Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard/Bartok: Cantata profanna/Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem

Nathan Gunn (Performer), Samuel Barber (Composer), Bela Bartok (Composer), Ralph Vaughan Williams (Composer), Robert Shaw (Conductor), Carmen Pelton (Performer), Richard Clement (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Nathan Gunn, Carmen Pelton, Richard Clement
• Conductor: Robert Shaw
• Composer: Samuel Barber, Bela Bartok, Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Audio CD (March 24, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B0000064U9
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,279 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #11 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Vaughan Williams, Ralph
  • #38 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Classical (c.1770-1830) > Vocal & Song > Cantatas
  • #40 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Cantatas

Track Listings

1. O Thou Who Art Unchangeable

2. Lord Jesus Christ, Who Suffered All Life Long

3. Father In Heaven, Well We Know That It Is Thou

4. Father In Heaven! Hold Not Our Sins Up Against Us

5. Part I - Nathan Gunn

6. Part II - Nathan Gunn

7. Part III - Nathan Gunn

8. I. Agnus Dei

9. II. Beat! Beat! Drums!

10. III. Reconciliation

11. IV. Dirge For Two Veterans

12. V. The Angel Of Death

13. VI. O Man Greatly Beloved

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's unclear why this program works so well, but it does. It may be because all three composers resolutely affirmed the virtues of tonality at a time when it was terribly out of fashion, though each did it in his own way. Barber was a genuine neo-Romantic before we had the term to describe him, so his heartfelt and emotional music was simply called "backward looking" while he was alive. Vaughan Williams and Bartók were both authorities on folk song who used the "uncouth vocal utterance of the people" to forge fresh and contemporary musical styles. Robert Shaw, one of the great choral music conductors of all time, plays all three works with a near ideal combination of clarity and intensity, and, of course, the chorus is sensational. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why didn't Shaw record more Vaughan Williams?, December 17, 2000

By 

Samer T Ismail "SF & classical music fan" (Danbury, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard/Bartok: Cantata profanna/Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem (Audio CD)

In the final CD to be released before his death in 1999, Shaw finally got around to recording "Dona nobis pacem". The performance is essentially flawless, with soloists, chorus, and orchestra giving their all. Shaw brings out the emotions--both violent and tranquil--in a way unmatched by any other recording, except perhaps for Hickox. Were this the only work on the CD, it would still be worth full price.

Thankfully, Shaw gives us not one but two more works to fill the CD--Bartók's "Cantata profana" and Barber's "Prayers of Kierkegaard". Both works, especially the latter, receive masterful performances; Shaw's recording is much more lyrical than the other available version (Schenck with the Chicago SO), especially in the soprano solo ("Lord Jesus Christ").

All in all, this disk, which won three Grammys, is a must-have.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lesser-known Choral Masterpieces, December 13, 2005

By 

Brett A. Kniess (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard/Bartok: Cantata profanna/Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem (Audio CD)

A disk of lesser-known choral/orchestral works by great masters of composition are always a welcome addition, and this CD doesn't fail, perhaps giving these works new life and hopefully a new future of performances.

The Danish-born theologian Soren Kierkegaard and his prayers from various writings are the subject of Samuel Barber's Prayers of Kierkegaard. The prayers are very personal, having to do with redemption and God's love, a keen insight to existentialism, and Barber's music expresses it well. While a unified whole, the 15+ minute work is divided into four separate prayers, each a style and a setting different from one another. Barber lets the listener know this is religious music by setting the opening text in chanting men's voices in an old church mode. But when the orchestra comes in, a 20th century declamatory statement changes the mood. Barber again looks to the past with simple contrapuntal choral writings. The second prayer is a supplicatory soprano solo sung by Carmen Pelton. A 20th century chanting chorus, reminiscent of thick Russian orthodox music opens the third prayer. Barber again brings back contrapuntalism and a great dissonant melody eventually dividing into two choruses. The final prayer begins with a wild instrumental modal dance section, and the end brings back the simple chant-like feel of the beginning, and the final, modern chorale ending with a positive outlook. Scored for orchestra, soprano, alto, and tenor soloists, and chorus, Barber's unique, and often intimate compositional styles, shine through here. The motives used throughout are enjoyable, the music creates great drama, and the work is quite inspired. It is very much spiritual and artistically pleasing.

