Supersize Polyphony is a celebration of large-scale choral works from the 16th century, performed here by the Armonico Consort and the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, under their musical directors Christopher Monks and Geoffrey Webber. The unique programme features epic motets, such as Thomas Tallis' Spem in Alium and Alessandro Striggio's Ecce Beatam Lucem, alongside his rarely performed 60 part Missa sopra Ecco Si Beato Giorno. Interspersed with the serene beauty of ethereal chants by Hildegard of Bingen, this new recording presents works of magnitude and polyphonic drama in stellar performances by two of the UK's leading choral ensembles. Now Available as a CD / SACD Surround Sound album.

Composing for voice is a passion for me, and as a result the largest part of my catalogue is music for voice. The human voice - possibly the most subtle, complex, and fragile yet forceful carrier of musical ideas and meanings - has always been an inspiration for my musical thinking. I strive for craft, clarity, and passion. The carefully sculpted music and poems of Far Past War develop a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the choir and musicians in a virtuosic display of their emotional palette, strength, clarity, and majesty. The opportunity to collaborate with my sister, Cammy Thomas, has been a highlight of my life. Music's eternal quality is it's capacity for transformation and renewal. Together, we have created a work that celebrates the unsurpassed power of nature, and it's potential to move us toward peace.

The live recording of Elias (Elijah) is the first historic release from the archive on the Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings label . It is historic in many respects; not only with regard to the almost four decades which have passed since 4 July 1984; but most of all because it brings together a phenomenal ensemble that shaped an entire era at the National Theatre in Munich within the genres of opera; lieder and symphonic music thus representing something of a dream team of classical music at that time.

This performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elias simultaneously opened both the 1984 Münchner Opernfestspiele (Munich Opera Festival) and the 88th German Katholikentag (Catholic Convention). Staatsoper General Manager and Chief Conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch showed remarkable astuteness: with a religious oratorio he demonstrated the stylistic versatility of the Nationaltheater based Bayerisches Staatsorchester . Furthermore; in performing a work by a Protestant composer with a Jewish family background in the context of a Roman Catholic event; he sent a widely admired ecumenical signal. With the launch of the in house label Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings in 2021 it has become possible to publish archival documents to showcase pivotal events from the Staatsoper’s history. In that vein; this recording is now being made available for the first time ever as a testament to the exceptional musicians; the oratoric and dramatic finesse of the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Sawallisch’s flair for Mendelssohn.

Thomas said, "Music is akin to an infinite alphabet." Weaving together two texts, originally written in two different alphabets (about 800 years apart,) Freedom To be Free and Sky Bound unfolds and develops an elegant, resonant, graceful dialogue between Parks' "Freedom" and Rumi's "Love". Textual and musical braids embody Thomas' notion of "infinite alphabet." Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American activist in the civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement." Parks received countless recognitions, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian, and Sufi mystic. Like other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian literature, Rumi's poetry speaks of love which infuses the world. This is made explicit in Rumi's verse (not included in this composition) that describes love as "that flame which, when it blazes up, burns away everything except the Everlasting Beloved." � Augusta Read Thomas

Thomas said, "Music is akin to an infinite alphabet." Weaving together two texts, originally written in two different alphabets (about 800 years apart,) Freedom To be Free and Sky Bound unfolds and develops an elegant, resonant, graceful dialogue between Parks' "Freedom" and Rumi's "Love". Textual and musical braids embody Thomas' notion of "infinite alphabet." Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American activist in the civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement." Parks received countless recognitions, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian, and Sufi mystic. Like other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian literature, Rumi's poetry speaks of love which infuses the world. This is made explicit in Rumi's verse (not included in this composition) that describes love as "that flame which, when it blazes up, burns away everything except the Everlasting Beloved." � Augusta Read Thomas

CORO ALLEGRO: WE ARE HERE is a stirring choral album that amplifies voices of resistance, resilience, and remembrance. Featuring Kareem Roustom's Rage Against the tyrant(s) and Eric Banks' Aluta Continua: The Passion of David Kato Kisule, this collection weaves together protest chants, poetry, and sacred texts to confront oppression and honor those who fight for justice. With performances by Coro Allegro under the direction of David Hodgkins and a constellation of guest artists, CORO ALLEGRO: WE ARE HERE is a call to action, an evocative tribute to the power of music to bear witness and inspire change.

