Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir [Import]

Frank Martin (Artist), James O'Donnell (Artist), Westminster Cathedral Choir (Artist), Ildebrando Pizzetti (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 10, 1998)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B0000063BQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,499 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #33 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Variations > Passacaglias

Track Listings

1. Mass For Double Choir: Kyrie

2. Mass For Double Choir: Gloria

3. Mass For Double Choir: Credo

4. Mass For Double Choir: Sanctus

5. Mass For Double Choir: Agnus Dei

6. Passacaille: Passacaille: For Organ

7. Messa Di Requiem: Requiem aeternam

8. Messa Di Requiem: Dies irae

9. Messa Di Requiem: Sanctus

10. Messa Di Requiem: Agnus Dei

11. Messa Di Requiem: Libera me

12. De profundis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS CD SHOULD COME WITH A WARNING LABEL!, February 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir (Audio CD)

Do not listen to this CD while attempting to drive, cook, run the bath water etc. You will crash your car, burn your food and flood your house because this music is so captivating. I tend to find 20th century music interesting but not particularly moving (unless gritting your teeth through harmonically bizarre and hair-raising dissonance counts as being moved). These peices, quite obviously modern but paying homage to a variety of past musical styles, are both astonishingly touching and intellectually challenging. The level of concentration needed to sing this music is incredible, yet the choir simply soars through it. (Incidentally, for those of you fearing the typical English trebel overload with a muddle of voices underneath, close inspection of the CD notes reveals that the choir has 4 boy altos AND 4 countertenors which makes for a much better balance than most English cathedral choirs: you can actually hear 8 parts distinctly when they claim there are 8 parts to be heard.) If you like modern choral music, you'll like this CD. If 20th century choral music makes you wish you were hearing a cat fight instead, you will still like this music. Please get this CD; it will make you think about music, ancient and modern, in a whole new light.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stunning 20th Century Church Music, June 13, 2002

By 

Christopher Forbes "weirdears" (Brooklyn,, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir (Audio CD)

Frank Martin's Mass is one of the undiscovered gems of the 20th century choral repertoire. Written when Martin was 32, this work is a deeply felt spiritual testament by an underated composer. The work has one foot in the Renaissance and one foot in the modern world. Much of the melodic material is modal in character. The harmonies are decidedly chromatic, but chromatic in a Faure/Durufle sort of way. And the rhythmic vitality of the Gloria is astounding. This is a difficult but rewarding work and deserving of much more attention.

The remainder of the disc is filled with an organ piece by Martin in his more mature contemporary style and is rounded out by two piece by the Italian composer Pizzetti. Though the Pizzetti pieces are not as profoundly felt as the Martin Mass, they are quite beautiful and deserve a hearing.

I have listened to this recording perhaps 30 times now, and if the trebles are terribly out of tune I don't hear it. Perhaps the recording engineer decided to forgo the autotune feature which has promoted the unrealistic expectation of scientifically precise intonation on many modern choral recordings. If so, I applaud him or her. This choir sounds beautiful and natural...not clinical. I agree with one of the other reviewers in saying that there is a lack of fundemental in the recording, but I'm not sure if highly chromatic works are always well served by so much bass partial. Tends to muddy the sound.

All in all, a great disc with music that everyone should hear.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every last penny, and more, June 16, 2002

By 

Gracejoy "gracejoy7" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir (Audio CD)

Everything positive that you have heard or read about this recording is absolutely true! It deserved its prestigious Gramophone award and it deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon it. I am an experienced choral singer and can attest to the superb quality of the singing you will find here -- it's all accurate and oh-so beautiful. I certainly cannot think of any choral group that can out-perform Westminster Cathedral Choir as they are on this recording!

My personal CD collection is made up of about 250 choral music recordings of all types (including around 60 cathedral/collegiate choir recordings), and this one immediately took its rightful place as one of my favorite CDs, of any type, period. The Martin mass is a sublime piece of music, with soul-stirring moments of reverence, prayerfulness, sadness, and joy. It is a challenging work and must have been quite difficult to sing - but rest assured, Westminster Cathedral Choir was very up to the task. I had heard the work before on another recording (Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford recorded it nicely in 1989), but this rendition greatly overshadowed that one and brought new life into the music. The experience when I first put it on was enough to keep me spell-bound for several hours afterward - and this from someone who is not always fond of 20th century choral music. The singing is so hauntingly precise and pure that I wonder what kind of magic James O'Donnell was practicing when this recording was made. The Pizzetti is a little less emotionally stirring but also very lovely and, of course, beautifully sung.

The aesthetic power of these two gorgeous choral works combined with the sheer excellence of the choir's singing make this recording one of the finest - if not THE finest - cathedral choir performances you are ever likely to hear. Do buy this CD -- you are in for a musical treat to be savored for many years to come.