JourneyOnline
In Paradisum
By Canticum
Music CD
Independent
RRP $25
Australian choral music is a vast and wonderful genre and Canticum’s In Paradisum has captured part of that world.
Canticum must be commended for joining the growing number of ensembles commissioning and touring the work from Australian composers, such as 24-year-old Joseph Twist.
In Paradisum comprises works performed by Canticum at the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music in Japan in 2005 and includes live recordings from the Symposium of three Australian folk songs. It is a very brave thing for a choir to include live recordings and shows the confidence director Emily Cox has in her singers.
With a mature sound rich in the traditional European choral history, Canticum have taken the step into Australian repertoire on this, their fourth recording with works from Gerard Brophy, Iain Grandage, Joseph Twist, Christopher Willcock, Sandra Milliken and Ian McKinley.
It is Grandage’s Three Australian Bush Songs that remind the listener of the Australian content of the recording. These are beautifully done. Willcock’s John Shaw Neilson Triptych is rich and technically difficult, at times reaching the limits of vocal range.
Mardi Lumsden is Associate Editor of Journey
