In this their fifth recording for Nimbus, the Kansas City Chorale are very much on their home turf, with a programme of American sacred music, which includes Randall Thompson's famous Alleluia.

Songlist: Southern Harmony, Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal, Come Away to the Skies, Precious Lord, Take My Hand, Shaker Songs, I Want to Shake with Indignation, I've Set My Face for Zion's Kingdom, The Precious Way of Go, Encouragement, The Sacred Harp, Wondrous Love, Saints Bound for Heaven, Sunday Morning, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Alleluia, E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, Sing Me to Heaven, Spirituals, I Wanna Be Ready, We Will March Thro' the Valley, I Want Two Wings, Is There Anybody Here, My God is a Rock, Give Me Jesus

This collection opens with a group of four songs scored for three-part women's chorus and the unusual combination of two horns and harp. They are settings of an interesting spread of poems including one by Ossian and the Clown's song from the thrid act of Twelfth Night. Other items include Three Songs Op. 42, Two Motets, Op. 29 and, to finish with, one of the songs from Brahms much loved "Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes", Op. 65.

Songlist: Four Songs for Women's Chorus, 2 Horns and Harp, Op. 17, Three Songs, Op. 42, Four Quartet, Op.92, Two Motets, Op. 29, Op. 112, Nos. 1 and 2, Five Songs, Op. 104, Neue Liebeslieder, Walzer, Op. 65, No. 15

Listening to this new CD was a sublime pleasure, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the choral tone, at once warm and pure. The repertoire is a magnificent blending of the familiar... with previously unrecorded works of John Corigliano, Conrad Susa, and Jean Belmont. This recording is a necessity for all choral conductors. It represents the best of choral singing and introduces some fine new works. Choral Journal

Songlist: At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners, L'Invitation au Voyage, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, The Roadside Fire, A Red, Red Rose, Reincarnations, Op. 16, Fern Hill, Shenandoah, Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier, Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye, I'm Goin' Away, Deep River

Although he writes in all genres, Rene Clausen is today one of America's most popular choral composers, and for more than twenty years he has been the conductor of the internationally acclaimed Concordia Choir of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. On this release, choral works by Clausen are performed by the Kansas City Chorale, another choir of great international renown, whose recording, with the Phoenix Chorale, of Grechaninov's Passion Week won a Grammy award in 2008, in the category Best Classical Recording, Engineering. 'Set me as a Seal' is arguably the composer's best-known work, and has long been popular at weddings, funerals, and in the concert repertoire. Clausen has described the work as 'various kinds of discussions between God and humans, both from the human aspect and from the God aspect, so a lot of variations... of love, of disappointment, of anxiety, of doubt'. All that hath life and breath is one of Clausen's earliest works, and a favourite of choirs across the world. The Mass for Double Choir was commissioned by the Kansas City Chorale. The composer, who had never written a mass before, looked on it as an 'interesting challenge'. In the work emotions ebb and flow kaleidoscopically, taking the listener from the strength of the unison writing at the opening, to the sorrowful falling lines of the Crucifixion of Christ and the bubbling, dancing figures for the Resurrection. Expressions of praise spill forward atop one another in the Sanctus, a choir of angels too exuberant to be contained.

Songlist: All that Hath Life and Breath Praise the Lord, O magnum mysterium, The Tyger, The Lamb, Mass: Kyrie, Mass: Gloria, Mass: Credo, Mass: Sanctus, Mass: Agnus Dei, Magnificat, Prayer, O vos omnes, A New Creation: Set me as a seal

A program of Christmas music by American composers, the Kansas City Chorale sings pieces from the late nineteenth century to the present. Composers include Ned Rorem, Norman Dello Joio and Charles Ives. This recording also contains several premier recordings, including "Nativitas" by Jean Belmont. This cycle of eight choral cameos depicts the ceremony of Christmas with texts from the fourth through seventeenth centuries. According to the composer, "The intent in "Nativitas" is to create a musical shape which conveys some of the anticipation, reverence, mysticism and celebration surrounding the Birth of Jesus Christ." This is a great alternative to traditional Christmas recordings.

Songlist: Three Mystical Carols, In the Time of Softest Snow, Shout the Glad Tidings, Silent Night, Nativitas, Love Came Down at Christmas, A Christmas Carol, Three Shepherd Carols, The Holy Infant's Lullaby, There Is No Rose, I Saw Three Ships, Sweet Was the Song the Virgin Sung, "Silent Night" from Three Carols, Op. 20