'Lux Aeterna' Performances in Cambridge and Norwich

     Hilary Finch, The London Times
[Lux Aeterna] is a classic of new American choral writing. In this light-filled continuum of sacred texts, old world structures and new world spirit intertwine in a cunningly written score, at once sensuous and spare. The counterpointing of voices and orchestra was miraculously transparent, as Requiem led to Invocation and back again, and the single word "aeterna" was repeated, echo upon echo, bring the music full circle.

American Record Guide Review

     Greenfield, American Record Guide, Sept/Oct 1998
   This program accomplished the impossible: it actually made me regret not being from Los Angeles so I could join the Master Chorale under Maestro Salamunovich's direction and spend my days singing Morten Lauridsen's music. Lauridsen, professor and chair of the composition department at USC, is also Composer-in-Residence of the chorale. He writes heart-felt, radiant, absolutely gorgeous music; and it is delivered con amore here by everyone concerned.
   Lux Aeterna is a five-movement non-liturgical Requiem for choir and chamber orchestra that draws from the Mass, plus portions of the Te Deum, O Nata Lux, and Veni Sancte Spiritus. What a powerfully uplifting work it is. "Ave Maria" and "O Magnum Mysterium" are a cappella pieces full of long lines, arching suspensions, shimmering dissonances, and intense spiritual beauty. Lauridsen's work in the secular realm is represented by two song cycles: Les chansons des Roses, which employs five flower-inspired texts by Rainer Maria Rilke, and the five orchestrated Mid-Winter Songs inspired by the poetry of Robert Graves.
   I don't want to waste time stringing adjectives together. Suffice it to say this is all music straight from the heart. Emotions churn in warm, gentle ways, and you'd have to be a constipated, curmudgeonly old coot inside not to be moved by it! The choir and orchestra sound like they were deputized by the angels to bring this music to earth. RCM's sound is warm; and plush and the notes, once they stop babbling, are helpful. This will be on my Year's Best List for sure come January. I bet it makes yours too!

Northwest Journey Review

     Lindsay Koob, American Record Guide
Here is a belated look at a varied and revealing collection of Morten Lauridsen's highly original music that evaded us when it first appeared in 2000. It offers valuable insights as to the true range and versatility of a composer whose glowing reputation remains somewhat stereotyped, in keeping with the serene and radiant nature of his best-known works.
   This collection offers much more than just gentle and luminous reflection. While Lauridsen's hallmark idiom remains essentially peaceful and mystical, searing flashes of musical near-violence and agonized tension pepper such works here as the Madrigali for chorus: pieces that I recently covered (M/J 2005) in breathtaking performances from Stephen Layton's Polyphony. Here they are brought to vibrant life by the most excellent Donald Brinegar Singers. The six Howard Moss settings for soprano and piano of A Winter Come convey a restless sense of chilly desolation. These pieces are artfully dispatched by Jane Thorngren, with Ralph Grierson at the keyboard.
   It's not easy to pigeonhole Lauridsen tonally. Diatonic structure, spiced with subtle dissonance, is employed in most of his choral compositions — along with ingenious modern echoes of ancient modes and polyphony. But other works, like his striking and sometimes fearful Variations for piano — brilliantly delivered by Grierson — are purely atonal. Similar unharmonious angst intermittently pervades the Cuatro Canciones for soprano and instrumental trio, amplifying the unsettling verses of Garcia Lorca. You'd be hard-pressed to whistle most of these themes on your way out of the concert hall — yet they do not lack for careful design and beauty, especially in the final setting. Anne Marie Ketchum and the Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble perform them with skill and conviction.
   Lauridsen's stylistic diversity is further revealed in "Where Have the Actors Gone," a soft and wistful solo lament that would sound equally at home from a Broadway stage or in a smoky cabaret. Sunny Wilkinson's subdued and emotionally naked vocals are nicely supported by Shelly Berg at the piano.
   Two of his best-known choral works are recast here for smaller vocal forces. Ms. Thorngren presents a limpid solo version of "O Magnum Mysterium," and is joined by baritone James Drollinger for a lovely duet arrangement of "Dirait-On," from the Rilke settings of Les Chansons des Roses. The composer himself graces these performances with his expressive work at the piano. Brinegar and company tastefully restore pure choral tranquility with the lovely chant-based motet "Ubi Caritas et Amor."
   Of incidental interest to some will be the significance of the album's title, "Northwest Journey." Lauridsen is a native of the Pacific Northwest, and divides his time these days between his teaching position in Los Angeles and his summer retreat in the remote San Juan Islands of Puget Sound. Sensitive listeners who, like me, have lived and worked in the region will hear its subtle natural aura and manifold beauties reflected in much of his music.
   This CD contains quite a few premiere recordings, along with a tantalizing taste of Lauridsen's smaller-scale instrumental writing. Owing to multiple recording venues, sonic characteristics vary somewhat from piece to piece — but recording quality is consistently excellent. We get succinctly sensitive notes, but no texts — save for translations of the non-English pieces. It is essential listening for any who wish to better comprehend and appreciate the full scope of this cherished American master's abilities and achievements.

At Salamunovich's Farewell, It's a Night of Ecstatic Love

     Los Angeles Times, Mark Swed     April 23rd, 2001
The heart of the program was Morten Lauridsen's beaming "Lux Aeterna," which followed. The concert also marked the end of Lauridsen's six years as composer-in-residence, during which time he wrote music that magnified the Chorale's special resonance. "Lux Aeterna" is his largest and most important work for the Chorale, and the most beloved...  It is hard to identify exactly what it is about this calm, radiant music that has such an immediate effect on an audience. The blend of voices and the calm surety of the consonances are mesmerizing, to be sure. But something more profound comes into play, and I think it is the sense of well-being that his marvelous score exudes. Though a requiem for the composer's mother, it is music as much about life as it is the spirit. Gentle harmonies, in voices and instruments, seem to hover in the air of the concert hall, yet nonetheless make us feel grounded in the earth.

Morten Lauridsen Choral Works

     Daniel Cariaga, Los Angeles Times     December 20th, 1998
   Both esoteric and accessible, simultaneously popular and deep, the music of Morten Lauridsen grips its audience and compels attention. Five of the composer's masterly works — he is a longtime USC faculty member and has been resident composer for the L.A. Master Chorale since 1994 — prove to be varied in style yet consistent in their ability to reach and touch the listener. They are sung here with passionate intensity and careful detailing by the appropriately named Master Chorale. Salamunovich demands and gets a full range of dynamics, controls the arc of each expressive moment and builds and releases tensions according to textual needs; the chorale sings as if possessed. The Sinfonia Orchestra supports with strength and finesse. Give it to your best friend.

4 Stars (out of a possible 4)

Lauridsen: 'Lux Aeterna,' Other Works

     The New York Times, David Mermelstein
   The life of a choral composer does not elicit much envy these days. Unless that composer is Morten Lauridsen, who not only enjoys the respect of music directors throughout America but also has at his disposal the Los Angeles Master Chorale, one of America's top vocal ensembles.
   On this CD, the Master Chorale performs five works by Mr. Lauridsen, three recorded for the first time. All receive mellifluous and devoted readings under the pointed direction of Paul Salamunovich.
   The album's title, "Lux Aeterna," comes from the 1997 work that opens the CD, but perpetual light shones on all the settings. Churls will insist that a quasi-pop sensibility mars Mr. Lauridsen's efforts, but such criticism ignores the music's potency. And though unabashed religiosity stands at the center of "Lux Aeterna," "Ave Maria" (1997) and "O Magnum Mysterium" (1994), all sung in Latin, a different sort of beauty characterizes "Les Chansons des Roses" (1993) and "Mid-Winter Songs" (1990), which use poetry for inspiration.
   The extroverted "Chansons des Roses," sung in French and based on five Rilke texts, focus on flowers. The more melancholy "Mid-Winter Songs," set to English words by Robert Graves, pay musical homage to the English Renaissance and Aaron Copland.
   As for the sound, the CD's spacious acoustics prove alternately grand and intimate.

Illuminating Lauridsen: Review Of Lux Aeterna On Hyperion

     KUSC Music Shelf, Jim Svejda
   If nothing else, this splendid recording of five major choral works by the American composer Morten Lauridsen proves that like all great music — and certainly this is one of the clearest symptoms that any particular piece of music is, in fact, great — it can be performed in any number of ways by groups from anywhere in the world and still manage to release its irreducible greatness.
   Compared to the pioneering RCM recording with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Paul Salamunovich, the Hyperion recording of Lux Aeterna might seem, at first, slightly edgier and more chamber-like. But although Polyphony is a considerably smaller group, what the performance may lose in lushness it gains in clarity, with Lux Aeterna's complex inner voicing emerging in far sharper relief. It's also a performance brimming with passion, with some eye-opening insights into the work's darker corners.
   The performance of Madrigali more than earns its subtitle, for these are exceptionally fiery readings of these six "Fire Songs" on Italian Renaissance Poems. The shorter works are also exquisitely done, especially O magnum mysterium, which again mixes utter clarity with a rapt, otherworldly stillness.
   If you already own the classic RCM recording then should you invest in the new one as well? That depends if you can go through life with only one version of — say — the Brahms German Requiem or the Beethoven Ninth Symphony.

