Pianist with ‘Blossom Street’ for Resonus Classics
The Blossom Street Chamber Choir directed by Hilary Campbell
“Check out tracks 13 ‘Lullaby’ and 16 ‘One more river’….and the rest of beautiful too!!” BLS
Director Blossom Street: Hilary Campbell
Piano: Ben Lewis-Smith
Blossom Street & Hilary Campbell (director)
Making their Resonus debut, is the renowned young professional chamber choir Blossom Street with their director Hilary Campbell.
The name Peter Warlock (nom de plume of Philip Heseltine (1894-1930)) is synonymous with both English song and breathtakingly beautiful carols for choir. Here Blossom Street present a selection of Warlock's best-known carols alongside a number of lesser-known part-songs, with no fewer than six world premiere recordings.
Immediately apparent is the huge breadth of range seen throughout these exquisite miniatures – from the dark despair of The Shrouding of the Duchess of Malfi to the uproarious sociable songs for men's voices, and the imagery contained in The Night to the haunting stillness of Warlock's most frequently heard work Bethlehem Down – Warlock's lyrical and harmonically rich sound world is always evident.
[...] a programme offering a genuine expansion in our understanding of Warlock [...] Gorgeous sound; highly engaging, dedicated performances.'
BBC Music Magazine
'[...] Blossom Street find the blended intensity and control that this music demands'
Gramophone
'Campbell and her chamber-sized choir Blossom Street give committed readings of this repertoire, which time and again reveals Warlock's highly attuned sensitivity to text'
Choir and Organ
'[...] everything in this collection is enjoyable. Credit for this must go to Hilary Campbell and her Blossom Street singers who sound lovely'
Cross Rhythms
'This being Peter Warlock, there's nothing prim and proper - The Shrouding of the Duchess of Malfi is really spooky and the performances match the music. The recording is good, too'
MusicWeb International
'Blossom Sreet are a choir of young voices and this comes over very clearly in the freshness of this lovely recording [...] a valuable addition to the repertoire'
Lark Reviews