Customer Reviews

Morten Lauridsen: O magnum mysterium; O nata lux; Madrigali; Mid-Winter Songs

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

 

 

Those who love Lauridsen will also know that his music is hard to sing and has moments when a majority of mixed choirs fail to yield a balanced performance with the sopranos overwhelming the other parts. A majority of the recordings I have heard have had this problem, but this album is quite different. The sopranos have managed to control their volume to let the other parts shine through, and that is when Lauridsen's magic is best experienced and appreciated for its tonal complexity. The performances of Lux Aeterna, Magnum Mysterium and the mid-winter songs are done better here than any other album I have listened to. These performances are compelling musically and extremely moving. I recommend this album with enthusiasm.

Morten Lauridsen is one of the foremost choral composers alive today. His works are performed throughout the world on a regular basis. This recording of some of his best known choral pieces performed by the Elora Festival Singers and recorded on the Naxos label is a delight for your ears. The disc includes solid performances of O Nata Lux and O Magnum Mysterium.

The Elora Festival Singers are led by Noel Edison. Their performance is crisp and clean. There is a wonderful vocal symmetry between all vocal parts so that you are really able to hear all of the complex harmonies written by Lauridsen. I highly recommend this cd.

[I agree completely with the comments of Mr Birge in his succinct and insightful review.]

If there is a more popular or more loved living American composer of choral music than Morten Lauridsen I don't know who it would be. Perhaps Eric Whitacre is in the running, but I suspect that a nationwide poll of choral singers and audiences would give Lauridsen a large majority. Certainly he leads in numbers of performances. And the reason is quite easy to discern. His music is entirely lovely and entirely grateful to sing. There is a calm mysticism that is not tricky or gimmicky but completely heart-felt. Audiences almost universally respond emotionally to his music.

The works on this disc are among Lauridsen's most-performed and it includes both 'O Nata Lux' (from his larger work, 'Lux aeterna' [1997]) and 'Dirait-on' (sung as it was meant to be as the final section of his 'Les Chanson des Roses' set to French poems of Rainer Maria Rilke]. The CD concludes with the moving setting of the Christmas text, 'O magnum mysterium' ['O great mystery and wonderful sacrament that animals might see the Lord born, lying in a manger']. Also included are the 'Six Madrigals', based on Italian Renaissance poems, 'Mid-Winter Songs', on poems of Robert Graves.

The singers here are the wonderful Elora Festival Singers, led by Noel Edison. This is a full-time professional group based in Ontario, best known for their annual summer festival in Elora, Ontario. I have reviewed a number of their previous releases, always with positive comments, e.g. Arvo Pärt: A Portrait & Arvo Pärt:Triodion Ode VII I Am the True Vine Music for Unaccompanied Choir.

The booklet that accompanies this release is a model of its kind, with excellent notes, and -- best of all in these days of skimpy booklets -- full texts and translations. The recorded sound is marvelous.

Scott Morrison

It's a nice touch that the first selection is "O nata lux" and the finale is the ubiquitous "O magnum mysterium." Bookended by these two sacred pieces are two song cycles for chorus and piano, and a set of madrigals reminiscent of Gesualdo in their more dissonant passages. The Elora Festival Singers, led by Noel Edison, deliver some wonderful sounds, particularly the sopranos, bringing a relatively straight tone to the upper register. Although they premiered many of Lauridsen's pieces, the L.A. Master Chorale disc is put out of the running for me by an acoustic which smudges the voices together. On this disc, the sound seems excellently clear in terms of blend and detail. (The Hyperion collection is also good, but costly.) I only wish the composer's wonderful setting of Agee's "Sure on this shining night" were here!

I came across Lauridsen on the Hyperion compilation "Dreamland" but was not sure about him - I thought the tune on the compilation (Ave Dulcissima Maria)was emotionally manipulative. Anyway I decided to give him a try and with naxos there is hardly much of a financial risk! However, this music did very little for - I have listened to it three times and come away with no real impression.