At the season of the winter solstice, light diminishes in our world. To counteract the onslaught of the darkness, traditional religions have created festivals to hold fast to a small steady flicker of illumination. Essential Voices USA presents a sampler of music celebrating this effort to infuse light and joy into the holiday season. We go from Thanksgiving to Christmas to Chanukah and to the New Year, with both new music and traditional carols - an emotional journey through the holiday seasons. Judith Clurman's Essential Voices USA is one of New York's preeminent choral ensembles - it performs in many of the city's iconic venues and events and records and premieres works by America's finest composers and lyricists. Regularly on stage with the New York Pops in it's Carnegie Hall subscription series, televised on NBC's July 4th Macy's 2014 Spectacular Fireworks and the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting in 2011 and 2012, the ensemble comprises a talented roster of seasoned professionals and auditioned volunteers, dynamically fitted to the unique needs of each project.

Classical Music

The progress of Spanish colonization in the New World through the 16th and 17th century was such that during the Baroque Era the state of classical music was more advanced in Latin America than it was up north. This ambitious collection of vocal pieces by the Venezuelan early music group Camerata Renacentista de Caracas shows the geographical breadth, if not the stylistic variety, of the Latin American baroque with composers, nearly all of Spanish birth, who were based in Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. Many of the selections are villancicos, a ubiquitous Spanish poetic form from the 15th century which lent itself to music, often with instrumental accompaniment, both secular and sacred: in the latter development, of which there are several examples here, it became a type of Christmas carol. By and large this is lovely and invigorating music, given alert and agile performances.

Includes carol(s) by Richard Rodney Bennett. Ensemble: Tudor Choir. Conductor: Doug Fullington.
Includes traditional chant(s).
Includes work(s) by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Robert Fayrfax, Sir William Walton, John Sheppard, Gustav Holst, Peter Warlock.

Szymanowski: Stabat Mater - Litania - Demeter

It took more than five decades after the Psalms of David for Krzysztof Penderecki to produce another large-scale vocal-instrumental work setting Polish texts. It was a commission from the Fryderyk Chopin National Institute for a piece to be performed at the final concert of the Chopin Bicentenary celebrations that offered Penderecki a suitable opportunity to turn again to Polish poetry. The conductor Wojciech Rajski leads the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and a trio of vocal soloists.

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An attractive assemblage of powerfully emotive music.

This is the second CD to be inspired by Armonico Consort’s ‘Naked Byrd’ concert programme, which, to quote the Signum publicity material, ‘features music by Tavener, Purcell, Barber and Byrd, composers who wore their hearts on their sleeves, and whose art saw their emotions laid bare, in an atmospheric concert where magical musical moments are intertwined with sublime passages of plainchant and violin improvisation’ It’s similar in manner to Volume 1 which I reviewed in May 2010.

Let me say at once that, having cut though the publicity hype, I found the whole of this programme as beautiful and as excellently sung as the first. It also introduces the listener to some unfamiliar music, but let me also get two small complaints out of the way. The first is that 53 minutes is rather short value for a full-price CD, however good.

Secondly, as was the case with Volume 1, someone picking up the CD in a browser might buy it on impulse under the impression that the music is all or mostly by Byrd, when, in fact, there is only one 4-minute item by him. I’m afraid that the titles of Naked Byrd 1 and 2 do rather beg the question.

What we do have more than compensates – a very wide-ranging and eclectic programme of some of the most beautiful music ever composed, from the opening Salve Regina, attributed to the 11 ^th-century composer Hermannus Contractus, via the two works by the wonderful Abbess Hildegard, to whose music I could listen all night, through the renaissance and baroque, Samuel Barber’s own arrangement of his Adagio and two by-now familiar John Tavener works, to three new compositions here receiving their first outings.

One of these new works is a re-working of an old one by the Consort’s artistic director Christopher Monks, revisiting the same piece from Thomas Tallis’s English settings in Archbishop Parker’s Psalter which Vaughan Williams employed for his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. The result is not quite as magical as that VW composition, partly because Monks stays closer to the original – Tallis was stuck with setting some fairly banal English words and had to set them in a fairly limited manner, unable to make settings of English his own in quite the same way that his younger contemporary Byrd was able to do. Nevertheless, the Phrygian mode of the original is haunting and Monks’ reworking is impressive. I don’t always react favourably to this kind of reinterpretation of earlier music – Jan Garbarek’s realisations on ECM, Officum Novum* and its predecessors, leave me feeling profoundly depressed – but I found Kelly McCusker’s violin weaving around Anna Sanderson’s voice here very moving. As with most of the music here, both ancient and modern, from the soaring opening Salve Regina onwards, the epithet ‘ethereal’ is highly appropriate.

