Superbly recorded and produced by Wayne Laird of Atoll Records, this CD features material taken from live performances in Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland on the occasion of the choir's 2007 North Island tour, as well as recordings made in the warm acoustics of St Michael's Church, Remuera.
The disc title is coined from the opening track, Douglas K. Mews' beautiful anthem of the same name.
Atoll Records 2007 #acd407
Reviews
"This multi-ethnic Auckland choir of 35 has strong Polynesian numbers. That’s a guarantee against bloodless singing and towards a full and rich tone with spontaneous emotional involvement. The choir sounds assured in the deepest classical heavyweights such as the double canon writing in Brahms’ Geistliches Lied and their powerfully declamatory singing in Charles Stanford’s long and pro-active sacred work. This and the rich choral sonority of David Hamilton’s Karanga are the two standout items. They respond superbly to Hamilton’s imaginative changes of colouring and density. Director Terence Maskell has shaped this into one of our most exciting smaller choirs."
Ian Dando, The Listener, Vol 213 No 3545, April 2008
"The indefatigable Laird has been travelling around this year, catching Terence Maskell’s Graduate Choir in various venues for its new album A Sound Came From Heaven. The title offering, a short anthem by the late Douglas Mews, shows the refinement and strength of Maskell’s 35 singers as they take advantage of the spectacular spaces of Wellington’s St Paul’s Cathedral. While New Zealand music is a strong point of the graduate programme, Maskell’s choir excels in everything from Victorian madrigals and skittish Schumann to gemutlich Gershwin."
William Dart, NZ Herald, 20 December 2007
Full article
Track Listing & Previews
Terence Maskell, Conductor
with Elizabeth Salmon, organand Christina Bevan, piano |
Click to play or download mp3 preview: |
1. A sound came from heaven Mews (NZ) | Listen |
2. For lo, I raise up Stanford | Listen |
3. Kyrie Mendelssohn | Listen |
4. Ehre sei Gott in der Hohe Mendelssohn | Listen |
5. Heilig Mendelssohn | Listen |
6. Abendlied Mendelssohn | Listen |
7. Es ist verraten Schumann | Listen |
8. Who shall have my lady fair? de Pearsall | Listen |
9. Great God of love de Pearsall | Listen |
10. Geistliches Lied Brahms | Listen |
11. Lord, when the sense of thy sweet grace J Ritchie (NZ) | Listen |
12. Song of hope A Ritchie (NZ) | Listen |
13. Karanga Hamilton (NZ) | Listen |
14. Horizon I Marshall (NZ) | Listen |
15. To L.H.B. Marshall (NZ) | Listen |
16. Moemoe pepe Marshall (NZ) | Listen |
17. Minoi, minoi Marshall (NZ) | Listen |
18. Embraceable you Gershwin | Listen |
19. I'm gonna sing Thomas | Listen |
Producer: Wayne Laird © 2007 |