When several of the greatest minds in modern music join forces, the result is a genre-defying masterpiece. MEMORY OF TOMORROW brings together the virtuosic talents of marimbist Mika Stoltzman, bassist Eddie Gomez, pianists Geoffrey Keezer and Anders Wihk, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and drummer Steve Gadd, who doubles as the producer of this all-star album. From the soulful melody of Eric Clapton's Layla to the infectious groove of Gadd's The Duke, the ensemble reimagines iconic works by several of modern history's most celebrated artists, from Sting to Chick Corea and more. A stunning blend of jazz, classical, and contemporary influences, this album is a celebration of virtuosity at it's finest.

The new Kreuzkantor Martin Lehmann and his Dresdner Kreuzchor present their new recording of Francis Poulenc's "Gloria" for soprano, mixed choir and orchestra (FP 177). Combining it with the liturgically corresponding "Mass" for soloists, choir and orchestra in A flat major (D 678) by Franz Schubert. They performed the two works in the acoustically magnificent Kulturpalast Dresden with a first-class cast of soloist Elsa Benoit, Irike Malotta, Patrick Grahl and Klaus Hager. This album is continuing the Dresden Philarmonic Orchestra and Kreuzchor's long history of recordings and artistic collaboration on Berlin Classics.

In this fifth GENUIN release devoted to his music, composer Christian Ridil adds another milestone to his extensive discography. In collaboration with the Vocal Consort of the Berliner M�dchenchor and the S�dwestpf�lzer Kinderchor, Ridil presents a richly varied program spanning six decades of his creative work. All the pieces-world premiere recordings-include works for women's and children's choir alongside solo songs, performed by ensembles and soloists whose artistry brings Ridil's music vividly to life. From folk-inspired melodies to sophisticated contemporary idioms, this album offers a rewarding journey of discovery through Ridil's stylistic spectrum-a voyage as captivating as it is illuminating.

The Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra and conductor Lawrence Foster present choral-orchestral works by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. They join forces with a remarkable group of soloists – including Luiza Fatyol, Roxana Constantinescu, Marius Vlad, Ioan Hotea and Bogdan Baciu – as well as the Junior VIP children’s choir. The album opens with Kodály’s Budavári Te Deum and Psalmus Hungaricus, followed by Bartók’s Transylvanian Dances and culminating in the composer’s Cantata Profana. The latter work, based on ancient myth, was originally conceived in Romanian, but the piece is usually performed in a Hungarian version. This recording reinstates the Romanian original version, retouched by choir conductor Cornel Groza.

In general, this recording by Romanian ensembles of works by Hungarian composers linked to Romanian sources can be seen as an exploration of Romania and Hungary’s shared roots, and of the bicultural nature of Transylvania in particular. Lawrence Foster has a vast Pentatone discography, including several orchestral and complete opera recordings. The Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra so far featured on two Pentatone recordings under the baton of Foster: Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (2021) and Melody Moore’s solo recital Remembering Tebaldi (2023). Roxana Constantinescu featured on Pentatone recordings of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Puccini’s Il tabarro (both 2020), while Marius Vlad appeared on the above-mentioned La Fanciulla del West recording.

REVIEWS:

One can readily detect a national style in this collection of choral works recently issued by Pentatone, each distinctive and individual if, in the case of Kodály, of uneven inspiration.  Of Psalmus Hungaricus Bartók commented that it ‘could not have been written without Hungarian peasant music’.

