Messe für Doppelchor

Frank Martin

Released on 17/11/09 by BR-Klassik
Main artists: Peter Dijkstra Bavarian Radio Chorus Max Hanft
Genre: Sacred Vocal Music

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Dutch conductor Peter Dijkstra leads Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks in a luminous performance of three classics of twentieth century sacred choral music. Frank Martin's a cappella Mass for two mixed choirs is one of the most demanding modern works for chorus, not for its harmonic or rhythmic complexity, but because its transparency requires absolute precision in pitch -- a genuinely daunting task in an a cappella work lasting almost half an hour -- as well as exceptional stamina, focus, and nuanced musicality. Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks is fully successful in delivering on the work's technical demands and also turns in a performance of great purity and subtlety. The choir's intonation is immaculate and its blend is radiant and warm. Dijkstra leads the group with expressive suppleness of phrasing, tempo, and dynamic shading. At its quietest, the choir's tone emerges almost imperceptibly out of silence, but the singers can also produce a powerfully full sound, as at the closing of the Sanctus. Kodály describes his work as a Missa Brevis even though it includes all the text of a full mass, including the credo, as well as an Introitus and Ite, missa est. Written in the midst of the Second World War and scored for mixed choir and organ, it is overall an earthier, more conventional and less integrated setting than Martin's, but its pleas for mercy and peace are especially heartfelt, and its sections for solo voices are particularly lovely. Poulenc's Litanies à la Vierge Noire, for women's voices and organ, is one of the composer's earliest sacred choral pieces, but it already shows the distinctively sensuous harmonic and melodic tendencies that characterize many of his works in that genre. While the Kodály and Poulenc don't rise to the level of transcendence of the Martin Mass, the choir brings to them the same skill, sensitivity, and commitment. BR Klassik's SACD sound is clean and present, with a warm ambiance.

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Messe für Doppelchor

Peter Dijkstra

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Mass for Double Choir (Frank Martin)

Kyrie eleison

Peter Dijkstra

00:05:57

Chœur de la Radiodiffusion bavaroise - Peter Dijkstra, direction