Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

One should never judge a CD by its cover. I thought that this one would be of interest to us because of its title and because of the involvement of Laurence Equilbey who has been responsible for some splendid releases from her chamber choir Accentus. I was right but only up to a point. The singing from Equilbey's Young Choir of Paris and Geoffroy Jourdain's Les Cris des Paris is superlative and if you have the slightest interest in contemporary choral music this is an essential listen. But what of the Psalms? If, like me, you were hoping for a new take on the Old Testament's hymnbook you will not find it. Of course "Psalm" means song and that is what we get. The texts are an interesting and challenging selection with words from diverse sources. One is Anna Akhamatova's friend Ossip Mandelstam who was killed in a Soviet death-camp. Another is a sequence based around Lewis Allan's "Strange Fruit" (Billie Holliday's most famous song). As a Christian I acknowledge the existence of the dark side but I do not necessarily want to sing about it. This collection, beautifully sung though it is, needs some light to make it truly indispensable.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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