Album Reviews

The fifth and sixth symphonies of the American Roy Harris emerged from the Second World War. The fifth is dedicated to "the heroic and freedom-loving people of our great ally, the Soviet Union" and the sixth to "the armed forces of our nation". So far so idealistic.

No surprise, then, to find so much unsustaining rhetoric here – but there is lyrical beauty, too, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's quest to find it is carefully guided by conductor

Marin Alsop. RC

New Horizons: Ebor Singers. Boreas, BMCD901

The Ebor Singers, a disciplined, well-knit chamber choir, is being championed on disc by the York-based Boreas label. Two of the works here, Kerry Andrew's York Mass and Philip Moore's Pilgrimage, were commissioned for an ensemble which shirks no challenge under director Paul Gameson. The York Mass is brilliantly expressive while the Moore piece reveals an aptitude for delicate colour in the resonant acoustic of St Chad's, York. Crowning a first-rate enterprise is Jonathan Dove's modern classic, The Three Kings. RC