Even if you have the complete Byrd four-part Mass from which the Agnus Dei (tr.12) is excerpted or the complete Victoria Requiem whence Versa est (tr.10) is derived, you shouldn’t feel short-changed. You may, however, note that, as on Volume 1, slower tempi than usual are adopted for these and for most of the medieval and renaissance pieces, even by comparison with the Tallis Scholars, themselves no speed merchants.

The performance of Versa est takes 4:56 against the Scholars’ 4:37 – recently reissued in a wonderful budget-price 3-CD box to celebrate Victoria’s quatercentenary (GIMBX304) – and the Consort’s Agnus Dei weighs in at 4:05 against 3:20 ( The Tallis Scholars sing William Byrd, 2 CDs for the price of one, CDGIM208). The contrast with The Sixteen in Victoria is even more extreme – they take just 4:05 for Versa est. (Coro CORSACD16033 or on a recent 4-CD set COR16089.)** For all that the Consort milk some of the music in this way, the effect is highly attractive. The singing is excellent and the recording does it full justice.

If Naked Byrd and Naked Byrd 2 lead you to explore some of the composers further, so much the better. There’s nowhere better to start than with Hildegard’s music A Feather on the Breath of God – Hyperion CDA30009, the first of my top 30 choices from Hyperion – see review – now at mid price and no overlap with the works on Naked Byrd 2.

The booklet contains the texts and translations, though some of these are a little rough. Spiritus Sanctus (track 6) is especially inaccurate, with est (it is) mistaken throughout for es (you are). Substitute the following translation: ‘The Holy Spirit is the life which gives life;/moving all things, its root is found in all creation,/and it washes everything from impurity, wiping sins clean, it anoints wounds./Thus it is a shining and praiseworthy life,/awakening and re-awakening everything’. The text of Lotti’s Crucifixus etiam pro nobis (tr.8) is translated as ‘he was crucified even for us’ when etiam here means ‘also’, not ‘even’. This passage is especially familiar, since it is taken from the Nicene Creed, so the mistranslation is all the more inexplicable. At least the texts are there this time, when they were conspicuous by their absence from Volume 1.

Minor grumbles about the lack of Byrd in the programme and about the quality of the translations apart, this second volume may be confidently recommended. As with Volume 1, the works from widely different periods sit much better together than I might have predicted. If in any doubt, subscribers to the Naxos Music Library can try it first and read the booklet there.

-- Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International

Includes work(s) by Michael Tippett. Ensemble: BBC Singers. Conductor: Stephen Cleobury.

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Chapelle du Roi. Conductor: Alistair Dixon.

I was delighted to find John Ireland’s fresh and gently ecstatic Passiontide motet had been included. The ladies of Tenebrae sing it with a marvellous sense of open-eyed wonder. The two Russian items are also most successful although I did wonder why the Rachmaninov piece was sung in English. It’s given a beautiful performance even if these English singers lack the sheer amplitude of sound that a Slavic choir would have at its disposal. The offering by Sheremetiev was completely new to me – indeed, I can’t recall hearing any music by this composer before. Now ye heavenly powers, which is sung in Russian, is for male voices. It’s described in the notes as “quietly powerful” and that’s a very apt description. The music is mainly subdued in tone and the piece has a grave beauty that’s most attractive. Even more affecting is the other Eastern European piece, Kodály’s Esti Dal. This setting of a Northern Hungarian song is a little gem. It is sung in the original language and features a lovely soprano solo, one of several solos during the course of the programme, all of which are taken excellently from within the choir’s ranks.

Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia is a terrifically inventive piece of music in which the composer shows real flair in his writing for unaccompanied choir, even if Auden’s text seems rather high-flown in its imagery and somewhat verbose. Tenebrae not only rise to its manifold challenges but also surmount them with ease. They are excellent too in Holst’s splendid setting of Psalm 148, receiving marvellous support from Jeremy Filsell at the organ.

But in many ways the best is saved for last. Sir William Harris’s sumptuous setting for double choir of words by Edmund Spenser is, for me, one of the glories of English church music. It moves from the rarefied celestial atmosphere of the quiet opening to the blazing conviction and excitement of the passage at “And those eternall burning Seraphims” – Tenebrae are marvellous here – before the pacific mood returns at the close. The performance of this miniature masterpiece is thrilling in every respect. Indeed, I feel that here Nigel Short and his singers come close to realising the “endlesse perfectnesse” of which Spenser speaks.

This is an outstanding disc, which I have enjoyed greatly. The sheer quality of singing has always impressed me on the previous discs I’ve heard from this choir and, indeed, when I’ve heard them live. This new release is as good as any I’ve heard from them. The engineering is excellent and the disc comes with a good booklet including full texts. Another winner from Tenebrae!

