Spirituals for Choirs

Eight favourites come up sparkling in new arrangements by Ken Burton and Bob Chilcott . . . In short, this is a splendid collection for adventurous choirs prepared to let their hair down and forget their traditional British reserve. * Christopher Field, Music Teacher, Feb 2004 *
Oxford University Press has issued another of its excellent anthologies of choral music, always well chosen, well edited, and extremely well bound, a consideration not to be taken lightly in this age of all too often shoddy workmanship in the world's binderies. In the hands of experienced cathedral or collegiate choirs or choral societies, these settings are virtually guaranteed to restore the jaded Christian, and bring to the unconvinced a new message of hope and joy. I congratulate Bob Chilcott and his excellent team of nine for adding to the Christian ministry in such a positive way. * Henry Howell, Australian Music Teacher Jun 2003 *
Chilcott contributes five arrangements to this collection, which is one of the many strengths of the publication. The other arrangers represent stellar choral arrangers, making this one of the best collections of its kind . . . With the roster of arrangers in this publication comes a wide range of styles, from the spirited to the introspective . . . There is something for every choir in this collection. They make strong demands on any choir, but will give strong rewards as well. * Choral Journal (US) Vol. 43, No. 8 *
'Deep river' (Paul Hart) has some wonderfully surprising harmonies in spite of the number of times the tune must have been re-worked by different arrangers over the years. The same arranger's extrovert version of 'Didn't my Lord deliver Daniel' is superb. The harmonies are chromatic but always right for the style and make this the sort of music which choirs would really enjoy working at, every voice having moments of interest . . . The whole book is strongly recommended and I would suggest that choral directors should obtain a copy to see for themselves the superb standard of the arrangements. * Ensemble (MMA) Jan 02 *
These specially commissioned choral arrangements are wonderfully passionate and evocative as well as superbly crafted; they often throw a completely new light upon familiar melodies (rather as Tippett does in his five spirituals from A Child of our time) . . . It seems invidious to single out any particular arrangement - they are all extremely effective - but I particularly enjoyed Chilcott's arrangements of 'All my trials', 'Evr'y time I feel the Spirit' and 'Nobody knows the trouble' . . . If you have the vocal resources, this book is a must. * Church Music Quarterly December 2001 *