Feel the Spirit: Songs and Spirituals

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
John Rutter's Feel the Spirit, for mezzo-soprano, choir, and orchestra, was premiered in June 2001 in Carnegie Hall. Made up of appealing arrangements of familiar spirituals ("Deep River," "When the Saints Go Marchin' In," etc.) in a range of styles (from big-band and the blues to Caribbean and close harmony), it was conceived as a showcase for Melanie Marshall. Her warm, creamy sound is certainly captivating, while the Cambridge Singers are fresh-voiced, flexible, and alert.

Of equal interest are the smaller-scale Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare from George Shearing and Rutter's Birthday Madrigals, written by Rutter for Shearing's 75th birthday. Both works feature Shakespearean texts, while Rutter also sets other poets of the same period. Plenty to catch the ear here--try Shearing's wistful "Who Is Silvia?" with its naughty take on Schubert, and the delightfully snappy "Fie on sinful fantasy." Rutter's madrigals are just as beguiling, and there in the middle is an example of the kind of introspective number that displays the intriguing other side to his musical personality--a setting of "Draw On Sweet Night" as searching in its own way as John Wilbye's original madrigal. Rutter's direction is exemplary throughout. --Andrew Green

Album Description
Strong, stirring spirituals and tuneful, jazz-flavored settings of Shakespeare’s timeless lyrics are the mouth-watering ingredients of the Cambridge Singers’ eagerly-awaited new album Feel the Spirit. John Rutter has written vivid new arrangements of seven well-loved American spirituals for choir, with soloist Melanie Marshall and the BBC Concert Orchestra joining with the Cambridge Singers for this world premiere recording. Another notable ‘first’ is jazz legend George Shearing’s captivating new cycle of Shakespeare settings, Songs and Sonnets. Those who associate George Shearing with instrumental jazz (and of course with his immortal Lullaby of Birdland) will be astonished and delighted at the youthful charm and skillful word-setting of this 81-year old master’s choral writing. The final touch of sparkle is added by Proms favorite Wayne Marshall’s piano, with Malcolm Creese on bass. To complete the album, John Rutter’s own Birthday Madrigals – written in 1995 to celebrate George Shearing’s 75th birthday – also receives their premiere recording.

“…You’d have to be a real killjoy to be able to resist this disc. FIVE STARS!”- BBC Music Magazine

“These luscious arrangements bear repeated listening: orchestrally colorful and playfully witty… a delightful disc. Strongly recommended!” - Gramophone

Tracks:

Ev'ry Time I Feel The Spirit - Various Artists
Let Us Break Bread Together On Our Knees - Various Artists
His Name So Sweet - Various Artists
'Roun' About The Mountain - Various Artists
Swing Low , Sweet Chariot - Various Artists
Sit Down, Servant - Various Artists
Were You There - Various Artists
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands - Various Artists
Deep River - Various Artists
Honor! Honor! - Various Artists
My Soul's Been Anchored In De Lord - Various Artists
On Ma Journey - Various Artists
A City Called Heaven - Various Artists
Ride On, King Jesus - Various Artists
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free - Various Artists
Sinner, Please Don't Let This Harvest Pass - Various Artists
Sweet Little Jesus Boy - Various Artists
There Is A Balm In Gilead - Various Artists
Let Us Cheer The Weary Traveler - Various Artists
Ev'ry Time I Feel The Spirit - Various Artists
My Way Is Cloudy - Various Artists
Nobody Knows The Touble I've Seen - Various Artists
I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray - Various Artists

Tracks:

Holy, Holy, Holy - Leontyne Price
Lead, Kindly Light - Leontyne Price
Blessed Assurance - Leontyne Price
Ave Maria - Leontyne Price
What A Friend We Have In Jesus - Leontyne Price
Amazing Grace - Leontyne Price
The Lord's Prayer - Leontyne Price
Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior - Leontyne Price
The Church's One Foundation - Leontyne Price
Bless This House - Leontyne Price
I Need Thee Every Hour - Leontyne Price
Schlesische Volkslieder: Fairest Lord Jesus - Leontyne Price
I Wonder As I Wander - Leontyne Price
Ave Maria - Leontyne Price
Porgy And Bess: Summertime - Leontyne Price
America The Beautiful - Leontyne Price
Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing - Leontyne Price
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God - Leontyne Price
Battle Hymn Of The Republic - Leontyne Price