[Kodály’s Psalmus] is acclaimed as one of the truly great choral works of the 20^th century, and while there’s no shortage of recordings, actual performances today are relatively rare. The Guardian’s Alfred Hickling once observed, ‘Kodály remains a minority taste in this country, lightly dismissed as a kind of low-fat alternative to Bartók’.  A little unfair perhaps considering the emotional punch and drama of Psalmus Hungaricus in which the soloist assumes the role of the betrayed King David, with a supplicant chorus echoing his anguish and indignation.

According to the Kodály authority David Vinden, the Psalmus is a work ‘that sings itself’. Here, the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra and Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir do the work proud. Under the direction of Lawrence Foster (American-born with Rumanian ancestry), the chorus respond fervently to the raging of the persecuted, bitterness giving way to the affirmation of God’s divine retribution. King David’s grievances are articulated mainly by the tenor Marius Vlad, but here his impassioned utterances sound a little too clenched for comfort, and only in the latter stages of the work does a more yielding tone emerge.  While this performance may not achieve the gravitas or emotional intensity of Kodály’s own recording (Hungaroton, 1957), Lawrence Foster’s ear for balance is sure and his tempi well-judged.

Like the Te Deum, Bartók’s Cantata Profana (1930) is another rarity in the concert hall, although moderately well represented on disc. Based on traditional Transylvanian ballads (and sung here in Romanian), it narrates the tale of a hunter’s nine sons who are magically transformed into stags before their integration into the natural world.  The work remains an under-appreciated part of his oeuvre...Bogdan Baciu and Ioan Hotea, as father and son respectively, are impassioned in their solo contributions, manfully facing their extreme pitches.  The chorus are assured and bring considerable energy to their role.

Taking the disc to just over the hour are Bartók’s Transylvanian Dances, orchestral versions of his Sonatina for Piano from 1915 and given characterful performances.  Overall, these accounts are a worthwhile introduction to the composers’ choral works and make attractive couplings that enjoy full texts and translations with excellent sound.

-- Opera Today

Music by two Hungarian composers, and folk-music-collecting friends, performed in Romania conducted by Los Angeles-born (to Romanian parents) Lawrence Foster, makes for an excellent collection, very well recorded at Radio Cluj in May 2022. Kodály’s Budavári Te Deum is lively and exhilarating, with lyrical correspondences to Walton’s Coronation Te Deum, music that speaks directly without artifice, whereas Psalmus Hungaricus is musically of greater intensity and gravitas, performed here with emotional power to compelling effect. Bartók’s orchestral Transylvanian Dances make a flavoursome prelude to his Cantata Profana, recounting a strange tale involving stags, in an atmospheric, dramatic and suspenseful performance. In addition to the choir and orchestra there are, when required, a children’s chorus and five vocal soloists, each of the latter committed to words and music.

-- Colin's Column

The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and its artistic director Philipp Ahmann present a collection of Felix Mendelssohn’s choral music, which arguably represents the pinnacle of German nineteenth-century religious music. Ranging across psalm settings, motets, Latin verses, the Deutsche Liturgie as well as the ethereal chorus Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen, which was later adapted and incorporated into his oratorio Elijah, the album highlights the unique stylistic range and expressive power of Mendelssohn’s choral output. A unique addition to the programme is the world premiere recording of Heilig, MWV 47. The music on this album seamlessly integrates stylistic traits of Palestrina and Bach, remnants of Jewish cantor practices, as well as the Romanticism of Mendelssohn’s time.

Generally considered one of the best choirs in the German-speaking world, the singers of the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir are proficient in this repertoire, written by a local musical giant whose music is deeply ingrained into the cultural soil of their city. The MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and its aristic director Philipp Ahmann return to Pentatone with this a cappella album following their acclaimed recording of motets by Anton Bruckner and Michael Haydn (2021). The choir has also taken part in a Pentatone release of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (2017), as well as numerous opera recordings released by the label. A San Francisco Classical Recording Company production in association with MDR Klassik.

