Choral director, composer and musicologist, Clytus Gottwald turns his attention to complex and masterly choral arrangements of works from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Works by European composers including Wagner, Mahler, Debussy and Webern are arranged in up to sixteen parts, performed by the Rodolfus Choir, directed by Ralph Allwood.
★★★★ Do his arrangements stand up well against the original? The answer is mainly yes. This is thanks to the persuasive performance of the young singers of the Rodolfus Choir, who do not blench at what is sometimes a formidable task – Choir and Organ
Gottwald’s awesome technical demands put much of this music way beyond the scope of most choirs, and it is greatly to Ralph Allwood’s credit that the Rodolfus Choir, most of whom are students and all of whom are under 25, have not only tackled this music at all but have done so with considerable distinction… They clearly relish the vocal harmonics in Ravel’s Soupir, they love the bell effects in Debussy’s Les Angélus, they positively luxuriate in the warm glow of Gottwald’s take on ‘O mio babbino caro’ and they float around with enormous enthusiasm in the misty textures of Caplet’s Présentation – Gramophone
