I began listening out of duty and within five minutes was pretty well gripped by the beauty of the performance and the sound. The Mass begins with a Requiem Aeternam in mood like Faure with alternating solo and choral phrases. Then, a darker Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie Eleison sequence, again alternating solo and chorus, is heard. A beautiful, virile voice begins a lengthy plainchant on a single note with melismas (musical curlicues) on each word, always ending softly, and I am hooked! This is again interspersed with choral plainchants almost in the manner of a concerto grosso.

Then, to my surprise, I hear a familiar melody and the spell is somewhat broken. I hear the plainchant Dies Irae (Days of Wrath), used by Berlioz in his Requiem and in the 5th movement of the Symphonie Fantastique, used by Liszt in the Totentanz as the subject of variations, used by Rachmaninoff in the Paganini Rhapsody and the Symphonic Dances and used by Respighi to depict his poisonous vipers in Brazilian Impressions.

But here the theme is in its pure state and it breaks my otherworldly mood somewhat. The work goes on considerably longer and peace returns. I am so impressed with the strength and the differences in the solo voices of the monks. The sound lets one hear the purity of the singing and the spiritual space of the cathedral. But what is more telling for me is the realization is that as the musical means become more limited, the musical results can become so much more powerful

Reviewer: Bill Rosen

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