Customer Reviews:

The Price Club.......2005-04-28

"I am here," said Leontyne Price when interviewed as she opened the new Metropolitan Opera with Samuel Barber's underrated ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, "and you will know that I am the best and will hear me. The color of my skin or the kink of my hair or the spread of my mouth has nothing to do with what you are listening to." Back in the 1960s Price was one of the greatest divas in all of opera, and it wasn't just her voice but her magnificent stage presence, combined with her social activism. All of the above come into play in this collection of secular songs and ditties, some of them traditional plantation chanties and others, art songs and a scattering of pop music. And some of them, like Gershwin's "Summertime," cross the ever-permeable boundaries between Broadway and classical. These recordings were made at different times in Price's career, and her voice, while always angelic, has different shadings and reaches a different range of timbre in each separate recording date, but there is no question that, as time goes by, she is able to impart a richness of life experience noticeably absent from some of her earlier work.

"Ave Maria" sounds heavenly no matter which way you slice it, and as for "I Wonder As I Wander," it brings tears to your eyes. If you have a heart that's beating you will be moved by this rendition. "Ein feste Burg" is pretty strong, but Price seems more comfortable with the traditional spirituals, though perhaps it is the slightly off-kilter sounds of the Ambrosian Singers (what a name) who back her up on many of these tracks, that detract slightly from the experience. Compare "Lead Kindly Light" for a clear sense of what constitutes authority vs. what is a wee bit overproduced. If you had this compilation, and perhaps one of Leontyne Price's Christmas albums, you could attain nirvana any time you wanted to, just flip a switch and close your eyes, let her lift you up on wings of song.

A living legend.......2005-03-10

Leontyne Price (still alive) and already passing into immortality amongst vocal artists, both classical and popular. Leontyne Price stands at the pinnacle of her classical art, but those who only know her work in La Forza del destino or the Verdi Requiem are in for a heart rending treat with this album where Leontyne Price goes home to her roots in Mississippi and gives an unabashed account of the classic spirituals she sang as a young woman. Like John Mc Cormacks rendering of Irish songs there is a personal longing and devotion expressed here that reveals a side of the artist not known in the bulk of their "classical" repetoire. A sense of going home like Citizen Kane's rosebud, or as Dorothy Gale observes at the end of the Wizard of Oz "everything I could ever have wanted was right in my own backyard "

not your daddy's old timey spiritual.......2004-06-23

Agreed this is a good cd for a beautiful voice, but this is not, repeat not, for someone who wants to hear that old-timey religious fervor that you think of when you've been to a Black Baptist hand-clapping, standing, swaying, and singing service.

Immaculate Vocals of Leontyne Price.......2003-12-31

IMMACULATE, SUPERB vocal range and style! There's no other words that can complement Miss Leontyne Price's vocal arrangements. Miss Price's voice is strong, and shrills very nicely to the instruments played on many songs listed on this double CD which is a joy to treasure; every song listed are songs I was raised to hearing and singing. Miss Price is the reason why many of these songs remain in popularity and presently used. Miss Leontyne Price has been incredible in many of her past performances. This is my fourth CD of Miss Price and I am glad to own this particular CD forever and ever. Many thanks to the executors who found this remarkable album and upgraded it to a CD format! **Angi**

Great Gospel Stuff.......2001-04-12

This is a great CD. The only problem I have with it is that on some of the selections there is a boy's choir screaming in the background, and this takes away (a bit) from her performance. That said, her best selections are those that are either unaccompanied or those where her voice is not buried. Songs that strike me are - His Name So Sweet, He's Got The Whole World, Were You There, I Wonder as I Wander, Lift Every Voice and Sing, and my all time favourite Summertime. Enough said.