REVIEW:

The Leipzig Radio Choir gives us 16 choral works like 16 suns, all consisting of sacred music...some of [Mendelssohn's] works were intended for the Protestant church, such as Op. 78, and others for the Catholic church, when he was in Rome, and some more for Anglican services, such as Op. 69. Taking as models Bach and Palestrina, all his work has something grandiose, and even more so when he combines the choir with the soloists, or writes for eight voices. The album offers, along with works with more versions available such as those published during the author's lifetime with an opus number, other works that are worth listening to because they do not detract in quality, such as Die Deustsche Liturgie MWV B 57, a sung mass with his Kyrie for double choir, Gloria for double choir and four soloists, and a Sanctus (Heilig) also for double choir.

The versions are wonderful, with the addition that the soloists are members of the choir itself. The balance of the voices, and how Ahmann allows the music to breathe so that it is intelligible, manage to make listening a delight, even when there is a reasonable doubt about how many voices the ideal choir should have for this style. And, as an added gift, a world first is included: a Heilig MWV B 47, for eight voices.

-- Ritmo

When Anton Bruckner premiered his Te Deum at the Vienna Musikverein in 1886, he later referred to it as the "pride of my life." This rare display of self-assurance is striking, given that Bruckner was otherwise known for his artistic self-doubt and frequently revised his compositions. But in this case, he was certain-and the critics agreed: the Te Deum became one of his greatest successes, surpassing even many of his symphonies in public acclaim. The story of the Mass in F minor unfolded rather differently. Commissioned by the Imperial Court Chapel in Vienna (Wiener Hofmusikkappelle), it was composed nearly two decades before the Te Deum. Bruckner subjected the work to multiple revisions up until 1893-a creative process typical of him. He conducted the premiere himself and even covered the considerable costs, after the Hofkappelle had initially dismissed the Mass as "unsingable." Only gradually did the work establish itself in the repertoire. The recordings on this album were made in 2024 and 2025, bringing together an outstanding cast of internationally acclaimed singers under the direction of a conductor of international standing.

This new album by the award-winning Latvian Radio Choir conducted by Sigvards Klava - recently hailed by the New York Times as 'astonishing', 'superlative' by the BBC Music Magazine, and 'perhaps the finest chorus singing today' by NPR - is focused on the sacred choral works by one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). This recording of the Psalms also includes the world premiere recording of Ehre sei dem Vater published by Carus Verlag in 1997.

What distinguishes Faur�'s Requiem from numerous other settings of the requiem text is it's rather intimate, restrained, almost chamber-music nature, a "lullaby of death", as it has also been called, initially more as a criticism of a work that for most of the time avoids depicting the dread of death and the Last Judgement. Faur�'s reply "But this is how I feel about death: as a happy liberation, as a striving for happiness in the hereafter rather than as a painful transition", not only perfectly describes essential characteristics of his Requiem, but also reveals it to be a very personal expression of the composer's very own artistic nature. Two generations after Faur� (and Faur�'s grand-disciple through his teacher Koechlin), Francis Poulenc's (1899-1963) displayed a significantly different approach to religion. Poulenc, who like Faur� was from the southern part of France, had been shaped by his homeland in the sense of a 'rural', intense but joyous Catholicism. He regarded his Gloria as a more joyful counterpart to some of his other sacred works, and it is in this spirit that the first movement, begins in a festive mood with a striking, fanfare-like motif in the full orchestra. If Poulenc cited Gozzoli frescoes with monks sticking out their tongues and Benedictine monks playing football as the source of inspiration for his Gloria, then nowhere is this more immediately comprehensible than in the second movement, with it's rhythmically pointed Laudamus te, of the choir. In both the opera house, and concert hall, Pr�tre's interpretations were notable for their full-blooded and highly romantic character; in style, they were often different from those of French conductors of the previous generation. He was an effective conductor not only of the French repertoire, but also of the music of Italy, and Germany, a fact reflected by the admiration in which he was held in both countries. A highly experienced and polished recording artist, Pr�tre had many years' experience of working in the studio. His discography was large. Especially important were his recordings of the music of Poulenc.

