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The King’s Singers – Greatest Hits
See end of the review for track details .
King's Singers, various associate
artists.
rec. various locations 1974-1991. EMI
CLASSICS 5145872 [77:39 + 79:41]
The
King's Singers celebrate their 40th anniversary this year
(2008) and EMI have duly issued this bargain-priced double
CD in celebration. While the King’s Singers cut their
first record elsewhere – it now resides in the Chandos
catalogue – EMI was their recording home from the early
1970s until they moved to RCA in the 1990s. The red label
has a huge back catalogue of King's Singers recordings
and by rights this Greatest Hits compilation should
have been superb.
As
it is, this double CD earns a qualified recommendation. It
does demonstrate the King’s Singers’ remarkable versatility,
impeccable ensemble and consistency over time. However,
not all of the tracks are well chosen.
The
main miscalculations are to be found on disc one. First,
there is the material from the King’s Singers ill-conceived
1989 album, America. The arrangements of Three
Times a Lady and Bridge Over Troubled Water,
wrapping the six voices in an unnecessary orchestral gauze,
sound cloyingly sincere. The orchestral accompaniment
for Sounds of Silence is better, but its ironic
touches seem forced. The gentle wit of the King’s Singers
is replaced here by something colder and more self-conscious. There
are better examples of the King’s Singers’ art deployed
in American pop: Billy Joel’s And so it Goes and
James Taylor’s That Lonesome Road would have been
much better choices, to say nothing of the group’s inspired
take on Barry Manilow’s Copacabana.
Secondly,
I take issue with the inclusion of a bracket of Christmas
carols on a greatest hits album. Yes, the King’s Singers
have made a number of successful Christmas albums, including
at least three for EMI that I am aware of and more recently
an absolute winner for Signum. However, I doubt many listeners
would be keen to sample Christmas tracks in the middle
of an otherwise secular program – acknowledging the mysticism
inherent in The Rhythm of Life. Arguably the carol
arrangements selected do not even represent the best of
the King’s Singers’ Christmas recordings for EMI – their
swaggering Deck the Hall from their album of the
same title springs to mind. Again, the better course would
have been to leave these tracks out, and perhaps replace
them with popular King’s Singers party-pieces like Short
People or I’m a Train.
Gripes
aside, there is a lot of wonderful stuff here. The selections
from the King’s Singers’ tribute album to the Comedian
Harmonists are well chosen, and the four Beatles arrangements
that open disc one are superb. These are taken from the
group's 1988 album The Beatles Connection, which
is well worth buying in its own right. I wonder at the
omission of Blackbird, though: surely the King’s
Singers delicate arrangement of that simple song is as
much a signature piece for the group as the gorgeous You
Are the New Day, which is included here.
On
the whole, the tracks on the second disc have been compiled
thoughtfully to show the King’s Singers’ skill in ‘classical’ repertoire. Renaissance
madrigals are bread and butter to this ensemble and the
examples included here, in particular those from the King’s
Singers’ Madrigal History Tour,album are
simply superb. Incidentally, that Madrigal History
Tour album is currently available for next to nothing
on EMI’s Encore imprint and is a must-buy. The Johann
Strauss II arrangements that end the disc are a lot of
fun, and there are some beauty spots along the way, including
an unexpected Le baylere from Canteloube. I’m
not so sure about the inclusion of the selections from The
Carnival of the Animals,though: a little too
twee for me, they also sit awkwardly between the Canteloube
and Fauré tracks that flank them.
The
booklet is well presented, with a short note about the
King's Singers and a few paragraphs written by the group’s
current incarnation. It is odd, though, that the only
photographs feature the current members of the group when
only the top and tail – David Hurley (1st counter
tenor) and Stephen Connelly (bass) – can actually be heard
on this double album. It makes sense to have a picture
of the current line up, given that they are the King's
Singers in this, the group's 40th anniversary year. It
would have been nice to include a photo or two of the group’s
other iterations, though, given their heavy representation
on this enjoyable but flawed compilation.
