New College Choir brings the ideal combination of vocal freshness and consummate experience to this music, with commendable individual standout solos exemplifying the standard of the ensemble as a whole. The recording has admirable atmosphere and transparency. If you associate Poulenc with frivolity, lightness and superficiality, track 20 on the first CD here is the antidote. Austere, dramatic, deeply serious, the eight-minute Litanies a la Vierge noire is as far removed from the image of Poulenc the playboy boulevardier as possible. The Mass is an excellent performance of Poulenc's a cappella masterpiece, the edgy rhythmic detailing of the Kyrie and Gloria pluckily projected. A special mention is due to Sasha Ockenden, soaring confidently in the fearfully exposed treble solos of the beautiful Agnus Dei. |
