Many of today’s choral music fans had their first experience with Allegri’s famous Miserere while listening to this 1963 performance by the Choir of King’s College and its remarkable 12-year-old boy soloist Roy Goodman. And those who have the original LP or one of its subsequent CD incarnations will probably want to check out this latest issue, the strongest feature of which is its much improved sound. The clearer, more detailed sound is also something of a mixed blessing because along with it we get some strangely tight-focused miking effects that occasionally emphasize individual or small groups of voices when we should be hearing a full, well-balanced choir. The liner notes, written by a 40-something Goodman reflecting on his boyhood experiences at King’s, reveal some interesting tidbits, including an explanation for the little imperfections in several of Goodman’s otherwise spectacular solo passages. It seems that conductor David Willcocks preferred “one complete live performance” rather than a contrived “perfect” edited version–a musically defensible position that would be nearly unheard of in today’s competitive recording market. Unfortunately, this unedited take also includes lapses in choral intonation toward the end of the Miserere that seem to be the result of fatigued singers (tenors in particular).
The rest of the program features several important Palestrina works that seem rather ponderous and methodical when compared to the last couple of decades of performances by superior specialist groups such as the Tallis Scholars. This undoubtedly is an important historical document–a recording that made a significant impact at a time when early choral music was a rarity on records and in the concert hall. But its place as a library staple has long been superceded by more recent recordings, including The Tallis Scholars, Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, and The Sixteen. Nevertheless, after all these years, Goodman’s performance of those stratospheric high notes is as amazing as ever.
