Shining very brightly
There’s stillness and great joy in this standout festive offering from London’s young choir
Christmas With Sonoro Sonoro/neil Ferris
Resonus RES10226 59:08 mins
The London-based chamber choir Sonoro was founded just two years ago, yet has already developed a strong individual identity. It is immediately evident in the brightly rhythmic account of Malcolm Archer’s ‘A little child there is yborn’ which opens their new disc. There’s real joy in the interpretation, and the blend is not over-homogenised – you can hear distinctive individual voices without ensemble being disrupted. Pin-point layering of dynamics creates a sharp sense of mystery and drama in Michael Higgins’s multi-layered setting of ‘The Angel Gabriel’, and the same attention to nuance enlivens Higgins’s fulsomelyenjoyable arrangement of ‘Tomorrow shall be my dancing day’. Sonoro has just 17 singers, but they have no difficulty achieving a supple continuity of texture in Sally Beamish’s intimately expressive ‘In the Stillness’. Fintan O’carroll’s ‘Suantraí ár Slánaitheora’ is likewise quietly seductive, and has a delectably limpid solo from soprano Rebecca Lea. Neil Ferris’s conducting is full of interpretive touches which illuminate the music without compromising the spontaneity of the singing.
The sound quality is ideally transparent, and further enhances enjoyment of this outstandingly refreshing recital. ★★★★★