Morten Lauridsen – Lux Aeterna



Grammy Nomination 2006

Polyphony
Britten Sinfonia
Stephen Layton

BBC Radio 3
Hilary Finch, CD Review
Saturday 26 February 2005

Westminster Cathedral? Broadway? Estonia even? In fact it’s the shamelessly ecstatic writing of the American composer Morten Lauridsen raising alleluias at the end of his Lux aeterna. This extended work for chorus and orchestra was premièred in 1997 by the Los Angeles Master Chorale for whom it was written. And it’s performed here by Stephen Layton’s Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia.

Lauridsen has spent his life immersing himself in plain chant and renaissance polyphony and out of it he’s forged his own contrapuntally rigorous yet lusciously lyrical style. Lauridsen’s sensuous fusion of old world structures and new world spirit also characterises three motets written at the same time as Lux aeterna and accompanying it on this disc. And there’s something else besides. Twinned with the sacred works are six madrigals Lauridsen wrote in 1987. He calls them ‘Fire Songs’ because they’re linked by the single primal sonority of what he calls a ‘fire-chord’ symbolising their fevered mood. Think Monteverdi and Petrarch’s freezing fires, think Gesualdo and his voluptuous dissonances, and there you have it. Six madrigals for our time sung with all the rigorous sense and ardent sensibility you’d expect from Layton’s choir.

The flickering flames and burning desire of Amor, io sento l’alma. Stephen Layton conducting Polyphony in the wonderful acoustic of London’s Temple Church in one of six madrigals by Morten Lauridsen on Hyperion at full price together with his Lux aeterna.





CD Reviews
Thursday, March 03, 2005, 12:00 A.M. Pacific

Classical CDs feature luminous choral work, notable
pianists, something for cello fans

By Melinda Bargreen
Seattle Times music critic
"Lux Aeterna," Morten Lauridsen (Hyperion)

One of today's most performed choral composers, Northwest native Morten Lauridsen has won legions of international fans for the otherworldly beauty of his music. This new Hyperion CD has paired that music with superb interpreters: conductor Stephen Layton and his chorus Polyphony, plus the Britten Sinfonia (Pauline Lowbury, leader). The 1997 "Lux Aeterna," a luminous five-movement choral/orchestral requiem composed to texts about light, is joined here by the six "Madrigali" — virtuoso a cappella choral pieces — and three shorter works for chorus, including the hugely popular "O Magnum Mysterium." Layton's Polyphony is just the chorus to do this music justice, with clear, unfussy, adroit readings that rise to the rapturous.

musicweb international
Recording of the month

In April 2002 I wrote the following about a Rubeda Canis Musica Release RCM 19705: "This disc is my choral disc of the year! I cannot see how it could be bettered, both musically, performance and recording-wise. Although it is not available as yet in the UK, I urge you to get it from the U.S. (Amazon.com can supply it by return). You will not regret the investment."

Unfortunately, that original disc is still not available in the U.K., although it can be still purchased through U.S. internet sites. At long last, we have a British release of Lauridsen’s music, and it is a stunner. It was recorded by Polyphony, in the composer’s presence in 2003. Whilst there are small differences between the two discs, I would be very happy with either. As it is I have both so I am doubly happy.

Lauridsen’s choral writing is a wonderful experience to hear. The Hyperion recording is a little clearer than the American release, and the Britten Sinfonia plays with a little bit more feeling than the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Lux Aeterna, written in 1997, and premiered on the RCD disc, is performed on the Hyperion disc with identical total timing, but with different timings for some of the five movements.

The overall effect on this listener is of no consequence. I love both interpretations. It was inspired by the Brahms Requiem, although there is little similarity between the two pieces, except for the sense of dedication and the use of slow, deep introduction à la Brahms. There are five movements: Introitus, In Te Domine Speravi, O Nata Lux, Veni Sanctus Spiritus, and Agnus Dei - Lux Aeterna. The devotional character is well to the front, with soaring choral lines which make the hairs on the back of your neck rise up in unison.

The Six Madrigali is not included on the American disc, but can be heard in a version sung by the Nordic Chamber Choir conducted by Nicol Matt (Bayer BR 100 305). In this case, the Hyperion issue is superior. Matt is consistently slower. It is a distinct improvement to have the madrigals moving at a slightly faster pace.

When it comes to the Ave Maria, the Los Angeles Master Chorale is a little slower, but the standard of choral singing is the same – superb.

Ubi caritas et amor, also absent from the RCM disc, is a short choral piece written after the Los Angeles disc was recorded. It is in a similar vein to the other pieces although there is an element of plainchant present; a new feature of Lauridsen’s writing.

Finally we come to O Magnum Mysterium, premiered in 1994 by Salamunovich and his choir. This superb work is worth the whole price of the disc. It rounds off an absolutely enthralling disc which I can't imagine any music lover not being moved by. The Hyperion performance drags ever so slightly over its American rival, but the difference is only very slight. Stephen Layton takes over a minute longer which doesn’t sound much, but in a six minute work the difference is significant. The Los Angeles performance flows better, but again, the difference is slight.

Polyphony is a much smaller choir than the Los Angeles Master Chorale which has both benefits and shortfalls. Diction is clearer and choral discipline sounds to be a little better, but when going at full tilt, the larger American choir has the edge in terms of power and body of tone. It is a good job I don’t have to recommend one over the other.

