Reviewed by John Irvine

Hello, is that the office of fair trading?...l have a complaint...Well, it's probably not serious, but I thought that the public had a right to know. A CD actually, under the title of Twentieth Century Choral Music'...Well, I don't think it actually fits the bill...Several reasons, in fact. Firstly, it's all religious music, Christian stuff...Well, there's Alan Ridout's "Litany", that's Anglican; Part and Tavener are Orthodox and Gorecki is Catholic. It doesn't say that on the front, you know. It doesn't say Twentieth Century Chilled Out Luminous Neo-Medieval Holy Minimalist Music Written For Churches' does it?...Well, I think people should be warned. Anyway, the second problem is that nothing on the disc was written before 1977, so how can that possibly be representative of the whole of the 20th century? Where's Poulenc, Stravinsky, Britten, Rachmaninov, Vaughn Williams, Reich, Glass, Walton, Nyman...the list is endless. How can a disc which covers music of the last 20 years be truly representative of this century? The public have a right to know...Well, my third complaint is that it is always the same blinking tunes they pick in these compilations. If I hear yet another recording of "The Lamb" I swear that I will not be responsible for my actions. And does every compilation with Gorecki on it have to have "Totus Tuus"? Last time I checked he'd written over 20 choral pieces! It gets a bit monotonous to say the least to hear the same pieces by the same composers on every compilation covering the same type of music...Well, there are a few good points I could mention. Part's "Seven Magnificat Antiphons" are here: they're short and sweet and rarely performed. The performances are good though not earth shattering... I just felt that the public should be warned before parting with a tenner for this disc...What's that?...Oh, hello Tony, you might have told me that I dialled your number by mistake...You didn't tape record this, did you? 'Cause if you did, it would save me writing a review...

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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