MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS


Enchanted Carols
Howard GOODALL (b.1958)
The Enchanted Voices/Howard Goodall
rec. EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London, no date given
CLASSIC FM CFMD 11 [70:00]
Experience Classicsonline



The Wise Men and the Star (Stella Quam Viderant Magi) [4:05]
The Angel and the Virgin (Angelus Ad Virginem) [6:51]
From Lands that See the Sun Arise (A Solis Ortus Cardine) [5:54]
The Word Was Made Flesh (Verbum Caro Factum) [4:30]
Lullaby of Winter [5:13]
A little child there is y–born [3:24]
Franz Xaver GRUBER (1787 – 1863) Silent Night [3:31]
Traditional
The First Nowell [5:33]
Angels from the Realms of Glory [5:27]
Gaudete [2:23]
O little town of Bethlehem (Forest Green) [2:55]
In Dulci Jubilo [2:57]
Sussex Carol [2:47]
Gabriel’s Message (The angel Gabriel from heaven came) [3:47]
O come, o come Emmanuel [5:08]
We wish you a merry Christmas [1:18]

 
Assuming that I have been sent everything to do with this issue, I must say that it is a pretty slipshod piece of work. Nowhere on the single piece of card, which serves as an inlay, was there any mention of the musicians who feature prominently on this disk. Also, although I believe that it is Howard Goodall who is conducting the choir there is no mention of this on the card. The tracklisting doesn’t tell you which six carols are Goodall’s own compositions. There is also no information concerning who undertook the arrangements of the carols for accompaniment of cello, flute and glockenspiel. I suppose this to be Goodall‘s work too, for on his page on the Classic FM website he writes: “the … list of carols for this CD presented me with a challenge: how to hear these tunes and words afresh, how to give them ‘my’ sound without diluting the charm of the familiar.”
 
So here are seventeen pieces, all in very pretty arrangements, all sounding exactly the same, all faceless, and each one receiving as bland a performance as can be imagined. I find this whole collection to be akin to a big box of interesting looking chocolates where the contents table shows really exciting contents but in reality there is no substance and all the fillings are the same.
 
Howard Goodall is a fine composer with a real ability to communicate, through his music, with the public. I am sure that with his name attached to it this CD will do well. However, with such bland arrangements, the impression that I have is that they were done by rote. It sounds like the aural equivalent of painting–by–numbers which my generation enjoyed so much when we were children. What I cannot find here is the composer of the superb Missa Aedis Christi. Also, I am appalled that at 3:35 of Goodall’s own The Angel and the Virgin there is an edit which robs the music of a fraction of a beat. It jumps out of the speakers at you and is very disturbing, but it seems perfectly in keeping with the featureless presentation of the music.
 
This CD seems to me to be a cynical attempt to cash in on a previous success – the public being expected to accept anything offered them despite the editing gaff, the poor presentation and the insipidness. Even Goodall’s own carols are lacklustre, desperately needing a character.
 
For me this is a non-starter. It pains me to have to write this because I was so looking forward to this issue and I have a lot of time for Howard Goodall the composer. The ASV CD of Goodall’s own choral works, which includes his Mass, is always worth your time (CD DCA 1028). This concoction is best left to one side as a miscalculation.
 
Bob Briggs

[The reviewer was sent the promotional copy of the CD as submitted. It may be that the retailed copy contains a more detailed booklet]
 

 
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.