Unsung heroes

[gradus]

This thread is dedicated to the choirs and choruses and to their finest achievements on records. My nominations start with the superb New Philharmonia Chorus in Klemperer's recording of the Missa Solemnis and it was hearing this again today that suggested the thread. For different reasons I'd cite the Huddersfield Choral Society in the Sargent RLPO Messiah.

[Rolmill]

Not sure "Unsung" is the best term (nice joke if deliberate though )...

My nomination would be the (old) Philharmonia Chorus on Giulini's famous 1964 recording of the Verdi Requiem.

[Serial_Apologist]

Mine would be Unsung Chik - not just because her actual name permits a spot of spoonerising in a twisted way that fits this thread title, but because I think she's a wonderful composer who deserves to be better known over here.

[gradus]

Anyone else hear the Monteverdi Choir described as the 'best in the world' by Justin Webb on Today today? Certainly the best Monteverdi Choir but really?

[Richard Tarleton]

Anyone else hear the Monteverdi Choir described as the 'best in the world' by Justin Webb on Today today? Certainly the best Monteverdi Choir but really?

Best dressed, by the sound of it

[Conchis]

William Alwyn. He's a criminally underrated composer.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Anyone else hear the Monteverdi Choir described as the 'best in the world' by Justin Webb on Today today? Certainly the best Monteverdi Choir but really?

It's up there with the very best.

[Keraulophone]

Anyone else hear the Monteverdi Choir described as the 'best in the world' by Justin Webb on Today today?

He could have been using the utterly daft list produced by Gramophone in their Jan. 2011 issue, which claimed the twenty 'Greatest' choirs to be (in rank order):


The Monteverdi Choir
Polyphony
Cardinall's Musick
The Sixteen
Trinity College Choir, Cambridge
Wells Cathedral Choir
Collegium Vocale Ghent
Accentus Chamber Choir (Choeur de Chambre Accentus)
RIAS Chamber Choir (RIAS Kammerchor)
Swedish Radio Choir
The Dunedin Consort (Scotland)
King's College Choir, Cambridge
The Tallis Scholars
The Choir of New College, Oxford
Les Arts Florissants
The Choir of Westminster Abbey
Balthasar-Neumann-Chor
Stile Antico
The Arnold Schoenberg Choir
I Fagiolini

'Greatness' as conferred here by Gramophone probably has something to do with the number of positive reviews the magazine has given to the choirs' recordings. Therefore a choir who record infrequently, whose recordings aren't selected for review by Gramophone, or who receive a poor notice or two in their columns, are unlikely to be on the list.

[gradus]

That'll be it.

[Historian]

I don't see any of the large British symphony choruses on the list. There have been several recent performances on recordings or the radio by the Halle, for example, which were very fine. Personally I would return to the chorus mentioned in the OP and put in a word for the current incarnation of the Philharmonia Chorus.

[ahinton]

Mine would be Unsung Chik - not just because her actual name permits a spot of spoonerising in a twisted way that fits this thread title, but because I think she's a wonderful composer who deserves to be better known over here.

!!! Only just seen this! Agreed, too. Indeed, my first experience of listening to pianist Clare Hammond was in some of her piano études...

[EdgeleyRob]

William Alwyn. He's a criminally underrated composer.

Off topic but very true