Resurrexit
This recreation of an Easter celebration will probably appeal most to believers
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Charles (Arnould) Tournemire, Peter Philips, Anonymous, Antonín Dvořák
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Herald
Magazine Review Date: 4/2003
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 79
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: HAVPCD284
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Mass |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Martin Baker, Conductor Westminster Cathedral Choir |
Ecce vicit Leo |
Peter Philips, Composer
Martin Baker, Conductor Peter Philips, Composer Westminster Cathedral Choir |
Choral-Improvisation sur le Victimae Paschali |
Charles (Arnould) Tournemire, Composer
Charles (Arnould) Tournemire, Composer Robert Quinney, Organ |
Victimae Paschali |
Anonymous, Composer
Anonymous, Composer Martin Baker, Conductor Westminster Cathedral Choir |
Author: Edward Greenfield
Joy is at the heart of the Easter celebration, the renewal of life, and that certainly comes over in this recording, with the celebration framed at the beginning and end with organ solos that fully exploit the earthshaking qualities of the massive Westminster Cathedral organ. The opening improvisation by the choirmaster, Martin Baker, is very much in the French manner, and the long concluding solo, played by Robert Quinney, is specifically French, Duruflé’s arrangement of Tournemire’s Victimae Paschali, which is even louder in its scrunching discords.
More acquainted as I am with choral celebrations of Mass in Anglo-Catholic churches, two points surprise me: first that so much of the celebration is in Latin, rather flouting Vatican II, and that only two movements of Dvorák’s Mass in D are here included, the Gloria near the beginning and the Agnus Dei near the end. On the first point, the celebrant, Monsignor Mark Langham, explains in his note that at the Cathedral it has been decided to underline ‘the timeless and universal significance’ of the ceremony ‘by the use of Latin, uniting the members of the congregation, whatever their origin or nationality, in the ancient language of the church’.
Using the Dvorák for only two sections of the Mass means that with the Kyrie omitted, the Credo, Sanctus and final Te Deum are sung in congregational chants with organ, that last with improvised organ commentary between verses by Martin Baker. The Sequence, Victimae paschali laudes, similarly has commentary between the verses of this medieval song (rather like the Agincourt song) improvised by organ scholar Quinney.
Musically, the high points are the two movements from Dvorák’s Mass, the Gloria vigorously done by the choir, the Agnus Dei aptly devotional if with disappointing solo contributions in both. Best of all is the glorious anthem by the Elizabethan composer Peter Philips, radiantly sung, which sends you away heady with the cries of ‘Alleluia’.
That said, this is very much a disc for the devout Catholic rather than the uncommitted music-lover. After all, what Mgr Langham describes as ‘the central part of the Mass’, the two parts of the Eucharistic Prayer, are here presented in the Latin of the Roman canon, chanted on monotones for more than 10 minutes, hardly an experience to be repeated often on disc by the outsider. As I say, this is above all a disc for the believer, and, helped by full, atmospheric sound, in that it vividly succeeds.
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