Hymns Through the Centuries

Hymns Triumphant 1 & 2	Be Still My Soul: The Ultimate Hymns Collection	Praise to the Lord - Hymns From St. Paul's Cathedral	More Than 50 Most Loved Hymns	Hymns Through the Centuries 2
The Music of St. Paul's Cathedral	Best Loved Hymns	Abide With Me: 50 Favorite Hymns Compiled Here Are Fifty of the Most Beloved Hymns Performed by Three of England's Most Distinguished Choirs. Every Selection Here is Sung in an Appropriately Dignified Manner and If You're Up for Over Two Hours of Consistently Well-rendered Quintessentially English Treatments of ...	A Vaughan Williams Hymnal English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams not only was the esteemed author of symphonies, choral masterpieces, chamber works, and songs, but he also was the major force behind the compilation of the 1906 English Hymnal, a task that put the composer in touch with "some of the best--...	Rock of Ages: 30 Favorite Hymns

There Are Better Options
While the singing sounds good (hence the second star), the organist has a tendency to try to steal the show. A note in the booklet indicates that the organist occasionally improvises, and you can hear it: on tunes such as "Abide With Me" the familiar chords are replaced with a runaway organ. I would recommend either "Be Still My Soul: The Ultimate Hymns Collection" or "Abide With Me: 50 Favorite Hymns", both from DECCA Records, over this CD. "Abide With Me: 50 Favorite Hymns" has many of the same hymns sung by top-notch English choirs.

Hymn Recording
Outstanding choral recording! I have it on all day! Bought an extra for a gift.

How can you call these "Hymns"
Not to harp on anyone here, but it's obvious that none of you grew up in a church or environment that had a good choir. I know, a Hymn is a genre of music, but a recording of a hymn isn't one if it doesn't contain HARMONY. If they're a "choir," then why don't the tenors sing a different note than the sopranos, altos, and basses? The organist is quite good, I'll admit, but you're wasting your time if you're looking for a good recording of these beautiful songs that were COMPOSED with harmony, not unison. If they want to sing in unison like this, they need to be stripped of their "choir" status and simply be called a "group."

wonderful collection of magnificent music
Most everything on this CD is very well done. The recording environment might have been less than perfect, but that shouldn't dimish one's enjoyment very much. Most of the arrangements are very traditional, with the notable exception of Amazing Grace, which though it isn't terrible, it isn't very good either. Some songs had verses removed, which is understandable, though it was poorly done in Eternal Father, Strong to Save -- they did verse 1 ("Eternal Father"), then they skipped(!!!) verse 2 ("O Christ, the Lord") and went on to the final verses ("Holy Spirit" and "O Trinity") -- which is skipping Someone important! However, outside of that, it was excellent. If you like sacred music, or hymns, then you'll thoroughly enjoy this CD. If you're a Christian, you should enjoy this as well, no matter your taste in music (and you might just learn to like hymns as well!). It is a well-chosen set of some of the most magnificent, God-honoring music of all time, done is a mostly very traditional manner, and it was done well.

Flawed but enjoyable
The huge size and reverberating acoustics of Washington National Cathedral make it difficult to hear any kind of live choral performance clearly, even if you're sitting in the front rows in the nave. The Cathedral Choral Society is handicapped by having to record in this acoustically mushy space, and it shows in this CD, often creating an uneven balance between the organ and the chorus as noted by other reviewers. The repertoire is well-chosen, but the quality of the arrangements is uneven. Too often, the chorus seems to be singing in unison right out of the Hymnal, like any parish church choir at an ordinary Sunday service. Certain pieces do suggest the heights which the Society is capable of attaining. But the group never achieves the splendor that the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys displays every Sunday morning. Just when the Society seems to be getting there, the conductor pulls them back. And the shrill folk arrangement of "Amazing Grace" will have you covering your ears as the sopranos shriek clumsily, confusing volume with fervor.