Peace in Our Time
Seattle Pro Musica
Karen P. Thomas, conductor
Recorded live in concert at St. James Cathedral in Seattle, this CD features Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan Williams for soloists, choir and orchestra, one of the most important anti-war compositions of the 20th century. Featured soloists are Amy Bils, soprano, and Erich Parce, baritone.
Also included are Herbert Howells's sublime Requiem for a cappella choir and Benjamin Britten's Missa Brevis for treble choir and organ, with Joseph Adam, organist. The idea and program for this live concert recording were conceived and planned just a few months prior to the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
“Music director Karen P. Thomas has an unerring eye in putting evocative and telling programs together. This disc is not an exception.”
—R.M. Campbell, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Karen P. Thomas’ Seattle Pro Musica is emerging as one of the Northwest’s consistently excellent choral organizations, and this new CD—devoted to music expressive of the human yearning for peace—underscores that reputation…It’s in this intricate, searching music that the Pro Musica rises to some of its best work yet.”
—Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times
“The choir’s rich blend is very appropriate for the Howells; the Britten, foreshadowing in many ways the War Requiem, receives a finely judged performance; and the Vaughan Williams, including Whitman settings focusing on the savagery of the American Civil War, is dramatic and moving.” (***** 5-star, highest rating)
—Alan Bullard, Choir & Organ (Great Britain)
“Vaughan Williams reputedly loved the Verdi Requiem, and Karen P. Thomas conducts her orchestra and excellent chorus as if she knows it…This is a large-scale performance and the sound is vivid and wide-ranging…Thomas and her chorus hold their own against the competition.”
—James Miller, Fanfare
“…probing and radiant…vibrant and gutsy…a most satisfying and deeply affecting release…warmth and emotional punch.”
—Lindsay Koob, American Record Guide
