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Warrington Male Voice Choir
Releases New Double CD
WARRINGTON
MALE VOICE CHOIR ‘DOWN
THE YEARS’
The
Definitive
Collection
Volumes One And
Two
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The cover for
Warrington Male Voice Choir's new CD release. |
The
‘Down The Years’ compilation has its origins in the demand for back copies
of the choir’s past recordings, the majority of which are no longer available
for general sale. The choir’s
first recording, at 78rpm of Beethoven’s Creation’s
Hymn and Schubert’s Night, was
made in 1956 on the suggestion of the town’s Mayor who felt that the choir
ought to be recorded for posterity. Fortunately,
an archive copy was kept. No further
recordings were made until 1988 when the cassette Deep
Harmony was produced to raise funds for
Warrington
’s St. Rocco’s Hospice. All
1,000 copies produced were sold within a month.
This was followed by a cassette of Christmas music, Let There Be Peace On Earth, in 1990 and a collection of sacred
music, Songs Of Praises, in 1992.
Items by the Warrington Boy’s Choir, the junior section of the choir
formed the previous year, were included. A
further cassette recording, Champion
Voices, was produced in 1994, celebrating Warrington Male Voice Choir’s
remarkable success under Musical Director Russell Paterson in winning the
National Male Voice Choir Championship after a twelve-year absence from choral
competition.
Centennial,
the choir’s first CD, was recorded in late 1997 as one of a number of
initiatives to mark the 1998 centenary year, and featured the choir’s current
pianist and organist, Anthony Whittaker. The
perennial favourites and memorable items from each of these early recordings
have been carefully selected for this special double CD compilation, Volumes One
and Two. The music represents the
broad range of the male choral repertoire, and demonstrates Warrington Male
Voice Choir’s quality and popular appeal over a forty-year period.
The
magnificent pipe organ featured on a number of tracks is Warrington Parr
Hall’s affectionately named ‘Bracewell Queen’, the only original
instrument in the
United Kingdom
produced by the famous French organ builder, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
Built in 1870 for Bracewell Hall, Skipton, it was removed to Ketton Hall,
Rutland
in 1883 before being purchased in 1926 by Warrington Corporation for
installation in the town’s principal concert venue.
It is heard to particularly fine effect in the opening section of Zadok
The Priest (CD2), played by accompanist Anthony Whittaker.
The
release date for the new double CD is now 1st November 2008.
The choir's
last CD, a collaboration with Wingates Band - Sounding Voices, Sounding
Brass is still available.
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