IN QUIRES AND PLACES… Crypt Choir of The King's School Canterbury
Howard Ionascu
Herald HAVPCD 328 60m18s
www.heraldav.co.uk

This is an accomplished choir of young people, who are obviously well-drilled by director Howard Ionescu. The programme, containing a lot of the usual lollipops, usefully adds the Lennox Berkeley The Lord is my Shepherd (should be done more), some Rheinberger from Cantus Missae, and the short Christ is the King by Paul Patterson (sheet music reviewed by me a couple of issues ago!). The choir of both girls and boys (presumably of sixth form age) sound well blended (they sound young, particularly the underparts), and the girls have a welcome purity which is easy on the ear and there seems to be a certain restraint so that loud singing retains its poise, clarity and tone. It is good to hear such good and accurate diction from a choir so young too. There is a constant low frequency noise, probably from the organ blower or some air conditioning (in a cathedral?), which the ear does eventually filter out, but annoying all the same. The booklet is a little uninformative, although the texts are present. AR