Delius : A Mass of Life – Prelude and Idyll. Hill.

   in Choir & Organ (Jul, 2012)
Delius recordings are likely to come thick and fast in 2012 as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. But none are likely to be as impressive as this magnificent reading of his great choral masterpiece, A Mass of Life, an assemblage of words by Nietzsche drawn from Also sprach Zarathustra. Hill leads his forces, including a magnificent quartet of soloists (especially Alan Opie), in an account of Beecham-like intensity and detail that manages to convince at every turn. The rarely heard Prelude and Idyll, derived from material from the one-act opera Margot la Rouge, is a welcome makeweight in these generously filled discs. …