Frank Ferko Nancy Gustafson His Majestie039s Clerkes - Frank Ferko Stabat Mater (29 tracks) +Album Reviews

One of Ferko's finest works

C. P. Cooman | Cambridge, MA USA | 06/08/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This large work for unaccompanied choir is one of the finest works by Frank Ferko, one of America's finest living choral composers. His tremendous talent in writing for choir is displayed vividly in this extended, colorful setting of the traditional Stabat Mater text from the Roman Catholic liturgy. As is typical in Stabat Mater settings, "interpolations" are present which intersperse settings of modern texts along with the traditional ones. Ferko has interpolated four modern texts, all dealing with loss of children -- although viewed in modern contexts such as AIDS. Ferko's sonorities are not easy to sing but are pulled off beautifully by His Majesties Clerkes, one of America's finest choral ensembles and one who has had a long relationship with Ferko's music. A most worthwhile disc. Highly recommended."

FANFARE says it all

Sally M. Gall | La Jolla, CA USA | 08/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The July / August 2000 FANFARE review by Lawrence A. Johnson says it all: "The word 'masterpiece' gets thrown around rather indiscriminately at times by music critics . . . Still, if Ferko's Stabat Mater is not a masterpiece, it comes closer to being one than any contemporary composition I have heard in recent years.""

A real find for choristers and discriminating listeners

Michel Couzijn | Hillegom, Netherlands | 10/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are looking for a new, challenging but highly rewarding acapella choral piece, I can wholeheartedly recommend Frank Ferko's Stabat Mater (1998; about 55 minutes). My (amateur) chamber choir has just pulled off the European premiere here in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and we are very happy with the result. The work keeps a good balance between modernism and traditional musical language. Thus in spite of its young age the piece communicates well with the audience. We combined it with Fauré's Requiem (an audience pleaser like few others) and guess what: after the concert most people (family, friends, colleagues, you know how it goes) were talking about Ferko's music (and positively! ;-).

Ferko's Stabat Mater consists of twenty-five, quite small parts (1 to 4 minutes), in which many musical techniques are used to convey the sorrow, suffering, and trusting hope of the mother who must see her child die. There are (facultative) interpolations (and one song cycle) for dramatic soprano, on English texts, in which the topic is connected with present day occasions of parents who lose a child because of violence, illness, war.

I think that this work deserves a place in the standard repertoire for ambitious choirs. Its difficulty is in the same league as Frank Martin's Mass for Double CHoir, or Poulenc's Figure Humaine. So you need singers who can really hold their own - but good amateurs will do well enough, if I (amateur) may say so.

The performance by His Majestie's Clerkes (now Bella Voce) is the only official release on CD. Fortunately, this choir has a very nice tone and scope, and adapts really well to Ferko's demands (except for the occasional 'drop' in intonation, quite common for acappella pieces). The soprano could be a bit more dramatic - yet that is simply a matter of taste. Upon hearing this performance by HMC, I decided immediately that I REALLY WANTED to do this piece with my choir as well. I guess that is the best compliment I could give to Anne Heider's choir."

Lush and Deeply Felt Setting of a Late Medieval Text

Christopher Forbes | Brooklyn,, NY | 03/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is awfully tempting to look at the state of contemporary church music and shake your head in disbelief. One by one, formerly High churches with exquisite music programs are falling away, replacing their sumptuous choirs with showy pop groups and trading in their organs for electric guitars. The vast majority of choral religious music written in the last twenty years reflects this trend, and it is a precious few talented and serious composers who are attracted to this most sublime of mediums. Thank God for Frank Ferko, though. He is one of the best and brightest choral composers currently working, and his setting of the Stabat Mater may be the single most profound statement on this text written in the 20th century.The Latin poem Stabat Mater by Jacopo di Todi has a venerable musical history, inspiring lovely music from Palestrina, Pergolisi, Rossini and Dvorak among others. Ferko's work deserves mention with those wonderful compositions. Composed for a capella choir at the expressed request of Chicago's great His Majesty's Clerks (who have since changed their name I believe) Ferko approached this text as a monumental multi-movement work. Interspersed within the Latin text are poems and Biblical passages on the theme of grieving motherhood. These texts bring the ancient poem into conversation with the horrors of the modern world, not in a gimmicky way, but in a way that is deeply moving and highly effective. As a result, the figure of the Virgin Mary becomes an even deeper symbol for the compassionate response to the evil and sorrow of the world. Musically, the work is beyond lovely. Ferko is a master at choral texture and sensitive word setting. Each verse of the Latin poem is set independently of the others, as if it were a separate poem. Each also uses a slightly different musical language, from archaic modalisms, to moments that recall nothing so much as the mystical language of Olivier Messiaen, to even a few moments of out and out atonality. Yet, despite the diversity of musical approach the work never veers off into chaos or pastiche. It remains unified on some level that is deeper than surface musical detail. From moment to moment in this work the beauty and sadness grows ever more overwhelming. The final movement leaves me close to tears each time I listen.This is challenging music for a choral group though not insurmountable, and His Majesty's Clerks rise to the occasion. The recorded sound is clear and resonant. This is a disc to be prized by anyone who loves good choral music. Not to be missed!"

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