These same forces managed to capture a Grammy nomination for their 2006 recording O Magnum Mysterium. That release included two of the director’s compositions (along with Palestrina, Victoria, Byrd, Scarlatti, Poulenc, and Lauridsen). On a solo outing the bar is significantly raised, and while I can say with some assurance that White is a talented and tuneful composer, the overall feel of this album is rather wistful, meditative, and somewhat monochromatic.
The forces involved can hardly be faulted—all are of US origin, though their choral master hails from Britain, and espouses a very British, Anglican sound from his American singers. And they adapt to the style brilliantly—you could almost not be faulted for thinking that this production originated from across the pond. And lest I be faulted for painting this composer with too stiff a brush, let me also say that any one of these pieces (especially the seven movement In Sure and Certain Hope – a requiem from 2006) heard by themselves would no doubt be perceived as deliciously soothing and justly inspired.
So perhaps it is the album I am really critical of, and not the music itself. After all, the same criticism can be labeled against composers like Tavener and others—and I certainly have indulged in just such a practice. It may very well be that this sort of composition is just White’s thing, and that’s an end to it. There are many moments of great beauty and spinal chills on this recording, though the sameness of some of the works ended up causing me to doze off a bit. But for others – those of Anglican music sensibilities and people who simply like this sort of treatment – I am sure they will think differently. By now you know who you are and can act accordingly. This music was given at a 9/11 concert in New York in 2006 (recorded a few days earlier), and I am sure had a profound effect on those present.
— Steven Ritter
