Search - Anthems from King's on DVD

Beautiful anthems from King's College

Jeremy D Vosburgh | West Sand Lake, NY United States | 01/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great dvd made in 2001. It features Stephen Cleobury conducting the king's college choir as they sing 13 different English anthems. They include, among others, Wood's "Hail, Gladdening Light," Ireland's "Greater Love Hath No Man," Parry's "I Was Glad," Howell's "Like as the Hart," and many others.Extra features include a multi-angle feature of organ scholar Daniel Hyde playing Stanford's Postlude in D minor (on the King's college chapel organ), a documentary called "The King's Choristers," which is a 30 minute BBC documentary with insights into the life of the boy choristers of the choir (includes rare footage of rehearsals and training), and (something that rarely comes with dvds these days) an illustrated booklet in three languages that includes information on all the composers.The quality of the recording is excellent, especially since all these pieces were written for just such an English choir. The chapel is wonderfully illuminated with candles and is perfectly empty except for the choir. The basses in the choir are rich and wonderful (as is the bass soloist in "Greater Love..."), the tenors are soft and pure, the counter-tenors are resonant and clear, and the trebles are high and beautiful sounding. Daniel Hyde and the other organ scholar are both excellent organ players. Cleobury is a very good conductor with complete control over his choir.The pieces themselves are beautiful and spiritually uplifting, and the overall presentation is wonderful. I strongly urge you (if you like uplifting church music) to buy this gem. You will not be disappointed. And with a 5.1 DTS soundtrack, the recording sound and quality is just about top notch. Enjoy!"

King's College Choir does it again!

Bjorn P. Zetterstrom | Lubbock, Texas | 09/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, I did not think that a DVD from King's College would actually be able to compete with being there in reality. Well, I was wrong. The choir is fantastic live and on DVD. Stephen Cleobury seems to be able to get the most incredible sounds out of such a small group of boys and men. The coup-de-grace is the extra 25-minute documentary that is located under the main menu of the DVD. It is a documentary on a day in the life of a King's College Chorister. Simply amazing. I recommend that you watch this before you actually watch the choir singing. This way, you get to learn a little bit about the boys that you will see in the concert portion."