Average customer rating:

Sacred Songs & Spirituals

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Norman, Jessye | Divas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music
Similar Items:

Amazing Grace: Jessye Norman
Richard Strauss Lieder
Negro Spirituals - Derek Lee Ragin, Moses Hogan, Moses Hogan
The Essential Leontyne Price: Spirituals, Hymns & Sacred Songs
Spirituals in Concert

ASIN: B0007XZUF0
Release Date: 2005-05-10

Tracks:

Sanctus
Ave Maria, Op.52/6
Panis Angelicus
O Divine Redeemer
The Holy City
Amazon Grace
Greensleeves (What Child Is This)
Let Us Break Bread Together
I Wonder As I Wander
Sweet Little Jesus Boy
Gesu Bambino (When Blossoms Flowered)

Tracks:

I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray
My Lord, What A Morning
Do Lawd, Oh Do Lawd
There's A Man Going Round - Jessye Norman
Ev'ry Time I Feel De Spirit - Dalton Baldwin
There Is A Balm In Gilead - Dalton Baldwin
Gospel Train - Dalton Baldwin
Great Day - Dalton Baldwin
Mary Had A Baby
Live A-Humble
Walk Together Children
Were You There - Jessye Norman
Hush! Somebody's Callin' My Name
Soon Ah Will Be Done
Give Me Jesus

Average customer rating:

a voice teacher and early music fan
Almost Rutter.....
A must have for John Rutter fans

Feel the Spirit

Manufacturer: Collegium
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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Be Thou My Vision
John Rutter Collection
Mass of the Children
Bach: 6 Favourite Cantatas (BWV 147, 80, 140, 8, 51, 78) /Bach Ensemble * Rifkin
Distant Land: The Orchestra Collection

ASIN: B00005NUOD
Release Date: 2001-09-11

Tracks:

Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho - Melanie MArshall
Steal Away - Melanie MArshall
I Got A Robe - Melanie MArshall
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child - Melanie MArshall
Ev'ry Time I Feel The Spirit - Melanie MArshall
Deep River - Melanie MArshall
When The Saints Go Marching In - Melanie MArshall
Live With Me And Be My Love - The Cambridge Singers
When Daffodils Begin To Peer - The Cambridge Singers
It Was A Lover And His Lass - The Cambridge Singers
Spring - The Cambridge Singers
Who Is Silvia - The Cambridge Singers
Fie On Sinful Fantasy - The Cambridge Singers
Hey, Ho, The Wind And The Rain - The Cambridge Singers
The Heavenly Aeroplane - The Cambridge Singers
Lord Of The Dance - The Cambridge Singers
1. It Was A Lover And His Lass - Wayne Marshall
2. Draw On, Sweet Night - Wayne Marshall
3. Come Live With Me - Wayne Marshall
4. My True Love Hath My Heart - Wayne Marshall
5. When Daisies Pied - Wayne Marshall
Skylark - The Cambridge Singers

Amazon.com

John Rutter's Feel the Spirit, for mezzo-soprano, choir, and orchestra, was premiered in June 2001 in Carnegie Hall. Made up of appealing arrangements of familiar spirituals ("Deep River," "When the Saints Go Marchin' In," etc.) in a range of styles (from big-band and the blues to Caribbean and close harmony), it was conceived as a showcase for Melanie Marshall. Her warm, creamy sound is certainly captivating, while the Cambridge Singers are fresh-voiced, flexible, and alert.

Of equal interest are the smaller-scale Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare from George Shearing and Rutter's Birthday Madrigals, written by Rutter for Shearing's 75th birthday. Both works feature Shakespearean texts, while Rutter also sets other poets of the same period. Plenty to catch the ear here--try Shearing's wistful "Who Is Silvia?" with its naughty take on Schubert, and the delightfully snappy "Fie on sinful fantasy." Rutter's madrigals are just as beguiling, and there in the middle is an example of the kind of introspective number that displays the intriguing other side to his musical personality--a setting of "Draw On Sweet Night" as searching in its own way as John Wilbye's original madrigal. Rutter's direction is exemplary throughout. --Andrew Green

