Agnus Dei II: Music to soothe the soul

Building on the enormous success of the first Agnus Dei disc, its successor offers more of the same musical mood, but with a few surprises too. One of the hits of the first album was John Cameron's arrangement of Elgar's Nimrod, using the words of the Lux Aeterna. Here he really rolls his sleeves up and similarly tackles the Albinoni-Giazzoto Adagio (using the words of the Beatitudes) and the Intermezzo from Bizet's second L'Arlésienne Suite (using the text of the Agnus Dei). The role of the orchestra (the excellent ensemble Capricorn) has been expanded, and Edward Higginbottom himself has arranged a delicious string septet accompaniment to Brahms's Geistliches Lied. Much of the music is of the kind that the choir obviously eats for breakfast--which is not to say that they ever sound bland or tired, just at home. The one weak track is Monteverdi's Beatus Vir, which needs voices of more sophistication and agility than the boys can provide. That aside, this is another album that should do their reputation no harm. --Warwick Thompson Amazon.com

Could be better

After owning Agnus Dei I for years, and somehow misplacing the CD, I decided to buy both I and II from Amazon. Of the CD's, I is still my favorite. Agnus Dei II is a decent CD, but it doesn't have the fluidity or the dynamics that the first disk has. I guess I got spoiled with the first disk. July 8, 2006

Good choral CD, but . . .

Agnus Dei II is a really good choral CD with a more otherworldly sound than most choral offerings. But the first Agnus Dei is better, amazing really. Own both, but if you only want one, get the first one. January 22, 2006

WTH?

I bought this CD because it said Eamon as an artist. WTH? I can't find Eamon anywhere on this CD. It says Eamon on the other one, but I'm not even going to try. Never again will a buy a CD associated with Agnus Dei.

LAST WORD: Don't buy this if your buying it for Eamon music. July 14, 2005

Albonini's Adagio (Beatitudes) is an Italianate emotion feas

I happened upon this album while looking for some choral works for a church choir. Not schooled in the literature, I had never heard of Tomaso Albinoni. His Adagio ("Beatitudes") is a choral emotion feast in Italian style, the likes of which I have never heard before. Unless...did the Coppollas (pere et fils) use it in the soundtrack to Godfather 3? I'm not sure. Great piece. The rest of the album is okay. Standard fare. June 11, 1999

Awesome music - fidelity a bit lacking

The opening song "The Beatitudes" by Albinoni is incredibly moving, so much so that the other songs have a hard time comparing. Overall, excellent, although the fidelity could be greatly improved. I had to crank up my volume 30-40% higher to achieve a comparable volume and noticed some distortion (in the recording, not my system) that was a bit distracting. Still, an outstanding CD. February 16, 1999

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