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| Brothers Sing On! Classics for Men's Chorus | 
 enlarge | Artists: Washington Men's Camerata, American Anonymous, Franz Biebl, Pavel Grigor'yevich Chesnokov, Ron Jeffers, Howard Mckinney, Vincent Persichetti, Henry Smith, William Steffe, Arthur Sullivan, Thomas Tallis, Randall Thompson, American Traditional, English Traditional, Spiritual Traditional, Michael Patterson, Frank Albinder
Label: Gothic Records
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $10.96
You Save: $6.02 (35%)
New (8) Used (2) from $10.96
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 180339
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 000334925024
EAN: 0000334925024
ASIN: B000F8OIRS
Release Date: May 9, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
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| Tracks:
| • | Waitin' for the Dawn of Peace |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
"The Washington Men's Camerata under conductor Frank Albinder has a sound all its own - warm, sensual, immaculately balanced, scrupulously tuned, melon-sweet, athletically limber." - WASHINGTON POST "Their ensemble is tight, their sense of rhythm secure, and they harmonize together beautifully." - BALTIMORE ALTERNATIVE "The Washington Men excel in a close harmony, glee-club style of singing - smooth, warm, mostly mellow, and precisely balanced." - AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE "The Washington Men's Camerata hails from the other Washington; it's a highly regarded 18-year-old chorus led by Frank Albinder…[this is] a very fine disc…the choral blend is excellent and the music all well chosen." - SEATTLE TIMES An exploration of classic "glee club" repertoire for male vocal ensemble, including favorites such as Down by the Sally Gardens, Biebl's Ave Maria, and Vive L' Amour. The Washington Men's Camerata is America's leading male "large vocal" ensemble. The group is directed by Frank Albinder, formerly a member of Chanticleer. The CD booklet contains complete song texts and translations. This title is the newest in a list of best-selling titles by the Washington Men's Camerata on Gothic, including the perennial favorite Spirit of Freedom. The nationally renowned Camerata have been guests on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Performance Today and Pipedreams. Engineered by the Grammy-winning team of Preston Smith and Steve Barnett.
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| Customer Reviews:
 "Perfectly" frustrating...sorry-- January 4, 2009
I really wanted to love this album, especially with all the great material offered. (I bought it for the Chesnnokov -- can't seem to find a definitive recording of it, particularly SATB -- maybe someone out there can help). Albinder's history with Chanticleer, whom I admire for the most part, helped with the decision to make this purchase. When it arrived, I listened to it immediately, and was immediately disappointed. Here's why:
The tenor sound never reaches anything beyond a forte falsetto. The sound one craves to hear seems to be perched just behind curtain number three, but the curtain never opens. A true, passionate (yet blended and homogenous) sound is certainly possible -- just listen to Shaw and Warland -- and it seems like these guys want to let it happen, but it never does.
A bigger issue is that these guys seem to be conducted by a metronome. Chances for the staging of tremendous climaxes (inherent in most of these works) are squandered by the consistent (albeit inaudible) tick of the metronome, which is aften a few clicks too fast. No one is taking their time here...
The Chesnokov was wonderful to hear again, though I miss the full chorus. Again, the issues above made it rather pedestrian.
Though this is marketed as a men's chorus, they sound more like a particularly good (for the most part) young glee club with an inexperienced young conductor. Don't get me wrong -- the singing is quite good: well balanced, almost always in tune and well blended. Diction is spotty. The final consonants are often quite good, but one can tell which were rehearsed and which were not.
The Shaw/Parker arrangements are better served by Shaw, as are the Beibl and Tallis...by a long shot.
The biggest diappointment for me was (the wonderful Mead arrangement) of "Down in the Valley." I sang this in a high school "state choir" situation (a LONG time ago) and it was simply one of the most moving peices I had ever sung. "Throw your arms 'round me," the climax of the peice, was just that. There was the full-throatedness of about 100 young, hormone-enriched men/boys who couldn't WAIT for the heroine to throw her arms 'round them! There was a small pause after it. It was in tune, balanced, etc., but it was PASSIONATE! There is no passion in this reading. The beat, in fact, never wavers.
("What shall we do with the drunken sailor?" is well-performed in that the precision is there, but these don't sound like sailors, or even grown men. Again -- blend, balance, etc., are very fine.)
"Battle Hymn of the Republic" is bad on so many levels that I am surprised they included it. The only cut where there are choral problems all over the place, the lack of passion in an amazingly passionate peice just kills it.
Patterson was great on keys, though the recording balance often favored him.
So why is this "perfectly frustrating?" Because these guys are really good! I hope they evolve into something special. Albinder has laid the groundwork for an upper-echelon male vocal ensemble. Now he needs to nurture it and grow it, throw away the metronome, and let his men SING!
 Men's Chorus Sampler August 13, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
A very enjoyable sampling of works for men's chorus. One cannot find any fault in the Camerata's performance; their harmony and enunciation are equally thrilling. The title song and the Ave Maria were the high points of the CD for me. I had hoped for a bit less of the "folk" content and more of the "classical" content, but everyone's mileage will vary on these choices. Taken altogether, this is a definite asset to the choral portion of my CD collection.
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