Various Artists - The Only Choral Album You'll Ever Need - 2 CDs

Amazon.co.uk Review

The cheesy title may raise a smile and may make you slightly dubious about this two-disc set. But The Only Choral Album You'll Ever Need is a combination of fine vintage recordings and (sometimes) cheeky programming. For example, Mahler's Symphony No. 8–the ultimate in late-romantic hyperbole–is followed by the opening of Monteverdi's Vespers, effectively a baroque composer's attempt to capture the same massive grandeur. The juxtaposition is startling and amusing, but it also provides a fascinating and unexpected link between Monteverdi and Mahler. There are some great choirs on offer here, with a rich variety of styles: the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge (singing Barber, Fauré, Allegri, John Tavener and others) is an excellent mixed-voice ensemble in the Anglican tradition, while the Bolshoi Chorus and Orchestra (Borodin's Polovtsian Dances) offers a much throatier sound. There's Viennese polish (Karajan conducting March of the Toreadors) and German lustiness (the Bavarian Radio Choir and Orchestra singing Mahler). If you're new to choral music you could do a lot worse than start here.

Warwick Thompson

1. Agnus Dei
Composed by Samuel Barber
Performed by Cambridge Trinity College Choir Conducted by Richard Marlow

2. Pagliacci
Composed by Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Performed by Bavarian Radio Chorus, Munich Radio Orchestra Conducted by Lamberto Gardelli

3. Cavalleria rusticana
Composed by Pietro Mascagni
Performed by Britten Sinfonia Chorus, Britten Sinfonia with Lesley Garrett
Conducted by Ivor Bolton

4. Jerusalem
Composed by Hubert Parry
Performed by Cambridge Trinity College Choir with Philip Rushforth
Conducted by Richard Marlow

5. Carmen
Composed by Georges Bizet
Performed by Vienna State Opera Chorus Conducted by Herbert von Karajan

6. Requiem
Composed by Gabriel Fauré
Performed by Cambridge Trinity College Choir, London Musici Conducted by Richard Marlow

7. Requiem in D minor
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Bavarian Radio Chorus, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with Angela Maria Blasi
Conducted by Colin Davis

8. Prince Igor
Composed by Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin
Performed by Bolshoi Theatre Chorus, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra Conducted by Mark Ermler

9. Miserere mei
Composed by Gregorio Allegri
Performed by Cambridge Trinity College Choir with Louisa Keily, Rebecca Daldorph, Reiner Scheider-Waterberg, James Elias
Conducted by Richard Marlow

10. Madama Butterfly
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Bavarian Radio Chorus, Munich Radio Orchestra Conducted by Giuseppe Patanè

11. Der fliegende Holländer
Composed by Richard Wagner
Performed by Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus, Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra Conducted by Wilhelm Schüchter

12. Aida
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, King's Division Normandy Band Conducted by Carl Davis

13. Crucifixus a 8
Composed by Antonio Lotti
Performed by Balthasar-Neumann Choir Conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock

14. (The) Lamb, 'Little Lamb, who made thee?'
Composed by John Tavener
Performed by Cambridge Trinity College Choir Conducted by Richard Marlow

15. Messa da Requiem
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Bavarian Radio Chorus, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Colin Davis

16. Messiah
Composed by George Frideric Handel
Performed by London Musici Chamber Choir, London Musici Conducted by Mark Stephenson

17. (Il) trovatore
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Carl Davis

18. Ave verum corpus in D
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Cambridge Trinity College Choir Conducted by Richard Marlow

19. Eugene Onegin
Composed by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Performed by Covent Garden Royal Opera House Chorus Conducted by Elgar Howarth

20. Ein deutsches Requiem
Composed by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Bavarian Radio Chorus, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Colin Davis

21. Coronation Anthems
Composed by George Frideric Handel
Performed by Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Carl Davis

22. Mass in B minor
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Balthasar-Neumann Choir, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra Conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock

23. Symphony No. 8, 'Symphony of a Thousand' in E flat
Composed by Gustav Mahler
Performed by Bavarian Radio Chorus, Berlin Radio Chorus, Stuttgart Radio Chorus, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz
Conducted by Colin Davis

24. Vespro della Beata Vergine
Composed by Claudio Monteverdi
Performed by Cantus Cölln Conducted by Konrad Junghänel

25. Symphony No. 9, 'Choral' in D minor
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by Swiss Chamber Choir, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra Conducted by David Zinman

26. Lohengrin
Composed by Richard Wagner
Performed by Bavarian Radio Chorus, Bavarian State Opera Chorus, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Colin Davis

27. (Die) Fledermaus, '(The) Bat'
Composed by Johann II Strauss
Performed by Covent Garden Royal Opera House Chorus Conducted by Elgar Howarth

28. (L') Enfance du Christ
Composed by Hector Berlioz
Performed by Cambridge Trinity College Choir with Philip Rushforth
Conducted by Richard Marlow

29. Nabucco
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Robert Shaw Chorale Conducted by Robert Shaw

30. Hear my prayer, O Lord
Composed by Henry Purcell
Performed by Cambridge Trinity College Choir Conducted by Richard Marlow

31. Vespers, 'All-Night Vigil'
Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov
Performed by USSR Ministry of Culture Chamber Choir Conducted by Valéry Polyansky

32. Faust
Composed by Charles Gounod
Performed by Robert Shaw Chorale Conducted by Robert Shaw

33. Carmina Burana
Composed by Carl Orff
Performed by Bavarian Radio Chorus, Munich Radio Orchestra Conducted by Kurt Eichhorn