Rating Rating: See original Favourite: No Influential: No
This four-disc compilation box set released in 1979 is a hint towards the more recent ‘Complete Argo Recordings’ CD box sets issued by Decca. It contains a wealth of music from King’s on the Argo label, including of course the Miserere from ‘Evensong for Ash Wednesday’.
Next to the King’s College recording of 1963, the Tallis Scholar’s 1980 recording of Allegri’s Miserere is equally influential. In 2018, BBC Music Magazine included this recording in their list “The 50 greatest recordings of all time”.
A documentary about the chapel of King’s College Cambridge and its choir, directed by Philip Ledger and accompanied by John Butt (organ scholar), made by Canadian company Prometheus Productions, and first made available in the USA on VHS by Home Vision Inc.
A fine performance without abbellimenti, taken at pace and with a certain rhythmic enthusiasm as part of this edition of ‘Papal Music – The Sistine Chapel and the Popes of Rome’
Recording Medium Vinyl - EP / Stereo - Meridian "Natural Sound Recording" at 45rpm
Rating Rating: 5 Favourite: Yes Influential: Yes
The first of a number of recordings that include Allegri’s Miserere by the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, and use the new performing edition edited by George Guest in 1976. Recorded at 45rpm, the Meridian ‘Natural Sound Recording’ claims a ‘marked improvement in sound quality when it matters in the listener’s room’. Our copy of this recording is signed by George Guest.
Compilation drawn from a variety of St Paul’s Choir recordings on the Hyperion label. Programme chosen and ordered by Colin R Smith and Lucy Hayward-Warburton respectively.