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1 CD
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€ 8.95
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| Label Signum Classics |
UPC 0635212005620 |
Catalogue number SIGCD 056 |
Release date 01 January 2007 |
Formed in 1968 by six Choral Scholars from King’s College, Cambridge, the King’s Singers quickly became a prominent musical force in the UK. The rest of the world soon followed so that today the group’s engagements are spread throughout the four corners of the globe.
The ensemble are renowned for their commitment to blend balance and intonation in their performances, but above all it is their simple enjoyment of what they do that has captured the imagination of the public, and kept the King’s Singers at the top of their game for over three and a half decades.
This album presents six pieces performed by the six vocalists over the years. The titles were selected to span the life of the group so far: After the explosive rock decade of the 1960s in which the group was founded, you can almost hear the hair lengthen in Neil Young’s 1970 song After the Goldrush. This was originally sung by the group with Nana Mouskouri on her BBC TV show, and has remained popular ever since; Irving Berlin’s much-loved jazz classic Blue Skies is here sung in a cool and reflective arrangement by Richard Rodney Bennett; the Beatle’s Blackbird is one of the most requested encores happily sung to ecstatic audiences, and Daryl Runswick’s arrangement perfectly maintains the feel of the original song.
The remaining three tracks are all newly recorded pieces from the 21st century. Down to the River to Pray, a spiritual, appeared in the Coen brothers movie “O Brother Where art Thou?”; Billy Joel’s Lullaby Goodnight My Angel is an example of the songwriter at his lyric best. Finally, The Wishing Tree was commissioned by the King’s Singers and the BBC for the 2002 Proms, celebrating the present Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Joby Talbot, formerly of The Divine Comedy, was asked to compose a work in which to reflect Queen Elizabeth II’s life, as well as incorporating a 16th century madrigal-element, in reference to the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth.
The King's Singers have set the gold standard in a cappella singing on the world’s greatest stages for over 55 years. They are renowned for their unrivalled technique, musicianship and versatility, which stem from the group’s rich heritage and its drive to bring an extraordinary range of new and unique works, collaborations and recordings to life. The King’s Singers’ extensive discography has led to numerous awards, including two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame.
The King’s Singers were officially formed in 1968 when six recent choral scholars from King’s College, Cambridge gave a concert at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. By chance, the group was made up of two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones and a bass, and the group has stuck to this formation ever since.
In the last few years, the group has recorded a series of diverse, collaborative albums that showcase the huge breadth of their repertoire. One honours two great English Renaissance composers: Thomas Weelkes and William Byrd; another is centred around Romantic music; a third honours 100 years of Disney, with 28 brand-new arrangements of iconic Disney songs; a fourth is a double-album focussed on the group’s library of signature ‘close harmony’ arrangements; and another celebrates the group’s extraordinary body of commissioned new music.
Growing the global canon of choral music has always been one of the group's key aims, and The King’s Singers have now commissioned more than 300 works by many of the most prominent composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. These composers include John Tavener, Joe Hisaishi, Judith Bingham, Eric Whitacre, György Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Penderecki and Toru Takemitsu. All this new music joins their body of bespoke a cappella arrangements, including many by King’s Singers past and present.
Alongside their demanding performing and recording schedule – with over 100 concerts worldwide every season – the group leads educational workshops and residential courses across the globe, working with ensembles on their approaches to group singing. To mark their 50th anniversary in 2018, they founded The King’s Singers Global Foundation (based in the USA), to provide a platform to support the creation of new music across multiple disciplines, to coach a new generation of performers, and to provide musical opportunities to people of all backgrounds.
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