemble and expanded into various forms of contemporary music, and these are the components of the program here. But they're put together in a fresh way, and each component is unusually well done. Sample Spring Dreams (track 6), by the underrated Chinese-born composer Chen Yi, with its beautifully controlled yells and whoops, and you will really hear what Chanticleer is capable of. The group's programs have expanded to include experiments with the adaptation of alternative rock, here represented by Erika Lloyd's Cells Planets, in an arrangement by Vince Peterson that closes the album. The sonics, from Berkeley, CA's Fantasy Studios with finishing work done at Skywalker Sound, match Chanticleer's awesomely precise harmonies, and all in all it would be hard to improve on this release as an introduction to the music of this American group that has done as well as anybody at being consistently crowd-pleasing while keeping to rigorous standards.

© James Manheim, Rovi

CD 1
Steven Sametz Composer Not an end of loving, for chorus Work 7:29 Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
1	1.Where I become you	1:23			$0.99
2	2.We Two Boys Together Clinging	3:08			$0.99
3	3.Not an end of loving	2:58			$0.99
William Mundy Composer Sive Vigilem, for 5 voices Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
4	Sive Vigilem, for 5 voices	3:46			$0.99
Mason Bates Composer Stelle, vostra mercé l'eccelse sfere, for vocal ensemble Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
5	Stelle, vostra mercé l'eccelse sfere, for vocal ensemble	1:57			$0.99
Chen Yi Composer Spring Dreams, for chorus Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
6	Spring Dreams, for chorus	4:41			$0.99
Jan Sandström Composer The Word Became Flesh, for chorus Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
7	The Word Became Flesh, for chorus	9:00			$1.49
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Composer Veni sponsa Christi (a4) Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
8	Veni sponsa Christi (a4)	3:31			$0.99
Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur Composer Le cantique des cantiques, for unaccompanied voices Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
9	Épithalame	3:24			$0.99
William Byrd Composer Ave verum corpus (a4) Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
10	Ave verum corpus (a4)	4:14			$0.99
Carmen Cavallaro Composer El Grito, for chorus Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
11	El Grito, for chorus	2:44			$0.99
Mason Bates Composer Observer in the Magellanic Cloud, for vocal ensemble Work Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
12	Observer in the Magellanic Cloud, for vocal ensemble	6:22			$0.99
Erika Lloyd Composer Cells Planets, for vocal ensemble Work Casey Breves Vocals, Chanticleer Chorus/Choir, Matthew Oltman Music Direction
13	Cells Planets, for vocal ensemble	5:51			$0.99