-- John Quinn, MusicWeb International

Drawn from across the composer's lengthy career, this collection of Part-Songs and Choral Works explores the great variety and range within Elgar's work for choir and voices. Along with more well-known works such as Love and Deep in my Soul there are early pieces such as O Salutaris hostia (composed for small amateur choirs) that give hints of his later mature style, through to the 1928 piece I sing the Birth - a work that shows Elgar's ability to adapt to more contemporary styles of 20th-century choral composition. The Rodolfus Choir have established themselves as one of the leading youth choirs in Britain, made up of singers aged from 16 to 25 who have been chosen from past and present members of the Eton Choral Courses for prospective choral scholars. Many members of the Choir are choral scholars, some are at music college, and most hope to make a career in music. The Rodolfus Choir and Ralph Allwood are well-known for imaginative programming, and for presenting new music. The Rodolfus Choir's recent CD recordings with Signum include music as diverse as Howells, Monteverdi, Grier, Tallis and the German Romantics. 'One can only marvel at the group's remarkable collective skill and cohesion' fanfare magazine

Crossing Over features the music of Anna Thorvaldsdottir, John Tavener, William Schuman, Daniel Elder, and more. This release contains world premiere recordings, as well as rarely recorded pieces. Skylark is a chamber choir consisting of professional musicians from across the United States. The group also performs educational programs for students across the nation.

REVIEW:

All the music is concise, in the manner of utterances made or heard on a deathbed; the longest work clocking in at just over nine minutes. This is new music, put together in a new way, beautifully sung and recorded. In short, it's fabulous for listeners looking for a place to start with contemporary choral music, downbeat subject matter or not.

-- All Music Guide

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Leading young composer Will Todd performs a unique fusion of sacred choral music and jazz in his 'Mass in Blue'. This central work is complemented by beautiful musical settings of religous texts, infused with a highly individual and melodic style, bringing the composer's life-long love of traditional choral music into the 21st century with spiritual sensitivity and a contemporary edge. An accomplished jazz musician, Will Todd has played piano, saxophone and clarinet in Jazz bands from an early age and in 1999 he toured Europe, the Far and Middle East and America with his Jazz Quartet. Soprano Bethany Halliday brings an eclectic vocal style to her performance. The daughter of a Baptist pastor, her early influences were gospel, in particular the recordings of Mahalia Jackson, one of the world's greatest gospel singers. She went on to train as an opera singer but has maintained a love of Jazz and gospel music. His extensive output includes opera, musicals, oratorio, orchestral works and works for children and amateur performers. His work has been featured on Radio 3's In Tune, Classic FM and the Radio 2 Arts Programme and he has had performances of his music all over the UK as well as in the USA.

Every Friday for two years between 1942 and 1944, a group of teenage boy prisoners in the Terezin concentration camp shared their poems, stories and artwork in a secret magazine they called Vedem. Most of those boys perished in the Holocaust.

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Oh Flanders Free: Music of the Flemish Renaissance

In 2014, The Sixteen returns to its roots, revisiting the golden age of Renaissance polyphony in England. In this new program, the award-winning ensemble presents a stunning selection of music by Richard Davy, John Sheppard, and William Mundy. Little is known about the life of Richard Davy, although he is the second most-represented of all the composers in the Eton Choirbook, and his beautifully florid style may well have had an impact on later composers. The mere fact that his music survived the Reformation is nothing short of a miracle. John Sheppard’s musical style contains all the grandness and idiosyncrasies of English harmonic invention, as is aptly displayed on this recording, which includes one of the gems of Tudor music: the glorious seven-part Trinity antiphon Libera nos. William Mundy was one of the few composers whose career bridged the Reformation and allowed him to develop his style through a variety of important periods. His Votive antiphon, Vox patris caelestis, probably written for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, can be considered the culmination of the great antiphon tradition with its elaborate and virtuosic vocal writing and daunting range.

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It's no secret that if you're looking for a well-filled, thoughtfully programmed disc of Christmas choral music, you won't go wrong with any of The Sixteen's recordings. In 2006 this oft-lauded group led by founder Harry Christophers released a Volume 1 program of traditional carols, and this year (2010) decided to augment that release with a collection of 20 more favorites (including a few lesser-known pieces). Performed with the knowing style of a seasoned, professional British choir, these songs, hymns, and carols (all very loosely categorized here as "carols")--such gems as Holst's Masters in this hall, Poston's Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, and Darke's beloved In the bleak mid-winter--ring in the season intensified and made more meaningful by the choir's authority and respect for the music, its revered tradition, and with an obvious true love for its sound and inherent spirit.

Although Christophers mentions in the notes that selections were drawn from the 1928 Oxford Book of Carols, and certainly such pieces as the Gloucester Wassail, the Wexford Carol, and In dulci jubilo were at least partially lifted from that source, the provenance of many others is not so clearly evident (Of the Father's heart begotten, for example, isn't included in the 1928 OBC), although in some cases the popular "green" and "orange" carol books may have been consulted.

