Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
It's tempting to describe the extraordinary works on this disc as "neo-Palestrina". That wouldn't really work for Martin's Mass, as it might for Vaughan Williams's Mass in G Minor. Where Vaughan Williams stays rooted in a single tonality, Martin skitters from one to another, liberally sprinkling chromaticism and dissonance in a very 20th-century manner. Yet Martin conveys austerity, joy, and even some romantic emotionalism. The sinuous melodies and modal counterpoint of Pizzetti's Requiem are more obviously indebted to the Renaissance. His scoring is richly varied--ranging from striking two-part writing in the Dies irae, where the traditional chant melody supports a keening countermelody, to three four-part choirs in the dazzling Sanctus. The Choir of Westminster Cathedral (in a vocally secure, gripping performance) nicely captures and balances every element in this mix. --Matthew Westphal

Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir, Music, Frank Martin, James O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Choral, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Classical Vocals, Keyboard, Modern Mass, Passacaglia/Passacaglia and Fugue for Keyboard, Requiem/Requiem Section

Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir
Average customer rating:

Winner of the 1998 Gramophone Award for Record of the Year

Surely earned its Gramophone award on all counts

Worth every last penny, and more

Worth every last penny, and more

Stunning 20th Century Church Music

Martin: Mass, Passacaille; Pizzetti: Requiem / O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir
Frank Martin , James O'Donnell , Westminster Cathedral Choir , and Ildebrando Pizzetti
Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by Martin | Martin, Frank | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Passacaglias | Variations | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
Requiems | Forms & Genres | Early Music | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Kenneth Leighton: Sacred Choral Music

Victoria: O Magnum Mysterium; Ascendens Christus in altum

'Cantate' Mass and other sacred choral music

Frank Martin: Complete Music for Piano & Orchestra

Frank Martin: Symphonie, for Large Orchestra / Symphonie Concertante, for Large Orchestra / Passacaglia, for Large Orchestra - Matthias Bamert

ASIN: B0000063BQ
Release Date: 1998-02-10

Tracks:

Mass For Double Choir: Kyrie
Mass For Double Choir: Gloria
Mass For Double Choir: Credo
Mass For Double Choir: Sanctus
Mass For Double Choir: Agnus Dei
Passacaille: Passacaille: For Organ
Messa Di Requiem: Requiem aeternam
Messa Di Requiem: Dies irae
Messa Di Requiem: Sanctus
Messa Di Requiem: Agnus Dei
Messa Di Requiem: Libera me
De profundis

Amazon.com

It's tempting to describe the extraordinary works on this disc as "neo-Palestrina". That wouldn't really work for Martin's Mass, as it might for Vaughan Williams's Mass in G Minor. Where Vaughan Williams stays rooted in a single tonality, Martin skitters from one to another, liberally sprinkling chromaticism and dissonance in a very 20th-century manner. Yet Martin conveys austerity, joy, and even some romantic emotionalism. The sinuous melodies and modal counterpoint of Pizzetti's Requiem are more obviously indebted to the Renaissance. His scoring is richly varied--ranging from striking two-part writing in the Dies irae, where the traditional chant melody supports a keening countermelody, to three four-part choirs in the dazzling Sanctus. The Choir of Westminster Cathedral (in a vocally secure, gripping performance) nicely captures and balances every element in this mix. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

Winner of the 1998 Gramophone Award for Record of the Year.......2006-11-27

The finest cathedral choir in the UK, the Choir of Westminster Cathedral has never sounded better than it did during the 1990s under its then Master of Music, James O'Donnell, and does now during the 2000s under its present Master of Music, Martin Baker. The Westminster Cathedral Choir's outstanding recording of Frank Martin's Mass for double choir and Ildebrando Pizzetti's Messa di Requiem won Gramophone Awards for "Best Choral Recording of the Year" and "Record of the Year" in 1998. And deservedly so.

Surely earned its Gramophone award on all counts.......2006-01-08

For a cappella music, there are now two "ultimate choral" albums: Laurence Equilbey's "Accentus Transcriptions," also available on Amazon, and this release. It'd be tough to have to choose between the two albums -- thank goodness I don't have to.

1922 was apparently a very good year for a cappella mass writing. Swiss composer Frank Martin's reputedly Calvinistic Mass hails from that year (the Agnus Dei notwithstanding), as does Pizzetti's Catholic Requiem Mass. The Martin work is beautiful, powerful, and reaches for the heavens. The Pizzetti work is also a very strong work, coming from a different stylistic universe. The performances are astonishing -- note, for just one example among many, the ending of the Dies Irae movement in the Pizzetti. It just doesn't seem possible that those measures are being sung by human beings, the carefully-balanced texture is so eerily ethereal and unexpected -- you're thinking, "Did instruments join the singers?" even though you know that's not the case.

There are other 20th century a cappella masses of note (Paul Hindemith's 1963 Mass, his very last work, as well as R. Scott Sandmeier's 1982 Mass), but none performed and recorded so sumptuously as these two on the Hyperion label. One pays a premium for Hyperion recordings of up to 50%, which would be enough to raise an eyebrow if you weren't accorded the highest quality product in return. So far, Hyperion hasn't disappointed me yet: the Holst Choral Symphony and complete Saint-Saens piano concertos are both top-notch productions, and THIS recording of the Martin & Pizzetti works is no exception.