Album Description

Strong, stirring spirituals and tuneful, jazz-flavored settings of Shakespeare's timeless lyrics are the mouth-watering ingredients of the Cambridge Singers' eagerly-awaited new album Feel the Spirit. John Rutter has written vivid new arrangements of seven well-loved American spirituals for choir, with soloist Melanie Marshall and the BBC Concert Orchestra joining with the Cambridge Singers for this world premiere recording. Another notable `first' is jazz legend George Shearing's captivating new cycle of Shakespeare settings, Songs and Sonnets. Those who associate George Shearing with instrumental jazz (and of course with his immortal Lullaby of Birdland) will be astonished and delighted at the youthful charm and skillful word-setting of this 81-year old master's choral writing. The final touch of sparkle is added by Proms favorite Wayne Marshall's piano, with Malcolm Creese on bass. To complete the album, John Rutter's own Birthday Madrigals - written in 1995 to celebrate George Shearing's 75th birthday - also receives their premiere recording.

“…You'd have to be a real killjoy to be able to resist this disc. FIVE STARS!”- BBC Music Magazine

“These luscious arrangements bear repeated listening: orchestrally colorful and playfully witty… a delightful disc. Strongly recommended!” - Gramophone

Customer Reviews:

a voice teacher and early music fan.......2007-02-05

John Rutter states the following: "This album, which has an Anglo-America thread running through it, is a homage to three of my favorite musical traditions-the spiritual, the madrigal, and American song-and at the same time, a homage to two remarkable Englishmen,William Shakespeare and George Shearing."
'Feel the Spirit' is a cycle of seven spirituals arranged for mezzo-soprano soloist, choir and orchestra. It premiered in June 2001 in Carnegie Hall, New York. They are quite well-known in this country, but Rutter makes them seem fresh and new.
Rutter and Shearing were both born in London, and have similar music backgrounds. They got to know each other in America during the 1990's, when Shearing was becoming interested in choral music, at which time he wrote his second Shakespeare Song cycle, 'Songs and Sonnets'. Again the tunes chosen are quite familiar to most music lovers, and I personally find them very attractive to hear.
I have actually performed 'The heavenly aeroplance, several times with choirs; it's fun to sing and gets an enthusiastic audience reaction every time. It is actually an Ozark folk song from the Missouri mountains to which Rutter wrote his own tune.
The 'Lord of the Dance' is taken from an American Shaker song 'The Gift to be Simple', and was first popularized in Aaron Copland's 'Appalachian Spring'. And later used by the English hymn-writer Sydney Carter inspired by the traditional carol'Tomorrow shall be my dancing day'.
The 'Birthday Madrigals' is Rutter's musical tribute to George Shearing on his 75th birthday, written in 1995, and can only loosely be called madrigals.
Hoagy Carmilchael's 'Skylark' completes the album as one of the lovliest American songs from the golden age of American song.
This is a very easy to listen to disc; a good one to put on when all you want to hear is something comfortably familiar, but not boring! It is well-sung and skillfully put together.

Almost Rutter............2002-03-03

John Rutter is not only a friend, but one of my favorite composers. I have sung his music and own most of the CDs. I listened carefully to "Feel the Spirit", looking forward to another amazing study in English music combined with excellent arrangements and sensitive vocal shaping.(One of my choir friends told me I must buy the disc, which I did at her enthusiastic recommendation.) However, the disc seems to be a collage of a number of styles and ideas that may work in clumps. Some upbeat, almost jazzy arrangements have their roots with George Shearing, the venerable blind English jazz master. The spiritual arrangements were almost embarassing. I felt that the selection and treatmments thereof really didn't fit the genre of "classic" spirituals.
John Rutter is such a beloved composer I hate to berate him even a pinch. But I feel this disc is really a classroom study in different styles, arrangements, and ideas, rather than another enjoyable Rutter disc to be played over and over again. Some of the Shakespeare songs were delightful. But, I feel the disc is somewhat uneven. However, I love John Rutter's work, and recommend this disc to those who do, also!..Madge Bruner Hazen

A must have for John Rutter fans.......2002-02-05

The Cambridge Singer's have an outstanding reputation for their choral music under the direction of John Rutter. This recording lives up to Collegium's standard of high quality recordings. Rutter's "Heavenly Aeroplane" is a kick! My 11 month old kid dances to it. "Who is Sylvia" is hauntingly beautiful.