M. Lauridsen - Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna, etc. / Salamunovich, Los Angeles Master Chorale
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Free Music Notes for Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna, etc. / Salamunovich, Los Angeles Master Chorale
Free Music Review: Beautiful music for a trying time
Hit: 5 Stars
I sing with the amateur Chorus of Westerly, RI, but we have often been compared with professional groups. In the past few years we have been including Morten Lauridsen's music in our repretoire. I have sung more than one choral piece based on the idea of "Lux Aeterna" but this one is the most moving and luminous. The wonderful mix of renaissance and modern harmonies and traditions are what make Lauridsen's music so beautiful and so pertinent to our times. And now I have two "O Magnum Mysterium" settings to love.During the weeks after 9/11 this was the CD I listened to almost daily because it gave such hope and proved that there still was beauty in world so full of horror and sorrow. Now I listen to it just to enjoy the gorgeous harmonies and moving settings of texts that now mean so much more.
Free Music Review: This is magnificent!
Hit: 5 Stars
When the whole world seems to be falling apart and the future begins to look pretty grim this music really helped me to become centered and peaceful. What a beautiful score.Free Music Review: Entrancing, radiant!
Hit: 5 Stars
I first heard Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna" on NPR while driving home from the grocery store. As my ice cream melted, I sat in the car to the end, transfixed by the sheer splendor of this music. If there is a lovelier choral work anywhere, it must be one of the others on this disc, or still gestating in Lauridsen's soul. The three major cycles contrast distinctly in mood and color, but share a sublime, immediate beauty. The recording glows, and the performances evince en electric rapport between composer and ensemble. This is simply a majestic CD, perhaps the most compelling I own (or ever will). BUY IT!!Free Music Review: The radiance of the human voice is heard....
Hit: 5 Stars
Lauridsen' LUX AETERNA is the first Lauridsen album I had ever heard. What a revelation it is, and I'm not understating my admiration of the performances and technical perfection that make this album a modern classic in the choral genre.The blending of the voices in the LA Master Chorale is superb, and much credit I'm sure should go to the director as well as the composer for bringing all these talented singers together.
On this recording is the most beautiful Ave Maria I have ever heard from anyone anywhere. The reverence and solemnity is unparalleled in any performance and I have many in my library.
Of course the Lux Aeterna is the standout here, and for many good reasons. An exquisite opening to a wondrous collection. I also like the Mid-Winter Songs, especially the Lament for Pasiphae.
There are not enough superlatives or stars to tell you how great this recording is and will be many years from now.
10 stars out of 5!!
Free Music Review: Giving a choral master his due!
Hit: 4 Stars
Finally, the choral works of Morten ("Skip") Lauridsen have been exposed to a large, appreciative audience. No director of a choral ensemble can consider himself or herself well-versed in contemporary music without knowledge of Lauridsen's works. He is a master of gathering up texts from any given language with a common theme. This CD features three such collections: LUX AETERNA is a collection of texts from the Latin Mass about light, LES CHANSONS DES ROSES are French poems written by German Rainer Maria Rilke about roses, and the MID-WINTER SONGS are poems of Englishman Robert Graves that reference the season of winter. The CD also features two short Latin works, "Ave Maria" and "O Magnum Mysterium." Another CD of Mr. Lauridsen's, NORTHWEST JOURNEY, features soloist versions of two pieces featured on this CD, and two more of his collections on common-themed texts, one in Spanish, and one in Italian. I know of no recording to date of Lauridsen's FOUR MADRIGALS ON RENAISSANCE TEXTS, a wonderful collection of poems by Thomas Carew and Ben Jonson for chamber choir, violin, cello, flute, bassoon, and tambourine.
Mr. Lauridsen has a remarkable sensitivity to the texts he uses, whether they are sung a cappella, with simple accompaniment, or with full orchestra. Best examples on this CD: the exquisite pain one can sense in the word painting of "Contre Qui, Rose" from LES CHANSONS DES ROSES, and the consolation of the portions of the LUX AETERNA related to the rites of Christian burial.
The one criticism I have of Mr. Lauridsen's work -- and the reason I have given this otherwise perfect CD only 4 stars -- is that his tempi are extreme, either very fast or very slow. To me, it seems as if some of the slow pieces would work better at slightly faster tempos, most notably Lauridsen's best-known piece, the "Dirait-on" from LES CHANSONS DES ROSES, coming immediately after the largo "La Rose Complete." (Also, all of his Latin works are quite slow.) However, even at lethargic tempi, the pieces are masterful studies in the unique lush harmonies of Morten Lauridsen, including his trademark addition of an added 4th to many triads. Personally, I love fast and loud pieces, so I have no qualms with the uptempo pieces on this CD. (I also think there's more variety to Lauridsen's fast pieces.)