The church music of Victorian England has always retained a secure foothold; not so the secular part-songs recorded here. Written to complement the Elizabethan madrigals which were then being rediscovered and performed, an unjustly neglected corner of the English vocal repertoire is revitalized by Rupert Gough and Royal Holloway Choir.
Gough pitches the performances exactly right through, allowing the music to speak for itself without undue intervention. Press too hard on these delicate miniatures and they smudge into outright vulgarity, something Gough and his young singers avoid with some impeccably judged interpretations, executed with equal skill. Gramophone
Kommentarer