Various Composers - English Cathedral Music [Various Artists] 

I must admit the number one reason i bought this disc was because of the front cover, a stunning shot of a cathedral, looking up to the heavens, the stonework couched in the light of the glowing sun, and the vanishing points pointing upwards, the lettering and logo are superb, and the sky is just that right shade of cloudy blue, the power of gold and blue is incredible, i don't usually go for Choral music, so this is a bit off the beaten track for me, there are hits and misses for me, but it's good to expand my horizons in music, and this gets me moving down a different avenue.

At first i thought this was a purely Choral collection, with no instruments, that would have made more sense, instead what we get is a mixed bag of modern and ancient, some things don't quite sit together well, there's too much of a randomness to the whole thing, i think i would have accepted just Choral Tudor music.

The two pieces i really liked were Allegri's 'Miserere Mei', and Byrd's 'Bow Thine Ear, O Lord', the Allegri is justly famous for it's boy treble that rises into the stratosphere, the Byrd is less known, but i found it really compelling,  

Here's Stephen Cleobury directing the Kings College Chapel Choir singing Alegri's 'Miserere Mei' on YouTube.

Britten - War Requiem [Gardiner-NDR Sinfonieorchester] 

I must admit that these discs were not a phenomenal musical experience, but rather an interesting one, i consider Britten's War Requiem a masterpiece, so i was troubled by the lukewarm feelings for this work on listening to these discs today, is it me?, i own the Chandos Richard Hickox set, it's the only version of the War Requiem i've ever heard, so i thought i would acquire a new set, a second opinion of the work if you will, there's gains and losses [mainly losses], but also new insights too, first off i feel that this is a happier version, it's certainly quicker, and more upbeat, as well as possibly being lighter, however the Requiem is meant to be a dark foreboding lament, so it doesn't work very well, in the Hickox version we have Heather Harper, who for me is the star of that set, she sings with a real demonic bent, wailing and screaming as it were, nicely 'out of tune' in the best possible meaning, Luba Orgonasova by comparison is almost a sweet tame Soprano, not what i think Britten had in mind, i must admit some of the words are clearer, especially by the Tenor, also i don't like the way this set splits up each of the sections into further tracks, it actually makes it harder to know where you are, plus this set is recorded at a low volume.

John Eliot Gardiner is English, now 68 years old, he made this live recording in 1992 in Germany, the front cover picture is of fallen church bells, caused by an air raid during the second world war, i can see Gardiner's vision and copying to some degree the original premier, three international Artists as the soloists, and a damaged church, though this time in Germany, certainly the front cover is a far better picture than the Chandos / Hickox, it's awful.

The movement i like the most is the Sanctus, but as that isn't quite a success, i must admit that the Agnus Dei worked the best for me, it's the shortest movement at three and a half minutes, it's a doleful dirge on the strings, as the Tenor sings high and slightly boyish, it really works, it's a movement which rocks back and forth, from English words by Wilfred Owen, to the Latin of the Agnus Dei, there's a nice agitation from the percussion [2:12+], i like the way the Tenor soloist at the end sings Dona Nobis Pacem [3:16-3:32], with almost a humming chorus in the background, i'll seriously have to listen to my Hickox / Chandos version to see if it's still the masterpiece i remember it as.

Here's the Agnus Dei being played on YouTube.