Not only are the performances well-performed, but they also add new interpretations to some well-known pieces. I can safely say that out of more than a dozen or so recordings, this is the most anguished singing I've heard in Barber's Agnus Dei. The Choir of New College sings clearly. The voices pierce in the Agnus Dei, their articulate the liturgy of Miserere mei pleasingly, but they also add some warmth into pieces like Lux Aeterna and Mendelssohn's Hear My Prayer.

The tracks are very diverse here, and the order of the pieces was apparently carefully chosen. Barber's famous (and "unkillable") Agnus Dei begins. It's a piece that has been evocative of sorrow for years (the string arrangement was played for services for such dignitaries as FDR and JFK). The piercing notes of htE Agnus Dei then give way to Faure's magnificent Cantique, famed (like most of his other works) for its gentle feel. Palestrina's Kyrie follows, and then we hear Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. Almost everyone is familiar with Bach's Jesus bleibet meine Freude, better known as Jesus, Son of Man's Desiring, and the popular wedding music sets quite a stage here. There are lesser-known pieces like Elgar's Lux Aeterna, but we also hear Mendelssohn's Hear My Prayer. Originally set in German, it is sung here in English. With Tavener's Lamb, it creates a familiar setting. The final two pieces, Faure's In paradisum, perhaps his most famous movement, and Allegri's Miserere (the only work of his to survive the modern repertoire), contrast each other.

What is most notable about this collection is the fact that it skillfully weaves in and out of not only musical periods but also general emotion. Some recordings have a tendency to simply proceed from pre-Baroque to 20th Century Contemporary in order of time. This tends to create separate "islands", almost- you will get one feeling for all of the works in one period but a different one for the next. There's no unifying, overall feel.

In Agnus Dei, however, the pieces are ordered so that even though we weave in and out of the various musical periods and styles, there is still a unifying feel. The recording literally guides us step by step through. Barber's "anguished" Agnus Dei is followed by the tranquil Cantique. We go reverse in time, from Mozart to Bach. From Tracks 4 to 7, it's all gentle and serene stuff: there's the Bach wedding tune, Rachmaninov's praise of Maria, and Elgar's setting of a blessing of light. Mendelssohn's Hear My Prayer and Tavener's Lamb are all gentle and unimposing pieces. But the piece that ends Agnus Dei: Allegri's Miserere, considered too otherworldly by the papal administration for ordinary mortals to hear, has been interpreted as a harsher and certainly more distant work. So then what better to precede it than Faure's heavy dose of sugar, his (in his very own words) "lullaby of death"? In paradisum is justly famous for its beautiful scene of heaven, and it forms a perfect neighbor to the Miserere.

In all, this is an exceptional collection. Certainly it's something the beginner can use as a stepping stone into vocal music, but also something anyone can enjoy. One might not like the Gorecki Totus Tuus, or one may not like the Agnus Dei, or the Cantique. Yet there is surely something in here that merits listening over and over again, and I'm sure the listener will find one for his or her taste. But overall, just putting the CD into the player and pressing play, ignoring the "skip" or "select track" buttons, Agnus Dei will send the listener through three centuries worth of vocal music, step by step. END


Music to Feed Your Soul   January 3, 2001
 35 out of 35 found this review helpful

This is one of those albums that is conceived as a program carefully calculated to give the listener Goosebumps and evoke a tear from the eye. When lesser musicians try to pull such a stunt, the effect is maddening. You feel as though you are being emotionally manipulated, and you resent it. When the efforts of first class musicians such as Higginbottom and the Choir of New College, Oxford, attempt such a feat, it is an emotional, musical, and religious experience. The majority of the repertoire heard on this disc is quite familiar to most listeners in one form or another, but you will rarely hear a choir of such clean, precise and yet passionate sound take on these pieces.

The first selection on the disc is Samuel Barber's own transcription of his "Adagio for Strings" to the Mass text, "Agnus Dei." This composition is difficult for string players to keep in tune, so we can imagine how difficult it is for a choir to sustain the pitch a cappella! The New College performance is a "must hear." Words fail to adequately convey the beauty, balance, and intense music making captured on this disc. The effect is hypnotic. The conductor had the good sense and taste to offer a program with enough variety that you are given an emotional rest on occasion, but the basic meditative atmosphere is sustained throughout the program. The Elgar transcription of "Lux Aeterna" arranged by John Cameron is particularly worth treasuring. It shares much of the ethos of the Barber work and is rarely heard in this form.

The Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Faure which round out the work are very familiar favorites and given graceful, splendid performances. They are so good, in fact, that it would make the album a great gift idea for churches to give amateur choir members as a thank you and inspiration for improvement. The Rachmaninoff and Gorecki are music for the initiated and receive convincing, winning performances here. The Allegri, though rarely heard, is a hauntingly beautiful composition and was a particular favorite of Mozart.

This beautiful album makes a wonderful background for meditation. It is the perfect music to glory in when your soul is thirsty.


Choral music lives!!   September 24, 1998
 23 out of 23 found this review helpful

Edward Higgenbottom is no shrinking violet! Indeed, with the production of Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei II and Nativitas, he has brought the wonderful choir of men and boys called The Choir of New College, Oxford (England) to the forefront of attention. Despite efforts to destroy this form of tradition as "elitist," Dr. Higgenbottom has proved the point: an excellent choir of men and boys must be cherished, and in this particular case, praised.

One wonders, when listening to this album, whether the composers of the works represented ever heard their "musical children" performed with such polish, such musicianship, such love. My favorite selection, a difficult decision to be sure, is the Mendelssohn "Hear My Prayer," sung by treble soloist Thomas Herford with rare beauty of voice and an investment of appropriate emotion that separates his singing from that of contemporary boy sopranos.

My only quibble is with the subtitle: "music of inner harmony," which sounds a bit New Age, which is totally unnecessary, it seems to me, and which may even be misleading to some. The music is the thing here.

I join other reviewers in highly recommending this CD, and as said previously, just turn it on, and let it play!


Contemplative harmonies   September 1, 2002
 18 out of 20 found this review helpful

Choral collections abound but few have a sense of unity, the general preferences by the consumers so often is a 'sampler' disc of beautiful but unrelated music. AGNUS DEI is practically a formal concert by the Choir of New College, Oxford directed by Edward Higginbottom - a choral group comprised of all males, the treble voices being sung by boys and the tenor and bass lines sung by men. The quality of sound is superb and ethereal as only such choirs can sound. The variety varies from Palestrina , Bach and Mozart through Faure and Rachmaninov to Samuel Barber and John Taverner and even Gorecki. The accompaniment when indicated is the elegant organ of the New College Chapel. For those who yearn for moments of peace and inspiration, this is a first rate, high quality recording.


Heavenly harmony   January 24, 2000
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

A sublime collection of male voice choral music that soothes and uplifts. The choir of New College, Oxford has given us a brilliant performance, new arrangements of old favourites, and a few newer pieces. Their version of Allergris' Misereri is the BEST I have ever heard, the first soprano soars with clear, pure tones -- it is superior to the famed Kings College, Cambridge!