The Insider's Guide to Classical Recordings

     Jim Svejda, The Record Shelf
   This hypnotically beautiful album might almost be characterized as contemporary vocal music for people who don't think they like contemporary vocal music, for the first recording of the ravishing Lux Aeterna by the Los Angeles-based composer Morten Lauridsen demonstrates that it is possible for important contemporary music to speak directly to the heart.
   Composed in 1997 for the Los Angeles Master Chorale — who, not surprisingly, performs the work as though it had been written for them — Lux Aeterna is a rich, complex, intensely moving piece that people will be listening to for a long time to come. While the idiom is no more threatening than that of the English composer John Rutter, the music itself is of far greater substance and depth. The other works on the album are no less lovely, especially Les Chansons des Roses, which has a fair claim to being the finest Rilke setting yet made by an American composer. Paul Salamunovich extracts brilliant performances from his superbly drilled forces and the recorded sound is superb.    If you think that modern music is largely confined to the mindless delights of minimalism or incomprehensible noise, then this wonderfully human music will prove how wrong you are.

CD Review

     John Phillips Reviews, London
   This disc is my choral disc of the year!!! I cannot see how it could be bettered, both musically, performance and recording wise.  Although it is not available as yet in the UK, I urge you to get it from the U.S. (Amazon.com can supply it by return).  You will not regret the investment.
   I first heard O Magnum Mysterium (of half of it, I now realise) on a Radio Four programme over Christmas, and being initially impressed with the work, started to hunt it down.  Having received the disc and listened to the remainder of the works on the disc, I was completely bowled over...
   Lux Aeterna was inspired by the Brahms Requiem, although there is little similiarity in the two pieces, except for the sense of dedication and the use of slow, deep introduction a la Brahms.  There are five movements:  Introitus, In Te Domine Speravi, O Nata Lux, Veni Sanctus Spiritus, and Agnus Dei-Lux Aetnera.  These form roughly the movements of a normal Requiem, and the devotional character is well to the front, with soaring choral lines which make the hairs on the back of your neck rise up in unison.
   With Les Chansons des Roses from 1993, we come to song settings of texts by Rainer Maria Rilke, and the last one "Dirait-on" has become very popular in its own right in the U.S.  These settings are for chorus only, with the last one being supplied with piano accompaniment by the composer.
   Ave Maria is a one movement work written as a 70th birthday gift to the conductor, and is a serene setting of the religious text.  I would have been honoured to receive such a gift, and the performance from the choir is absolutely superb.
   Mid-Winter Songs are settings of poems of Robert Graves, taken from his collected works, each having the theme of winter.  The work has appeared in various guises, originally for mixed choir and piano, which was written in 1981.   The first orchestral version, written in 1983, was supplanted by the current version, written in 1990 for the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
   Finally we come to O Magnum Mysterium, premiered in 1994 by the current artists.  This superb 5½ minute work for solo choir is worth the whole price of the disc.  This rounds off an absolutely enthralling disc which I can't imagine any music lover not being moved by.
   The Los Angeles Master Chorale with their conductor Paul Salamunovich is made up of some 90 singers, most of whom seem to be fairly young, judging from the fresh, exciting sounds that they make.  Apparently, they are the main choir appearing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and I cannot understand why they are still to release their first disc in the U.K.
   This superb disc is a must — I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

American Record Guide Review

     American Record Guide May/June 2005
   Top European choirs continue to honor the music of American choral master Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943) with this magnificently sung release from Stephen Layton's busy Polyphony. Other such notable tributes of recent vintage come from Germany's superb Nordic Chamber Choir (J/F 2001) — Mr. Greenfield was thrilled with it.
   The album begins with the centerpiece, the radiant and intimate quasi-requiem Lux Aeterna with orchestra — a piece that has found great favor with performers and listeners alike since its 1997 premiere. As pointed out in the excellent notes, Lauridsen shares an important inspirational factor with fellow requiem writers Brahms and Fauré: the death of his mother, just as he was beginning to put his ideas on paper — hence the soft warmth and the consolation that all three efforts share. Also like them, this is not strictly a liturgical work, though it does not sound out-of-place in a church.
   The smooth and sensual beauty of Lauridsen's writing comes in part from from his study of plainchant and the Renaissance masters. The same influences inform his sophisticated, yet unforced use of canonically-derived counterpoint. His love of poetry is heard in his natural and sensitive treatment of language, drawn here from sacred Latin sources that emphasize the theme of eternal light. Only the opening and closing passages employ the traditional requiem texts. The irresistible ease and flow of his vocal lines comes from his habit of singing them himself as he composes, to insure that "each part is lyrical and gracious for the singer". The work's harmonic core is a recurring D-major triad with an added E, helping to maintain the pervasive "luminous" quality that keeps the typical listener (and performer) in a meditative trance from beginning to end.
   A strikingly different aspect of Lauridsen's voice is then heard in his Madrigali, subtitled "Six Fire Songs on Italian Renaissance Poems". Just as the above "light-chord" helps hold the previous work together, a more grating "fire-chord" (B-flat minor with added C) recurs constantly in these pieces, giving rise to their restless harmonic auras. These are supported with varied and complex rhythms that confirm the music's tense and driven mood. Dreamy, langurous passages alternate with passionate outbursts, evoking the temporary insanity of the lovelorn. Some episodes of dark despair are even reminiscent of Gesualdo. So much for the widespread notion that all of Lauridsen's music is trapped in ethereal realms of soft sweetness and light.
   But the album concludes in just such tranquial manner, with three of his inimitably peaceful and reflective miniature settings of classic texts: 'Ave Maria', 'Ubi Caritas et Amor', and the ubiquitous 'O Magnum Mysterium'.
   Layton and company have here produced the finest I've heard among several excellent collections of Lauridsen's work. None are quite as exquisitely nuanced or sung with such glowing vocal sheen as this. Clear and shimmering sound, plus Hyperion's usual complete and user-friendly booklet, make it all the more attractive. No committed choral fan or singer will ever regret letting Lauridsen into his life.

Barnes & Noble CD Review

     Barnes & Noble, by James Manheim
   Despite the wide geographical separation between the music's point of origin and that of the performers — Morten Lauridsen is based in southern California, while Polyphony and its conductor Stephen Layton are as English as they come, with a profound knowledge of the acoustic qualities of London's churches — this disc represents an ideal match of music to performing forces. Polyphony has specialized in the accessible sort of contemporary choral music, with a warm sound attuned to the ethos of reassurance yet a deliberate precision that builds up long lines and inflects them strongly when necessary. They give definitive performances of a pair of ambitious and sharply contrasting pieces by Lauridsen, both of which have been well recorded in the past but which have never been so nicely addressed to one another.
   “Lux Aeterna” (1997) is a work made up of five different liturgical texts, beginning with the Introit from the requiem mass (“Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis”) and ending with the Agnus Dei from the Mass Ordinary. It is filled with the trademark sounds of this composer, who uses too much dissonance to be brought under the minimalist umbrella but who creates full, lush textures using a relatively restricted (or at least slowly evolving) palette of harmonies and thus makes music with a contemporary kind of calming resonance. “Lux Aeterna,” for chorus and orchestra, brings the Britten Sinfonia on board; Layton balances all his forces precisely in the splendid environment of St.-Jude-on-the-Hill in London's Hampstead Garden Suburb. The work is complemented by the inclusion of three shorter a cappella Lauridsen pieces in the same vein.
   In sharp contrast stand the composer's “Madrigali: Six ‘Fire Songs’ on Italian Renaissance Poems” of 1987. Here Lauridsen attempts with some success to forge a modern language extended from the madrigals of Gesualdo and Monteverdi . Sharp dissonances are developed out of a single core sonority and build to a moment of supreme tension in the fourth piece, “Io piango” (I weep). In this work, too, Polyphony (now performing in London's Temple Church) remains firmly in control.
   Lauridsen has admirers on both sides of the Atlantic. They, and indeed any general lover of choral music, will enjoy this disc. If you sing in a choir, check this recording out to learn just how good choral singing can get. Hyperion's engineers, working on what might be termed their home turf, have delivered this event in full fidelity.

