PEARSALL: WHY DO THE ROSES: RO

I don’t think that I’m being overly presumptuous in suggesting that few devotees of this site will be familiar with the music of Robert Pearsall (1795-1856), unless they have sung his arrangement of “In Dulci Jubilo” (featured on this disc). It was my wife who urged me to order this delightful collection of part-songs and madrigals on the strength of singing two of the songs included here on courses run by former Kings Singers Nigel Perrin and Jeremy Jackman. The former is the conductor here and he and his choir, the Bath Camerata, do a splendid job. All of the songs are unaccompanied and the balance and intonation of the (amateur) choir is first-class.My wife loves this disc; I like it (there’s some lovely stuff here, but some of it sounds a bit derivative to my ears), but nobody could deny that this CD is a marvellous advocate for the music of this largely forgotten composer.