religious Archive
RACHMANINOV: All-Night Vigil (Vespers and Matins) – soloists/ dir. by Peter Jermilhov – Paraclete
We are invited to lift our spirits through a deeply inspired performance of Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil. RACHMANINOV: All-Night Vigil (Vespers and Matins), Op. 37 – Mariya Berezovska, alto/ Dmitry Ivanchenko, tenor/ Gloriae Dei Cantores/ The St. Romanos Cappella/ The Patriarch Tikhon Choir/ The Washington Master Chorale/ Peter Jermihov – Paraclete multichannel SACD GDCD 063, 66:34 (3/3/17) [Distr. by Naxos] *****: Sergei Rachmaninov, who always maintained strong, religious convictions, conceived his “The Most Important Hymns of the All-Night Vigil” for a performance of 10 March 1915, meant as a conglomerate of selected liturgical hymns and canticles now condensed into a choral cycle. Rachmaninov, however, did not intend in his fifteen movements to supplant any Orthodox ritual: he wished to express a subjective declaration of religious devotion in terms of the Greek, Klevan, and Great Znamenny (melismatic) Chants which he had come to admire, despite any personal animosity he had sustained in courting his cousin for marriage and having encountered Church resistance. Rachmaninov combined ten, pre-existing chants with five freely composed settings, each of which exploits the modal intervals of a third, fourth, and fifth, so they become indistinguishable from ancient settings, given the composer’s absorption of the essential, syntactical doxology. The […]
“O Eterne Deus” – Music of HILDEGARD VON BINGEN – Vajra Voices/ Karen Clark – Music & Arts
Millenium-old music from Hildegard von Bingen, visionary, mystic and polymath, sung by an inspired choir, Vajra Voices. “O Eterne Deus” – Music of HILDEGARD VON BINGEN – Vajra Voices/ Karen Clark – Music & Arts 1291, 50:20 (5/13/16) *****: As a man, I feel it may be inappropriate for me to review this all-female endeavour. But I very much enjoyed the full CD of music by Hildegard von Bingen, and the story behind it. Hildegard was the tenth child of a noble family, born in 1098 near present-day Frankfurt, Germany. From an early age she had spiritual visions, possibly one reason why her parents offered her to the nearby Benedictine monastery. She took her vows at age 14, and entered a stone cell (or “tomb”) under the tutelage of Jutta von Spanheim, six years older and also from a noble family. Jutta instructed Hildegard in Latin and religious practices, and the student learned much, and well. In one of her visions, Hildegard received a divine directive to write down all she experienced. A visiting monk-priest, Volmar, helped her with this, as well as teaching her music notation and performance on the ten-stringed psaltery. Other visitors spread the word of Hildegard’s […]
Indignation, Blu-ray (2016)
A fine filmic version of a Philip Roth novel. Indignation, Blu-ray (2016) Cast: Sarah Gadon, Logan Lerman, Ben Rosenfield, Noah Robbins, Tracy Letts Studio: Lionsgate (11/8/16) Director: James Schamus Video: 1.85:1 for 16:9 screens, HD color 1080p Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish Extras: “Timeless: Connecting the Past to the Present,” “Perceptions: Bringing Philip Roth to the Screen,” Previews Length: 111 min. Rating: **** A clash of cultures based on the 2008 novel by Philip Roth. A young intense Jewish boy from New Jersey, Marcus, goes to a conservative Christian college in Ohio and becomes infatuated with a beautiful classmate, Olivia. She gives him a blow job on their first date and he isn’t quite able to handle it. She has attempted suicide earlier but he only learns of this later. Their attraction sparks encounters with consequences that were never imagined. His and his family’s plans are thrown for a loop by his relationship. There is a very long scene of Marcus being sort of grilled by the head of the college, especially about religious freedom, which continues much longer than most such scenes. He is very staunch in defending his personal life and privacy. (His […]
OLA GJEILO: Ubi caritas & other works = Str. quartet & guitar – Decca
My second exposure to this composer, and it is a very satisfying experience.
