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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
English composer Robert Prizeman has taken a conventional English boy's choir--usually a haven for sweet songs and ecclesiastical renderings--and made them contemporary without selling out any of their intrinsic charm. Their stacked choral voices and lead sopranos, dressed up with electronica rhythms, synthesizers, and strings still sound like they could be coming from the church balcony, even while they exude an Enya-like appeal. While there are adaptations of Gregorian chants and Sibelius hymns, most of the songs are Prizeman originals based on those styles, with texts often drawn from Latin Liturgy. Except for the chilled romanticism of "Stay With Me," and the rhythm driven "Adoramus," whose chorus sounds like a Harry Potter incantation, few of the songs on Free have the anthemic pop appeal of "Salva Me" or "Vespera" from previous albums. Instead, Prizeman has opted for a more serene sound on Free, even with their first video from the disc, the yearning "I Am the Day." Some of it, like Prizeman's setting of a Walter de la Mare poem on "A Song of Enchantment," gets lugubrious. But most of Free floats on gentle soprano breezes, intrinsically innocent, even if the boys might be smoking cigarettes behind the altar. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Soothing and thought provoking February 23, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Libera is an amazing group of boys and Robert Prizeman really knows how to put everything together. My favorite songs on "Free" are Voca Me, Stay With Me, Adoramus, I Am the Day and Twilight. Each time I listen to this disc, another song seems to start growing on me. This was my first Libera CD (I have since bought Luminosa, Libera and Visions) and at first I liked the faster more upbeat songs but as time went on I started to really love the softer ones like Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep (beautifully done by Ben Crawley and Joseph Platt). The soloists are lovely with clear and pure voices, and the chorus just swells with harmonies. This is choir music for people who hate choir music.

5 out of 5 stars

"Free" is a music-lover's delight October 12, 2004
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Robert Prizeman and his boys have done it again: "Free" is simply wonderful! Fans of Libera will not be disappointed. Newcomers will find the music engaging. (I have purchased copies of earlier Libera albums for friends. They reported back that unfamiliarity with the genre or the content of the lyrics is no barrier to enjoyment, and that this music appeals to all generations.)

"Free" is Libera's third album release, following the group's self-titled first CD "Libera" and its successor "Luminosa". "Free" bears the hallmarks that fans have come to expect: an admixture of Latin and English texts, sweet but not cloying solo vocals, and harmonies sung to distinction in a fusion of traditional and contemporary styles. In this album Mr. Prizeman's further maturation as a composer and arranger is fully evident. He continues to employ the synthesizer but also wields a wider palette of instruments to good effect.

There is concert-worthy material here: "Voca me" is a compelling example, and it is not alone. "A New Heaven" is hauntingly beautiful, evocative at times of Faure at his best but with its own identity. "Lament" is ethereal. "Stay with me" and its ariose octave leaps echo in my head at odd moments throughout the day. "Free" is a musical experience that is not to be missed.

I marvel at the fact that this is a performance by children, by boys of ages 7 to 14. Its quality surpasses by light years the harsh gang-of-kids-singing tones produced in a typical elementary school classroom. So, here is a ringing American endorsement for the thousand-year English choral tradition, of which I was largely unaware until late in my life. It is incorporated in countless film scores, but for years I was not focused on it, incidentally appreciating the sound but not reflecting on how it had been created. When awareness finally came, it opened a door to wonder. Since then I have witnessed the level of boychoir musicianship firsthand. It is truly remarkable. "Free" is an outstanding example.

DISCLAIMER: While traveling in England in 2002 I paid a visit to the parish church in south London where Mr. Prizeman was Organist. I heard his splendid traditional choir. Afterward I briefly met him and a few of the choristers, some of whom were also members of Libera. I was already a fan, and it was great fun. It probably didn't influence my appraisal of this album.

5 out of 5 stars

Perfection Plus! October 15, 2004
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

The problem with achieving perfection is that you are expected to maintain that level in any future projects. That was the inevitable dilemma faced by Robert Prizeman and the boys when they undertook to record their new album. Having reached the highest possible quality with their previous CDs, `Libera' and `Luminosa', they set out on the daunting task of achieving the same standard with their latest offering, `Free'. Incredibly, not only do they equal their earlier efforts but they actually improve upon them; something which I would have deemed impossible! Clearly, there is no limit to the talents of these seven-to-fourteen-year-olds. They say that the measure of a good album is when you find yourself humming the tunes after one playing. Having seen some of their latest videos on TV, I found myself humming them before I had even unpacked it! In `I Am the Day', we have what I believe to be Libera's best song to date (and that is saying something!). `Voca Me' gives the boys the chance to display their incredible vocal range and `Stay With Me' will set your feet tapping. The final track is a delightful piece called `Adoramus' which will have you humming along! And if you have a liking for the Gregorian style, you will also be accommodated with `Lament'. In short, `Free' has something for everyone. This album contains some of their best material, brilliantly performed and superbly produced. Buy this CD and I guarantee that you will find yourself listening to little else for weeks to come!

1 out of 5 stars

Cynical, sentimental, saccharin slush January 12, 2005
7 out of 29 found this review helpful

This was playing in the 'Classical' section of my local record store. After 5 minutes I felt somewhat annoyed. 10 minutes, nauseous. 15 minutes, I wanted to leave or vomit. This is an album for people who don't really like classical music, only gorgeous melodies and lovely boys' voices... the musical equivalent of pictures of kittens taken through smeared lenses.

You can hear where the composer got most of his ideas from (such as they are) if you get recordings of masterpieces such as Faure's Requiem, Lotti's Crucifixus, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, the Allegri Miserere... that is, if you can bear to give up the synthesized accompaniments, artificial reverberation and computerized drum tracks and listen to live, breathing, thinking musicians providing the lower parts instead.

The worst thing about it is that the boys really do have beautiful voices. Too bad that they are known only for this pre-digested pap.

5 out of 5 stars

Insanely Captivating and Frickin' Spellbinding January 28, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

There are rare moments when something catches you so totally unprepared that you defy interruption. This was one of those monents for me. Was on a cross-country United flight while thumbing up and down the music channels. Heard this choir-like tune and sat stunned at what was coming through the headphones. Was not sure what it was or who was performing. The in-flight magazine provided a clue but it meant listening to more of the program to be sure. This was listed as Classical music! No wonder I had never heard of Libera. Am a 54-year old life-long heavy duty rock and roller at heart. Two tracks in particularly stopped time for me: "Stay With Me" and "A New Heaven". No one can fault your taste in music. If you appreciate indefinable harmony, spirit-grabbing chords arranged over ethereal soundscapes, you will discover this to be insanely captivating and frickin' spellbinding. Wish Amazon offered more than :30 samplers so you could get a better sense of what those two tracks reveal and might do for you. For what it's worth, after landing and checking in the hotel, I went to the nearest music store and picked up this CD and Libera's 'Visions'. It's going to be a great flight home.

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