Sonat Vox Ubi Caritas et Amor Deus Ibi Est (2017)

Together with a horn quartet led by the renowned horn player Marc Gruber and the Schubert expert Paul Sturm on the fortepiano, a companion from a time with the Windsbacher Knabenchor, as well as a string ensemble, Sonat Vox present a compilation of selected romantic choral movements by composers such as Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Sonat Vox illuminate motifs such as friendship, love, closeness to home and nature, but also address their opposites: longing, separation, loneliness and loss.

"Sacrum Convivium" presents a vision of French music over two millennia: from Gregorian chant through Guillaume de Machaut’s extraordinary ‘Lai de Nostre Dame’ to the Twentieth Century of Maurice Duruflé, Francis Poulenc and Olivier Messiaen, all three of them influenced in some way by the spirituality and sensibility of Gregorian chant, which Messiaen himself described as “the greatest treasure we possess in western music.”

The tape is a fantastic soundboard recording. Crystal clear and well balanced. The crowd comes across quite well for a soundboard. Jones’ bass is a bit loud in the mix, and there is a bit too much “swishing” top end on Bonzo’s drums, but these are nitpicks at worst. Apart from a slight cut in Moby Dick, along with a couple of others that cut out a bit of Plant’s banter here and there, the performance is completely preserved…