Bartok's Cantata Profana is a different matter. It tells the story of nine sons who were taught nothing but to wander the forest and hunt stags. One day they wander too far into the enchanted part of the forest, only to be turned into stags themselves. Bartok sets this 20 minute work in three parts. The first showcases the double, sometimes antiphonal, chorus in thick imitation and dissonance. The chorus explains the back-story and relays the wandering in the forest, including a rather frenzied rhythmical jaunt. The second section is a feature for tenor and bass soloists, the tenor being the best-loved brother turned stag, and the bass being the father who went wandering looking for them. The father pleads with them, but as stags, they can't go home to their weeping mother. The short third section brings back themes and texts from the first and the second with tenor soloist exclamation. This music is interesting, not as folk-like as I expected, very modern sounding with dissonance leading the tonality. The soloists are required to sing some extreme ranges for the angst of the text and the chorus parts are difficult as well. The demonic chanting in the third section show the unusual harmonies and subject matter, not to mention musical virtuosity, of this very unusual, yet interesting choral work.

Unfortunately, Walt Whitman's poems about war and Vaughan Williams' music of the same vein, will probably never have little meaning for the public. The six movement Dona Nobis Pacem is the most stirring work on this disk, with various perspectives of war; texts by Walt Whitman primarily, some biblical texts, and an impassioned British speech. The Agnus Dei states the suffering and sacrifice of Christ, but ends with grant us peace. Beat! Beat the Drums! is a bombastic march about how war affects all citizens, not just those who fight. Reconciliation is a lush and somewhat haunting song on the tides of war, in a personal perspective. The Dirge for Two Veterans is a procession which builds to a great climax and dies away; the text visualizing a community honoring the passing of two local veterans. The Angel of Death and O Man Greatly Beloved is a magnum opus of contrasting moods, which erupts into a paean of "Glory to God in the Highest, and peace and goodwill to man". Even today, well after WWII when the music was written, certainly well after Walt Whitman's Civil War era's words, these performances of Dona Nobis Pacem is so personal, not a dry eye leaves the concert hall. The disk presents a moving and electrifying performance.

All the works on this disk, especially with the wide range of styles, is performed flawlessly. As always, Robert Shaw's choruses have clean and crisp diction, with good vocal technique. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra gives these works a Romantic fullness needed, and the soloists are fine as well. While together, the program seems odd, the works in themselves deserve more popularity. A nice addition to the choral/orchestral library.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Chorale Pieces Performed Impeccably, June 25, 2005

By 

Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard/Bartok: Cantata profanna/Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem (Audio CD)

Three composers, who don't seem to have a lot in common, are on display here, and yet the cumulative effect is quite stirring thanks to the late Robert Shaw, as he masterfully leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in this splendid 1998 recording. Samuel Barber's "Prayers of Kierkegaard" is a powerful chorale work that is almost cinematic in its dramatic effect. Commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation during WWII, the composer did not complete the work until 1954. The piece is in the form of a single-movement cantata, of four prayers by the Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard. Soprano Carmen Pelton has a lovely solo on "Lord Jesus Christ, Who suffered all life long" and joins the chorus for the haunting "Father in Heaven, well we know that it is Thou".

Béla Bartók's "Cantata profana" ("The Nine Enchanted Songs") possesses strong rhythmic vitality in this arrangement, especially the harp glissandos implying supernatural forces at work, and is given a fine reading by tenor Richard Clement and baritone Nathan Gunn providing superb vocal turns as son and father, respectively, in the middle section. The most affecting set is the last, Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Dona nobis pacem", which was composed in the mid-1930's as a warning of the threat of war in Europe. His sources were diverse - the poetry of Walt Whitman, the Bible, the Latin Mass, and from a speech made in the British House of Commons during the Crimean War in the 1850s by John Bright - but the sound is consistently mesmerizing. Pelton particularly shines on "Agnus dei", and the concluding "O man greatly beloved" is awe-inspiring. However, the most impressive passage is the "Dirge for Two Veterans", which effortlessly goes from patriotic wartime fervor to mournful prayer. This is a clean recording with especially impressive singing.