B01BIEK8JO OLA GJEILO: Ubi caritas; The Spheres; The Ground; Sanctus: London; The Crossing; Northern Lights; The Lake Isle; Serenity; Tundra; Reflections; Sacred Heart – Ola Gjeilo, p./ Voces 8/ Tenebrae/ Chamber Orch. of London/ Thomas Gould, Ben Hancox, Hannah Dawson & Ciaran McCabe, violins/ Jon Thorne & Simone van der Giessen, violas/ Matthew Sharp, cello/ Kristian Kvalvaag, guitar – Decca B0024646, 47:34 [Distr. by Universal] ****:
Northern Lights is a spectacular SACD on Chandos released a few years ago. It has a couple of the selections here. The forces on this stereo CD (not an SACD) are equally adept at Gjeilo’s idiom, and the sound on this disc is very special indeed, but it cannot compare to the sonic splendor of the Chandos. In that 2012 review I said that “It is in effect a religious album though you would not know it by Chandos’s clever masking of that fact”, and that the composer creates “basically diatonic and melody-driven compositions, making for a quaint and sometimes ingenious combination of Slavic feeling set in the mode of someone like Daniel Pinkham.”
Listening to this disc, I hear little to change my mind.
Gjeilo is no Eric Whitacre—his harmonies refuse the tense, ecstatic, almost overbearing dissonances that fall as easily as consonances on the ear. He is more melody-centered (though not in a traditional sense) and his harmony is calmer and far more pointed. The pieces on this disc use a wide variety of instrumental accompaniment, which differs from the Chandos disc, though I must admit that I don’t hear in the instruments anything that is particularly idiomatic to those instruments. In other words, you could swap out one for another and still come away with the same effect, albeit a slightly different coloring, even though we do have some instrument-only pieces in this collection.
Whichever way you look at it, the music is exceptionally engaging and non-threatening while at the same time alluring and enticing in a very subtle manner. If your blood pressure is high, this might be the ticket. The performers are top-notch, and only the short playing time irritates me, especially as Chandos saw fit to give us an hour, and on as SACD. Nicely done, and well worth considering.
—Steven Ritter
TAVERNER: Mater Christi Sanctissima; Missa Mater Christi sanctissima; Mass ‘The Western Wynde’ – Westminster Abbey Choir/ James O’Donnell – Hyperion
Wonderful readings of two standards. TAVERNER: Mater Christi Sanctissima; Missa Mater Christi sanctissima; Mass ‘The Western Wynde’ – Westminster Abbey Choir/ James O’Donnell – Hyperion CDA68147, 58:36 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] *****: John Taverner was one of those transitional composers who straddled the fence from Catholicism to Protestantism, but unlike his confrere William Byrd, his tendencies leaned naturally to the latter. Therefore, when he was accused of Lutheran leanings when he composed his Western Wynde Mass to the tune of the same name, eyeballs were raised from the then Catholic ruling powers. However, since not much credence was given to what artists said or thought, no penalties were allocated. “Western Wynde” was of course a very secular song, and at this point of time the idea of incorporating the vagaries of the world into such a sacred text was something questionable from many sources. However, Taverner, far from being wrong in this, was to set a trend that would carry over with many other composers, when secular songs became fair game for religious inspiration. The standards are more in place with the Christi Sanctissima Mass, based not on a song but on a polyphonic motet. Both it and the Western […]
MacMILLAN: Violin Concerto; Symphony No. 4 – Vadim Repin, v./Groote, voice/BBC Scottish Sym. Orch./ Donald Runnicles – Onyx Classics
MacMillan’s style has evolved over the years and here are two of his best works! JAMES MacMILLAN: Violin Concerto; Symphony No. 4 – Vadim Repin, v./Groote, voice/BBC Scottish Sym. Orch./ Donald Runnicles – Onyx Classics ONYX 4157, [Distr. by HM/PIAS], 65:24, (10/28/16) ****: I have heard many works by Sir James MacMillan over the years, starting with his The Berserking and all of them are very creatively scored and quite interesting to listen to. It is also true that, for me, many of his early works were a bit of a ‘wild ride’ with ample dissonance and an almost paranoid or dark tone and an energy that seemed relentless at times. Much of MacMillan’s music over the years has addressed religious themes and utilized sacred text, in reflection of his devout Catholic faith and also in examining a wide range of social and political turmoil through his writing. In recent years, MacMillan has written music with a broader appeal and a bit less message and implication behind the sound. I think the Violin Concerto comes across this way. Written for the present soloist, Vadim Repin, this concerto is a three-movement work that takes its cue from Scottish dance forms […]