Polyphony Lux Aeterna CD Review

     St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Sarah Bryan Miller
In the course of my work, I receive compact discs by the dozen each week, more than I can listen to, let alone review. I try to give as many of them as I can a hearing; once in a while, I'll listen to something particularly well done a second or even a third time. But recently, quite by chance, I found a recording that I can barely put down: "Lux Aeterna," a crystalline recording of choral works by the American composer Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943).
   As luck (or something) would have it, I picked it up from the "to listen to" stack shortly after learning that a friend and former colleague in Chicago, tenor Richard "Bud" Markley, had been found murdered in his apartment. This music spoke to me clearly in an hour of need, but now that the shock has worn off, I keep returning to it again and again.
   Like Fauré's Requiem or Brahms' "A German Requiem," this is music that speaks warmly to the grieving, taking the mourner from the shadows of sorrow into a realization of eternal light. For those of us who need great music to live and feel more fully, these works speak clearly to the soul and illuminate our greater hope.
   "Lux Aeterna" (1997), in five movements ("Introitus," "In te, Domine, speravi," "O nata lux," "Veni, Sancte Spiritus" and the stunning "Agnus Dei—Lux aeterna" as a conclusion) for chorus and orchestra, takes familiar phrases from the Requiem Mass and combines them with lines from psalms and Latin hymns. It begins with a bare Goreckian rumble and builds through minor-key severity into glorious, radiant openness, with alleluias that seem to split the heavens with their rapturous joy.
   The disc also has, in a very different vein, "Madrigali: Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Renaissance Poems," and then reverts to the sacred with gorgeous settings of "Ave Maria" (this one ought to give Franz Biber's setting a run for its money), "Ubi caritas et amor" (built on the familiar plainchant) and a luminescent setting of "O magnum mysterium." Lauridsen's idiom uses everything from chant forms to Renaissance-style polyphony and hints of John Taverner, all combined with his own unique compositional voice. This is some of the most grateful writing for the human voice — and some of the most deeply spiritual composition — that I have heard from a contemporary composer.
   It all receives a flawless, perfectly balanced performance from the British choral group Polyphony, directed by the gifted Stephen Layton, and ably assisted by the Britten Sinfonia. If you love choral music, if you appreciate compositions that lift you from the mundane, you should not miss "Lux Aeterna."

Fanfare Review For Lux Aeterna Recording

     Fanfare May/June 2005, by Martin Anderson
   You know from the melodic phrases in the first bars of Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna (1995), for chorus, string, and wind, that this is going to be a work that will put your soul through the wringer — it is, quite simply, extraordinarily beautiful, its gentle, modal string counterpoint introducing a warmly embracing wave of choral sound that hits you right in the heart. Its consolotary intensity — and, indeed, the sound itself — makes it a close cousin to the Fauré Requiem; there's also a consaguinity with Brahm's German Requiem, and all three works, as Byron Adams points out in his fine booklet notes, were written on the deaths of their composer's mothers. Even though Lauridsen harkens back to the severer idiom of early polyphony (Adams explicitly calls Dunstable and Taverner to witness) that his technique partly emulates, the music never loses an essential gentleness. The obvious point of departure in American music is the work of Samuel Barber and, like him, Lauridsen turns to the oboe when he has an especially gorgeous tune to unfold, at the beginning of Lux Aeterna (exquisitely played here, by the way); it returns at the end to help draw the work together; there's also a brief but wonderful cello solo that suggests someone ought to commission a concerto from him.
   The rest of the CD is for a cappella chorus. The Madrigali of 1987 — which Lauridsen christens "Fire Songs" because of his use of a "fire-chord" ("a B-flat minor triad with a scorching added C," Adams helpfully informs us) to unify the entire cycle — sounds rather like Gesualdo sieved through Barber, the rich harmonies of the latter's sound world (as in his Reincarnation, a work so lovely one regrets he didn't turn to the chorus more often) used to clad the expressive, often chromatic, gestures of the Italian Baroque. The fourth of the Madrigali, the deeply felt "Io piango" ("I weep"), is its emotional heart, where frequent recourse to dissonance indicates that there will be no relief for the distressed heart; Lauridsen restores the balance with the dancing rhythms of the following madrigal, "Luci sereni e chiare" ("Eyes serene and clear").
   The three motets that complete the program — Ave Maria (1997), Ubi caritas et amor (1999), and O magnum mysterium (1994) — return us to the enveloping, comforting blankets of sound of Lux aeterna, although Ubi caritas et amor begins by setting out soberly from the plainchant. What's extraordinary about these pieces (as also of the larger pieces here) is how little time Lauridsen needs to turn the screws: as soon as he establishes his own harmonic idiom after the chant of Ubi caritas et amor (for example), he gives the sopranos a little leap, which has you drawing in your breath at its loveliness.
   Having now caught up with the other all-Lauridsen CDs (Lux aeterna, Ave Maria, and O magnum mysterium with other works from the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Paul Salamunovich on RCM; the same three works — the Lux aeterna with organ accompaniment, giving it quite a different flavor — and Les chansons des roses from the Nordic Chamber Choir under Nicol Matt on Bayer; the Madrigali and Ubi caritas et amor from Donald Brinegar and his Singers on another RCM disc [one which has a solo-voice-and-piano version of O magnum mysterium]; the O magnum mysterium with Les chansons des roses and Mid-Winter Songs sung by Choral Cross-Ties under Bruce Browne on Freshwater Classical), I can report that, good though all those other recordings are, none of the other choirs comes close to Polyphony for the sheer refinement of tone, precision of intonation, and focus on sound — this is choral singing of the highest distinction. The recorded sound, too, is of exceptional clarity and warmth.
   It's not often I have to brush away the tears when I'm reviewing a recording, but I will happily confess that on this occasion Lauridsen got me again and again. I can't give this disc a higher recommendation than that. Run out and buy it as soon as you can.

An Embarassment Of Riches

     Stereophile, June 2005, by John Marks
Morten Lauridsen's magesterial work for chorus and orchestra, Lux aeterna, appears in a fresh new recording, in truly excellent sound, on England's Hyperion label. The vocal ensemble Polyphony is accompanied by the Britten Sinfonia; both are led by Stephen Layton. Better yet, in addition to the CD-only version, there is a separate SACD/CD hybrid release (Hyperion SACDA-67449), meaning that it is backwardly-compatible with CD players. Furthermore, the SACD layer contains a surround-sound program in addition to a stereo one.
   Lux aeterna, composed in 1995-97, is a modern work of rare beauty, integrity, and accessibility. While Lux aeterna may superficially call to mind the works of other neo-Orthodox composers such as Arvo Përt and Geoffrey Burgon, Lauridsen has a distinct style that draws on not only Medieval and Renaissance models, but Romantic and 20th-century ones as well. It is a gross oversimplification, but the best way I can think of to explain Lux aeterna to someone who has not heard it is to ask them to imagine Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem as reworked by Roy Harris or Aaron Copland — and with Latin lyrics. The ethos and the architecture of the two works are very similar. (If you're familiar with Roy Harris, his Symphony 3 is a great place to start. Concise, evocative, and accessible, it is one of the gems of the American symphonic literature.
   The new recording invites comparison to the only other recording, by the work's dedicatees, Paul Salamunovich and the Los Angeles Master Chorale (RCM 19705), a CD I raved about in the September 2002 Stereophile. Even in its CD incarnation, the Hyperion recording sounds indisputably better. The RCM version is, in comparison, somewhat diffuse in focus — for which I am tempted to blame the use of the 16 microphones credited in its notes. But I wasn't there, and perhaps the acoustics of the recording venue called for that approach. The Hyperion release's sound is very clean, very focused and detailed, and has remarkable sound-stage depth. Even more so as an SACD.
   The musical approaches are nearly as different. The RCM version uses a large chorus and orchestra. The Hyperion uses only 30 singers and a chamber-sized orchestra. The gains are in clarity and articulation — the oboe and cello solos are gratifyingly present, and the opening of "O nata lux," the a cappella middle movement (of five), more obviously shows its indebtedness to plainchant. There is much to treasure in this recording. The flip side is that the smaller English forces cannot match the sheer strength in numbers and vocal blend of the Los Angeles effort. And perhaps, at a very few places, the sheer clarity of Hyperion's engineering works against the aura of numinousness on which the work thrives.
   The bottom line is, if you aren't familiar with Lux aeterna, your life is the poorer for it. You do need a recording of it. The Los Angeles disc is perhaps the better all-around introduction, but I can't imagine a fan of the work not wanting to have the new Hyperion release. Not only the fresh interpretation, but also the wonderfully informative liner notes, will add immeasurably to your appreciation. (The Hyperion disc duplicates "O magnum mysterium" — very affectingly sung — and "Ave Maria" from the earlier one, and also includes Lauridsen's Madrigali: Six "Fire Songs" on Italian Renaissance Poems, and "Ubi caritas et amor.") If you own an SACD player and are frustrated by the lack of worthy new releases in the format, buying the Hyperion SACD is a no-brainer.

Tower Records CD Review

     Tower Washington, DC, by Bob McQuiston
"Lux Aeterna," which is for chorus and orchestra, as well as the other, a cappella selections on this release, certainly qualify as some of the most moving contemporary American choral music written to date. Morten Lauridsen's melodic lines are extraordinary because they're not only lyrical, but have a purity more typically found in plainchant or Renaissance music. The "Madrigali," or "Six 'Fire Songs' on Italian Reniassance Poems," were inspired by the madrigals of Carlo Gesualdo and Claudio Monteverdi. In the composer's own words, they're passionate, earthy and dramatic. On the other hand, "Lux Aeterna" and the three motets, "Ave Maria," "Ubi caritas et amor" and "O magnum mysterium," couldn't be more spiritual. There's a supplicatory mien about these works that grasps the listener's attention and makes them much more involving than the usual choral fare served up while the collection plate changes hands. Many may prefer these performances of "Lux Aeterna" and "Ave Maria" to those on a previous CD for their greater intimacy and ethereality, but you'll probably also want that disc, if you can find it, for some equally outstanding selections not included here. The sound is divine. Johannes Brahms and Gabriel Fauré, eat your hearts out!

