Listen & tracks
1 of 43 tracks have a preview · 29 works · 68:54
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1 I Can Tell the World Traditional 1:51
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2 Give Me Jesus Traditional 3:07
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3 Free at Last Traditional 1:22
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4 Elijah Rock Traditional 2:49
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5 He Had to Run Traditional 1:15
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6 Deep River Traditional 2:27
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7 Wade in the Water Traditional 1:53
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8 Brigg Fair Traditional 2:36
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9 Irish Tune From County Derry (Londonderry Air) Traditional 3:21
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10 Once, Twice, Thrice Henry Purcell 3:07
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11 Sir Walter Henry Purcell 2:24
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12 Upon Woman's Love Henry Purcell :42
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13 An Old Epitaph Henry Purcell 2:34
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14 I Gave her Cakes Henry Purcell 2:04
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15 Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive Johnny Mercer 2:20
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16 Voices John Fleming 1:59
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17 Among the Leaves so Green, O Traditional 2:28
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18 Greensleeves Traditional 5:45
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19 Yarmouth Fair Traditional 2:26
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20 Now is the Month of Maying Thomas Morley 2:12
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21 The Silver Swan Thomas Morley 1:26
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22 April is my Mistress' Face Thomas Weelkes 1:23
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23 Matona Mia Cara Orlando di Lasso 2:20
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24 Il est bel et bon Pierre Passereau 1:18
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25 Quand je bois Pierre Attaingnant 1:29
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26 C'est trop parlé de Bacchus Pierre Certon 1:53
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27 Bushes and Briars Traditional 3:15
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28 I Love my Love Traditional 5:22
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29 The Music Lesson Anonymous 1:46
Yet another disc from one of Australia's best choirs – the Choir of Ormond College.
During their European tour in the early 1990s, critics abroad responded with real enthusiasm to the repertoire captured here.
Madrigals and drinking songs sit naturally in this choir's book, and the ensemble already held an enviable international reputation. The programme ranges across saucy Purcell rounds, English folk songs including Vaughan Williams' Greensleeves and Percy Grainger's arrangements of Brigg Fair and the Irish Tune from County Derry, and strong readings of spirituals such as I Can Tell the World and Wade in the Water, alongside Arlen's Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive and Morley's Now is the Month of Maying.
Reviews
Let me make my prejudices clear. I don't like this type of music. Unaccompanied Renaissance choral singing is really not my cup of tea. Here is austerity and purity to the nth degree. But even a Philistine like me can recognise that Douglas Lawrence and the Choir of Ormond College can sing this sort of music better than almost anybody else in the world. The Choir of Ormond College, under the direction of Douglas Lawrence, is a world-class a sumptuous mixture of songs, spirituals, rounds, madrigals and folksongs. The record has all the feeling of being an adventure – a wide variety of types of music, an energetic bounce of delivery, and more than a few rude lyrics.
'I can tell the World' and 'Deep River' proved the worthy voices, the homogeneity and the captivating intonation of this vocal ensemble.
sung with infectious joy and rhythm
performed with great expressive strength
these young a cappella singers obviously relish the uncloistered repertoire ... interpreted with great beauty ... sheer pleasure.
Artists
The Choir of Ormond College
choir
The Choir of Ormond College has, since its founding in 1982 under Douglas Lawrence, become the first Australian choir to earn ongoing international recognition for its concert and recorded work.
Douglas Lawrence
director
Melbourne organist Douglas Lawrence is Director of Music at The Scots' Church and Teacher of the Organ at the University of Melbourne. He founded the Choir of Ormond College and directed it from 1982 to 2006.
Harold Arlen
composer
Harold Arlen (1905–1986) was an American composer of popular song whose work sits at the heart of the Great American Songbook. He wrote the complete score for the film The Wizard of Oz, including Over the Rainbow.