This Hyperion release is superb and the disc is a must. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

John Phillips

Classics Today
Artistic Quality: 9
Sound Quality: 9

It would be difficult today to be a choral singer and not be familiar with at least one or two works by American composer Morten Lauridsen, whose sumptuously mellifluous creations (I'm thinking especially of O magnum mysterium and Lux aeterna) are beloved by choirs for their eminently singable lines and vibrant harmonic structures that tend to envelop the whole ensemble in soul-satisfying resonance. Audiences love it too, for the varied visceral and emotional effects that flow from music that can warmly, gently caress or fill even the largest space with a crescendo of shimmering sound. Of course, within that aura of happy familiarity there's also a certain sameness bordering on the formulaic–added seconds and sixths, melodic rising fourths and falling minor thirds, stretches of unresolved harmony built on second-inversion chords, full-bodied, organ-like textures that often are voiced at the lower end to give prominence to the "fifth"–that both satisfies and eventually cries out for new ideas.

On this program we do hear some new–or at least different–ideas, exemplified in the earlier (1987) set of Madrigali, subtitled "Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems". Here Lauridsen successfully and with a compelling variety of stylistic devices elucidates his texts and illustrates the "symbolic image of flames, burning, and fire" that captivated and inspired him as he initially read the poems. Although his later harmonic/melodic mannerisms occasionally appear, for the most part these madrigals show Lauridsen more adventurous, more technically and expressively daring. His Italian madrigalist references–including Gesualdo and Monteverdi–make themselves known, usually in subtle ways but sometimes more overtly, and often within a context of craggy textures, luscious dissonances, sudden tempo changes, and varied articulation and dynamic effects, but always expressed through well-structured vocal lines. This is compelling and challenging music that deserves wider performance.

The world-class ensemble Polyphony has made many first-rate recordings, and this is another–and it will be an immediate acquisition for this composer's growing legions of fans. Of course, the main draw will be the Lux aeterna, plus the three other Latin pieces. There's no real question regarding the singers' technical competence and interpretive mastery of this music, nor is there any doubt as to the immediate listener-appeal of all of these works. My only disappointment was in the oft-performed and recorded O magnum mysterium, which director Stephen Layton conducts with exceptional slowness (a drag on the piece's essential momentum) and which the recording compromises with strangely awkward balances among the various voice parts and harshness in the louder tutti sections. But don't let that deter you: if you love choral music, Lauridsen's work is required listening.

David Vernier

St. Louis Post
Thursday, Mar. 24 2005

"Lux aeterna" illuminates hope with choral music
In the course of my work, I receive compact discs by the dozen each week, more than I can listen to, let alone review. I try to give as many of them as I can a hearing; once in a while, I'll listen to something particularly well done a second or even a third time. But recently, quite by chance, I found a recording that I can barely put down: "Lux aeterna," a crystalline recording of choral works by the American composer Morten Lauridsen (b. 1945).

As luck (or something) would have it, I picked it up from the "to listen to" stack shortly after learning that a friend and former colleague in Chicago, tenor Richard "Bud" Markley, had been found murdered in his apartment. This music spoke to me clearly in an hour of need, but now that the shock has worn off, I keep returning to it again and again.

Like Faure's Requiem or Brahms' "A German Requiem," this is music that speaks warmly to the grieving, taking the mourner from the shadows of sorrow into a realization of eternal light. For those of us who need great music to live and feel more fully, these works speak clearly to the soul and illuminate our greater hope.

"Lux aeterna" (1997), in five movements ("Introitus," "In te, Domine, speravi," "O nata lux," "Veni, Sancte Spiritus" and the stunning "Agnus Dei - Lux aeterna" as a conclusion) for chorus and orchestra, takes familiar phrases from the Requiem Mass and combines them with lines from psalms and Latin hymns. It begins with a bare Goreckian rumble and builds through minor-key severity into glorious, radiant openness, with alleluias that seem to split the heavens with their rapturous joy.

The disc also has, in a very different vein, " Madrigali: Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems," and then reverts to the sacred with gorgeous settings of "Ave Maria" (this one ought to give Franz Biber's setting a run for its money), "Ubi caritas et amor" (built on the familiar plainchant) and a luminescent setting of "O magnum mysterium." Lauridsen's idiom uses everything from chant forms to Renaissance-style polyphony and hints of John Taverner, all combined with his own unique compositional voice. This is some of the most grateful writing for the human voice - and some of the most deeply spiritual composition - that I have heard from a contemporary composer.

It all receives a flawless, perfectly balanced performance from the British choral group Polyphony, directed by the gifted Stephen Layton, and ably assisted by the Britten Sinfonia. If you love choral music, if you appreciate compositions that lift you from the mundane, you should not miss "Lux aeterna."

Sarah Bryan Miller

Fanfare Magazine
May/June 2005
Martin Anderson

I had seen the name of Morten Lauridsen with growing frequency over the past few years; he seemed to be attracting an ever-larger reputation among choral circles for a body of music that singers love to perform. But even though as long ago as 1998, I had noted a CD of his Lux aeterna and other choral works garnering a Grammy nomination, and several other recordings of his music have since emerged, somehow they had all escaped my clutches. It wasn't until now, with Hyperion's release of an all-Lauridsen CD (CDA67449) from the London-based choir Polyphony under their conductor Stephen Layton that I was able to hear what lay behind that reputation-and to discover it's an ability to handle choral textures as naturally as water flows downhill, and a melodic inspiration of similar spontaneity. No wonder he gets so many performances: this stuff must be marvelous to sing. And any listener who does not melt at the opening of Lux aeterna might as well throw his ears away. So I picked up the phone for a chat with the man himself, and caught him on the way out to the next day of the American Choral Conductors' national convention that had just seen the premiere of a new Lauridsen work, a set of three nocturnes. Read More>>

Polyphony Champions Lauridsen on Hyperion



<back