COMPOSERS: Darke,Poulenc,Rutter,Shephard,Warlock,Whiteley
LABELS: Regent
WORKS: Carols by Darke, Shephard, Whiteley, Warlock, Rutter, Poulenc etc
PERFORMER: The Choir of York Minster/Robert Sharpe; John Scott Whiteley (organ)
CATALOGUE NO: REGCD 317
Similar repertoire, some duplicated, is offered by the choir of York Minster. Comparisons are inevitable, and generally Chichester is the more polished ensemble, pipping the York singers in their alertness and unanimity of purpose, and in the quality of solo singing. York’s interpretive touches are more studied, with, for instance, exact enunciation occasionally bought at the expense of spontaneity and communication.
That said, there are fine renditions here of ‘The Angel Gabriel’, Warlock’s ‘Bethlehem Down’ and Sullivan’s arrangement of ‘It came upon the midnight clear’. Rutter’s ‘Shepherd’s pipe carol’ and Poulenc’s ‘Hodie Christus natus est’ show the Minster choir at its extrovert best.