Saturday, April 11, 2009

Today I acquired a couple of CD’s that I have wanted for quite a while. These have been my own personal Holy Grail of recordings and they have been difficult to track down because they are no longer in production. I’m talking about the first two CD’s by Libera, which they recorded as the Saint Philip’s Boys Choir, New Day and Sing Forever.

I have never even seen a description of this pair, nor heard of anyone who owned them so I will describe them here.
The first CD, New Day, has 12 tracks and almost all of them are familiar. They are:
You Are the New Day
Orinoco Flow
Pie Jesu
San Damiano
Always There
One Voice
Adoramus Te
Bright Eyes
Song of Joy
Sailing
Amazing Grace
One Day

Only the last song does not appear on one or more other albums.

The second is Sing Forever, recorded in 1988, and the tracks are:
Morning Has Broken
Sing the Story
Deep Peace
San Damiano
The Lord’s My Shepherd
Footprints
All Through the Night
Sing Forever
I have a Dream
Pie Jesu
For the Beauty of the Earth
Panis Angelicus
Light the Candles
Be Still My Soul

I wonder sometimes why Robert Prizeman has a rather limited repertoire (it probably has something to do with paying royalties) but I’m not complaining. Even though most of these songs are repeated on the first two Angel Voices CD’s and elsewhere the arrangements are different and so are the voices.

The New Day cover shows 17 boys sitting on a rocky incline and looking skyward. They are wearing blue sweat pants, light blue hoodies and no shoes.
The soloists on this CD are Robert Chee-a-tow, Gareth Lowman and Jaymi Bandtock.

Sing Forever has 18 boys on the cover, the front row kneeling and the others standing behind them. They are wearing the fore-runners of Libera’s monk’s robes. These are of a thinner fabric with larger cowls and shorter hems. Again they are all barefoot so I’ll bet the robes were later elongated to cover the jazz shoes they wear now.
Soloists are Jaymi Bandtock, Jonathan Arthey, Ian Grimley, Sam Harper, Gareth Lowman and Matthew Arthey.

I'm very glad to have these. Now if I can only find an affordable copy of Requiem by the Boys Air Choir.
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6 comments:

  1. KelsieApril 11, 2009 at 4:09 PM

    Yet another happy coincidence: You Are the New Day is part of what I'll be listening to tomorrow when Easter Sunday arrives here in the middle of the US...though I am surprised to learn that there was a CD by this name put out once upon a time...

    Listening to anything special for the holiday?

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  2. LarryApril 12, 2009 at 4:16 AM

    Hi Kelsie,
    Happy Easter. It's a special day and right now I'm listening to Heavenly Voices from King's College. It's a Sunday morning thing that I listen to a lot but it it still gives me tingles and makes me feel reverent.
    I hope you have a wonderful Easter and eat a lot of chocolate.

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  3. LarryApril 13, 2009 at 2:31 AM

    Thank you Ruth. You're very kind. I'm always glad to meet another music fan.

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  4. AnonymousApril 13, 2009 at 10:17 AM

    This has nothing to do with the current string, but if you like Treble Soloists I thought I would mention one of the more lovely voices to come along in awhile. Louis-Alexander Desiré is quite talented and his recent cd proves it. Might I suggest checking out this cd, "Bel Canto - Mes Premiers Pas" (2008).

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  5. LarryApril 13, 2009 at 4:40 PM

    Thanks for the tip about Louis-Alexander. I remember seeing him featured on BCSD last year. Apparently the only place to get a copy of the CD is from his site BelCantoBoy. It says you have to email them so I did. Maybe they will reply soon.
    Oh, and post a comment about anything. It's always good to hear from you.

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  6. AnonymousAugust 23, 2009 at 3:31 AM

    his earlier CD is available for eighteen euro from stephenrbeet@gmail.com It is Forgotten Favourites and is excellent.

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