Delos Diary

The long-awaited release late last month of Dennis Keene and the Voices of Ascension's new disc Hear My Prayer (DE 3300) prompted me to look at the eight other CDs already recorded by this same group over the last decade. The breadth of repertoire they have offered is amazing. Works by 31 composers*, ranging from medieval and Renaissance giants like Hildegard von Bingen and Palestrina to the mid-twentieth century musical comedy immortal Jerome Kern, have been given deluxe treatment by Dennis Keene and his outstanding ensemble.
On this newest release Keene adds 10 more** composers to the list. A first time for Mozart, Franck and Tchaikovsky as well as American and British choral stalwarts Bainton, Thompson, Howells and Stanford. Taken as a group, these nine discs offer a broad survey of choral excellence and of the immense variety that can be achieved with 30 or 40 first class vocalists (except for the Berlioz Te Deum where several hundred were involved. But that's another story.).

*Palestrina, Desprez, von Bingen, Dufay, Byrd, Tallis, Isaac, Farrant, Lotti, Ingegneri, Weelkes, Berlioz, Victoria, Bruckner, Fauré, Holst, Casals, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Duruflé, Bach-Gounod, Kern, Lassus, Sweelinck, Gibbons, Tye, Viadana, Hassler, Schütz, Batten, Leo

**Bainton, Thompson, Mozart, Parry, Franck, Howells, Tolstiakov, Tchaikovsky, Stradella, Stanford