Sirens’ Song
Works by Finzi, I Holst, Maconchy, Stanford, Sullivan and Vaughan Williams
The Sixteen/Harry Christophers
CORO COR16198 63:01 mins
Stanford’s partsong ‘The Blue Bird’ is widely performed andknow them. Immaculate vocal blend and intelligent phrasing are a given when The Sixteen sing, and make their ‘Blue Bird’ one of the most mellifluously attractive on record. But it’s the way the technically difficult corners – the staccato accents in ‘The Witch’ and the abrupt rhythmic hairpins in ‘The Train’, for instance – are executed, combining minimal fuss with maximum exactitude, which truly sets their interpretations apart as exceptional.
