From the 5000 students enrolled at Bemidji State University, on 76 acres of wooded campus on the shore of Lake Bemidji, MN, comes one of the best student choirs we've heard, The Bemidji Choir, founded in 1937. "almost Acappella" is a best-of CD, including 22 songs, from Palestrina's "Exultate Deo" and a group of 5 rose-related songs (Wm. Billings' "The Rose of Sharon," Howells' "A Spotless Rose," Leighton's "Of A Rose is All My Song," John Paynter's "The Rose" and the English Carol "TheRose"), Poulenc's 4 "Motets for the Season of Lent," Benjamin Britten's ''Five Flower Songs," the spiritual "Done Made My Vow to the Lord," and finishing with a pair of piano-accompanied tunes by Gioacchino Rossini, "I Gondolieri" and "La Passaggiata." Spirited, wonderful music, from one of the best in the world! |
