American Record Guide May/June 2008

This Joy
These kinds may be young but they get around, with premiere performances of works by John Burge and Ellen Taafe Zwillich to their credit, as well as a gig on the Naxos recording of William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and Experience that won a Grammy Award in 2006. (Slatkin was on the podium.) Here they sound admirably accomplished.
Bob Chilcott’s ‘Mid-Winter’ is anything but cold, and when the kids let loose for a bit of fun in, say, ‘The Woodpecker’s Warning’, they’re plenty convincing. I did find myself wishing for less warm, fuzzy stuff and more in a way of classical selections – a madrigal set or a motet or two. Hugo Wolf sounds pretty good here. Why not show us what else the youngsters can do?
The engineering is fine, though I wish the dial twiddlers hadn’t felt compelled to include applause after every selection. A rapt silence, after all, can convey appreciation too. That said, this is a children’s choir that knows its business and deserves yours.
GREENFIELD

This Joy: MSU Children's Choir in Concert

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