On their Pentatone debut, the Netherlands Radio Choir and its chief conductor Benjamin Goodson bring together choral works by Josef Rheinberger and Felix Mendelssohn, presenting some of the greatest choral compositions of the nineteenth century. This recording begins with Rheinberger’s rarely-recorded Mass in E-Flat Major and closes with the composer’s stirringly beautiful Abendlied. Four of Mendelssohn’s most expressive and original psalm settings are paired with his lesser-known Sechs Sprüche, powerful choral miniatures that reflect on key moments in the church year. These pieces are performed in a warm, intimate acoustic, allowing the words and remarkable detail in this music to be heard and relished. The Netherlands Radio Choir, established shortly after the Second World War, is the only professional choir in the Netherlands performing the great choral-symphonic repertoire. The choir's chief conductor, Benjamin Goodson, is a leading performer in this recording repertoire and also works with many of the other most notable choirs worldwide, including the BBC Singers, Rundfunkchor Berlin and SWR Vokalensemble.

Cappella Amsterdam and its artistic leader Daniel Reuss present their third Pentatone album with a recording of Alfred Schnittke’s Psalms of Repentance. Schnittke composed the piece in 1988 to commemorate the Christianisation of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in 988, and based it on anonymous Russian texts from the 16th century about guilt and repentance. It is one of the most impressive large-scale works for a cappella choir written in the twentieth century, setting intensely emotional texts to equally expressive music, and approaching centuries-old Orthodox musical traditions through the lens of late twentieth-century music. This recording uses the original manuscript, which differs in multiple ways from the published score, resulting in an interpretation that aims to be closer to the composer’s intentions. Since its foundation in 1970, Cappella Amsterdam has shown an exceptional mastery of contemporary and early vocal music, with acclaimed excurses to Romantic repertoire as well. Daniel Reuss has been Artistic Leader of Cappella Amsterdam for over three decades now, and has worked with several renowned choirs and ensembles. Their PENTATONE debut album In Umbra Mortis (2021) won an Edison Klassiek Award, and was followed by David Lang: the writings in 2022.

The history of music-making in Rome tends to focus on Renaissance polyphony, with an occasional nod to the Baroque thereafter. But thanks to composers like Giovanni Battista Casali (1715–92), choral music continued to flourish in Roman churches and other religious establishments in the eighteenth century, too, until Napoleon’s occupation broke many of its traditions. Casali’s music, though, is as good as unknown, and this pioneering recording reveals a composer at home in the galant style – with a surprising fondness for the occasional dissonance.

THE CITY AND THE SEA project is a bridge connecting artists from two corners of the world - a valued American choirmaster and composer, originator of the idea of a virtual choir, Eric Whitacre, and a young Cracow composer - Klaudia Rabiega. The presented works were mostly composed to texts by well-known Anglo-Saxon poets. The compositions fit into the genre of vocal and instrumental chamber music in which the choir is equivalent to the other instruments with the piano keeping the whole together. Klaudia Rabiega knows how to compose choral music; she is perfectly at ease in the polyphonic vocal texture, and her musical language evolves in search of a balance between modern and creative style and simple language accessible to listeners. The project, which includes world premiere recordings, was implemented by excellent musicians associated with the Cracow music scene, and the whole was supervised by the charismatic conductor Andrzej Korzeniowski.

The reputation of Havergal Brian (1876-1972) as a late-blossoming symphonist obscures the fact that he was an early-blossoming composer of choral music for the huge market of amateur choirs thriving in Edwardian England. His choral songs range from simple unison settings for children's or women's voices to harmonically complex essays intended to tax the ability of groups taking part in the choral competitions once popular in many parts of Britain.