“Into Great Silence” (2007)
A magnificent and entrancing glimpse into the sounds of silence. “Into Great Silence” (2007) DISC ONE, THE FILM Director: Philip Gröning Actors: The Carthusian Order Studio: Zeitgeist Films Z1094 (10/23/07) Video: 1.85:1, 16:9 transfer, created from hi-def elements Audio: English, French, Latin DD 5.1 Subtitles: English Region 1 coding Extras: U.S. theatrical trailer DISC TWO, THE EXTRAS: The Making of Into Great Silence : With behind-the-scenes footage, Location photos and handwritten notes from monks Additional scenes, including a segment on the preparation of the Carthusian’s world-famous Chartreuse liqueur; Night Mass The Carthusian Order: An informative guide to the rules, architecture, and daily schedules of the monks and the monasteries; Photo, poster, and press kit galleries Producer: Shannon Attaway Video: for 16:9 screens, color, no music or narration (2 DVDs) Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English No region code Length: 162 min., Extras: 53 min. Rating: ***** B000OYNVOY The Carthusians have always been one of the most esoteric and mythical of all the western religious orders. For those who aren’t familiar with them, they were founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and include both monks and nuns. They are a Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics that combines both seclusion […]
NICOLAS KAVIANI: Te Deum; Tous Les Matins du Monde – Moravian Philharmonic Orch./Janacek Opera Choir/ Soloists/Petr Vronsky – Navona CD & DVD
Traditional religious text treated like a traditional setting of traditional religious text. NICOLAS KAVIANI: Te Deum; Tous Les Matins du Monde – Moravian Philharmonic Orch./Janacek Opera Choir/soloists/Petr Vronsky – Navona NV6021 + DVD documentary (2 discs) [Distr. by Parma] (7/08/16) 48:20 **1/2: Nicolas Kavaiani, from the bio on a piano accompanist website, is a composer, pianist and accompanist and has over ten years of experience teaching piano, music theory and composition to students of all levels, styles and ages. He received his B.A. in Music Composition at UCSC and also studied at the Conservatoire de Musique in Avignon, France. Now, from some publicity materials for this new recording of his Te Deum: ”Nicolas Kaviani writes his modern day Te Deum (Navona CD plus documentary DVD) to praise the heavens in the fundamental manner that Western Civilization has done for many centuries past. In our modern age, however, the full creation is something we now know much more about than we previously believed. Yet it is still a mystery. The vastness and ineffable nature of boundless space as science has come to know it is the material entity Nicolas Kaviani sets out to praise in his half-hour work for orchestra.” Well, […]
LISZT: “Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses” – Roberto Plano, p. – Decca (2 CDs)
Plano fulfills both aspects of Liszt’s Poetic and Religious Harmonies with style and fluent grace. LISZT: “Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses” – Invocation; Ave Maria; Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude; Pensee des Morts; Pater Noster; Hymne de l’Enfant a son Reve; Funerailles; Miserere d’apres Palestrina; Andante Lagrimoso; Cantique d’Amour (Consolation No. 3 in D-flat Major) – Roberto Plano, p. – Decca 481 2479 (2 CDs), 48:00, 42:00 (7/29/16) [Distr. by Universal] *****: The issue of “who will assume the mantle?” of the great, by-gone pianists – Horowitz, Rubinstein, Cziffra, Casadesus – always stirs debate; but in the case of Roberto Plano’s survey of the 1848-1853 collection of Liszt, his Poetic and Religious Harmonies, we might acclaim him as the heir-apparent of Jorge Bolet. Finalist in the Van Cliburn Competition 2005, Roberto Plano has since toured US extensively every year, as well as Europe. He has recently been appointed as piano professor by the Boston University, where he will start next September. For this recording of Liszt, from the Fazioli Concerto Hall, 28-30 September 2015, Plano performs on a warmly-toned instrument dubbed “Mago Merlino” by the late French virtuoso, Aldo Ciccolini. Liszt, who constantly sought the spiritual within the confines of […]