Lux Aeterna CD Review

     The Scotsman
   Every one of the works on this mesmerising Hyperion release is deliciously lyrical and harmonically sumptuous, but spiced with delicate dissonances that are Lauridsen's signature… Every performance here is delivered with liquid perfection.

Singers Blend Old And New Masterpieces

     Kip Richardson, The Oregonian
   Lauridsen, who was in the audience, received a rousing ovation for his two gorgeous works on the program, "Madrigali: Six Fire-Songs on Italian Renaissance Poems" and "Mid-Winter Songs." His endlessly inventive melodies are full of unusual intervals and surprising shifts in mood, their singular beauty a constant delight to the ear. His arrangements, employing close harmonies and a full spectrum of dynamics, seem to spring from the same well of inspiration as the text, so that words and music blend to create a seamless emotional response. This is modern music at its best — bold, challenging, passionate and supremely musical.

CD Review

     www.classicstoday.com
This is compelling and challenging music that deserves wider performance. The world-class ensemble Polyphony has made many first-rate recordings, and this is another — and it will be an immediate acquisition for this composer's growing legions of fans … if you love choral music, Lauridsen's work is required listening.

Grammy Nomination Citation

     Borders Books & Music
   Lauridsen composes choral music for which the word beautiful seems inadequate, and which is loved by both veteran and novice choral listeners. For those unfamiliar with him, this recording is probably the best example of his breath-taking music, and for those who already know and love his music, this transcendent recording is a must have.

CD of the Month

     Wetpaint.org
   This 1998 Grammy nominee isn't new, but the music is timeless, and I just couldn't pass up this gift to you.   Lauridsen writes music full of moments of aching consolation that are so beautiful you can hardly stand as your spirit overflows from the rush of emotion.  The inner radiance of "Lux Aeterna" shifts like a soft light over folds of rich velvet, building from chant-inspired, meditative repose to rapturous outpouring.  Robert Graves' Mid-Winter Songs evoke a more wintry realm.   Les Chansons des Roses, setings of my favorite poet, Rilke, include Lauridsen's popular "Dirait-on."  The Los Angeles Master Chorale and Sinfonia invite you to connect with the spirit of these works with their warmth and serene confidence.  True Soul Music.
   Performance: 5/5   Sound: 5/5

"Lux Aeterna" CD Review

     John Phillips, Classical Music Web
   In April 2002 I wrote the following about a Rubeda Canis Musica Release RCM 19705: "This disc is my choral disc of the year! I cannot see how it could be bettered, both musically, performance and recording-wise. Although it is not available as yet in the UK, I urge you to get it from the U.S. (Amazon.com can supply it by return). You will not regret the investment."
   Unfortunately, that original disc is still not available in the U.K., although it can be still purchased through U.S. internet sites. At long last, we have a British release of Lauridsen's music, and it is a stunner. It was recorded by Polyphony, in the composer's presence in 2003. Whilst there are small differences between the two discs, I would be very happy with either. As it is I have both so I am doubly happy.
   Lauridsen's choral writing is a wonderful experience to hear. The Hyperion recording is a little clearer than the American release, and the Britten Sinfonia plays with a little bit more feeling than the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
   Lux Aeterna, written in 1997, and premiered on the RCM disc, is performed on the Hyperion disc with identical total timing, but with different timings for some of the five movements. The overall effect on this listener is of no consequence. I love both interpretations. It was inspired by the Brahms Requiem, although there is little similarity between the two pieces, except for the sense of dedication and the use of slow, deep introduction á la Brahms. There are five movements: Introitus, In Te Domine Speravi, O Nata Lux, Veni Sanctus Spiritus, and Agnus Dei - Lux Aeterna. The devotional character is well to the front, with soaring choral lines which make the hairs on the back of your neck rise up in unison.
   The Six Madrigali is not included on the American disc, but can be heard in a version sung by the Nordic Chamber Choir conducted by Nicol Matt (Bayer BR 100 305). In this case, the Hyperion issue is superior. Matt is consistently slower. It is a distinct improvement to have the madrigals moving at a slightly faster pace.
   When it comes to the Ave Maria, the Los Angeles Master Chorale is a little slower, but the standard of choral singing is the same — superb.
   Ubi caritas et amor, also absent from the RCM disc, is a short choral piece written after the Los Angeles disc was recorded. It is in a similar vein to the other pieces although there is an element of plainchant present; a new feature of Lauridsen's writing.
   Finally we come to O Magnum Mysterium, premiered in 1994 by Salamunovich and his choir. This superb work is worth the whole price of the disc. It rounds off an absolutely enthralling disc which I can't imagine any music lover not being moved by. The Hyperion performance drags ever so slightly over its American rival, but the difference is only very slight. Stephen Layton takes over a minute longer which doesn't sound much, but in a six minute work the difference is significant. The Los Angeles performance flows better, but again, the difference is slight.
   Polyphony is a much smaller choir than the Los Angeles Master Chorale which has both benefits and shortfalls. Diction is clearer and choral discipline sounds to be a little better, but when going at full tilt, the larger American choir has the edge in terms of power and body of tone. It is a good job I don't have to recommend one over the other.
   This Hyperion release is superb and the disc is a must. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

FonoForum, December 2000

   Lauridsen is a dream come true for ambitious choirs... challenging, immensely appealing works... true balance between perfection and dazzling creativity.

Les Chansons des Roses

     Music Teacher (London), February 2004
   Lauridsen has responded to the delicate beauty and sensuousness of the words with a watercolour pallette of soft-focus minimalism, in which the repeated use of melodic and harmonic fragments binds the music together while gradual changes of dynamic provide subtly-shaded contrasts. Gently dissonant and unabashedly lyrical, modern without being too technically demanding, these pieces would give considerable satisfaction to any good choir.

Choral Cross-Ties Performs Breathtaking Show

     The Oregonian, David Stabler     April 25th, 1994
When some concerts end, they send us back to the world in such a state of exhiliration, we want to jabber about it all the way home. Other concerts can trigger bitter complaints.
   And then there is the concert that reaches down to something deep and mysterious, sending us home mute.
   That is what happened at a concert by Choral Cross-Ties Sunday at St. Philip Neri Church in Southeast Portland.
   Rare is the concert that puts listeners in a state of grace. But that's what Morten Lauridsen's "Les Chansons des Roses" did.
   The cycle of five songs began with the choir singing a cappella to the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke: "I breathe you, rose, as if you were all of life..." But with the fifth song, the piano made its presence softly known.
   The moment was probably even more magical for the choir, which had been praying that its pitch would match the piano's.
   It did.
   This final song shimmered with reverence. Lauridsen asked the choir to repeat one ravishing phrase after another. The Beaverton-born composer sat in the audience with his eyes closed — a fitting way to absorb the music's extravagant beauty.
   "Les Chansons des Roses," which Choral Cross-Ties has recorded on a compact disc, was the most memorable work of the afternoon.

KLASSIK heute, December 2000

   Lauridsen's music springs from immense calm and unshakable roots despite the complex artistic procedures involved. Nothing short of beautiful.

Finding Joy in Themes of Loss

     Los Angeles Times, by Mark Swed, Times Music Critic     October 26th, 1999
   Morten Lauridsen's compulsively listenable "Lux Aeterna" was an instant hit when the Los Angeles Master Chorale premiered it in 1997. A recording by the chorus on a small local label (RCM Records) was nominated for a Grammy last year, and it still sells out of the record shops after a broadcast. People hear it, and they are moved.
   "Lux Aeterna" returned to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Sunday night, keeping company with Brahms' "A German Requiem," to open the Master Chorale's new season; and once again it worked its magic. Warm applause was given conductor Paul Salamunovich, his fine singers and his capable Sinfonia Orchestra. But the crowd erupted with contagious joy when Lauridsen bounded on stage for bows, then headed to the Tower Records booths in the lobby.
   Like the Brahms "German Requiem," Lauridsen's "Lux Aetema" is a piece about mourning. Both were written over the loss of a mother, both are searches for consolation. Both works pick and choose from biblical texts. His requiem a blessing of those who mourn, Brahms rewards suffering; the payoff for pages of gloomy music are moments of luminous intensity. Lauridsen's solace is light, and his music has a gentle radiance throughout.
   In many ways, "Lux Aeterna" is a sort of "German Requeim"-lite, in the healthy sense of that term — affirmation without all the 19th century guilt. Lauridsen — who is composer in residence of the Master Chorale, a longtime member of the USC composition faculty and a fixture in the world of modem choral music — has found a way to illuminate the Brahmsian glow with contemporary energy sources. He follows Brahms' model of refashioning old liturgical music, yet he does not sound archaic. The unembarrassed, gorgeous consonances of "Lux Aeterna" are immediately recognizable as coming from an American in the 1990s.
   The program notes proclaimed that "Lux Aeterna" reminds us that we'd forgotten to expect the wondrous from modem music, but, in fact, its importance is quite the opposite. This is music that has absorbed the wondrous from our century. It's unequivocal generosity of spirit, its unfussy ecstatic tone comes not from the past or rejection of the new but from an openness to modern music. It is hard to imagine this music existing without the permission given to be spiritually unconflicted — to say nothing of the sophisticated techniques with which to do so — by Messiaen, Morton Feldman, Henryk Górecki, John Tavener and many others of our era.

