Sea Change: The Choral Music of Richard Rodney Bennett [Hybrid SACD]

1	Sea Change, for chorus &
2	Sea Change, for chorus &
3	Sea Change, for chorus &
4	Sea Change, for chorus &
5	A Farewell to Arms, for c
6	A Good-Night, for chorus
7	Verses, for chorus
8	Missa Brevis, for chorus:
9	Missa Brevis, for chorus:
10	Missa Brevis, for chorus:
11	Missa Brevis, for chorus:
12	Carols (5) for chorus: 1.
13	Carols (5) for chorus: 2.
14	Carols (5) for chorus: 3.
15	Carols (5) for chorus: 4.
16	Carols (5) for chorus: 5.
17	Lullay Mine Liking, for s
18	What sweeter music can we
19	Puer nobis, for chorus
Sea Change: The Choral Music of Richard Rodney Bennett [Hybrid SACD]
1.	Sea Change, for chorus & tubular bells 17:13
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers, Charles Fullbrook, Sam Evans and Simon Wall
2.	A Farewell to Arms, for chorus & cello 11:53
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers and Susan Dorey
3.	A Good-Night, for chorus 2:42
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers
4.	Verses, for chorus 6:39
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers
5.	Missa Brevis, for chorus 15:45
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers
6.	Carols (5) for chorus 10:11
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers
7.	Lullay Mine Liking, for soloists & chorus 3:43
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers, Clare Wilkinson, Elin Manahan Thomas, Sam Evans and ben Breakwell
8.	What sweeter music can we bring, for chorus 3:45
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers
9.	Puer nobis, for chorus 2:27
	Composed by Richard Rodney Bennett
	Performed by The Cambridge Singers

All Music Guide

Widely admired for his operas and symphonic works, and internationally acclaimed for his numerous film scores, Richard Rodney Bennett has received far less appreciation for his choral music, even though this body of work is quite substantial, highly accessible, and rewarding. These 2004 performances by John Rutter and the splendid Cambridge Singers mark the first serious attempt to record a representative album of Bennett's secular and sacred pieces for choir; and due to the favorable attention it has already received, this handsome collection may inspire other, more extensive surveys. This program is divided in three parts: occasional pieces, mostly settings of English poetry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; a Missa Brevis in Latin, Bennett's single liturgical work; and a set of Christmas carols. Rutter and his roundly blended ensemble are exquisitely captured in Collegium's multichannel recording, and cellist Sue Dorey is especially expressive and resonant in her solo in "A Farewell to Arms." Anyone who enjoys tonal, melodic choral music should give this disc a try. But note that Bennett's setting of Robert Herrick's "What Sweeter Music" is not the same piece as the more famous version Rutter composed in 1988, and which is available on Collegium 111. Blair Sanderson

Birmingham Post

It's surprising that this is the first CD dedicated solely to these works. There's considerable stylistic consistency in the three and a half decades covered.... The purity and silky, homogenous blend of the Cambridge Singers, under John Rutter, suits the material perfectly. Clare Mackney

Classic FM Magazine

Bennett’s idiom is here at its most attractive.... The Cambridge Singers...respond to Rutter’s direction with state-of-the-art precision and blending, unerringly capturing the music’s varied moods. Malcolm Hayes