Percy Grainger
composer
Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882–1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. A brilliant folk-song collector and arranger, he was also a restless experimenter whose work ranged from tuneful percussion to Free Music machines that foreshadowed electronic synthesis.
Johnny Mercer
composer
Johnny Mercer's lyrics still define how jazz singers tell a story: conversational, witty and shot through with Southern colour, from torch laments to swing anthems and Hollywood standards that refuse to age.
Henry Purcell
composer
Henry Purcell (c. 1659–1695) was an English organist and composer of the middle Baroque. His sacred music, theatre songs, instrumental works and the opera Dido and Aeneas shaped a distinctly English Baroque style.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) was an English composer of nine symphonies, operas, ballets, and a large body of choral and vocal music. Drawing on Tudor polyphony and English folk-song, he helped free British music from its nineteenth-century German models.
Pierre Attaingnant
composer
Pierre Attaingnant (c. 1494–1552) was a pioneering French music printer and publisher whose work helped shape the circulation of Renaissance music across Europe. Based in Paris, he became one of the first printers to use single-impression movable type for music, a breakthrough that made printed scores faster and more economical to produce.
John Byrt
composer
Pierre Certon
composer
Orlando di Lasso
composer
John Fleming
composer
C. Armstrong Gibbs
composer
Warren "Buzz" Haeger
composer
Jester Hairston
composer
Jester Hairston (1901–2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger and choral conductor, regarded as a leading expert on Black spirituals and choral music.
Gustav Holst
composer
Gustav Holst’s music moves from the cosmic sweep of The Planets to spare, singing folk and Christmas settings that choirs still reach for. His arrangements of English song and carols carry a clear line and a quiet ceremonial glow.
Donald James
composer
Thomas Morley
composer
Thomas Morley's madrigals and balletts are among the most singable music of Elizabethan England: light, quick-moving part-songs that took Italian models and made them English. Choirs still reach for pieces such as Now is the Month of Maying and Sing we and chant it.
Pierre Passereau
composer
Peter Warlock
composer
Peter Warlock (1894–1930) was a British composer best known for songs and other vocal music. Under that name he left a distinctive body of carols, folk arrangements and the popular dance suite Capriol.
Thomas Weelkes
composer
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- The Choir of Ormond College · choir
- Douglas Lawrence · director
Technical credits
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Recording Engineer
Martin Wright
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Editing Engineer
Vaughan McAlley
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Venue
Uniting Church, Pentland Hills
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 68 minutes 54 seconds
- Release date
- 1991
- Categories
- Choral, Classical, Folk music
- Genres
- Choral & Sacred, Folk
- Musical work copyright
- © 1991 Move Records
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 1991 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3109
- EAN
- 9314574310924
More to explore
The Choir of Ormond College Live
A live retrospective for the Choir of Ormond College’s twenty-first year, gathering concert recordings from 1985 to 2000 under Douglas Lawrence, from Britten’s Festival Te Deum and Fauré’s Requiem to Bach, Palestrina, Poulenc and lively encores.
Kodály Missa Brevis
Recorded on their 1997 European tour in Northern Italy and Germany, the Choir of Ormond College sings Kodály’s Missa Brevis, with works by Tye, Howells and Bach.
Music from Heaven
The Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, in a highly acclaimed programme of unaccompanied sacred works by Allegri, Byrd, Poulenc, Britten, Barber and J.S. Bach.
Bach Byrd Britten
The Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, presents Bach, Byrd and Britten. Bach’s motet Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden and Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices stand beside Britten’s Five Flower Songs and A Ceremony of Carols.
Encores
Directed by Douglas Lawrence, the Australian Chamber Choir gathers favoured concert encores in a programme that shows the ensemble at its most immediate and engaging.
Gold
The Australian Chamber Choir, directed by Douglas Lawrence, performs works by eight Australian composers. From Gordon Kerry’s Shakespeare setting to Malcolm Williamson’s English Eccentrics, the programme turns individual voices into pure gold.