‘Feel the Spirit’ is a set of seven arrangements of well-known spirituals, first performed in 2001. It is performed on this recording by the acclaimed jazz singer Jacqueline Dankworth in its chamber-ensemble arrangement. Harvey Brough’s ‘Walled Garden Suite’ for soloist, choir and instrumental quartet was written for Dankworth and first performed on the occasion of the opening of the walled garden at Wingfield Arts in Suffolk. Of the two collections by Bob Chilcott on this CD, ‘Fragments from his Dish’ is a group of five light-hearted part-songs on the themes of food and drink. The programme concludes with ‘The Making of the Drum’, settings of words by Barbadian poet Edward Kamau Braithwaite, commissioned from Bob Chilcott by OPMS on the occasion of the choir’s twentieth anniversary in 1997. It tells the story of the making of a traditional African drum and is heavily influenced by the style of African tribal music.
‘Dankworth sings plaintively with chorus and orchestra the seven spirituals, “Feel the Spirit”, … and the young Harvey Brough’s attractive “Walled Garden Suite”, which was written for her and choir with three winds and guitar in 2001. But the most appealing pieces on this CD are unaccompanied SATB by Bob Chilcott: “Fragments from his Dish”, all about food, and a wonderful cycle about making a Ugandan drum.’ – Choir and Organ
Total Time: 68’50”
Recorded in St Margaret’s Church, Oxford, 22–23 March 2003.
OxRecs OXCD-96