ETERNAL LIGHT: MUSIC OF
INNER PEACE
Deutsche Grammophon 471 090-2
This CD could be described as the sound of contented schoolgirls humming quietly to themselves. In fact it's the choir of a priory of English nuns, and the latest addition to the phenomenon of plainsong marketed for mass consumption. The voices are discreetly accompanied here and there by flute, clarinet and organ. The pale light of an English winter morning suffuses this recording which is nowhere strident in the way men singing plainchant can be. In fact, easy though it is to laugh at it, the result is strangely attractive. A placid gentleness is its essential feature, thought by some to especially characterize English spirituality (though history tells a different story). One oddity is that the notes claim the Canonnesses of the Holy Sepulchre have been at New Hall in eastern England since 1799, whereas Roman Catholics were only emancipated in the UK in 1829 and couldn't have openly run a religious community before that date. This nevertheless is an attractive CD. Old and modern items are mixed together, but all share the same slightly quaint tranquility.
SCHUBERT: STRING QUINTET
AMADEUS QUARTET & ROBERT COHEN
Deutsche Grammophon 419 611-2
BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN CONCERTO, VIOLIN ROMANCES -- Arthur Grumiaux
Eloquence 468 114-2
These are both famous recordings, though far from new. It's impossible to fault either of them artistically. Schubert's heart-broken and heart-breaking quintet (which a friend of mine finds so devastating he can't bear to listen to it) is played by the Amadeus with great power. Nevertheless, the recording dates from 1986, and even then wasn't their first version of the work on disc. Few these days will opt for it rather than, say, the Lindsay Quartet's ethereal rendering (with Douglas Cummings). The Beethoven CD, too, was Arthur Grumiaux's second recording of this well-worn violin concerto, here with Amsterdam's Concertgebouw orchestra, and dates from 1974.
Neither of these performances is any longer a market leader, but they both continue to hold their place in the catalogues. The Beethoven appears on a new label, Eloquence, which takes vintage recordings with equal freedom from Deutsche Grammophon, Philips and Decca. The advantage this disc retains is that Eloquence is a budget-price label. The Amadeus's Schubert, however, is still on Deutsche Grammophon's full price list.
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