Coleridge-Taylor: Partsongs

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor overcame racial and societal prejudice in late-Victorian times to earn a place at London’s Royal College of Music and win public affection for his finest compositions. The Choir of King’s College London and its enterprising music director, Joseph Fort, train the spotlight on a rich corner of his output, long hidden in the mountainous, mostly neglected stockpile of English partsongs. The King’s choristers, recorded in ideal acoustics, overcome the technical hurdles of Coleridge-Taylor’s intricate part-writing to reveal the expressive substance of each piece. Listen, for example, to the emotional ebb and flow of Dead in the Sierras, a mini-drama capped by a profoundly moving ending, the rousing choral fanfares that resound through The Fair of Almachara, or the visceral energy of Sea Drift. These young performers respond with striking maturity to the countless expressive nuances conjured by Coleridge-Taylor from the poetic texts that he sets with such sympathy and refinement.