Libera - Free
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CD Details
Artist: LiberaComposer: Gustav Holst
Composer: Jean Sibelius
Conductor: Robert Prizeman
Performer: Robert Prizeman
Performer: Steven Geraghty
Performer: Helen Cole
Performer: Ian Tilley
Performer: Fiona Pears
Edition: Music CD
Published: 2004
CD Release Date: 2004-10-05
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
- I Am The Day
- Stay With Me
- Voca Me
- A Song Of Enchantment
- Ave Verum
- Do Not Stand At My Grave
- When A Knight
- A New Heaven
- I Vow To Thee My Country
- Lament
- Twilight
- Be Still My Soul
- Adoramus
Music reviews of Free
Music Review: "Free" is a music-lover's delight
Rating: 5 Stars
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.
Description of Free
Libera, FreeEnglish 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
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