Los Angeles Master Chorale offers illuminating concert

     Pasadena Star-News, by Robert D. Thomas     April 18th, 1997
   Once in a while, a concert brings a listener up short. Last Sunday's concert by the Los Angeles Master Chorale at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was a case in point, an evening that was illuminating on several points.
   First, it demonstrated afresh the fact that a live performance beat a recorded one every time. Although the concert is going to be broadcast on KUSC April 27, no sound system — however grand and/or sensitive — will be able to match what we heard live, even in the muddy acoustics of the Pavilion.
   More importantly, the program validated a basic truth of concert going: season ticket holders have more fun. The program — works by Francesco Durante and Joseph Haydn encasing the world premiere of "Lux Aeterna" by LAMC Composer-in-Residence Morten Lauridsen — didn't have the flash that would have caused many people to run out and buy tickets. Season ticket holders, on the other hand, came because of the discipline enforced by purchasing a group of concerts.
   And oh, how they were rewarded, for this concert lovingly and emphatically pointed out once again that some of the finest contemporary music is being written in the choral music field. Lauridsen's 25-minute, five-movement work proved to be a moving, poignant piece, filled with lush, haunting melodies interspersed with moments of choral grandeur.
   The Master Chorale, conducted by Music Director Paul Salamunovich, performed the piece with a superb combination of crackling emotion and technical dexterity; the opening movement and the transition from "O Nata Lux" to "Veni, Sancte Spiritus" were particularly memorable.
   But in the end, it was the music itself that carried the evening. This is a piece that cries out to be heard again, and not just on a Master Chorale program. The Los Angeles Philharmonic or Pasadena Symphony should program "Lux Aeterna" as part of its subscription series sometime soon, if for no other reason than to open it up to new audiences.
   Finally, it's worthy noting that both Lauridsen and his fellow composer, Pasadena resident James Hopkins, teach at the University of Southern California. Although East Coase critics and Pulitzer Prize juries often think that the United States' western border follows the Chicago River, Lauridsen and Hopkins continue to enrich our lives with their first-rate choral music compositions, one of the many reasons to enjoy living in Southern California.

Fingers Afire, Voices on High

Northwest keyboardists, choral compositions shine on new CDs
     The Seattle Times, Melinda Bargreen     November 2nd, 2000
   Some of the recent output of Portland-born composer Morten Lauridsen, who spends each summer composing in his aerie on one of the more remote San Juan Islands, is collected on this remarkably fine new disc. And before you run in the other direction at the thought of (gasp!) new music, recall that Lauridsen is today's hottest composer of choral music because it is "compulsively listenable," as the Los Angeles Times puts it.
   When you look around the region's many choruses, you'll find some Lauridsen on nearly everybody's program this season; his "Lux Aeterna" recording (with the Los Angeles Master Chorale) was nominated for a Grammy, and the same work earned a heartfelt standing ovation this past spring when the Seattle Choral Company performed it.
   "Northwest Journey" shows the breadth of which Lauridsen is capable: A Broadway-style ballad, "Where Have the Actors Gone"; an art-song cycle, "A Winter Come" (with the exquisite soprano Jane Thorngren, long a Seattle Symphony favorite); virtuoso a cappella choral music ("Madrigali: Fire Songs," with the very good Donal Brinegar Singers); chamber/vocal music ("Cuatro Canciones," written to Lorca poems, performed by soprano Anne Marie Ketchum and the Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble); and a piano piece in a somewhat thornier idiom.
   Lauridsen also has arranged two of his most beloved short choral pieces, "Dirait-on" (from "Les Chansons des Roses") and the otherworldly "O Magnum Mysterium," for voice and piano — a move that will surely advance these favorites even farther into the general repertoire. Thorngren's voice soars in that latter work, with the composer himself at the keyboard.
   Lauridsen's new CD is available on the RCM label. (If you have trouble finding it, check out www.RCMUSA.com.)

Daily Telegraph Review

     Daily Telegraph
The music has freshness and an affecting emotional pull to it that explains its popularity with singers and audiences across the pond. Stephen Layton's Polyphony, whose recent recordings of Përt, Tavener and others have been revelations of choral singing, brings a comparable firmness, tonal opulence and refinement to this new repertoire, which will undoubtedly gain new admirers as a result.

Neue Musikzeitung, September 2000

   A splendid performance by the Nordic Chamber Choir. Lauridsen's ethereal music is clearly in the best hands.

Portland's Finest on CD

     The Oregonian, David Stabler     December 30th, 1994
Don't let the remoteness of the recorded sound put you off. This is some of the finest contemporary choral music around, sung by a superb choir.
   The three cycles here run the range from passionate to prayerful and center on the themes of winter (dying/rejuvenation), fire (love/passion) and roses. The cycles are called "Mid-Winter Songs," on texts by the English poet Robert Graves (1895-1985); Madrigali "Fire Songs" on Italian Renaissance Poems; and "Les Chansons des Roses" on poems by Rainer Maria Rilke.
   Lauridsen, an Oregon-born composer, chairs the composition department at the University of Southern California and has that rare ability to write contemporary choral music that you want to hear again.
   The texture is lush, the rhythms varied, but it's the music's emotional content that makes you catch your breath. Listen to the drama of the first song, "Lament for Pasiphaë," then cut to a song such as "Contre Qui, Rose," a mesmerizing nocturne built on a series of melodic suspensions that ache to resolve.
   Conductor Bruce Browne shapes the vocal blend, the attacks and cutoffs, the word-painting and the tonal colors, like a master. Inspiration takes care of the rest.
   Pianist Carol Rich goes beyond choral accompanist to become another "voice" in the texture.

Curry Leads Master Chorale at Music Center

     Los Angeles Times, Timothy Mangan     January 30th, 1990
[Morten Lauridsen's Mid-Winter Songs, an] elegant and engaging setting of five "winter" poems by the English writer [Robert Graves] is firmly in the American tradition. The spacious orchestration, jazz rhythms, widely spaced harmonies peppered with sevenths and ninths and intricate, sinewy counterpoint are recognizable points of reference...   Its ready accessibility is not derived from its sources, however, but from the direct and effective setting of the words, the use of brief, unifying melodic fragments and the evocative backdrop provided by the orchestra. Currie led a dramatically shaped and technically competent performance.

Choral company's restraint fills church with sublime serenity

     Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Philippa Kiraly     May 22nd, 2000
   It is our good fortune that Seattle Choral Company is an excellent choir. It proved so once again Saturday night when it gave the first Seattle performance of Morten Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna," paired with Fauré's Requiem, at First Presbyterian Church.
   The pairing was well-chosen. Fauré's 1888 work is distinguished by its gorgeous melody and harmony. Lauridsen's work, though clearly from a century later, is complementary, with the same attention to melody and harmony and with equally gorgeous results.
   Lauridsen accompanies it with a chamber orchestra of strings and winds, often used as punctuation, or a change of ideas, around unaccompanied singing. To this listener, there was a suggestion of kinship with Copland (another great melodist) in the way Lauridsen uses the instruments, especially the winds.
   The text of "Lux Aeterna," drawn from the Requiem Mass and other sacred Latin writings relating to light, carries a message of comfort and hope, as does the Fauré
   Lauridsen does not use complicated rhythms or harmonic structure. His work sounds simple and straightforward, but then a Bach chorale sounds simply put together, too.
   The center of the work, the a cappella "O Nata Lux," with its uncluttered lines, sounded sublimely serene as Seattle Choral Company sang it, performing with restraint and never louder than a peaceful soft.
   The singers and Coleman gave all of "Lux Aeterna" a committed, tender performance that suited the work admirably.
   Words were clear — Just as well, because, although words and translations were in the program, the lights were turned down so that no one could follow along.
   Lauridsen was present for the performance. It was a thrill to see everyone in that vast church — audience, orchestra and singers — standing to give prolonged applause to a living composer.

Cathedral Acoustics Copacetic for Choral Cross-Ties Concert

     The Oregonian, David Stabler     April 29th, 1997
"Lux Aeterna" is a 20-minute work that, in alternate movements, centers on a gorgeous melodic and harmonic progression. It's a musical idea of piercing beauty.

Where Subtle Guitar Meets Stellar Soprano

     The Oregonian, David Stabler     May 22nd, 1998
...But my favorite track is the last one, "Dirait-On" ("So They Say") by Morten Lauridsen, the Washington-born composer. Its pure beauty, which Choral Cross-Ties introduced in 1994, leaves me mute.

A Liberal Helping of Conservatism

     Los Angeles Weekly, Alan Rich     March 12-18, 1999
...and two sets of Lauridsen songs. Lauridsen teaches at USC; his Lux Aeterna, recorded on RCM by the Master Chorale, made it to a Grammy nomination last month: good, solid choral writing, old musical languages put to new and lively use. On the Brinegar program I liked best of all Lauridsen's elegant, witty Chansons des Roses of 1993, settings of fragrant Rilke poetry about roses, including thorns.

