Eternal Rest gathers four meditative choral works, three of which were written as memorials for the dead. Frank Martin's 1926 Mass for double choir, magisterial in scope and intimate in tone, is the centerpiece of the recording. Martin's compositional voice is circumspect and self-effacing, giving the Mass an understated quality appropriate for the devotional purpose for which it was created. The simplicity of Martin's Renaissance-like polyphony and his admirable text setting allow the words to be heard and understood, and the colorful late romantic (and sometimes frankly modern) harmonies keep the music consistently engaging.
The other large work, Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae (1997), by Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, is testimony to the remarkable quality of choral music that came out of Scandinavia in the late twentieth century. The extended work, written in memory of the victims lost in the sinking of an Estonian ferry in 1994, uses texts from the Psalms and a Latin news report of the tragedy. The composer combines extended vocal techniques, plainchant, folk song, and sumptuous chromatic choral writing with a convincing musical logic that makes the piece a moving and haunting memorial. The CD is filled out with lyrical and eloquent shorter pieces by Americans Frank Ticheli and René Clausen.
Performing extended a cappella pieces such as these requires virtuosic choral singing of the highest order. The smooth vocal blend, pure intonation, and nuanced phrasing of the
Phoenix Bach Choir and
Kansas City Chorale, led by
Charles Bruffy, make these performances both technically and musically distinguished. The sound is clear and clean, but a little too distant to be ideal.