Search - Frank Martin, James O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir :: Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir

THIS CD SHOULD COME WITH A WARNING LABEL!

02/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Stunning 20th Century Church Music

Christopher Forbes | Brooklyn,, NY | 06/13/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Worth every last penny, and more

Gracejoy | New York, NY United States | 06/17/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."