Gershon and Master Chorale Work From a New Score

     Los Angeles Times, Mark Swed     
In recent years, the former music director, Paul Salamunovich (now music director emeritus) eased his audiences into their own time with well chosen, immediately accessible modern music, particularly the stunningly beautiful works of Morten Lauridsen.

“Mid-Winter Songs” Performance Review

     San Francisco Examiner, Timothy Pfaff     April 3rd, 1990
   Three of the six songs from the 1980 “Mid-Winter Songs,” by the program's other living composer, Morten Lauridsen (who was in the audience), put a chamber-sized complement of the choristers back on their mettle.
   The bracing pianism of the Chorus' regular accompanist, Marc Shapiro, further ensured the resounding success of Lauridsen’s “Lament for Pasiphaë,” “She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep,” and “O Love Be Fed With Apples While You May.”

Noteworthy: A Choir's Many Voices Sound As One

     Seatle Weekly, Philippa Kiraly     March 3rd, 1999
   The warm, smooth blend of voices was impossible not to notice throughout, as for instance in the modern madrigals, written to Renaissance texts, of Morten Lauridsen. Five of them, all incorporating the word “fire,” made a strong series from an original voice with fresh ideas, often with rich, unresolved harmonies.

Concert Singers Offer Recent American Works

     Los Angeles Times, John Henken     May 20th, 1991
   Local composers were well represented by four of Morten Lauridsen's intense, stunningly crafted “Madrigali”...

Diverse Closing to Chorale Season

     Los Angeles Times, Chris Pasles     June 1st, 1998
   [Conductor Paul Salamunovich] opened the program with Morten Lauridsen's exquisite “Les Chansons des Roses” and closed it with Carl Orff's hypergymnastic “Carmina Burana.”
   Settings of five late Rilke poems in French, the 17-minute Lauridsen work is almost a study in pianissimos, mercurial tempos and blended and ravishing colors. The composer calls for an a cappella chorus (here about 40 singers) until the final poem in which delicate piano arpeggios contribute to a folklike directness, simplicity and appeal...
   Composer-in-residence with the Chorale since 1994, Lauridsen was on hand to take bows from an appreciative audience.

CD Review

     Greenfield, American Record Guide
   A radiant, handsomely performed and recorded program that any music lover would do well to investigate. Morten Lauridsen's oeuvre becomes more popular each day for its glowing spirituality and for the endlessly beautiful sounds it elicits from the human voice. This is a terrific choir in all respects: no flaws, no holes. As a chamber ensemble, they sound smaller and a little straighter than the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which did such miraculous things with most of these same pieces on another celestial release, RCM 19705 (Sept/Oct 1998). But these performances are also spellbinding, and the north German singers give us the madrigals, which aren't on the LA program. Those six songs call on a somewhat snarkier side of the composer's muse; there's more dissonance and rhythmic dance than in the other works. 'Se Per Havervi, Oime' has that shimmering quality that's become synonymous with Lauridsen. The rest have some bite to them. The only reservation I have is that Lux Aeterna sounds better in the orchestral incarnation led by Maestro Salamunovich on the RCM program. It sounds fine here on the organ, mind you, but the other is more affecting. This makes a delightful complement, though, especially since the Madrigals are so engaging. You'll want them both, believe me.

Lied & chor, June 2000

   The Nordic Choir continually achieves Lauridsen's "modern-day Renaissance tone" with compelling conviction. Convincing, credible and stirring performances throughout.

Chorale Honors Shaw With Music of Brahms, Lauridsen

     Los Angeles Times, Richard S. Ginell     April 27th, 1999
In tribute to Robert Shaw, conductor Paul Salamunovich led the Los Angeles Master Chorale in an emotionally involving program of works by Brahms and Lauridsen
   Fate commanded the dedication of the Los Angeles Master Chorale's concert Sunday night to choral legend Robert Shaw, who died in January. That Sunday's program at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion mostly consisted of Brahms was most opportune; it's hard to conceive of anything more consoling than Brahms' best choral music.
   Yet the concert was also a celebration of a living composer, USC's Morten Lauridsen, whose reputation went into orbit this year after a Master Chorale CD of his music, "Lux Aeterna" (RCM), was nominated for a Grammy. Lauridsen has tapped into something deep and resounding in his audience, writing radiant, heartfelt, eminently singable choral music without apology.
   Lauridsen's "Mid-Winter Songs" (1980), on the program Sunday, is not typical of the other, later works on the CD. It dons a cloak of Americana emblazoned with streaks of Copland proclamations in "Lament for Pasiphaë" and Bernstein syncopations in "Like Snow" and "Mid-Winter Waking." Yet it creates a similar enveloping effect with its homogenous blending of orchestral and choral forces, and conductor Paul Salamunovich balanced them superbly, especially at low volumes.

O Magnum Mysterium Release

     Peermusic Classical, Fall 2000
   The music of Morten Lauridsen continues to work its magic on choruses and audiences around the world. "O Magnum Mysterium," a CD of Lauridsen's choral music by the Nordic Chamber Choir, Nicol Matt conducting, has been released on Germany's Bayer Records CD 100 305. Another all-Lauridsen CD will be in stores this fall, to include choral works, vocal solos, a vocal duet, and a set of piano variations. Entitled "Northwest Journey," it will appear on RCM 12001.
   Lauridsen, who hails from Portland, Oregon, has enjoyed superb performances from that city's Choral Cross-Ties. Further north, the Seattle Choral Company and Orchestra, with Fred Coleman conducting, gave a stunning performance of Lux Aeterna that spring. Melinda Bargreen wrote in the Seattle Times that

the audience was already on its feet, with a standing ovation for the Seattle Choral Company's first Seattle performance of Morten Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna." But when Lauridsen himself stepped onto the stage to acknowledge the applause, a football-stadium roar arose in the sedate confines of the First Presbyterian Church. You don't hear that kind of roar very often in performances of new music; it's a response that indicates the audience has been moved, impressed and delighted by what it just heard.
   "Lux Aeterna" is rapturously beautiful, in the composer's distinctly tonal style with honest, heartfelt and often complicated close-harmony choral writing. Composed for chorus and orchestra, "Lux Aeterna" is a five-part work based on Latin sacred texts about light; it has the feeling of both a requiem and a benediction.

Water & Light

     ClassicToday.com, David Vernier
Although Morten Lauridsen's gorgeous setting of O Magnum Mysterium by now is an established repertoire piece for many choirs and has been recorded many times, it's done so beautifully here that it makes the disc worth owning for this performance alone.

Morten Lauridsen:  The Complete Choral Cycles

     Choral Journal     August, 1997
For those of us who have dipped our toes into the water of Lauridsen's setting of O Magnum Mysterium (recorded by Paul Salamunovich and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Christmas,RCM 19605, and published by Peer-Southern, 01-098779-121) and are inspired to jump in the deep end, this CD will push you off the high board with its "perfect 10" of execution and artistry. This twenty-five-voice ensemble was recorded in McReady Hall at Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon. While the room does not stand in the way of the ensemble's excellent forward sound, I suspect it might be unforgiving to any missteps. Happily, there are none.
   Lauridsen originally scored the five Mid-Winter Songs on poems by Robert Graves for chorus and piano (here sensitively played by Carol Rich) and later orchestrated the set. Lauridsen's harmonies are tonally straightforward (often a common chord dressed up with one nonchord tone). The arch form of the collection complements the textual paradoxes of light and darkness, sleeping and waking, and dying and rebirth.
   In the Madrigali: Six "Fire-Songs" on Renaissance Italian Poems, the music, while challenging, is not threatening. All six madrigal texts share the imagery of ardor-fueled flames. Lauridsen uses a variety of devices such as bitonality, whispering, and portamento to capture the effect of the madrigalian poetry.
   Choral Cross-Ties commissioned and premiered Les Chansons des Roses in 1993, with highlight performances at Carnegie Hall and the Third World Choral Symposium in Vancouver. Once again, Lauridsen reveals an acute ear for setting languages. He shares this multilingual affinity with the cycle's poet Rilke. "Contre qui, rose" and "La rose complete" will remind listeners harmonically of Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium. The skillful transition into the one accompanied piece, "Dirait-on," is a testament to the skill and artistry of Choral Cross-Ties. Viewed separately, this last piece may well be the most accessible of the set as Lauridsen likens it to a "'chanson populaire' or folksong" in the score's preface. It is hard to imagine a more compelling endorsement for these pieces than that which Browne and his singers provide in this recording.

Schwäbishe Sängerzeitung

   Lauridsen finds precisely the right eternal music language for the vibrant emotional tone of the poems.

