Customer Reviews

Evocation of the Spirit

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This disc is a soaring masterpiece of truly sublime music. These five pieces of twentieth century choral music shine with the beauty of the moon on a cloudless winter night. Each piece is distinctive; yet they all have a certain quality in common. Robert Shaw and his singers give stunning performances of every one of these pieces.

"Totus, Tuus" a motet by Henryk Gorecki leads off the disc. It is stunningly simple. It is also subtly insistent. It is an excellent vehicle by which to be drawn into the rest of the disc.

Arvo Part's "Magnificat" has an earthier sound dwelling underneath the gently whispering soprano. The liner notes dub the style as being the result of the composer's use of "primitive" materials in the composition of the work. I don't know much about that, but I certainly like the sound of the finished product.

The Mass for double chorus a cappella by Frank Martin is the centerpiece of this disc; a worthily so. Martin probably was, until recently, the least known of these composers. This disc and a few others have been rectifying that situation. Sometimes likened to the work of Palestrina (a favorite of mine) Martin's mass is truly dynamic. This mass has a charged yet timeless feeling to it. The haunting Gloria alone is worth the price of this disc.

Speaking of the price of this disc...Whatever you feel about the other music contained on this recording, I urge you to get a copy just to listen to The Agnus Dei by Samuel Barber. It is based on his mournful Adagio for Strings. To hear this is to hear sheer beauty.

Rounding out the songs on this disc is Friede auf Erden by Arnold Schoenberg. It is probably the least accessible of the pieces; but is also a thing of beauty.

This disc is wonderful. It is great music for using in times of contemplation. It is also great just to listen to for the sheer beauty. I recommend it.

This is a magnificent recording. Even though, a capella CD's can sometimes be hard to stomach, I find myself listening to this disc again and again. This recording will literally lift your spirits. Gorecki's Totus Tuus is epitome of sublime, easing effortlessly across the span of 11 minutes. Part's Magnificat is a little darker in tone, but if you are patient it will blossom repeatedly. Martin's Mass is somewhere between ethereal and madrigal. Barber's Agnus Dei, based on his Adagio for Strings, is uncannily eerie, yet powerfully cathartic at the same time. Finally, Schoenberg's Peace on Earth is emotionally buoyant, absolutely gorgeous, and sadly, just as relevant now as it was when it was written almost a century ago. The aural depth captured by Telarc will engulf you in sound. Shaw conducts each of these modern masterpieces with aplomb and the Festival Singers sing their lungs out. An exciting album, it is definitely worth being a part of anyone's collection.

This is my favorite recording of Shaw, and the Festival Singers. The music, though from different composers, all fits together on this album as if it were designed as a concept. What a beautiful concept it is, with music of stunning grace and beauty, performed almost inhumanly beautifully, in a venue without equal, and to top it all off, recorded superbly! This CD is my vote for the finest vocal recording of all time.

The late Robert Shaw shines with his Festival Singers in this most luminescent recording. Shaw has done much to bring twentieth century music to the forefront of the choral repertoire, and this recording is a fine example of his efforts. The entire recording reaches to the heart of the listener, reminding us exactly what the performance of music is all about. The Schoenberg "Friede auf Erden" is particularly touching, noting the idea of "Peace on Earth" in our troubled times. -MCR

The highlight of this CD is Agnus Dei which is the choral adaptation of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. The Adagio, already a moving piece, is brought to a new level of emotion using chorus as opposed to strings. The human element makes Agnus Dei a winner.

I write this review three days after the tragic September 11 events in New York and Washington, three days which left me numbed, during which I searched and searched for music having cathartic value - "music of healing" - largely in vain. For most of that time, the value of listening to music seemed to have eluded me. (Given the circumstances, this must have happened to others as well, even others for whom music is a large part of their lives, as it is for me.)

This was not a state of affairs destined to go on open-ended. I knew that a major part of breaking this "blockage" would somehow involve the recorded work of Robert Shaw, whose recorded performances have in the past led me out of such "wildernesses." And so it was that his recording of the Bach B-Minor Mass (reviewed elsewhere at Amazon.com by me) provided the "lion's share" of healing-through-music. One need only listen to Shaw's performance of the closing "Dona nobis pacem" of this Mass to be instantly uplifted.

But his performance of Barber's Agnus Dei, a choral arrangement by Barber of his Adagio for Strings (which in turn is a string orchestra arrangement of the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11), provided me with a healing of an entirely different nature: A searing work guaranteed to cauterize and thereby provide emotional catharsis and release.

One cannot fathom what was going through a very youthful Sam Barber's mind when he wrote this Op. 11 second movement. But we should be thankful that Arturo Toscanini, in 1936, encouraged Barber to arrange it for string orchestra, and that much later (in 1967) Barber chose to arrange it yet again for chorus. And that Maestro Shaw saw fit to include it on this Evocation of the Spirit choral compilation.

I don't mean to sell the rest of this album short in any way whatsoever. I found, after listening to the Barber, that I could then go on and listen once again to the rest of the album. ALL of these choral masterpieces can be said to be "music of healing." While the Górecki and Pärt works are probably the best known, there are hidden pleasures as well in the Frank Martin Mass and in Arnold Schoenberg's seldom-heard, but totally accessible, Friede auf Erden ("Peace on Earth").

But it was the Barber that I needed to hear today. Tuck this album away for that rainy day; it will lift your spirits as it did mine. And, hopefully, your circumstances - your need - will not be of a magnitude that mine (and of course millions of others) had been in these recent days.

Bob Zeidler

This is by far my favorite recording of Robert Shaw. If you are in search of choral perfection, look no further than Shaw. He can get a sound out of his chorus that no one else can. Any recording of his is incredible...this is one of his best.

This exposed me to the works of Part, Gorecki and Martin. As a result, I like the direction contemporary choral music is heading.

Most of this work is easily accessible. You do not have to be afraid of the 12 tone or atonal noise that was vogue in the early and mid 20th Century.

The beauty of this compilation is that Shaw selected music that was always moving in pitch or harmony. There are no lines that are static. There are no chords that are constant.

Listen and be moved.

This disc is wonderful from start to finish. I think the most special piece is the Schoenberg at the end, and the least successful the Barber arrangement of the adagio, which sounds much better for strings to me. (Does anyone know the Stokowski arrangement of a piece by Cesti called 'Tu mancavi ....'? My memories of it remind me so much of the Barber adagio.) The Gorecki and Part have been great introductions for me to these two composers who I had previously had little contact with.

Evocation of the Spirit I have purchased this CD annually for many years. I give it as a gift to the seniors who are finishing their course work in EMU's Music Therapy Program. It was first recommended to me by a very dear friend and colleague, and I'm so glad she told me about it! It contains beautiful 20th century choral compositions beautifully sung. It is definitely music for the soul and spirit!