This is my personal favorite among the recordings in Haïk-Vantoura's oevure. The selection of Psalms is excellent, as is their performance. Many are of the more somber variety; but the opening work (Psalm 96) has a dignity and joie de vivre (and a harmonic structure as well) which evokes some of the hymns of the Renaissance composer, Heinreich Schutz. There are some lacks in the performance of Isaiah 11:1-9 and Exodus 20:1-17 (the Ten Commandments), though the performance of the latter is more than awe-inspiring nevertheless. Such is the power of the restored "double accentuation" of that text, which evokes the Voice of God speaking out of cloud and fire on Mt. Sinai! Whereas the haunting, mournful quality of Isaiah 11:1-9 is best understood in the context of Isaiah 10, the verses in Isaiah 11 that follow, and especially the joyous Isaiah 12 (none of which have been published on recording). These texts form a progression from apocalyptic disaster to a message of hope for a people left with no hope to a restoration of that hope, culminating in joy and praise.

Several new CDs and CD-ROMs, plus Latinized Hebrew-English booklets for some of the original recordings, are available from King David's Harp, Inc. (e-mail). You may download and print this order form in order to obtain these recordings and CD-ROMs (see this page). You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to read and print these files (click on the button on the above left).