A compelling collection of choral music from Washington State
RESONANT STREAMS: Choral Music from Sun to Sea = Music by Guillaume Bouzignac, Barlow Bradford, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Chinese Folk Song, Gabriel Fauré, Gustav Holst, Lars Jansson, Libby Larsen, Daniel Pinkham, Joshua Rist, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sacred Harp Hymn, Soila Sariola, Swedish Folk Song, Giselle Wyers – UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CHORALE- GISELLE WYERS, conductor MSR Classics MS1642 (6/12/17) ****:
This is the University of Washington Chorale’s third album, offering a selection of favorite recordings made by the ensemble from 2014 to 2016. It’s a very agreeable collection, with a variety of music from several periods. The Chorale offers a lovely blending of voice, giving us a rich, sonorous sound.
Even though the music is from many different periods, the collection works well as a whole, a tribute to the thought in selecting the material. If I was going to nitpick, I’d lose the Rogers and Hammerstein song from Oklahoma as not a perfect fit, but it doesn’t rise to the level of gross distraction.
I especially enjoyed the Holst; Hymn to the Waters and Daniel Pinkham’s Awake O North Wind, but almost every track is worthy of inclusion and a listening session.
The recording is very nice, with the chorale and the accompanying instruments placed in a nicely reverberant hall. The stereo image was solid, and the voices floated realistically between my front stereo speakers.
There’s a lot to like and little to criticize here. Kudos to the Chorale and MSR for bringing this disc to the public.
—Mel Martin