Choir Leader Retires on Hallmark Song

     The Oregonian, David Stabler     May 3rd, 2002
   In 17 years, Choral Cross-Ties has sung about eros, death, cupid, war, the Virgin Mother, Greek patriots, Gypsies and Jesus. But one song has become its signature piece — "Dirait-on" ("So They Say"), a ravishingly beautiful song by Morten Lauridsen.
   "Dirait-on" puts listeners in a state of grace with a melody of utter simplicity and a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. The text begins: "Abandon surround abandon,/tenderness touching tenderness..."
   When the choir first sang "Dirait-on" in 1993, I remember sitting in stunned silence, unable to speak when it was over. Many other people have discovered its beauty, too. Last year, the song, which Cross-Ties commissioned from Lauridsen, a former resident of Beaverton, sold more copies that any other choral song in the country, according to Bruce Browne, the choir's conductor.
   On Saturday, Choral Cross-Ties will perform "Dirait-on" in a concert entitled "Songs of Love & Conflict." The occasion marks the final appearance of Browne as conductor and artistic director.

Cross-Ties Founder Bows Out With a Typically Adventurous Program

     The Oregonian, James McQuillen     May 6th, 2002
The Madrigali presents considerable technical challenges — wayward harmonies, myriad juxtapositions of tone color and various difficulties of diction — that the singers met uneeringly. It unfolded as if organically, its warmth and gentle harmonic motion perfectly suited to the group's spirit.
   Cross-Ties has had a special relationship with Lauridsen, a Beaverton native currently serving as composer-in-residence at the University of Southern California. Its signature song, "Dirait-on" ("So they say"), came from a cycle commissioned 10 years ago, at the same time the choir made a highly acclaimed recording of Lauridsen choral cycles. (The piece has since become wildly popular in choral circles: It was the top-selling choral song in the country last year.)

Volti Turns a Page

     San Francisco Classical Voice, Charles Barber     December 7th, 2003
In purely sonic terms, the concert ended with the best. After praising the glories of Morten Lauridsen's "O Magnum Mysterium," Geary drew us into the contemplative joys of this wondrous music. Its concluding Alleluia was deeply felt, tastefully shaped, and most moving. Prolonged applause followed this revelation.

Unique Combinations Highlight Weekend Concerts

     Pittsburgh Tribune, Mark Kanny     March 26th, 2002
Morten Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna" (Perpetual Light) was the high point of the concert. The half-hour work is a requiem to an unorthodox collection of texts that includes no Day of Judgement, for example. The composer's sensitivity to words and facility with the rhetoric to signify them are combined with an agreeable harmonic language to create music that touches its audience.
   The Bach Choir sang superbly, especially in soft passages where its sounds gently filled the air. The final "Alleluia — Amen" is challenging for the singers but was a delight for the audience.

Master Chorale Gives Enlightening Concert

     Los Angeles Times, Daniel Cariaga      April 30th, 1996
   Of a haunting but substantial beauty, Morten Lauridsen's recent "Les Chansons des Roses," to five poems in French by Rainer Maria Rilke, constituted the climactic moment in this event.
   ...Deceptively uncomplicated in line and melody, these songs hold the listener in a mystical grip from beginning to end. Salamunovich's 48 gifted singers... performed these gems exquisitely, delivering both words and feelings without misstep.
   Building up to this high point, the Master Chorale predictably distinguished itself in varied music by Jacob Handl, Morales, Palestrina, Duruflé and Barne Slëgedal.

'Promise of Living' is Unorthodox But Lively

     Houston Chronicle, Charles Ward     November 19th, 2001
The intensity of music-making often was very captivating. That commitment propelled another featured piece, Lux Aeterna by California Morten Lauridsen, His music has been a sensation in the choral world in the past decade. O Magnum Mysterium, a short work premiered in 1994, has had thousands of performances and many recordings. In Lux Aeterna (1997), Lauridsen deftly balanced fresh sounds, a cosseting tonality and challenging passages of dissonance. The music obviously impressed Masterworks Chorus members. As they worked through the five movements, performed with organ accompaniment, their involvement became more intense and their singing more inspired. Under Johnson's leadership, time passed quickly in a work that clocks at approximately 27 minutes.

Performers Play Off Theme of 'Light'

     Lincoln Journal Star, John Cutler     April 30th, 2001
   Central to the concert was "Lux Aeterna" by Morten Lauridsen, who chairs the composition department at the University of Southern California School of Music in Los Angeles. The piece combines five historical church Mass and liturgy settings. Each mentions "light" in its text.
   The work's central a cappella movement, "O Nata lux de lumine," referred to Christ as the light born of the light of the world. The choirs sang with ravishing transparency. When the "Agnus Dei-Lux Aeterna" movement reached the "eternal light" text, it seemed as if the choir and orchestra opened the celestial doors, pouring their musical light onto the audience. A number in the crowd were seen openly weeping with the music's beauty.

Review

     Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
   Morten Lauridsen's compulsively listenable Lux Aeterna was an instant hit when the Los Angeles Master Chorale premiered it in 1997. A recording by the chorus on RCM Records was nominated for a Grammy and it still sells out of the record shops after a broadcast. People hear it and they are moved.

Borders Review

     Borders Books & Music
   This is a collection of choral works by the esteemed composer, all of which were performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Paul Salamunovich. The long, flowing, beautiful melodies will carry you away. This disc was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award for "Best Choral Performance."
   In this collection of mostly sacred choral works, composer Morten Lauridsen shows himself to be well-versed in the great choral traditions both old and new...
   'Lux Aeterna' draws on Latin texts which refer to light (lux), bracketed by excerpts from the Requiem Mass: the familiar "Requiem Aeternam" to begin and "Agnus Dei-Lux Aeterna" to close. Aside from the textual references, the work recalls the Requiems of Faure, Durufle and Brahms in its rich choral textures which are supported but never overwhelmed by the orchestra.
   'Les Chansons des Roses' and 'Mid-Winter Songs' bring similarly rewarding choral writing to secular texts, penned by Rainer Maria Rilke and Robert Graves respectively. Lauridsen's mastery of colorful scoring shines in his orchestral version of 'Mid-Winter Songs,' an evocative tapestry of sound. The Los Angeles Master Chorale sings throughout with obvious devotion to the works, bringing the music to life. Paul Salamunovich leads them with assurance, drawing first-class performances from his ensemble. This disc may be a bit off the beaten path, but it's a must for everyone with an interest in choral music.

Sound Worlds of Their Own

     The Raleigh News & Observer, David Perkins
   Chants, medieval or modern, are in. Perhaps the busier we are, the simpler the music we seem to be drawn to. Perhaps we are trying to relax, to remember how music can be a form of prayer.
   The choral works of California-based composer Morten Lauridsen certainly have a soothing effect, but you could hardly call them plainchant. They are richly romantic in their chromatic shifts and the full use of the chorus, often subdivided into multiple parts.
   The "Lux Aeterna," a 1997 work that has become hugely popular, is really a mass for the dead, using an eclectic mix of words drawn from the Te Deum, the Requiem Mass and other sacred texts. In the first movement, the chorus sings over a strong bass line in the orchestral accompaniment that recalls the bass line of the Brahms "Requiem":  Both create a sense of doom and finality. The words themselves — all on texts invoking light — are almost murmured, as if by a large congregation, which creates a great gorgeous fabric of choral sound, glinting with frequent and unpredictable shifts in the close harmony. There is a sense of emotion that surges in great arches, in the tradition of Renaissance polyphony.
   ...It is a beautiful piece that creates a unique sound-world and pushes you, mysteriously, to the edge of tears.
   The Los Angeles Master Chorale, the descendant of the famous Roger Wagner Chorale, is simply stunning — as precise and fine a large choir as any in the world, I'd venture — and it is captured in the ideally resonant acoustic of the Sacred Heart Chapel in Los Angeles. Four stars to RCM for the sound alone.

Mourning, Healing Music

     The News & Observer; People's Forum, Mark Higgins
   I was surprised and elated to discover the review of Morten Lauridsen's choral piece "Lux Aeterna" beaming over the well-deserved designation of four stars (Arts & Entertainment section, May 28)!
   This is a sensational work of music which elevates the soul and has, I believe, remarkable healing power. As co-owner of Hall-Wynne Funeral Service in Durham, I have given several copies of "Lux Aeterna" to grieving families who appreciate scared music. All have remarked not only about its stunning and mystifying beauty, but also of the soothing effect and the ability to convey a profound sense of hope. Besides a masterpiece for any choral music afficionado's collection, this is a must for anyone mourning a significant loss.

RCM Catalog Description

     RCM Records
   Morten Lauridsen is currently Chair of the Composition Department at the University of Southern California as well as composer-in-residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. He has enjoyed a close collaboration wth the Master Chorale's Music Director, Paul Salamunovich, and so it seemed a perfect fit when the Master Chorale commissioned and premiered Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, O Magnum Mysterium, and Ave Maria. The resulting RCM recording by the 120-voice Master Chorale conducted by Maestro Salamunovich has garnered a Grammy nomination as well as critical accolades, and listener raves. Its continued sales at brick and mortar, on internet retail venues, and from NPR fund drives is proven testament to the success of Lux Aeterna. Continued performances by the Master Chorale as well as major choral groups throughout the world, coupled with consistent radio airplay ensure the continued health and success of Lux Aeterna.

