I wish I could give this CD 10 stars! This is a must for all Vivaldi or Baroque music lovers! Just listen to the 1st and 13th track and you'll be blown away immediately! It's so full of vitality & joy and played with virtuosity and excitement! Their judgement and execution are perfection, yet their spirit, imagination and virtuosity are far beyond that! This is how Baroque music should be played! I've played this CD for my friends, and they all fell in love with this kind of music and playing. I have some of the works listed here played by other ensembles, and they all sound dull and lifeless by comparison! Try them!

This anthology brings together representative works from the mainstream of contemporary American choral music. Charles Ives’s Psalm 90 evokes a mood reminiscent of congregational Sunday singing in New England. Copland’s In the Beginning recalls his Fanfare for the Common Man, while Lukas Foss’s Behold, I Build An House shows the stylistic influence of Copland. Vincent Persichetti’s Flower Songs reveal his deep commitment to his favourite poet E.E. Cummings, and favours the women’s voices. In Fern Hill, set for alto, chorus and orchestra, composer John Corigliano sings of the joys of youth.

For its uniqueness, this is perhaps the most heartfelt rendition of the great Choral Symphony. It was extended and altered to celebrate the reunification of East with West, not just in Berlin, Germany as a whole, but the whole of Europe. The text was altered from Ode to Joy to Ode to Freedom. LB has taken all but the second movement at a leisurely pace compared to many of his contemporaries' performances, but by bringing together instrumentalists from the world's greatest ensembles, the passion and the musical genius of Beethoven come across in every phrase. This is a live recording, so the odd cough is heard, but most notable is the late LB stamping his foot on the podium at the start of each movement, and also during many of the more frantic and energetic passages.
This is not the most perfect in terms of technicalities but for a real sense of joy - which is what it is all about, this version can not be bettered. This should be bought as an historic addition to anyone's record library.