Search - Harvard Glee Club, Jameson Marvin, conductor :: American Choral Music for Male Chorus

Refinement and elegance from Harvard Glee Club

M. FUSCO | NEW YORK, NY | 10/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Harvard Glee Club is certainly one of the two premier male choruses in the world. Its sound is typically refined, homogenous, and warm. This disc is no exception.



Celebrating the illustrious group's 150th anniversary, director Jameson Marvin has put together a miraculous group of works for male chorus by American composers, many of which were commissioned by and written for HGC. Featured are the likes of Randall Thompson, Virgil Thomson, Irving Fine, Darius Milhaud, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, et al.



Highlights for me are The Pasture from Frostiana by Randall Thompson and Lowlands, a sea shanty arranged by Robert Shaw. Both works are brought to life by the sweet, intimate sound of the ensemble, and the artistry of Dr. Marvin, whose many accolades have been well and justly earned. But there are also wonderfully exuberant and funny works like Quis Multa Gracilis (also by Randall Thompson), which dislay the group's inherent youth and vitality. This is what a men's glee club is all about.



The recordings are beautifully engineered and, considering that most come from live performances, have relatively little ambient sound to distract from the beauty of the singing.



I am glad to see this disc generally available on Amazon. But check out HGC's website [...] and other discs of their marvelous work (all too few, alas). You will also be able to hear complete samples of their artistry there, notably their signature Ave Maria by Franz Biebl. No one can match it."