This new album by the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and Aapo Häkkinen together with the Audi Jugendchorakademie and bassoonist Jani Sunnarborg featuring late works by composer Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775–1838) makes an important addition to the recordings of Nordic Classical period works and of early Finnish music. Highlight of the album is the world première recording of Crusell’s Viking-themed ‘The Last Warrior’ (Den sista kämpen) from 1834, the composer’s last large-scale composition.

Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits (b. 1969) belongs to his country’s most prominent composers. His works are rich with delicate atmosphere possessing a particularly Northern feel combined with a romantic and Impressionistic touch. This new album by the award-winning Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and conductor Risto Joost is the final volume in a trilogy of works for choir and orchestra. Moorland Elegies (ODE 1306-2), You Are Light and Morning (ODE 1363-2) and The Sound of Wings form a kind of a trilogy, albeit this was never a purpose in itself. All three works were performed first by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Risto Joost. The first two cycles are linked to the elements of earth and water. In this final part of the trilogy everything is carried by the element of air, and those existential themes which Tõnu Kõrvits has dealt with for decades in his works – nature, life, death, suffering, love – find a liberating and soaring solution. The composer has said that it is “the brightest work in the trilogy (...), which emanates the most light. It is a song of flying, of dreaming, of courage and unconditional love.”

One of the sources of inspiration for The Sound of Wings was Amelia Mary Earhart’s attempt to be the first woman in aviation history to fly around the globe together with navigator Fred Noonan, which was cut short whilst crossing the Pacific Ocean. On her specially adapted red Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, Earhart was supposed to make a last land stop on Howland Island, but due to a fault in the navigation system she was unable to find it. Neither Earhart or the remains of her plane have ever been found. Earhart’s last radio transmission – inspiring due to the steadiness and matter-of-factness of the pilot’s voice – gave the titles to the two instrumental parts of the work. The element of air, the wind, the emptiness, flight and liberation in the music are embodied by the solo viola. The flageolet passages of the solo viola, the trills, the motifs which sway up and down pass through the entire piece, introducing as well as completing it. Wind images painted through sound can also be found in the orchestra and choir parts. Kõrvits’ instrumentation is sensitive and imaginative, just like his extraordinary talent of using the choir in the most varied but always singing way.

REVIEW:

Tonu Korvits (b 1969) is possibly the most prominent Estonian composer of his generation, known particularly for his choral music. His music is lyrical and firmly tonal, though smooth, bluesy chromatic tones give it an elusive, hypnotic quality. He writes with genuine beauty, finding a kind of magic in tonality that is all too rare these days.

The Sound of Wings (2022) concerns Amelia Earhart. The text doesn’t so much follow a narrative but rather a succession of abstract meditations on emotions, aspirations, and sensations she might have felt while in the air. A solo viola evokes the ephemeral but liberating qualities of air with harmonics; it reaches its apex in a full-blooded solo in the last movement. The choral writing is consistently tender and lyrical, with attentive, natural text-setting. It is slow and often reserved, but always interesting and often quite moving. We also get the short but achingly beautiful ‘Sunday Wish’ (2020/22).

Wonderful performances from the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Risto Joost. The choir is particularly exceptional, singing with a consistently gorgeous tone. Notes and text in Estonian and English.

