Vision

Cantoribus offers a novel approach to small ensemble singing … It’s one that is worthwhile to experience (Musicweb International)

Timothy Hamilton is a composer, singer, and founder and musical director of the choral group Cantoribus. Hamilton has fairly prestigious credentials: he studied singing with Benjamin Luxon, Teresa Cahill and Janice Chapman; he studied composition with Paul Edlin and jazz piano with Lionel Grigson. Hamilton has written a substantial body of choral and sacred music, and has also composed orchestral works and film and television scores. From the evidence here, I would say that Hamilton appears to be a talented composer and his choral group sings with commitment and great beauty. According to the album notes Hamilton composed the music on this disc “to reflect some of the feasts and seasons of the liturgical year,” but with no chronological scheme in mind. It is sung a capella, as are the works by Stanford and Adam. Hamilton’s music is conservative in its expressive manner but not without grit and mettle. While much of it is very lush and fluid, and maybe even serene, it often features an anxious or unsettled sense especially in faster-paced middle sections or in upward melodic surges or even in harmonies that strike you as slightly cool emotionally when heard against their warmer main line. Crucifixus may be the piece here that embodies many of these stylistic elements. It begins in a restive way with the word “Crucifixus” sung repeatedly. Soon it is proclaimed loudly and emphatically, almost as if shouted, and then the character of the music turns both dark and ethereal. A sense of struggle ensues but finally a consoling character emerges at the close. Here in this short work (3:44) a whole world of emotion and religious fervor is effectively conveyed … The sound reproduction is fine and the album notes are informative. Full texts are provided too … He is an imaginative and stimulating composer of sacred choral music whose style is quite individual within its conservative character … If you are interested in contemporary sacred choral music, this disc should prove of considerable interest. (Classical.net)