At any rate, these arrangements are all artful and refreshingly unadorned--in the best "traditional" realizations; where there is organ, its contributions are always tasteful, imaginative, and appropriate to support and/or enhance the singers. And as for the singers, well, this is one of the great, world-class choirs, its uniquely rich, vibrant sound characterized by pure-voiced sopranos and its contingent of male altos. The production and sound, from London's St. Giles Church, Cripplegate, presided over by the first-rate team of Mark Brown and Mike Hatch, is excellent. A solid and satisfying addition to any Christmas music library.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

It often takes one man to encourage excellence in the arts and in the flourishing Portugal of the 1600s, at the forefront of world exploration; Dom Joao IV was very much that man. In his court, his favoured composers developed a unique style within the European heritage of sacred music, distinctly and devotionally Portuguese. Resplendent ... The Sixteen bring a wonderfully intense sense to this music. "All the music is of a high quality, and it is excellently performed... The singers are quite superb... one of the best and most interesting discs by The Sixteen in recent years, and the sound is excellent." Gramophone

This selection is a Hybrid Super Audio CD. The Stereo Hybrid SACD program can be played on any standard compact disc player. The DSD Surround and Stereo programs require an SACD player for playback.


Thomas Tallis' 40-voice motet Spem in alium (scored for eight five-part choirs) was composed some 400 years before the modern age of recordings, and perhaps it's a work that's best left for the experience of live performance. Granted, capturing this grand Renaissance experiment in sound and performance logistics (said to have been composed in response to a ducal challenge) is an irresistible temptation for choirs and record companies, most of whose attempts have resulted in something less than the imagined "wall of sound" effect promised by its sumptuous rich-textured, full-bodied scoring. But if you're going to record it, you might as well use whatever technical means are at your disposal to reproduce the wide vocal range, sonic depth, and pure physical sensation engendered by this huge concentration of vocal forces, which in the tutti passages is sort of like the choral equivalent of an all-stops-out cathedral organ.

Until now, the best version on disc was by The Tallis Scholars. Recorded nearly 20(!) years ago, it remains a top choice, absolutely stunning in coherence and cohesiveness, to say nothing of its firm balances and amazing sonic power. (Interestingly, but not surprisingly, many of the singers on that earlier disc appear here as well.) However, this new release from Coro goes even further in bringing us closer to the live experience and manages (remarkably) to capture even more interior detail of the massed vocal forces. Since this is not a work that delivers sound from a relatively focused source--it literally comes from all directions--a surround-sound SACD recording makes a lot of sense, and even though this review is based on listening to this "hybrid" on a standard CD player (the SACD-system review will follow), there's no question that the engineering and mastering techniques used were expertly done to maximize the music's strengths--and delivering it with more clarity and wide-ranging dynamic impact than ever before.

And that's only part of an extraordinary program that goes on to feature several more gems drawn from "a century of British history", including a convincing reconstruction of a Tomkins masterpiece (until recently unattributed) that's never before been recorded. The disc's subtitle, "Music for Monarchs and Magnates", sets the rationale for selections that highlight mostly larger-scale motets and anthems (and a sublime Te Deum by Tallis) composed for special, royal occasions, sometimes containing a not-too-subtle political commentary in their carefully-chosen Biblical texts. Byrd's rarely-heard Latin motet Deus venerunt is a 13-plus-minute disconcerted response to the execution of Jesuit priests, expressed in the words of a Psalm and in music that's deliberately refined and solemn--and gorgeous. Some of the works are accompanied by instruments--cornetts, sackbutts, viols--and the effect is always to the benefit of the music, surrounding and enhancing the voices with colors both bright and rich. Orlando Gibbons' Great King of Gods is a highlight among these latter pieces.

The disc closes with yet another performance of Spem in alium, this time in its English-text setting, "Sing and glorify". And who would complain about hearing this magnificent work again? As you might expect, the singing throughout is absolutely first-class--and with many of Britain's top performers on hand, combined with such exalted repertoire, we're treated to one of the choral events of the year, one that will remain a standard for more than its spectacular sound. (My only complaint: Coro continues its user-unfriendly practice of providing a straight track listing only on the outside of the CD box.

The disc closes with yet another performance of Spem in alium, this time in its English-text setting, "Sing and glorify". And who would complain about hearing this magnificent work again? As you might expect, the singing throughout is absolutely first-class--and with many of Britain's top performers on hand, combined with such exalted repertoire, we're treated to one of the choral events of the year, one that will remain a standard for more than its spectacular sound. (My only complaint: Coro continues its user-unfriendly practice of providing a straight track listing only on the outside of the CD box.)
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music