Tim
Perry
Disc
1 John
LENNON (1940-1980) & Paul McCARTNEY (b.
1942) Penny
Lane (1967) [2:32]
Help! (1965) [2:28]
Yesterday (1965)
[2:32]
Eleanor
Rigby (1966) [3:40]
Paul
SIMON (b. 1941) Bridge
Over Troubled Water (1969)
[4:25]
The
Sound of Silence (1964)
[5:22]
John
DAVID (b. 1946) You
are the New Day (1978)
[2:29]
Lionel
RITCHIE (b.
1949) Three
Times a Lady (1978)
[3:16]
Cy
COLEMAN (1929-2004) & Dorothy FIELDS (1905-1974) The
Rhythm of Life (1966)
[2:14]
George
HARRISON (1943-2001) Here
Comes the Sun (1969)
[3:60]
Traditional Barbara
Allen [3:31]
Early
One Morning [2:21]
She
Moved Through the Fair [3:14]
Bugeilo'r
Gwenith Gwyn [2:28]
Londonderry
Air [3:40]
O
My Love is Like a Red Red Rose [3:21]
Ding
Dong! Merrily on High [2:16]
Katherine
K DAVIS (1892-1980)/Henry ONORATI(?)/Harry SIMEONE (1911-2005) The
Little Drummer Boy [2:39]
Franz
Xaver GRUBER (1787-1863) Stille
Nacht (1818) [2:52]
Cole
PORTER (1891-1964) Night
and Day from The
Gay Divorcée [3:52]
Harold
ARLEN (1905-1986)/Ted KOEHLER (1894-1973) Stormy
Weather (1933)[3:49]
Gioachino
ROSSINI (1792-1868) Overture
to The Barber of Seville (1816) [3:24]
Rudolf
FRIML (1884-1972)/Herbert STOTHART (1885-1945) The
Donkey Serenade [3:23]
Howard
BLAKE (b.1938) Walking
In The Air (1982)
[1:44]
Leonard
BERNSTEIN (1918-1990)/Stephen SONDHEIM (b.1930) Something's
Coming from West
Side Story (1957) [2:50]
Disc
2 Adrian
WILLAERT (c.1490-1562) O
dolce vita mia (c.1545)
[4:31]
Vecchie
letrose (c.1545)
[2:90]
John
FARMER (C16th) A
little pretty bonny lass (c.1599)
[1:12]
Thomas
MORLEY (1557-1602) Now
is the month of maying (1595)[1:49]
John
DOWLAND (1562-1626) Fine
knacks for ladies (1600) [2:26]
Orlando
de LASSUS (1532-1594) Resonet
in laudibus (1569)
[3:14]
Christus
resurgens ex mortuis (C16th)
[2:21]
Bon
jour mon coeur (1564)
[1:16]
La
nuit froide et sombre (1576)
2:40
Joseph
CANTELOUBE (1879-1957) Songs
of the Auvergne: Le baylere (1923-1930)
[2:42]
Camille
SAINT SAËNS (1835-1921) Carnival
of the Animals: Aquarium (1886)
[2:20]
Carnival
of the Animals: Animals with long ears (1886)
[1:20]
Carnival
of the Animals: The cuckoo (1886)
[3:43]
Carnival
of the Animals: The swan (1886)
[4:35]
Gabriel
FAURE (1845-1924) Pavane Op.
50 (1887) [6:10]
Ralph
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS(1872-1958) Rest (1902) [3:00]
Edward
ELGAR (1857-1934) Deep
in my soul (1907)
[3:57]
Traditional Scarborough
Fair [4:16]
Annie
Laurie [3:12]
Greensleeves [3:21]
Johann
STRAUSS II (1825-1899) Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka (1867)
[2:53]
G'schichten
aus dem Wienerwald (1868)
[6:33]
An
der schönen blauen Donau (1867)
[9:52]
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