Bruckner's motets
A superb Scottish collection of Bruckner's motets
The Gramophone Choice
Tota pulchra es, Maria. Zwei Totenlieder. Ave Maria. Afferentur regi. Christus factus est. Ecce sacerdos. Virga Jesse. Locus iste. Pange lingua. Iam lucis orto sidere dignare. Libera me in F minor. Vexilla regis. Os justi. Inveni David. Aequale I. Aequale II
Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh; Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Brass / Duncan Ferguson
Delphian DCD34071 (62’ · DDD · T/t). Buy from Amazon
For those who like their Bruckner in bite-size (though perfectly formed), easily-digestible morsels, his motets are well worth exploring. Several have become mainstays of the repertoire, in particular the sublime (and deceptively difficult) Locus iste for SATB a cappella and the sinewy Inveni David for male voices (accompanied by a trio of trombones), but much of this corpus is little known, either by singers or the general listener.
What treasures they are – offering an important insight into Bruckner’s devotional life as well as his fixation with death, exemplified by the early pair of Totenlieder. The range of harmony and melody and the breadth of emotions are more varied than one might expect. From the austerity of the Libera me of 1854, through the symphonic breadth of the Ecce sacerdos (1885), to his last great motet, the Good Friday hymn Vexilla regis of 1892, we can but marvel at the abundant contrasts of texture, the ‘singability’ of his vocal lines and the affirmation of the texts. Bruckner’s occasional use of trombones adds a weighty punch to several of the motets (the two non-vocal Aequale for three trombones are a bonus). The Edinburgh singers perform with a robust though polished fervour. Alto, tenor and bass lines are beyond reproach, while the mixed-sex treble line copes admirably with exposed writing. The recorded sound is first-class.
