Libera bewijst met deze in Washington D.C. opgenomen live registratie vanuit één van de grootste en mooiste kerken (basiliek) in de wereld te behoren tot de beste koren in hun genre. Het is echt genieten geblazen van hemels klinkende stemmen.
Een mix van geestelijke en wereldse muziek in zowel de klassieke als ook in de populaire tradities, waarbij de stemmen van de 40 Londenaren als het ware een vlucht nemen in atmosferische arrangementen en meditatieve solo's.
Zoals Joyful Joyful op een thema uit het slotkoor van Beethovens 9de symfonie. Sanctus gebaseerd op de Canon van Pachebel. Heilige favorieten als Amazing Grace en Ave Maria van Schubert ontbreken niet. Ronduit vertederend is What A Wonderful World van ons aller Satchmo. Het fraaie America the Beautiful is een eerbetoon van Libera aan hun gastland.
Angels Sing - Libera in America
1. Joyful, Joyful, we adore thee
Music based on theme from the 9th Symphony ‘Choral’ by Ludwig van Beethoven
Words by Henry Van Dyke
Arranged by Robert Prizeman
2. How can I keep from singing
Words by Robert Wadsworth Lowry
Music – trad - arranged by Robert Prizeman
Solo – Isaac London
3. Morning has broken
Music traditional
Words by Eleanor Farjeon
Arranged by Robert Prizeman
4. America the beautiful
Music by Samuel Ward
Words by Katherine Lee Bates
Arranged by Robert Prizeman
5. Wayfaring stranger
Words and music traditional arranged by Sam Coates
Solo – Sam Wiggin
6. Amazing grace
Music traditional
Words by John Newton
Arranged by Robert Prizeman
Solo – Ciaran Bradbury-Hickey
7. Wonderful world
Words & Music by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss
Solo – Isaac London
8. The Prayer
Music by David Foster
Words by Carole Bayer Sager
Solo – Isaac London
9. Be still my soul
Music based on ‘Finlandia’ by Jean Sibelius
Words by Katharina von Schlegel
Arranged by Robert Prizeman
10. How great thou art
Music traditional
Based on a poem by Carl Gustav Boberg translated by Stuart K. Hine
Solo – Sam Wiggin
11. Rest in peace
Music & Words Peter Skellern
Solo – Thomas Delgado-Little
12. Sanctus
Music based on ‘Canon’ by Johann Pachelbel
Words traditional
Arranged by Robert Prizeman
Solo – Bertramo Smart
13. Song of life
Music by Takatsugu Muramatsu
Words by Robert Prizeman
Arranged by Robert Prizeman
Solo – Isaac London
14. Ave Maria
Music by Franz Peter Schubert
Words traditional
Arranged by Robert Prizeman
Solo – Thomas Delgado-Little
15. Voca Me
English Words & Music by Robert Prizeman
Inspired by ‘Stabat Mater’ by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and a chant fragment by Hildegard Von Bingen
Solo – Thomas Delgado-Little & Ciaran Bradbury-Hickey
16. How shall I sing that majesty
Music by Robert Prizeman
Words by John Mason
Solos – Lucas Wood & Alessandro Mackinnon-Botti
Libera, Robert Prizeman (musical director)
Libera, the celestial-sounding, chart-topping boy choir, recorded a live concert for CD and DVD in Washington, D.C. at the spectacular Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. With Libera in America, the young Londoners pay tribute to their host country with a characteristic blend of sacred and secular music in both the classical and popular traditions, bringing together innovative textures, meditative solos and shimmering, ecstatic choral harmonies.
The young, pure-voiced singers of Libera have come a long way from Norbury in South London, where many of the boys sing in their local church. Following the huge success of their 2013 album Christmas in Ireland, they have crossed the Atlantic for this new CD and DVD/Blu-Ray: Libera in America.
The US capital of Washington, D.C. was the location for the live concert recording, made at the spectacular Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Roman Catholic church in North America. Built in the grand Romanesque-Byzantine style, it is in fact one of the largest historic churches in the world, seating 3,500, and houses an unrivalled collection of contemporary ecclesiastical art, including splendid, gleaming mosaics in its domes.
Guided by their music director Robert Prizeman, the 40 boys of Libera let their voices take flight in atmospheric arrangements of religious and secular music. The album opens with Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, based on Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and among the inspiring choral gems that follow are some of Libera’s greatest hits – including Sanctus (from Johann Pachelbel’s famous Canon) and Song of Life by the Japanese composer Takatsugu Muramatsu. The programme includes such universal sacred favourites as Amazing Grace and Schubert’s soaring Ave Maria. Wayfaring Stranger, the American folksong popularised around the world by the likes of Johnny Cash and Eva Cassidy, also features, as does the uplifting What A Wonderful World, a huge hit for the great Louis Armstrong in 1967.
Libera also play tribute to their host country with the anthemic America the Beautiful. The group has quite a history performing in the USA. In 2008, when Pope Benedict XVI made his first visit, Libera performed to a congregation of 60,000 at New York’s Yankee Stadium, the only British artists to take part in that historical event. They have also appeared at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and on CBS television to salute Kennedy Center honoree Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame; they have performed at the Starkey Foundation Awards in the presence of President Bill Clinton, and took part in Sunday worship at the 2,700-seat Crystal Cathedral in Los Angeles, broadcast to millions on The Hour of Power. The DVD version of Libera in America will be showcased on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) in Spring 2015 as part of its TV fundraising drive.
