Folger Consort and the King James Bible

See my review of the Folger Consort's latest concert in today's Washington Post:

Charles T. Downey, Folger Consort marks 400th anniversary of King James Version of the Bible
Washington Post, October 3, 2011

Verily, I say unto you: 400 years ago, the King James Bible was published, the translation of the Bible still most familiar to English-speaking Christians. The Folger Consort marked the anniversary Friday night with a concert in conjunction with the Folger Shakespeare Library’s new exhibit, “Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible.” Texts from the King James Bible, or earlier English translations, were presented in a selection of choral music from 17th-century England.

The 12 singers of Cathedra, the chamber vocal ensemble of Washington National Cathedral, performed the choral parts of these pieces with a limpid and finely balanced sound. Director Michael McCarthy focused his singers’ rhythmic ensemble with a clean beat, scaling the dynamics to the intimacy of the room and the closeness of the audience. This made possible many more gradations of soft sound, like the angelic piano moment at the words “Peace in heaven” in the middle of Orlando Gibbons’s “Hosanna to the Son of David,” heard, as it were, through a glass, darkly. [Continue reading]

SVILUPPO:
A little bird tells me that a recording of this program is in the works.