Swingle Singers - 1812

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Free Music Notes for 1812

Free Music Review: Unusual repertoire ... with the usual high standards
Hit: 5 Stars

So having said that, I must confess to a mild surprise when I read the track list for this release. The Swingles, so well known and loved for their classical pieces rearranged for voices, are singing Beatles songs and a Mancini TV theme? I wondered what had happened to them.

But then again, they are also singing classic (and classical) overtures by Rossini and Tchaikowsky, along with Debussey and Henry VIII.. All in all, a very bizarre program. But does it work? Absolutely. In fact, it's now my favorite Swingle album.

Without ever compromising their unflinchingly high musicianship, this dumbfounding octet manage to breathe a wholly new life into pieces that have been heard at least three times too often (like William Tell), and to show off a very different side with their deeply moving performance of "Blackbird/I Will." The coupling in that track, by the way, is inspired, and the arrangement makes both songs sound better than they actually are. Add to that a hilarious rendering of 1812 (maybe Tchaikowsky *should* have incorporated air-raid sirens and machine-gun fire!) and an almost acrobatic version of "Peter Gunn" and you have an album that is at once thoroughly entertaining and artistically impressive.

You almost CAN'T be disappointed.

--Incidentally, listen to the way they make their voices sound like the various instruments in Peter Gunn.. it amazes me every time when I hear the saxes, the trumpets and the clarinets, despite knowing there are only human voices present. --

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