Sullivan - The Golden Legend / J. Watson ? Rigby ? Wilde ? J. Black ? Corp

List Price: $21.98
Our Price: $15.64
You Save: $6.34 (29%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.99 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

Music reviews of Sullivan - The Golden Legend / J. Watson ? Rigby ? Wilde ? J. Black ? Corp

Music Review: A neglected cantata by Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Rating: 5 Stars

I have listened six times to this recording. Each time I find new details or effects in the music that reinforce my admiration for Sir Arthur Sullivan. A quick perusal of the Longfellow poem on which the work is based and a look at the synopsis provided with the recording have been enough to show that its Faust-like story would have been familiar, meaningful and fascinating enough to justify this work's enormous popularity in Sullivan's time. Nowadays, at least to me, it seems preposterous

Nevertheless the music repays close attention. Within the bounds of decorum that Sullivan always preserved in his music, there is a wonderful range of inventiveness, harmonic progression and melody. The forces include five soloists, chorus, orchestra and organ.

Timed to provide a satisfying evening's music making in the 1880s, the music runs for just over 90 minutes. Hyperion have marketed the two CD set for the price of one.

The recording venue was a church in south London that I used to attend many years ago. Rarely have I heard choral singing so well caught on record. The soloists have fresh young voices. If veteran record collectors have a hazy recollection of having sampled this work before, it might derive from a stunning recording of an excerpt called "The night is calm" made by the Australian soprano Florence Austral.

General CDs

• Styles > Classical
• Featured Composers, A-Z > ( S ) > Sullivan, Arthur
• Opera & Vocal > General
• Historical Periods > Classical (c.1770-1830)
• Vocal Non-Opera > Cantatas