Clive Osgood: Sacred Choral Music – Review by Cathedral Music Magazine
“the singing of Excelsis, a fine group of young musicians, is beyond reproach”
26th December 2019
Clive Osgood: Sacred Choral Music – Review by Cathedral Music Magazine
“the singing of Excelsis, a fine group of young musicians, is beyond reproach”
26th December 2019

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Clive Osgood directs the music at Haslemere Parish Church and is an important figure in local music-making. On the evidence of this CD he is a composer of no mean ability, though initially I thought him intrepid or foolish to set Dixit Dominus, a text made famous by Handel and Monteverdi. Not so! His version bears comparison with those two great men, for it is concise, attractively laid out for a mixed-voice chorus, and with rhythmic impetus added by a well-crafted orchestral accompaniment. His versions of Come, my way, my truth, my life and Beatus vir also have something to say for themselves. Whoever planned this programme is clearly of one mind with the steward at Cana of Galilee, for he has served the best wine first; and the smaller-scale works which fill up the rest of this CD are not in the same class, it seeming odd to have included Alleluia! A new work is come on hand, which failed to win the 2016 BBC Radio 3 competition. Let us focus on the positive, for the singing of Excelsis, a fine group of young musicians, is beyond reproach, and I would strongly commend this CD for the sake of Dixit Dominus alone, a work which would repay examination by enterprising choral directors.
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Clive Osgood directs the music at Haslemere Parish Church and is an important figure in local music-making. On the evidence of this CD he is a composer of no mean ability, though initially I thought him intrepid or foolish to set Dixit Dominus, a text made famous by Handel and Monteverdi. Not so! His version bears comparison with those two great men, for it is concise, attractively laid out for a mixed-voice chorus, and with rhythmic impetus added by a well-crafted orchestral accompaniment. His versions of Come, my way, my truth, my life and Beatus vir also have something to say for themselves. Whoever planned this programme is clearly of one mind with the steward at Cana of Galilee, for he has served the best wine first; and the smaller-scale works which fill up the rest of this CD are not in the same class, it seeming odd to have included Alleluia! A new work is come on hand, which failed to win the 2016 BBC Radio 3 competition. Let us focus on the positive, for the singing of Excelsis, a fine group of young musicians, is beyond reproach, and I would strongly commend this CD for the sake of Dixit Dominus alone, a work which would repay examination by enterprising choral directors.