THOMAS BEVERIDGE: Yiskor Requiem: A Quest for Spiritual Roots – Ana Maria Martinez, soprano/Elizabeth Shammash, mezzo-soprano/Robert Brubaker, tenor/Academy and Chorus of St. Martin in the Fields/Sir Neville Mariner, conductor – Naxos American Classics 8.559453, 52:58 *****:
This recording is part of the continuing Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. Thomas Beveridge is an American composer who has enjoyed a multi-faceted musical career. His life experience has included undergraduate school at Harvard, composition studies with Randall Thompson, Walter Piston, and Nadia Boulanger (admirable qualifications for a composer, I think), an earlier career as a member of the United States Army Chorus, and many years conducting various fine choral ensembles in the Washington DC area. He continues to be very active as a soloist, teacher, conductor and composer; and his varied endeavors have brought him to many locations where his compositions have been performed.
In this composition, Thomas Beveridge attempted to link the divergent beliefs and memorial traditions of Christianity and Judaism. The original idea for the composition began at the time of Beveridge’s father’s death in 1991. The music intertwines traditional chant melodies from the Jewish tradition with the historical Requiem of the Roman Catholic Church. “I tried to write a piece that suggests one standing on the bridge of the Judeo and Christian religions, ” the composer states. If this bridge seems an uncertain place to stand in the current world, this composition seems to compel the listener to consider the similarities rather than only remember the differences between the two.
The quality of this recording is excellent, as one might expect from this performing organization. The singers (soloists and chorus alike) perform cleanly and accurately, and the orchestra sounds like a finely honed instrumental ensemble. The balance between the chorus, soloists and orchestra shows what expert microphone placement and the acute ear of a recording engineer can accomplish, not to mention the considerable knowledge and skill of Sir Neville Mariner as the conductor of this recording. All three soloists are fine singers, although I was not convinced that the tenor was the right voice for this piece. To my ears, he sounded too classically-oriented to fully embrace the traditional cantorial style of the synagogue in the phrases that seemed to require this. Perhaps this is a good idea and prevents the listener from relying on preconceived ideas of what he should sound like. Or, perhaps, I am unconsciously comparing this soloist to another I have heard singing the same piece.
This recording is part of the continuing Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. Thomas Beveridge is an American composer who has enjoyed a multi-faceted musical career. His life experience has included undergraduate school at Harvard, composition studies with Randall Thompson, Walter Piston, and Nadia Boulanger (admirable qualifications for a composer, I think), an earlier career as a member of the United States Army Chorus, and many years conducting various fine choral ensembles in the Washington DC area. He continues to be very active as a soloist, teacher, conductor and composer; and his varied endeavors have brought him to many locations where his compositions have been performed.
In this composition, Thomas Beveridge attempted to link the divergent beliefs and memorial traditions of Christianity and Judaism. The original idea for the composition began at the time of Beveridge’s father’s death in 1991. The music intertwines traditional chant melodies from the Jewish tradition with the historical Requiem of the Roman Catholic Church. “I tried to write a piece that suggests one standing on the bridge of the Judeo and Christian religions, ” the composer states. If this bridge seems an uncertain place to stand in the current world, this composition seems to compel the listener to consider the similarities rather than only remember the differences between the two.
The quality of this recording is excellent, as one might expect from this performing organization. The singers (soloists and chorus alike) perform cleanly and accurately, and the orchestra sounds like a finely honed instrumental ensemble. The balance between the chorus, soloists and orchestra shows what expert microphone placement and the acute ear of a recording engineer can accomplish, not to mention the considerable knowledge and skill of Sir Neville Mariner as the conductor of this recording. All three soloists are fine singers, although I was not convinced that the tenor was the right voice for this piece. To my ears, he sounded too classically-oriented to fully embrace the traditional cantorial style of the synagogue in the phrases that seemed to require this. Perhaps this is a good idea and prevents the listener from relying on preconceived ideas of what he should sound like. Or, perhaps, I am unconsciously comparing this soloist to another I have heard singing the same piece.
This is a fine recording that would be a welcome addition to an eclectic collection. I question its inclusion in the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music because it does not seem to me that this composition fits comfortably into that genre. Perhaps that is the composer’s point – this music cannot be conveniently pigeonholed into a particular type.
– Ann Stahmer