“Fingergull – Schola Sanctae Sunnivae/ Anne Kleivset – 2L
A unique office adorned with some outstanding chant in fabulous sound. “Fingergull – In festo susceptionis sanguinis Domini” – Schola Sanctae Sunnivae/ Anne Kleivset – 2L multichannel SACD 2L 114, 78:17 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: Don’t be put off by the strange name of this disc—“Fingergull” is not some kind of weird bird, but instead the name of a golden ring, finger-gold, that contained a drop of Christ’s blood. You heard right—there are indeed extent relics in European Christendom, what’s left of it anyway, especially in Bruges, Belgium, of drops of Christ’s blood. There is some historical basis for this, as Joseph of Arimathea was said to have preserved the Precious Blood after he had washed the dead body of Christ. But with the heavy traffic of relics during the middle ages and during the time of the Crusades, it has become almost impossible to verify any of this. Bruges, as mentioned, continues to have an active yearly celebration in the Basilica of the Holy Blood, so despite some suggestions in the notes to this release to the contrary, this is still an active and very much living tradition. So what is this release about? Simple—the city of Nidaros, now […]
MESSIAEN: 3 Petites liturgies de la Presence Divine; O sacrum convivium; Cinq rechants – Marianna Shirinyan, p./ Thomas Bloch, Ondes Martenot/ Danish Nat. Vocal Ens./ Danish Nat. Concert Ch./ Danish Nat. Ch. Orch./ Marcus Creed – OUR Recordings
Nordic coolness gives a new dimension to Messiaen’s hothouse colors.
Exodus – Gods and Kings, Blu-ray (2015)
A Hollywood try to remake DeMille’s classic Ten Commandments, but doesn’t make it.
“Northern Lights” = Works of ERIKS ESENVALDS – Sally Pryce, harp/ Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge/ Stephen Layton – Hyperion
Lovely music that lacks only some needed tension for seasoning.
* BRUCKNER: Sym. No. 4 in E-flat, “Romantic” – Pittsburgh Sym. Orch./ Manfred Honeck – Reference Recordings
************ MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH *************
The best Bruckner Fourth ever recorded? It’s tough to think of a better one.
JOHN FRANDSEN: Requiem – Teitur, vocal/ Sine Bundgaard, sop./ Andrea Pellegrini, mezzo-sop./ Peter Lodahl, tenor/ Halvor Fr. Melien, bass/ Danish Nat. Concert Choir/ Danish Nat. Sym. Orch./ Henrik Vagn Christensen – DaCapo
An enormous undertaking with terrific music, unfortunately flawed by the choice of soloist.
PÄRT: Stabat Mater; IVAN MOODY: Simeron – Goeyvaerts String Trio: Kristien Roels (violin)/ Kris Matthynssens (viola)/ Pieter Stas (cello)/ Zsuzsi Tóth (sop.)/ Barnabás Hegyi (countertenor)/ Olivier Berten (tenor) – Challenge Classics
A thrilling performance and recording of two deeply personal spiritual works.
Noah, Blu-ray (2014)
Noah is worth your two-plus hours. It will stay with you, and that is the most that can be asked of any movie.
Songs of Olden Times: Estonian Folk Hymns and Runic Songs – Heinavanker – Harmonia mundi
Music you probably never knew existed.
HOLST: The Hymn of Jesus; DELIUS: Sea Drift; Cynara – Roderick Williams, bar./ Halle Choir/ Halle Youth Choir/ Halle Orch./ Sir Mark Elder – Hill
Sir Mark Elder leads the music of Holst and Delius with a master’s hand of orchestral and vocal hues, richly recorded in concert.
VERDI: Requiem – Anja Harteros, sop./ Elina Garanca, mezzo-sop./ Jonas Haufmann, tenor/ Rene Pape, bass/ Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala/ Daniel Barenboim – Decca (2 CDs)
Barenboim comes close—really close—to giving us the ideal Requiem.
BRUCKNER: Mass No. 3 in f – Soloists/ Rundfunkchor Berlin/ Orch. de la Suisse Romande/ Marek Janowski – Pentatone
With superb sound and excellent performances, there is little reason not to acquire this disc.
Oscar Peterson’s Easter Suite – (1984/2012)
The only recording of this rare original suite by Oscar Peterson.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