-- American Record Guide

The inspiration for Hugo Distler’s gem of a Christmas narrative can be found in the German-language protestant sacred music of the early baroque era, especially the music of Heinrich Schütz. Drawing on Schütz’s example, Distler composed his Christmas story exclusively for vocalists – soloists and a 4-8-voiced ensemble – in what is, in Distler’s own words, described as an “Oratorium mit kammermusikalishem Charakter." We also hear parts of the beautiful choral Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, which appears seven times during the course of the narrative. – every time in a new harmonic colour. The story of Hugo Distler’s life is a tragic one. Born in Nuremburg in 1908, he would go on to teach at the School for Church Music in Spandau before being appointed professor of church music in Stuttgart in 1940. Distler, who was a deeply religious man, has been recognized as a forerunner of the New German Church Music, an important musical movement which developed in the 1930s. The Nazis stigmatized Distler’s compositions as “degenerate art”, and when he received his conscription papers, he took his life. Sadly, Distler’s music is seldom performed outside of Germany even to this day. Hailed by Gramophone as “a choir worth listening to for their beautiful singing, which can deliver performances of pure, natural eloquence,” the 16 voices of the award-winning vocal ensemble Concert Clemens, founded by conductor Carsten Seyer-Hansen in 1997, has established itself as one of the leading vocal ensembles in Scandinavia. Their stylistic versatility has been seen in numerous collaborations exploring the connections between jazz and classical music as well as note-perfect interpretations of standard repertoire. The evangelist, tenor Adam Riis, is one of Denmark’s leading voices. Recorded in the DXD format by the Danish “Wizard of Sound”, Preben Iwan, in the resonant sonics of Skt. Markus Kirken, Århus.

The Kolner Vokalsolisten are a six-voice vocal ensemble dedicated primarily to interpreting contemporary music. On their new GENUIN CD, however, they juxtapose contemporary music with works from the 16th and 19th centuries and sing compositions based on the four elements. Not only does Renaissance meet Romanticism on this CD, but several world premieres by Stefan Heucke, Laura Marconi, and Michael Ostrzyga – works written especially for the slender and superbly blending voices of the vocal soloists – are featured as well. Fire, water, earth, air: virtuosic, sonorous, ethereal, and grounded – a truly extraordinary musical journey!

Less well known among his works, the Missa sacra, Op. 147, bears witness to Robert Schumann’s late interest in sacred music – and in particular in Catholic church music. The work would have a rather difficult fate: during Schumann’s lifetime, it was neither published nor performed in its entirety. Even after its posthumous première, opinions were lukewarm. Wrongly so: the Missa sacra is a fascinating attempt to update sacred music through a refined post-classical musical language. It was originally conceived for orchestra, but Schumann also made a version for organ, presented here. This version allows great vocal transparency and immediacy, thus contributing to a clearer vision of the work. The Vier doppelchörige Gesänge for mixed choir a cappella, Op. 141, are also undeservedly neglected works: they constitute the high point in Schumann’s music for choir. These four songs unite both secular and religious-themed, the latter component being musically emphasised by the effect of multiple choirs. These two fascinating works are performed by the Swedish Radio Choir under the direction of Kaspar Putninš. Among his recordings for BIS is the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom by Rachmaninov (BIS-2571), which has received widespread critical acclaim, for example being awarded a prestigious Diapason d’Or by the French magazine Diapason.

REVIEW:

Schumann’s Missa Sacra, Op. 147, was one of the last things he wrote, and it wasn’t published until after his death. As it happens, it is marvelous, and it was probably just waiting for a top-notch reading of the sort that it receives here. Schumann attempts to merge the rather conservative structure of the Classical mass with Romantic stylistic ideas, and the work is really not like anything else he ever wrote. The Four Songs for Double Choir, Op. 141, close out the program; written slightly earlier, they are rare and quite persuasive. Yet it is the mass that may rewrite the choral repertory lists a bit; in this lovely performance, it is a gem.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

The two composers heard on this album, Giovanni Gabrieli (1553-1612) and Giovanni Bonato (born in 1961) have more in common than their first names: both hail from the Veneto in north-east Italy - there is no documentation of Gabrieli's birth, but he was probably Venetian, and Bonato was born in nearby Schio. Their music, too, is conceived in terms of it's sound in space, with Gabrieli using the cori spezzati that sang from the opposing galleries of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, and Bonato employing cori spazzializati to build a spatial dimension into the music itself. Juxtaposed, their styles offer a striking contrast, with Gabrieli's bold declamations set against Bonato's shifting, timeless suspensions.