Morten Lauridsen - Lux aeterna & Other Choral Works
Polyphony, Britten Sinfonia, Stephen Layton (conductor)

Label: Hyperion, 2005 (CDA67449)
Genre: Classical / Choral
Format: FLAC
Duration: 66:07

I don't normally upload audio files but this is an exceptional example of modern choral singing.  I was completely won over the first time I heard this opulent recording from the award-winning Polyphony.

MORTEN LAURIDSEN (b. 1943) is an American composer whose works are performed around the world.  In 2007 he received the National Medal of Arts "for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide."

LUX AETERNA (1997) is made up of five different liturgical texts, beginning with the Introit from the Requiem Mass and ending with the Agnus Dei from the Mass Ordinary.  It is filled with Lauridsen's trademark sounds: full, lush textures using a relatively restricted (or at least slowly evolving) palette of harmonies and thus making music with a contemporary kind of calming resonance.  It was greeted by The Times after its London premiere as "a classic of new American choral writing . . . in this light-filled continuum of sacred texts, old world structures and new world spirit intertwine in a cunningly written score, at once sensuous and spare."

Track Listing:
01. Lux aeterna - Introitus
02. Lux aeterna - In te, Domine, speravi
03. Lux aeterna - O nata lux
04. Lux aeterna - Veni, Sancte Spiritus
05. Lux aeterna - Agnus Dei - Lux aeterna
06. Madrigali - Ov'è, lass', il bel viso?
07. Madrigali - Quando son più lontan
08. Madrigali - Amor, io sento l'alma
09. Madrigali - Io piango
10. Madrigali - Luci serene e chiare
11. Madrigali - Se per havervi, oime
12. Ave Maria
13. Ubi caritas et amor
14. O magnum mysterium


Reviews

"The music has freshness and an affecting emotional pull to it that explains its popularity with singers and audiences across the pond. Stephen Layton's Polyphony, whose recent recordings of Pärt, Tavener and others have been revelations of choral singing, brings a comparable firmness, tonal opulence and refinement to this new repertoire, which will undoubtedly gain new admirers as a result." -- Daily Telegraph

"Layton and company have here produced the finest I've heard among several excellent collections of Lauridsen's work. None are quite as exquisitely nuanced or sung with such glowing vocal sheen as this. Clear and shimmering sound, plus Hyperion's usual complete and user-friendly booklet, make it all the more attractive. No committed choral fan or singer will ever regret letting Lauridsen into his life." -- American Record Guide

"Stephen Layton's feel for the inner line and structure melts the heart, as does the impeccable, unforced singing of Polyphony. Their music-making remains in heavenly realms throughout the virtuoso Madrigali: pure choral gold." -- Classic FM Magazine

"Every one of the works on this mesmerising Hyperion release is deliciously lyrical and harmonically sumptuous, but spiced with delicate dissonances that are Lauridsen's signature. . . Every performance here is delivered with liquid perfection." -- The Scotsman

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