Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

I bought the CD because our local chorus was singing Vaughan Williams. The recording is spectacular. The recording is so clear that it's easy to pick out the four voices for practice. But especially given the current events in the Balkans, this piece gives a listener chills, for it clearly exposes the consequences of war while offering the hope for peace masterminded by the Almighty.

Following the wonderful Evocation of the Spirit CD (Gorecki, Part, Martin, Barber and Shoenberg) this is an ideal follow up. The twentieth century really did produce some wonderful choral music and although the Barber and Bartok here are not totally consistent, the Vaughan-Williams is great.

I purchased this CD because I had a recording of Prayers of Kierkegaard in high school (in the 1970's) and liked it very much. This Robert Shaw recording is very disappointing. I believe it is because there is excessive romance in the tempo which never holds steady; with every turn there is a new pace which then splashes into the next, establishing no driving, classical adherence to the integrity of the whole piece. It's been degraded into an irritating chain of disjointed sound bites, each begging for emotional appeal when a lack of cohesion has failed to bring the listener anywhere. I have other great recordings under direction of Robert Shaw and think this performance is not typical. I want to say the rendition is downright horrible. However, what I can not say is whether there IS a recording of this piece that would please me. The one I thought I liked when I was in my early 20's has not been in my possession for almost 30 years. Possibly no one can force this piece of music into the succinct and classical type of production that I imagine would make it come alive for me. The piece itself may be in too much of a neo-romantic model for me. If anyone could reduce this piece to it's essentials it would be Neville Marriner but I've not looked into whether he has recorded Prayers of Kierkegaard.

This recording track seems to be lower in quality than most of Shaw's. Both the recording and the chorale singing is of lesser quality than the other selections and most of Shaw's works.

However, I can still recommend this CD overall.

I will disagree with the other reviewers here. The Barber is a wonderful piece, dreadfully and lifelessly performed here. The chorus has no emotion. The recording is unfocused...the strings sound absolutely amateurish throughout. Schenck's work on Koch is much superior, even though rough at the edges; it bristles with electricity, and the soprano is just perfect for the second section.