Art Choral Vol.6 - Moderne
Ensemble Artchoral; Matthias Maute
ATMA ACD2 2425 (atmaclassique.com/en/product/art-choral-vol-6-moderne)
Five previous “Volumes” by Montreal’s Ensemble ArtChoral traversed the Renaissance-to-Romantic musical eras. Vol.6, Moderne, offers 11 pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries, their impact enhanced by the CD’s reverberant acoustic, making the 12-member ensemble sound much bigger.
Two movements from Quatuor Antiphonae Marianae Selectae by Slovenian Ambrož Čopi (b.1973) are engagingly cheerful and rhythmically playful. Unicornis Captivatur by Norwegian Ola Gjeilo (b.1978) alternates reverential solemnity with joyful celebration in a tale of animal death and rebirth.
Three stirring works evoke medieval chant – Præter rerum seriem by Canada’s Andrew Balfour (b.1967), the somber Kyrie eleison from Missa Regensis by Latvian Ugis Prauliņš (b.1957) and, most movingly, the haunting, lyrical O magnum mysterium by American Morten Lauridsen (b.1943). These soul-searching pieces receive appropriately slow, reflective treatment from conductor Matthias Maute. This contrasts with Maute’s very rapid tempi that compromise the noble gravitas of two beloved favourites, heard here in alternative settings – Agnus Dei, Samuel Barber’s own arrangement of his Adagio for Strings and Lux Æterna, a transcription by John Cameron of Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
The CD closes with two austere motets – Pablo Casals’ O vos omnes and Aaron Copland’s Help Us, O Lord (composed as an assignment while studying with Nadia Boulanger). A more fitting ending, I think, would have been the disc’s seventh track – Nyon Nyon by American Jake Runestad (b.1986), the singers propulsively mimicking electric guitars, synthesizers and drums. It’s a perfect encore piece!
