Caritas Chamber Choir
Benedict Preece Director
Ulysses Arts UA260040
The Caritas Chamber Choir was founded in 2011. The name is the Latin word for charity, and the group maintains a charitable ethos, raising money for various charities, good causes and churches. In addition, they have a deep commitment to performing, commissioning and recording contemporary music.
Of the 13 tracks on this album, 11 receive their first recording. If the music is for the most part new, a number of the texts are familiar including Ave Maria, God be in my head, Christina Rossetti’s My heart is like a singing bird and verses from the Song of Songs
In his note about the choir Benedict Preece explains that the members are drawn from professional and advanced non-professional singers. The standard of performance is uniformly high throughout the programme.
Tuning, intonation and blend are the equal of many similarly sized fully professional bodies. The diction is beyond reproach, and the technical aspects of the recording are everything one could reasonably expect.
As a programme I would suggest that it is best enjoyed a few tracks at a time. The only observation that I would make is that there is little contrast between the items, most of which are slow. This means that Phillip Cooke’s setting of Siegfried Sassoon’s ‘Everyone Sang’ is marvellously effective, with its vigorous opening fanfare motif.
Were this programme being designed for a concert, some more variety in tempo would be desirable, particularly as there is a considerable amount of homophonic writing. However, it is likely that different considerations applied in this case.
As a demonstration of the contribution that Caritas Chamber Choir has made to contemporary choral music by commissioning and performing it to such a commendably high standard, it could hardly be bettered.
Review by Martyn Strachan