There are two non-Mass works on this disc as well: a passacaglia for organ by Martin, and a brief choral work by Pizzetti based on Psalm 130, "De Profundis." Pizzetti and Malipiero simultaneously wrote works based on Psalm 130 to commemorate their reconciliation after a Pizzetti-initiated spat. As for the passacaglia, it follows the great Bach C Minor passacaglia 3/4-time pattern, but uses 11 of the 12 chromatic pitches to craft the theme (which is notated in the CD booklet for reference). Programming an album is a dicey thing: how do you keep things interesting? Interposing the organ work between choral numbers seems to make superficial sense, but I came away thinking the organ piece really didn't fit with the rest of the album. Perhaps I'm influenced by the purity exemplified by the Accentus recording, the other contender for "ultimate a capella choral album."

Worth every last penny, and more.......2002-06-17

Everything positive that you have heard or read about this recording is absolutely true! It deserved its prestigious Gramophone award and it deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon it. I am an experienced choral singer and can attest to the superb quality of the singing you will find here -- it's all accurate and oh-so beautiful. I certainly cannot think of any choral group that can out-perform Westminster Cathedral Choir as they are on this recording!

My personal CD collection is made up of about 250 choral music recordings of all types (including around 60 cathedral/collegiate choir recordings), and this one immediately took its rightful place as one of my favorite CDs, of any type, period. The Martin mass is a sublime piece of music, with soul-stirring moments of reverence, prayerfulness, sadness, and joy. It is a challenging work and must have been quite difficult to sing - but rest assured, Westminster Cathedral Choir was very up to the task. I had heard the work before on another recording (Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford recorded it nicely in 1989), but this rendition greatly overshadowed that one and brought new life into the music. The experience when I first put it on was enough to keep me spell-bound for several hours afterward - and this from someone who is not always fond of 20th century choral music. The singing is so hauntingly precise and pure that I wonder what kind of magic James O'Donnell was practicing when this recording was made. The Pizzetti is a little less emotionally stirring but also very lovely and, of course, beautifully sung.

The aesthetic power of these two gorgeous choral works combined with the sheer excellence of the choir's singing make this recording one of the finest - if not THE finest - cathedral choir performances you are ever likely to hear. Do buy this CD -- you are in for a musical treat to be savored for many years to come.

Worth every last penny, and more.......2002-06-17

Everything positive that you have heard or read about this recording is absolutely true! It deserved its prestigious Gramophone award and it deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon it. ... I am an experienced choral singer and can attest to the superb quality of the singing you will find here -- it's all accurate and oh-so beautiful. ...

My personal CD collection is made up of hundreds of recordings of all types (including numerous choral CDs), and this one immediately took its rightful place as one of my favorite CDs of any genre, period. The Martin mass is a sublime piece of music, with soul-stirring moments of reverence, prayerfulness, sadness, and joy. It is a challenging work and must have been quite difficult to sing - but rest assured, Westminster Cathedral Choir was very up to the task. I had heard the work before on another recording (Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford recorded it nicely in 1989), but this rendition greatly overshadowed that one and brought new life into the music. The experience when I first put it on was enough to keep me spell-bound for several hours afterward - and this from someone who is not always fond of 20th century choral music. The singing is so hauntingly precise and pure that I wonder what kind of magic James O'Donnell was practicing when this recording was made. And above all, the music itself is among the most beautiful I have ever heard.

The Pizzetti is not quite as emotionally stirring as the Martin but also very interesting, lovely and, of course, beautifully sung.

Stunning 20th Century Church Music.......2002-06-14

Frank Martin's Mass is one of the undiscovered gems of the 20th century choral repertoire. Written when Martin was 32, this work is a deeply felt spiritual testament by an underated composer. The work has one foot in the Renaissance and one foot in the modern world. Much of the melodic material is modal in character. The harmonies are decidedly chromatic, but chromatic in a Faure/Durufle sort of way. And the rhythmic vitality of the Gloria is astounding. This is a difficult but rewarding work and deserving of much more attention.

The remainder of the disc is filled with an organ piece by Martin in his more mature contemporary style and is rounded out by two piece by the Italian composer Pizzetti. Though the Pizzetti pieces are not as profoundly felt as the Martin Mass, they are quite beautiful and deserve a hearing.

I have listened to this recording perhaps 30 times now, and if the trebles are terribly out of tune I don't hear it. Perhaps the recording engineer decided to forgo the autotune feature which has promoted the unrealistic expectation of scientifically precise intonation on many modern choral recordings. If so, I applaud him or her. This choir sounds beautiful and natural...not clinical. I agree with one of the other reviewers in saying that there is a lack of fundemental in the recording, but I'm not sure if highly chromatic works are always well served by so much bass partial. Tends to muddy the sound.

All in all, a great disc with music that everyone should hear.

Music Review: