Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
It's unclear why this program works so well, but it does. It may be because all three composers resolutely affirmed the virtues of tonality at a time when it was terribly out of fashion, though each did it in his own way. Barber was a genuine neo-Romantic before we had the term to describe him, so his heartfelt and emotional music was simply called "backward looking" while he was alive. Vaughan Williams and Bartók were both authorities on folk song who used the "uncouth vocal utterance of the people" to forge fresh and contemporary musical styles. Robert Shaw, one of the great choral music conductors of all time, plays all three works with a near ideal combination of clarity and intensity, and, of course, the chorus is sensational. --David Hurwitz

Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard/Bartok: Cantata profanna/Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem, Music, Nathan Gunn, Samuel Barber, Bela Bartok, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Robert Shaw, Carmen Pelton, Richard Clement, Cantata, Choral, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Secular Music for More One Soloist, Chorus and Instr

Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard/Bartok: Cantata profanna/Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem
Average customer rating:

Lesser-known Choral Masterpieces

Samuel Barber's "Prayers of Kierkegaard", Shaw

Excellent Chorale Pieces Performed Impeccably

Terrible Recording of the Barber

Evocation of the Spirit (2)

Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard/Bartok: Cantata profanna/Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by Barber | Barber, Samuel | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Bartók, Béla | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Vaughan Williams, Ralph | ( V ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Vaughan Williams, Ralph | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
Cantatas | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

DEBUT ~ Nathan Gunn - "American Anthem" from Ragtime to Art Song / Kevin Murphy

Brahms: A German Requiem (New English Adaptation)

Bernstein: Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish"); Chichester Psalms

Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem/Four Hymns/Toward The Unknown Region/O Clap Your Hands/Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Re

Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah"; Concerto for Orchestra "Jubilee Games"

ASIN: B0000064U9
Release Date: 1998-03-24

Tracks:

O Thou Who Art Unchangeable
Lord Jesus Christ, Who Suffered All Life Long
Father In Heaven, Well We Know That It Is Thou
Father In Heaven! Hold Not Our Sins Up Against Us
Part I - Nathan Gunn
Part II - Nathan Gunn
Part III - Nathan Gunn
I. Agnus Dei
II. Beat! Beat! Drums!
III. Reconciliation
IV. Dirge For Two Veterans
V. The Angel Of Death
VI. O Man Greatly Beloved

Amazon.com

It's unclear why this program works so well, but it does. It may be because all three composers resolutely affirmed the virtues of tonality at a time when it was terribly out of fashion, though each did it in his own way. Barber was a genuine neo-Romantic before we had the term to describe him, so his heartfelt and emotional music was simply called "backward looking" while he was alive. Vaughan Williams and Bartók were both authorities on folk song who used the "uncouth vocal utterance of the people" to forge fresh and contemporary musical styles. Robert Shaw, one of the great choral music conductors of all time, plays all three works with a near ideal combination of clarity and intensity, and, of course, the chorus is sensational. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Lesser-known Choral Masterpieces.......2005-12-13

A disk of lesser-known choral/orchestral works by great masters of composition are always a welcome addition, and this CD doesn't fail, perhaps giving these works new life and hopefully a new future of performances.

The Danish-born theologian Soren Kierkegaard and his prayers from various writings are the subject of Samuel Barber's Prayers of Kierkegaard. The prayers are very personal, having to do with redemption and God's love, a keen insight to existentialism, and Barber's music expresses it well. While a unified whole, the 15+ minute work is divided into four separate prayers, each a style and a setting different from one another. Barber lets the listener know this is religious music by setting the opening text in chanting men's voices in an old church mode. But when the orchestra comes in, a 20th century declamatory statement changes the mood. Barber again looks to the past with simple contrapuntal choral writings. The second prayer is a supplicatory soprano solo sung by Carmen Pelton. A 20th century chanting chorus, reminiscent of thick Russian orthodox music opens the third prayer. Barber again brings back contrapuntalism and a great dissonant melody eventually dividing into two choruses. The final prayer begins with a wild instrumental modal dance section, and the end brings back the simple chant-like feel of the beginning, and the final, modern chorale ending with a positive outlook. Scored for orchestra, soprano, alto, and tenor soloists, and chorus, Barber's unique, and often intimate compositional styles, shine through here. The motives used throughout are enjoyable, the music creates great drama, and the work is quite inspired. It is very much spiritual and artistically pleasing.

Bartok's Cantata Profana is a different matter. It tells the story of nine sons who were taught nothing but to wander the forest and hunt stags. One day they wander too far into the enchanted part of the forest, only to be turned into stags themselves. Bartok sets this 20 minute work in three parts. The first showcases the double, sometimes antiphonal, chorus in thick imitation and dissonance. The chorus explains the back-story and relays the wandering in the forest, including a rather frenzied rhythmical jaunt. The second section is a feature for tenor and bass soloists, the tenor being the best-loved brother turned stag, and the bass being the father who went wandering looking for them. The father pleads with them, but as stags, they can't go home to their weeping mother. The short third section brings back themes and texts from the first and the second with tenor soloist exclamation. This music is interesting, not as folk-like as I expected, very modern sounding with dissonance leading the tonality. The soloists are required to sing some extreme ranges for the angst of the text and the chorus parts are difficult as well. The demonic chanting in the third section show the unusual harmonies and subject matter, not to mention musical virtuosity, of this very unusual, yet interesting choral work.

Unfortunately, Walt Whitman's poems about war and Vaughan Williams' music of the same vein, will probably never have little meaning for the public. The six movement Dona Nobis Pacem is the most stirring work on this disk, with various perspectives of war; texts by Walt Whitman primarily, some biblical texts, and an impassioned British speech. The Agnus Dei states the suffering and sacrifice of Christ, but ends with grant us peace. Beat! Beat the Drums! is a bombastic march about how war affects all citizens, not just those who fight. Reconciliation is a lush and somewhat haunting song on the tides of war, in a personal perspective. The Dirge for Two Veterans is a procession which builds to a great climax and dies away; the text visualizing a community honoring the passing of two local veterans. The Angel of Death and O Man Greatly Beloved is a magnum opus of contrasting moods, which erupts into a paean of "Glory to God in the Highest, and peace and goodwill to man". Even today, well after WWII when the music was written, certainly well after Walt Whitman's Civil War era's words, these performances of Dona Nobis Pacem is so personal, not a dry eye leaves the concert hall. The disk presents a moving and electrifying performance.

All the works on this disk, especially with the wide range of styles, is performed flawlessly. As always, Robert Shaw's choruses have clean and crisp diction, with good vocal technique. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra gives these works a Romantic fullness needed, and the soloists are fine as well. While together, the program seems odd, the works in themselves deserve more popularity. A nice addition to the choral/orchestral library.

Samuel Barber's "Prayers of Kierkegaard", Shaw.......2005-09-25

This recording track seems to be lower in quality than most of Shaw's. Both the recording and the chorale singing is of lesser quality than the other selections and most of Shaw's works.

However, I can still recommend this CD overall.

Excellent Chorale Pieces Performed Impeccably.......2005-06-26

Three composers, who don't seem to have a lot in common, are on display here, and yet the cumulative effect is quite stirring thanks to the late Robert Shaw, as he masterfully leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in this splendid 1998 recording. Samuel Barber's "Prayers of Kierkegaard" is a powerful chorale work that is almost cinematic in its dramatic effect. Commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation during WWII, the composer did not complete the work until 1954. The piece is in the form of a single-movement cantata, of four prayers by the Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard. Soprano Carmen Pelton has a lovely solo on "Lord Jesus Christ, Who suffered all life long" and joins the chorus for the haunting "Father in Heaven, well we know that it is Thou".

Béla Bartók's "Cantata profana" ("The Nine Enchanted Songs") possesses strong rhythmic vitality in this arrangement, especially the harp glissandos implying supernatural forces at work, and is given a fine reading by tenor Richard Clement and baritone Nathan Gunn providing superb vocal turns as son and father, respectively, in the middle section. The most affecting set is the last, Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Dona nobis pacem", which was composed in the mid-1930's as a warning of the threat of war in Europe. His sources were diverse - the poetry of Walt Whitman, the Bible, the Latin Mass, and from a speech made in the British House of Commons during the Crimean War in the 1850s by John Bright - but the sound is consistently mesmerizing. Pelton particularly shines on "Agnus dei", and the concluding "O man greatly beloved" is awe-inspiring. However, the most impressive passage is the "Dirge for Two Veterans", which effortlessly goes from patriotic wartime fervor to mournful prayer. This is a clean recording with especially impressive singing.

Terrible Recording of the Barber.......2002-01-10

I will disagree with the other reviewers here. The Barber is a wonderful piece, dreadfully and lifelessly performed here. The chorus has no emotion. The recording is unfocused...the strings sound absolutely amateurish throughout. Schenck's work on Koch is much superior, even though rough at the edges; it bristles with electricity, and the soprano is just perfect for the second section.

Evocation of the Spirit (2).......2001-02-25

Following the wonderful Evocation of the Spirit CD (Gorecki, Part, Martin, Barber and Shoenberg) this is an ideal follow up. The twentieth century really did produce some wonderful choral music and although the Barber and Bartok here are not totally consistent, the Vaughan-Williams is great.

Music Review:

Music Review

music review

Music Review

The Best of Zydeco Party Band

Wagner: Symphonic Spectaculars (Box Set) [Box set]

Visions of Azure

Pressing on Regardless

Vol. 5-Mood Mosaic [Import]

Vision

Time Bomb D.J. Mars, Vol. 1 [Import]

Whatever & Ever Amen

Untitled [Import]

Who By the Numbers [Import]

Travelog

Sucessos De Ouro De [Import]

We Are Young Americans [Enhanced]

The Swingle Singers - Bach Hits Back ~ A Capella Amadeus

Portraits of Christmas