Absolute Heaven: Essential Choral Masterpieces. Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; Robert Shaw Festival Singers. Telarc CD-80458.

Absolute Heaven: Essential Choral Masterpieces. Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus; Robert Shaw Festival Singers. Telarc CD-80458.

For those listeners interested in excerpts of religious choral music, this collection is hard to beat. Compositions include masses from Boito, Poulenc, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Dvorak, Vivaldi, Faure, Verdi, Schubert, Berlioz, and others. Robert Shaw has been doing this sort of thing for all of our lifetimes put together, so one could not ask for more expert hands to lead the chorus in God's praise. Perhaps one can fault him in sometimes striving for precision at the expense of emotive power, but the concern is small. More important, I have not always responded well to Telarc's choral sound, so I need to warn that these selections, taken from complete recordings made between 1984-1993, are smooth and resonant but somewhat veiled. Vocal clarity is compromised by hall ambience. Still, the results are plush and luxurious, amply well suited to the kind of music being presented. The disc's 77:34 minute playing time is also generous, making for some enjoyable, large-scale spectacle.