A Bouquet of New American Choral Music

     San Francisco Classical Voice, Dudley     March 25th, 2001
A rousing close with Lauridsen: Morten Lauridsen's "Mid-Winter Songs," accompanied by piano, brought the concert to a rousing close. Lauridsen set five poems of Robert Graves, each setting a jewel. The singers were moved out of their sections into a mixed grouping, an arrangement that works poorly for more polyphonic music but was used here to stunning effect.
   The cycle begins with a choral outburst in "Lament for Pasiphaë," which then moves in big blocks of sound. Lauridsen's striking use of rhythm in "Like Snow" is enhanced by a percussive piano part. The piano, under the sure hands of Sue Bohlin, became an equal partner with the chorus in "She Tells Her Love," "Mid-Winter Walking" is homophonic, with the chorus moving as one. "Intercession in Late October" repeatedly uses the striking choral device of starting on a unison and gradually expanding into more and more notes in dissonant chords. Throughout this finely crafted cycle, the composer makes wonderful use of word repetition, rhythmic variety, compelling buildup of chords, and varieties of vocal color.

Bel Canto Program Rooted in Passion

     Milwaukee Journal Sentinel     March 12th, 2001
"Lux Aeterna," constructed of five movements that are performed without pause, is filled with glorious choral writing.   Lush harmonies, soaring melodic lines and colorful orchestral writing give this piece its considerable power. Lauridsen also manages some remarkable text painting, particularly in the "Veni Sanctus Spiritus" movement of the piece.

March Festival Chorale Concert Worth Every Penny, and Then Some

     The Holland Sentinel, Burkert     March 23rd, 2000
In a concert that would have cost an average of $20 elsewhere, the audience heard "Overture to Nabucco" by the West Shore Symphony as well as two major choral pieces never before performed in Holland — "Lux Aeterna," a very melodic and uplifting religious piece by Morten Lauridsen, and Verdi's famous classical work, "Te Deum."
   The highlight of the program was without a doubt the performance of "Lux Aeterna." Written in 1997, the piece has been praised by choral groups that perform it. The five movements of the work contain references to light from various sacred Latin texts. The work opens and closes with the beginning and ending of the "Requiem Mass," with the middle three movements drawn respectively from the "Te Deum," "O Nata Lux" and "Veni Sanctus Spiritus."
   In program notes put together by West Shore Symphony conductor Murray Grover and Jim Bond, they wrote, "The music displays a range of emotion, from the quiet introspection of the Agnus Dei to the concluding joyful Alleluia, yet an amazing calmness and serenity always present."
   The program notes succintly summarized the performance of "Lux Aeterna" done by the three choral groups and the West Shore Symphony on Sunday; a performance made even more astonishing when considering that it was the fourth time in three months the groups performed the Lauridsen piece. The first three performances were presented at the Frauenthal Center for Performing Arts in Muskegon.

Chorale's Performance Matches Challenge of Music

     Virginian-Pilot & Ledger-Star     March 5th, 2000
The most satisfying music came in the second half, particularly in a piece by Los Angeles composer Morten Lauridsen, "Les Chansons des Roses" on texts by Rainer Maria Rilke, that alternated quick writing, demanding great precision, with broader sections that allow more depth in the sound.

Music Review

     Sacramento Bee, William Glackin     November 8th, 1998
The other major work on the program... was "Lux Aeterna" (Eternal Light) by California composer Morten Lauridsen, composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which gave the work its premiere lsat season.
   Scored for chorus and organ, it is full of gorgeous writing for chorus, in a modern harmonic idiom that might be described as early (or mid-) 20th century. Lasting 29 minutes, it is in five essentially continuous movements beginning with the Introit of the Requiem Mass, employing three movements of the Te Deum and ending with the Agnus Dei and the prayer of the Introit (for eternal rest for the dead).
   The prayer for rest and mercy, the plea for union with Christ and light from the Holy Spirit are the essences of the work. The mood is transcendent, with the sopranos soaring in the prayer to Jesus and the music livelier in the invitation to the Spirit. Some of the loveliest choral passages are unaccompanied, with the organ coming in later. There's an Alleluia and a quiet Amen at the end. It's all beautiful music. Kendrick conducted it with care and feeling, and the chorus sang it with a reverent appreciation for the content and eloquence of the piece. At the organ, Janzen served it well, too.

A Weekend of Musical Riches From Singers and Winds

     The Seattle Times, Melinda Bargreen     February 23rd, 1998
The high points in yesterday's early evening program are too numerous to list, but at the top of anyone's preferences would be the delicious "Les Chansons des Roses," by Morten Lauridsen — a modern work that is consistently charming and provocative, particularly as it was performed here.

Corinthians Dish Up 'Right Royal Feast'

     Adeline Press, Australia, Elizabeth Silsbury     
Two lovely 1942 songs by Samuel Barber, and a remarkable cycle Mid-Winter Songs (1981) by Morten Lauridsen, beautifully sung and superbly accompanied by highly gifted young musician Jillian Bartsch, showed that the cream of the American contemporary crop are, after all, able to write choral music that is both original and worthwhile.

A Zesty First Helping of Bach's 'Christmas Oratorio'

     Los Angeles Times, Chris Pasles     December 18th, 2002
The rest of the program, which enlisted all the singers, ranged from Morten Lauridsen's haunting "O Magnum Mysterium," composed for the Master Chorale eight years ago but already deservedly a modern classic, to a John Rutter arrangement of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

Local Treasures At the Terrace

     The Washington Post, Joseph McLellan     March 21st, 1988
A previously unknown composer, Morten Lauridsen, stole the spotlight from such big names as Bach, Handel, and Haydn with a superb, spare-textured and deeply felt cycle of six songs, “A Winter Come,” with texts by Howard Moss.

Holiday Concerts

     Newburyport Choral Society     December, 1999
O Nata Lux is a new Christmas work by Morten Lauridsen, a Califonia composer of great distinction. It is perhaps the finest new work for chorus written in the nineties.

Duerr Conducts at Ambassador

     Los Angeles Times, John Henken     April 14th, 1983
   ...These virtues were skillfully deployed in aid of Morten Lauridsen's “Mid-Winter Songs on Poems by Robert Graves.” Though already recorded in another version, this was its premiere with full orchestral accompaniment.
   The USC composer has fashioned an evocative cycle reminiscent of Britten in style and effect. Pungently scored, rhythmically varied, and highly flattering to a good chorus, “Mid-Winter Songs” is accessible in the best sense.

Short Takes

     Peermusic Classical     Winter 1996-1997
   Morten Lauridsen's music continues its phenomenal rise to prominence in the American choral world. His choral cycle Les Chansons des Roses and short sacred work O Magnum Mysterium are runaway bestsellers. April will bring the premiere of Lux Aeterna, a 24-minute work for SATB chorus and orchestra (or organ). The Los Angeles Master Chorale premieres the orchestral version on April 13; the premiere with organ comes two weeks later, given both by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Portland's Choral Cross-Ties. Lauridsen is Composer-in-Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Chair of the Composition Department of the University of Southern California.

Chorus hits high note with offerings for new season

     Daily Bruin, John Mangum     October 20th, 1999
The Los Angeles Master Chorale begins its 36th season with an opening concert conducted by music director Paul Salamunovich at the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this Sunday.
   The program features Johannes Brahms' colossal and inspiring "German Requiem" with baritone Hakan Hagegard and soprano Tamara Matthews, and Morten Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna," a work that may be one of the most successful choral works written in the last part of the 20th century.
   "The concert pairs one of the most beloved pieces of all time with a new sacred work," said Lauridsen, who is the Master Chorale's composer-in-residence. "'Lux Aeterna' was written for Paul, who is one of the world's great experts in Gregorian Chant. This is his 50th year as music director of the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church choir. The music is really the fiber of his being, and I wrote it for him, tapping into his vast experience."
   "Lux Aeterna," whose title means "perpetual light," draws on five different religious sources for its Latin text, bringing them together into a unified work of great beauty and communicative power. Lauridsen is justly proud of its success - one example he cites was a request from a local radio station for 300 signed copies of the Master Chorale's recording of the work to help drum up business during a pledge drive. "They were gone in 20 minutes," Lauridsen recalled. "I ended up signing 1,700 copies for the drive, and, on that one CD, they raised over $100,000."
   Even in Lauridsen's own body of work, "Lux Aeterna" stands out. "It really says something about the power of art to reach out and touch people," Lauridsen said. "There's not another work like it that I know of. It's a new, contemporary sacred work that people have really responded to."
   The season, which continues through May 7, includes two other works by Lauridsen: "Chansons des Roses" on a special Valentine's program (Feb. 13, 2000), and "Madrigali" as part of a concert that pairs 20th-century works alongside music from the 15th and 16th centuries by Monteverdi and Gesualdo (March 11, 2000).
   "The people who come to the opening concert, with two wonderful soloists in the Brahms, are in for an extraordinary evening of first-rate choral singing," Lauridsen said.
   No one would expect anything less.

Advent of things to come

     The Oregonian, James Bash     November 17th, 2000
Two works by Tomas Luis de Victoria and Morten Lauridsen, which also share a text — the “O Magnum Mysterium” ("O Great Mystery") — show the mystical side of music... Lauridsen's achieves sheer tonal beauty, and has had more than 3,000 performances throughout the world since its 1994 premiere.